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Tuesday, July 17th, 2018

Summer Slide in Allentown – part II

Monday was my second jaunt into Allentown’s schools, this time at Roosevelt and Mosser schools, both of which I’ve played assemblies in the past.

The 9 am session was for a large group of kids at Roosevelt. It seems the different schools have remarkably different turnouts for their summer programs. This was one of the more successful ones. We warmed up with Peanut Butter, Tutti Tah and, in memory of my dog Sam, I Wanna be a Dog. Our Bear Hunt addition was a peculiar one: 3 AM, dark, pitch black 3 AM with a wander in the dark and then a ghost sound. There seems to be a call for ‘standing up and moving’ verses this summer. Per usual, there were a couple of teachers who have raised their kids on my music.

The Mosser school was much more sparse, and the teachers less involved. In fact, some used the session to eat lunch and socialize. They did offer a unique Bear Hunt addition: Hawaii, a vacation in Hawaii with hula dance, surf sounds. I like this one. The kids were great.

Another hot day in Allentown. Good work.

Friday, July 13th, 2018

Marvine Summer Slide

I had a great session with the small group of kids at Marvine this morning. This was the second of four sessions and one somewhat removed from my last one. It was good to reconnect with the teachers and kids. We were all excited.

I have some things up my sleeve from some other SS’s I’ve been doing and it’s nice to not to have to rely on some of the same old same old tools. I brought out Rosalie, Where Are You Going to develop some individual performance skills in front of their friends and it was mildly productive. We worked on Bear Hunt and they came up with “volcano, hot lava volcano with a nice leaping movement. It also formed the basis for an idea I used later.

I brought out the scarves for a session, using some techniques I’ve used recently. We used the scarves to “disappear” (a nice way to provide some ‘self-safe space’) and explored some facial emotions. Some great stuff came up, including the teachers input. We then did some scarf writing, doing the alphabet (ABC’s) and then went into Jelly in the Dish with some controlled tossing in the air (great visuals), free form dancing and singing, as well as trading scarves with each other. It’s turning out to be a wonderful performance piece.

At the end, I acted on my instincts about scarves/fire/volcanoes. We formed a tight circle with our scarves and formed a cauldron of boiling scarves, with occasional flame-ups with a big explosion of scarves in the air at the end. Bam.

As I left the school, I thanked Cesar for the opportunity and he wants me to do some steady afterschool work during the school year with the K’s. The work seems to be spreading out. Every gig creates another future gig.

Thursday, July 12th, 2018

First Allentown Summer Slide Doubleheader on Thursday

Today was the first doubleheader for my series of Allentown summer slide programs. The first one was a Lehigh Parkway ES, a school I’ve played many times. The principal and security guard welcomed me a showed me to the nice lawn behind the school, a new ‘bird sanctuary’, with grass, shade overlooking the large industrial plant nearby. It was the perfect place to set up for my first set this morning.

The kids and teachers were hip and I went through my standard set of tunes, taking some time to talk ( about why we are here during the summer and how this is going to set them up for success in the fall. I decided to concentrate on building ‘verses’ for The Bear Hunt, ones that I will pass on to the next schools. They decided on a haunted house, as spooky scary haunted house. One kid suggested (and demonstrated) the movement of walking slowly and deliberately on a creaky floor. This was great, so we all did it; they all creeped up on me and I told them that was scary.

I took time to reflect with them about what we did so that they had a chance to recall singing, dancing and playing instruments and how that was something that we don’t get to do everyday.

I headed over to Union Terrace ES for a 10:30 am session. This was a bigger group in the gym this time. Again, I rolled through my repertoire, noticing the echo in the room, reverse engineering the Tutti Tah (thinking backwards over the steps of the song), and worked on a new Bear Hunt. This time it was an elevator, an elevator stuck on the 10th floor. Again, we stood up for the movement, pushing buttons, doing a mechanical sound and then drop to our knees. Very creative.

As we reviewed what we did, I asked the teachers what they liked. That was interesting. They like the interactivity and the reverse Tutti Tah exercise among other things. It was good to get their perspective.

As I packed up, one teacher came up and inquired about my CDs. She was about to travel to China and wanted some tools to take with her, so, sure enough, I supplied her with Peanut Butter and Playground. Nice to know that my music will be used educationally in a foreign country. Cool.

I was done at 11:30 am and headed home, two sessions under my belt before noon. I will pass along some of this to the next school.

Wednesday, June 27th, 2018

Summer Slide I – Bethlehem

I had my first of four summer slide programs in Bethlehem today – one session at Marvine and one at Fountain Hill. As I found out each site has three of the local schools represented so the kids are mixing with other kids outside their home school. I’ll be working with new 1st graders in this program.

Marvine had about 15 kids and it’s interesting to see them warm up to me, the other kids and the situation. Eventually  they loosened up as a group and as individuals. The teachers also got a slice of my tricks, too.

We did Bear Hunt and added a verse about a spidery forest, and we did All Around the Kitchen with their dance moves. I hope to graft their work with the kids at Fountain Hill. I didn’t get around to using the bag, but that’s not bad. Later.

Fountain Hill was a much larger group of about 30 kids so we met in the gym. I decided to to do one session with the big group and perhaps do two smaller sessions in a smaller space for the remainder of this residency. It was good to do the whole group to start off with and get a sense of a larger community. Again, some of the teachers were not aware of what I do, so that was cool.

We added a Red Tornado to Bear Hunt which was wonderfully peculiar. I will share this with Marvine next time. I opted to break out the bag and give the kids some jump time.

All in all, it was a good breakout session with both groups. We now have a relationship we can build on.

Thursday, June 14th, 2018

Teaching Artist session on Wednesday

These gatherings are pretty special. Thanks to my relation with Young Audiences I get to attend Teaching Artist seminars in CT, PA and NJ, but the Jersey ones are the best. Besides catching up with my fellow artists, the sessions have some quite knowledgeable guest speakers and rich panel discussions. Today was on a smaller scale but challenging.

They are held at Grounds for Sculpture, formerly the NJ State Fairgrounds, and it is a spectacular space for large outdoor sculptures, great landscaping as well as many indoor exhibition spaces. We are lucky to meet among such breathtaking artworks.

Today’s topic was Inclusive and Equitable Practices in Arts Education, focusing on justice and diversity in our work: gender, race, class, etc. issues, particularly important in today’s society.

Justice involves Empathy: as artists, we have a moral imperative to care, not look away, notice injustice and name it. It was suggested that should also make a public response, especially since we are privileged as artists to have an audience.

How do we respond? We have to decide what we teach (content) and how we teach (modeling).

The process:

  1. establish trust and rapport (be open and vulnerable)
  2.  introduce historical context
  3. bridge the past and the present
  4. relate to lived experiences of the students
  5. present the project to the public.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Colleen Sears, former band director (one of the first females to do so in NJ). She presented several projects that spanned Katrina, Earth Song and Civil Rights that involved professional and student musicians.

The panel discussion involved Colleen (gender bias), a woman artist from Venezuela (cultural bias), a white Bermudan rap artist (cultural bias), a black woman (race bias) and a gay choral professor (gender bias). Each had some great points to make and gave some pointed ways of bringing their skills to the table as teaching artists.

As artists entering new classroom situations, one’s with unique cultural differences from ours, we need to recognize and negotiate these differences without a ‘colonial’ attitude. Not always a skill that some folks have. (My way or the highway.) And we have to utilize and integrate the local community and teachers in our efforts. One panelist said, “Get on a bus” and experience the community.

We then had a working lunch as we discussed our own work in light of the day’s discussion among the folks at each table.

I brought up my particular problem. I am a white, straight male with an ocean of privilege. How do I bring justice into play when I’m not black, gay or ethnic? It still comes down to being able shape awareness (notice and name) and use language and my teaching skills to be inclusive. I think I am getting better at that.

Again, these TA sessions are incredibly mindful, energizing and challenging. And I get to reconnect with some wonderful people in my field and bring back some ideas to my own community of Teaching Artists.

Friday, June 1st, 2018

Lion King opener on Thursday afternoon

We gathered our 5th graders to perform our Names To the Animals song, opening for Marvine school’s Lion King production. We practiced on Wednesday and wrote a final verse for the song. Things were semi-chaotic but good natured.  We got together about 20 minutes before the show and the kids were animated.

The show was pushed back when the sound and mikes for the show didn’t work and the Zollner Center at Lehigh stepped up big time to supply the equipment. It’s nice to have the big boys step in and help out the grade school. Very fine! But the time dragged by and finally the kids came in for the show. I wasn’t sure we’d have enough time, but Ms. DeStasio said we’d fit it in.

The rambunctious fifth graders, for the most part, froze up in front of the rest of the school. Very un-animated and very quiet. I tried to pump them up in the process but didn’t succeed. It shouldn’t be a surprise though. We ran through it and the audience liked it. I packed up my small system and snuck out the back door as the Lion King production took off. They did a great job on it, with lots of costuming, big cast, good movement, etc. Ms. DeStasio and the other teachers did a great job putting it together and I’m sure they were relieved when it was done.

This was part of the SouthSide Children’s Festival, a program of arts in Bethlehem schools, put together by my friend Doug Roysdon. I did a preliminary session in the fall which wasn’t successful and this was the way I could return, link up with the show and do some songwriting. All in all, it was pretty good, the kids were creative in the classroom and it turned out to be fun.

One girl really rocked with her interpretation of the Gangsta Bandana that we included it the Hyena verse. She was a hoot.

I had gotten paid in the fall, so there was only a small delayed monetary gratification. So it goes.

 

I saw an animal in the rain forest canopy (wave at the tall trees)

Juggling bananas, swinging from tree to tree.

He likes to break-dance and moonwalk real funky. 

I think I’ll call this animal a monkey. (monkey sounds)

 

I saw a wild dog loose in the savanna: 

A savage predator with a gangsta bandana (wrap hands around forehead and pose).

It likes dance the hula and the Macarena, 

I think I’ll call this animal a hyena. (everyone laugh)

  

I saw an animal with four boney tusks (fingers to face) ,

It has a disgusting snout and a stinky musk.

Living the life wallowing in a dark bog, (show satisfaction).

I think I’ll call this animal a wart hog. (snort)

  

I saw an animal that stalks its prey.

You can hear its roar from 5 miles away,

It’s proud of its mane; it’s his royal bling,

I think I’ll call this animal the Lion King.

Sunday, May 27th, 2018

Marvine songwriting, session II

I headed back to Marvine ES for my second session with my 5th grade class. They had just gotten back from a field trip so they were pretty rammy on a Friday afternoon. We launched into review our two verses and I decided to add some movement to them and we came up with some cool stuff, dance moves, etc. Rather than push ahead with completing another five new verses, I figured that this type of engagement works just as well.

We did knuckled down to write another verse to We Gave Names to the Animals and we decided to do one on a warthog. I did my homework and looked up some fun facts. We came up with another good one.

I saw an animal with four boney tusks,

It has a disgusting snout and a stinky musk.

I think I’ll call this animal a wart hog.

Living the life wallowing in the dark bog,

Next week, I have a Wednesday session with the kids and we perform on Thursday, opening for their school’s production of The Lion King. These kids are chatty but, for the most part, are creative and fun. I’m having a blast working with them.

Saturday, May 19th, 2018

Marvine songwriting session I

This was my first session for SouthSide Children’s Festival with a fifth grade class. I’ve tried an earlier version that was really scattered (6 young rambunctious boys), and the teacher warned me that these kids were particularly “chatty”.

We are supposed to do an opening set for the school’s Lion King production at the end of the month so I landed on the idea to write our version of We Gave Names to the Animals with animals from the show. It turned out to be quite a good idea in the moment.

I warmed them up with my usual tools – Peanut Butter, Tutti Tah, etc. and we launched into writing some verses.

I saw an animal in the rain forest canopy,

Juggling bananas, swinging from tree to tree.

He likes to breakdance, moonwalk real funky. 

I think I’ll call this animal a monkey. (not too bad…)

 

I saw a wild dog loose in the savanna, 

A savage predator with a gangsta bandana.

It likes to hula and do the macarena, 

I think I’ll call this animal an hyena. 

We figured out that we still have Lion, Red Baboon, Meerkat, Warthog, Wildebeest left over so I have the project set up for the next few meetings.

These kids were great to work with, and, though chatty, quite easy to work with from the get-go. A great session.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 17th, 2018

Teaching Artist Session on Monday

We had a great session again last night at Godfrey’s with some new faces among the friends. We’ve really developed some nice connections. Theater folks, puppeteers, poets, teachers, artists, musicians, etc. Bill George, Jenny Gilrain, Mark McKenna, Cleveland Wall, Susan Lucrezi, Doug Roysdon, Chaz Kiernan and Bill Christine and myself.

After a good period of sharing our latest projects, including some mighty powerful stories of working with kids, Lehigh University, the Kennedy Center, WDIY radio and more. There’s some interesting projects afoot that hopefully will establish our connection with the Bethlehem school district and as a template for some national organizations.

It fell to me to lead the creative workshop part of the session. I had done a workshop in CT with the Teaching Artist group where we went into an art museum, broke up into small groups and were told to find a painting that appealed to us, take a few rhythm instruments and create a soundscape for that piece, and then present it to the other groups.

I decided to try something similar with Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall. I broke our group into two sets of four people, and asked that they pick out one verse and work out a soundscape. After about 40 minutes they presented their movements. They were strange and wonderful.

The important part followed as we unpacked the process. What parts resonated, how did the process work within the group and the chat was wonderful.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall is an especially dense and somewhat apocalyptic piece of poetry and it provided quite a challenge to my friends. As we wrapped up I asked how are we going to finish the session, and then, the obvious popped in my head – let’s sing the song. Perfect.

These sessions are frankly intoxicating, not only for the creative process and spirit we share but for the rich celebration of our friendships.

Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded with hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Sunday, March 18th, 2018

Children’s Music Network gathering on Saturday.

My fellow teaching artists gathered together for a workshop, networking session and concert at a library north of Philly. It’s alway a good time to share our experiences with each other and see how we are similar and different in our approaches to our work.

Peter Moses gave a fine workshop on Mindfulness for kids and how this meditation has become accepted as a viable tool in education. I’ve been lucky to take one particular workshop/demonstration with a Korean Buddhist woman who works in center-city New Haven and it was an extremely valuable session, one that I’ve have incorporated in both my kids and adult work. The workshop was good on reinforcement but light on techniques.

The song swap was fun, with everyone doing a tune (one with an overemphasis of their stage show – not necessary with fellow artists), but all welcomed. I did Jelly in the Dish and we broke out the scarves for this one. It was fun, engaging and instructful, too.

We set up for the family concert in a nearby room and the place filled up, to my surprise with close to a hundred kids and parents. I was slotted early on and given 5 minutes. Apparently the word didn’t get out to everyone and folks stretched their sets. I decided to go guitarless for the first song Peanut Butter and Jelly and aim for physical interaction, and to hopefully set myself apart from the endless guitar songs in the program. I followed with The Cat Came Back and it worked well, and I was done.

Other folks followed with their material, some of which was derivative. (The Chicken Dance is aiming low….) The crowd began to get restless and started to filter out. Eight acts of various quality is tough for folks with small kids. I don’t blame them. I have an advantage with my years of music and acting skills, but folks are out there giving it a try.

I apologized to David for doing two songs but he said it was fine since I was a pro. That’s what I was thinking.

It was worth the time spent with my friends, sharing our craft and passion with each other.

 

Wednesday, January 17th, 2018

Primary assembly in Monmouth Jct., NJ

A rare Young Audiences solo gig today at a K and 1st grade school in Monmouth Junction, NJ at a small, older school that I’ve played many times before. It was supposed to be a 9:30 morning show but the threatening snow storm moved it back to 1 pm. (It’s never a good idea to decide at 6:00 am if we want to cancel the show.) As it turned out, the snow in PA was only a few inches and Jersey got very little. I’m glad we went ahead. “A gig played is a gig paid.”

This was a group of 200 or so kids of little kids, mostly Indian and Pakistani children, a warm and involved principal and some good teachers – you can always count on K and 1st grade teachers to be loose and open for some fun.

It’s been a while since my last kids gig so I was a little rusty on a couple of tunes, but there was room for some experimentation. Lately, I’ve tried to end up the gig by asking the kids to share something from the show with their parents, and I also try to ask them to reflect on what we did, so that some of the activities can be fortified. A couple of kids mentioned singing, Bear Hunt, Cat Came Back but a couple of kids raised their hands but couldn’t say anything. I choose not to press it too far, but give them the opportunity to access what we did.

I left a couple of CDs with the principal, packed up my gear and headed back to Bethlehem.

Friday, December 8th, 2017

Professor Amy Forsyth’s Lehigh Class – Thursday afternoon

My friend and fiddler Amy Forsyth led a unique class at Lehigh this semester: imagining musical instruments. Each student was to build an instrument during the fall and Amy invited me up for an end of the semester jam with them. From flutes, kitchen pot theremin, kazoos, fluted pipes, various boxes and stringed instruments to a functional banjo.

We gathered in the stairwell in the basement of Chandler Lab (chemistry lab in my LU years) and it turned out to be the perfect place to jam. Each student demonstrated his or her instrument, their thought processes and sound experiments. There was a small Pignose amp available for instruments that used a pick up.

One enterprising student by the name of Gibson (!!) made a wood head banjo that was set up perfectly: frets, 5th string, neck, etc. so I asked to try it. I clawhammered a tune, Amy joined in on fiddle and the others tooted and banged along. I had the chance to brainstorm with Gibson, compliment his craft, gave him a short lesson on my simple, but effective frailing style.

We jammed on a Bo Diddley beat that morphed into a blues. Another LU professor joined in and we attracted various students and staff in the stairwell. I’m sure the sound was pretty cool and it was a particularly good jam, especially with the curious but untrained students. I was glad Amy asked me to help grease the session on guitar. And I got to have another bizarre Lehigh experience.

Amy’s great in inspiring young folks in the creative arts, not just music. She also teaches furniture building and is a fine graphic artist, too. Quite the renaissance woman, and a kindred spirit.

Accordion kazoo. 

Electric banger twanger.

 

 

 

 

3D printer flutes.    

 

Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

NJ Library showcase in Manalapan

I was selected as a standby for this library showcase in middle NJ, and was move up into the starting lineup last week. I figured to do my 20 minutes and see if I can get some lucrative work in the libraries. I got the last slot of the day at 2:30, after another dozen or so acts and after an animal zoo act. As it turned out, there were a lot of the librarians sticking it out to the bitter end so it was a good slot.

I did Peanut Butter (next year’s theme is ‘Libraries Rock!) and followed that with The Cat Came Back. Along the way I got to chip in my bona fides and other comments to amplify my teaching artist skills. I finished with Giants with a librarian playing Thunder Tube. It was a good way to finish the showcase strong, and I ended up giving away lots of CDs, and even selling a couple as well. Not to bad. We’ll see if I get any calls.

The other acts were a mixed bag of very creative storytellers and musicians, jugglers but also a very standard magician (I was called up on stage to be a stooge during the morning set) – comedy magicians have some pat shows that tend to be forced, demeaning to the person on stage and too clever and unfunny.

There was some good conversations with some of the other presenters, but little chat with the visiting librarians. I like playing for librarians but they tend not to get too out of hand. Shhhhhh…..

Monday, October 16th, 2017

Children’s Music Network Conference.

This is the second big CMN conference I’ve been to, and I was looking forward to the adventure: some old friends, lots of new folks and a congregation of like-minded arts/educators. I also wanted to see where I fit in this particular niche. My past experience has been that there are some pros, some semi-pros and some new folk just exploring this field for the first time. It held to form and it was a nice experience. 

The drive up from PA was easy for a Friday on I-95, and got there about 4 pm in time for registration. I checked in, and after a brief room snafu, I plunked down my stuff in a nice room overlooking a small golf course (it’s a resort facility in Hyannis, MA). The opening session was a group meeting and I started to see a few familiar faces from PA (David and Jenny and David) and Sally Rogers, soon to be feted on Sunday for the Magic Penny Award. The dinner was a good opportunity to meet folks from the NY and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Friday night featured the first Round Robin (open mike) and I signed up and got a middle of the pack slot. I was glad for that. The rules were: come up, introduce yourself and the song and play it, no longer than 3 minutes. Again, I was glad that I could do it because I’ve done it before at showcases and some TV and radio gigs.

Here’s where it gets curious. Not everyone at this conference is a professional stage player. Lots of folks here write songs, play libraries, teach in schools, etc. So it was nice to see the “players” in action, and then abide the others in their efforts. The sound crew was fairly scattered, though, and didn’t help the new folks settle in comfortably. When it came my time, I said, “Give me two mikes and let’s go.”

I came up to do Giants and one over-exuberant woman shouted out, “He’s famous!” I blew a few kisses, said, “Calm down” and launched into the song. I pretty much nailed it, the quick audience picked up on the spooky sounds and the call and response, I did a mouth trombone lead and let the audience do one themselves (marvelous) and I finished strong. I bowed and walked off stage. 3 minutes, baby!

I had made my statement early in the weekend, and over the course of the convention, got lots of compliments and respect from my peers. That opened up some doors with most of the folks I connected with. It also made my return appreciation of their sets mean something to them. I sought out those who were the pros who could deliver their material succinctly and in a timely fashion. I made some new friends.

I went to several of the workshops, though most were heavily into the “change the world” efforts, and though that laudable, it remains somewhat outside my philosophy.

The first session on Saturday was the Finger Play workshop, and I was looking forward to this one. I got to the room early with my guitar and had a chance to play some music and connect with myself in the quiet before the storm. As folks started to arrive I started to put my guitar away when the workshop leader came in and told me to put the guitar away, no guitars allowed and succinctly established her territory. I said that I knew that, but had wanted to play something before the session. As I put my guitar away, I mumbled a quiet “FU” which she may have picked up on…. Oh, well. I then asked if we could do ‘movement’ songs, and she quite firmly clamped down on that idea. Fingers only! Sheesh.

So, as we started out the round robin of finger tunes, I figured I would do Finger in the Air, a Woody Guthrie song from Playground, and I was a little rough in getting the verses straight, as the woman next to me was familiar with the song, singing along and giving me no space to do my version. It threw me off my game. As I hesitated before the last verse, the headmistress gave me a rattle shake she used to clamp down on folks going on too long. I quickly did the last verse. It silently pissed me off.  (I was the only one ‘rattled’ during the session.)

I eventually did Peanut Butter and Jelly later on during the circle and it was fine.

I realized that there are various factions here, including some children’s music purists. As in many musical circles, we differ in how we present our music. Welcome to the club.

The Saturday afternoon Keynote presentation featured Ken Whiteley, a Canadian performer, producer and one-time Godfrey’s act. His talk was based on crossroads, and being open to each other when we meet at them. He had produced Raffi before he was Raffi, as well as over 150 other folks acts on the circuit. He has a deft ear for the business, including getting the most out of a performer, the song and still be affordable. It was a fine philosophical jaunt through our folk music lives.

I came up during the Round Robin and reintroduced myself (my middle name is Whiteley) and connected to the time when he played Godfrey’s, the only gig he got from an early NERFA festival in Philly. I had booked him then. He actually asked me about my health (he had had some very serious problems a while ago). Somehow the word gets out on the circuit, proving the amount of caring that goes on among folkies.

The Saturday evening Round Robin had 40 folks signed up and eventually turned into a four hour event. I could only take so much, was glad to hear some of my new friends play and catch Bill Harley and some other pros.

There was a Sunday workshop on making a difference with kids. I got there late and sat in the back. Lots of anti- bullying songs, etc. I felt that I had little to offer. Eventually, one fellow offered a space to me and I tried to think of what I could play. I settled into to circle and admitted that I have no songs of redeeming social value but try to focus on empowerment.

I decided to do Rosalie, Where are You Going. I led it off and got two other fellows to demonstrate. It worked well, but I didn’t heed my own advice and did one too many verses. I got caught up in the performance. Lesson learned on my part.

The Magic Penny Award is given to folk who truly excel in Children’s Music. A couple of years ago it was given to Ruth Pelham, a woman I did not know but came to appreciate her work in my home town of Albany. We became friends back then. Other folk honored are Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, Bill Harley., Tom Chapin, etc.

This year’s recipient is Sally Rogers, a woman I’ve known through her visits to Godfrey’s as a solo and with 

Claudia Schmidt as well as her living legend as an arts educator and children’s music studio artist. (When I applied for Young Audiences of CT in 2001, I found out that she was the “folkie” on the roster. Dead end for me, and quite understandable.)

The ceremony featured some great plaudits from other kids’ performers, school principals, etc, several nice You Tube cuts of kids singing her songs. A special moment for me came when my friend Claudia Schmidt came up to do some music with Sally. Sally then did some tunes with the audience, her family and the very responsive audience. A marvelous ending to a good weekend of friendships and the deep commonality of children’s music.

The ride home was good until I got into CT on I-95 through the GW Bridge. What was a 5.5 hour drive on Friday became a 7.5 drive to home. I got back for the Godfrey’s open mike but found myself exhausted.

It was a good experience, I learned some new things, met some fellow children’s music travelers, knocked my one 3 minute song out of the park and saw the ocean briefly. It was worth the trip.

Friday, October 6th, 2017

First session at Marvine ES

I showed up for my first afterschool session at Marvine and found out only four kids were signed up, all boys. Oh, boy. As the gym emptied out I settled in with my four lads and tried to figure out how to work this out.

I was glad I had my bag of instruments so they would have stuff in their hands and it went well, teaching them some basic rhythms, getting them to play together. I worked for a while but as I got into the lyric part, two of the boys started to act up and I had to stop and pull things together often. Eventually one kids said, “I wanna go home.” I agreed silently.

I even tried to have them run around the gym when I played the ‘big endings’ and that worked well for boys. But I really, really missed having some girls in the room to provide some gravitas to the proceedings.

This is not working out, especially if we are to produce a song by the end of the sessions. I like challenges but not like this.

Tuesday, September 26th, 2017

Another lesson in the schools, another door opens.

I started my next Southside Children’s Festival residency at Marvine ES, a predominantly Hispanic school on the north side of Bethlehem. I’ll be doing weekly afterschool songwriting with these kids, so I figured we should have some sort of introductory session with the 4th and 5th graders, the core group for this run of workshops. Mr. Cordova, the school liaison for the project has great connections with the kids so I trust his instincts. He suggested that I come in during the lunch period and play while they ate. Normally, I would have said no, but this turned out to be the perfect teaser for the workshops. Kids signed up.

I set up a new PA for me, a simple amp with room for a mike and my guitar, low volume and easy load in and out. It worked great! Lesson #1.  I got there early so I was able to play for the younger kids eating in front of me, and, as the older kids came in and settled into their lunches on the far side of the room, I introduced myself and did some songs that other kids had written words to: Tropical Vacation, Cat Came Back, Names to the Animals, etc. We connected in spite of the lunch situation. Each set was brief and the kids filed out for recess for the rest of their period. The teachers, and the lunch ladies all had a good time with some of the younger kids getting up and dancing (with their teacher!).

Mr. Cordova was handing out papers to the kids, explaining what we were going to do over the next few weeks and recruiting kids for the sessions. He was pleased that he came close to handing out all of his stack. Looks like we stirred something up. It was a low pressure, social situation for the kids and myself, and it worked well. Lesson #2. Since I have been paid for the whole project up front, I am more willing to invest on the long run, and not just for this gig.

An interesting and unexpected thing came up at the end when Mr. Cordova mentioned that the school might be interested in this type of event, especially during the winter when there is no outside recess. The teachers commented how much the kids were engaged during the period, perhaps with less mayhem and uproar than usual. Can you say ‘crowd control?’ I was able to play for younger and older kids at the same time.

I might be able to come back and provide active and intelligent activities during the lunchtime periods. Sounds like a whole lot of fun for me and the kids, too. Lesson #3.  Making a living doing what I do.

Saturday, September 9th, 2017

SouthSide community day at McNamara Park

I was called upon to play some music for a SouthSide community that I rarely get a chance to travel through, a couple of blocks up South Mountain from Steel Stacks and the Sands Casino. It’s cut off from standard city traffic so it has its own neighborhood identity. This small park features a basketball court, some grass and a pavilion. The community folks, and the city set up pop-ups, invited some snow cone vendors, the Thai and Latina take-out places to provide free food, and invited some fellow arts-educators to mix it up with the kids and families: Touchstone Theatre doing masks, Hala doing dance, Doug Roysdon doing puppets and myself doing music.

I got the chance again to work with Doug and his marvelous marionettes. Dancing Granny danced to several songs, his flute-playing puppet and I did Charlie Stone and we worked on a fairly dark Frog dance. Otherwise, I spread out my instruments and connected with the various kids that stopped by. It’s the very young ones that catch my attention. One young girl, pre-speaking, was enchanted by playing the maraca. I invited a couple older girls to join in so that she could react to other girls playing along. As I would play guitar, the little girl would go pick up a tambourine and hand it to me to play (while I was strumming guitar) and I did. I would go back to my guitar and she would go pick out another instruments and hand it to me. This went on for a while, all to the delight of her dad standing nearby. She did not want to leave when her mom picked her up to leave, and as she left sobbing in her mom’s arms, we waved to each other. It was a rich connection.

 

 

 

The event was pretty nice, with the good weather, lots of testosterone out on the basketball court, young girls dancing, some older neighbors stopping by, good snacks, and a fair amount of applied art as well.

Saturday, August 5th, 2017

Here comes the weekend, part I

My first gig this weekend was at the Da Vinci Center for another camp visit (the topics are Musical Mayhem (I’ve got that down) and Coding, an interesting take as well) on Friday morning, with a band gig later in Macungie. There were a bout 20 kids and 6 counselors in a comfortable class room at the museum. We did the usual stuff, with the emphasis on mayhem. One older girl settled in and I mention dancing. She said, “I don’t dance.” Hmmm. I took that as a challenge.

It was a good mix of intelligent kids, some very chatty, some not so outgoing, but all curious minds. We talked about coding with being able to think backwards, so we decoded, of all things, The Tutti Tah. I also compared a Martin Guitar with a Thunder Tube. Pretty heavy stuff, but actually quite good as teaching experiences. A good session and I was assured that I will get my check when the treasurer returns from vacation. I told the gentleman, “Well, I have something to live for.”

To Macungie this afternoon.

 

Thursday, July 27th, 2017

Bel Canto Camp – round two

This was a gig I was looking forward to, working with some kids at a rather sophisticated camp sponsored by The Bach Choir, a week-long camp exploring vocal music (and other forms). I was asked by a Moravian music professor to present a workshop on folk music, and I relish these situations.

I put together a session about the essence of folk music and community singing. I started with The Cat Came Back which worked well from the get go. Storytelling, chorus, etc. I introduced work songs, religious songs, social justice songs, Motown and pop songs, all with some nice dialogue with the kids. Heady stuff.

At the end, I introduced I Like Peanut Butter and asked four kids to be back up singers with me. Out of that, I decided to involve everyone and it turned out to be a great workshop exercise. I divided up all of the other kids into four groups and had them work on adding movement to the song, and I gave them roughly 5 minutes to do it. It was great to see them work on the project, see folks take charge and lead (see a few other kids not grasp the idea of working together – but that’s an important part of the process) and then present their work in front of the others. It’s a big step for some of these kids, and I was glad to give them the opportunity to experiment – along with me.

These are wonderful chances for me to expand on my music workshop chops and grow with the kids.

Thursday, July 27th, 2017

Da Vinci Center – round one.

I had three gigs today, starting off with a last minute pick-up at the Da Vinci Center’s summer camp. It was in my wheel house, with their theme of music, beats, codes and more. I had the K, 1st and 2nd kids, with some counselors tossed in. A good group to work with, though one boy proved to be a challenge early on, and I had to assert myself and put him in the back. I tried several time to encourage him, but nope. It worked out in the end.

It was fun to engage the kids with some science, with music, physical vibrations from the guitar and the Thunder Tubes. We worked on rhythm as well as just having fun. I had a nice talk one of the directors, a fellow engineering student who drifted into science/education. Nice to know that younger folks are picking up on this as a vocation.

A couple of the counselors brought in some instruments – harmonica and guitar – and I gave them the opportunity to join in. Always involve the counselors.

I’m coming back for a previously booked gig next Friday, and I also picked up a gig in August for the moon eclipse. I’ll work up some sun and moon songs for that one. A very nice connection developing with this educational center in Allentown.