I had yard duty with the kindergartners and first graders today at the school, so I brought along my O Briain “improved,” which has become my “back pocket whistle.” Within minutes I was surrounded by 10 or so rapt 4, 5 and 6 year olds, and before I knew it, the whole crew was dancing! I felt like the Pied Piper in truth. They especially liked “The Britches Full of Stitches,” “Shepherd’s Hey,” and the theme music from “Pippi Longstocking,” which they requested over and over. One little guy was really amazing…when the other kids dispersed to play on the jungle gym, he sat right down in front of me and started asking me all kinds of things about the whistle: “Why does it say “D” on it?” “How do you make it play different notes?” etc. Then he asked me if I could play “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad” (which I managed to twiddle out without too many mistakes, never having played it on the whistle before). He REALLY liked that, and asked me if I could teach him to sing it, so we spent nearly 20 minutes singing the song together until he pretty much had the words. I was really impressed…he tone matches beautifully for a six year old, and sings with decent resonance and a good sense of rhythm! He was also fascinated with the mechanics of music making…I had told him that the starting note when I played the tune was “G” and he actually noticed that, when I sang it, I started it on a different note! (possible perfect pitch???). I want that kid for our chorus when he’s old enough!
What a great way to spend an afternoon! If you want to get experience playing for an audience and have fun at the same time, you can do worse than playing for children.
That’s wonderful Redwolf. Good on you for taking time to enlighten the little guy to the wonders of music! It’s too bad that there isn’t more of this kind of interaction in our schools!
Kids are the greatest audiences. They can also be the worst, depending on their age. Up to 4th grade they are great. After that they start feeling they have to be cool and shouldn’t be enthusiastic about anything. One time I had an entire elementary school, minus the 5th graders, shaking keys and slapping thighs to a calypso rhythm while I played the guitar and “sang”. What fun!
Mike
They especially liked “The Britches Full of Stitches,” “Shepherd’s Hey,” and the theme music from “Pippi Longstocking,” which they requested over and over. One little guy was really amazing…when the other kids dispersed to play on the jungle gym, he sat right down in front of me and started asking me all kinds of things about the whistle: “Why does it say “D” on it?” “How do you make it play different notes?” etc. Then he asked me if I could play “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad” (which I managed to twiddle out without too many mistakes, never having played it on the whistle before). He REALLY liked that, and asked me if I could teach him to sing it, so we spent nearly 20 minutes singing the song together until he pretty much had the words. I was really impressed…he tone matches beautifully for a six year old, and sings with decent resonance and a good sense of rhythm! He was also fascinated with the mechanics of music making…I had told him that the starting note when I played the tune was “G” and he actually noticed that, when I sang it, I started it on a different note! (possible perfect pitch???). I want that kid for our chorus when he’s old enough!