mmcquain
New member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2005
- Messages
- 2,646
Yesterday I spent a few hours at my son's school. I talked to the kids as part of the "Great American Teach-In" program (basically the same thing used to be called "career day" when your parents came to class to talk about their job, special hobby, skill, etc.). If you've got kids in school then I highly encourage you to consider doing something like this.
It was a LOT of fun seeing their eyes light up when they got to strum on a guitar, "make it sound funny" (play with my fx pedals), or as they watched me jam on some blues or hit a big power chord. My son's teacher said she heard several of tell their mom/dad "I want a guitar for Christmas" as they were being picked up in the car line that afternoon. So if I sparked an interest in even 1 or 2 of them, and it actually pans out, then it will be well worth the time spent.
Last year I did this for just my son's 1st grade class but it was so well received that they asked if I could stay longer this year and speak to all the kids (K-5th grades) during their Music Class times. I had about an hour with the K-2nd and another hour with the 3-5th grades. This wasn't nearly enough time to cover all the ideas that I had in my head but it was just about right for holding their attention span and I DID get to cover enough of the basic that they really seemed to enjoy it.
Several of the kids actually said they had guitars at home - a couple of Daisy Rock, an old acoustic and one kid is getting an Epi mini Flying V (he hopes) for Christmas. My hope is that maybe my demonstration will help encourage them to go home and actually pick up their instrument and to start to do something with it.
Anyway, just thought I'd share with you all what fun it was and I encourage you to thing about doing it sometime for a school near you - even if your kids are grown or you don't have any - you can always call the school and ask to speak with the music teacher about how to get involved - I'm sure they'd love the help (especially as funding for "the arts" is often one of the first things to get cut back on as school budgets get tightened).
And don't think that the "Teach-In" is about music only... in the morning they had somebody's mother who was a hair dresser come in and speak (some of the kids got hair gel Mohawks, etc.). My wife sells Pampered Chef and I'm trying to talk her into doing it next year and do a cooking demonstration (and give out business cards that the kids can take home to their mmoms... but that's just my idea!)
It was a LOT of fun seeing their eyes light up when they got to strum on a guitar, "make it sound funny" (play with my fx pedals), or as they watched me jam on some blues or hit a big power chord. My son's teacher said she heard several of tell their mom/dad "I want a guitar for Christmas" as they were being picked up in the car line that afternoon. So if I sparked an interest in even 1 or 2 of them, and it actually pans out, then it will be well worth the time spent.
Last year I did this for just my son's 1st grade class but it was so well received that they asked if I could stay longer this year and speak to all the kids (K-5th grades) during their Music Class times. I had about an hour with the K-2nd and another hour with the 3-5th grades. This wasn't nearly enough time to cover all the ideas that I had in my head but it was just about right for holding their attention span and I DID get to cover enough of the basic that they really seemed to enjoy it.
Several of the kids actually said they had guitars at home - a couple of Daisy Rock, an old acoustic and one kid is getting an Epi mini Flying V (he hopes) for Christmas. My hope is that maybe my demonstration will help encourage them to go home and actually pick up their instrument and to start to do something with it.
Anyway, just thought I'd share with you all what fun it was and I encourage you to thing about doing it sometime for a school near you - even if your kids are grown or you don't have any - you can always call the school and ask to speak with the music teacher about how to get involved - I'm sure they'd love the help (especially as funding for "the arts" is often one of the first things to get cut back on as school budgets get tightened).
And don't think that the "Teach-In" is about music only... in the morning they had somebody's mother who was a hair dresser come in and speak (some of the kids got hair gel Mohawks, etc.). My wife sells Pampered Chef and I'm trying to talk her into doing it next year and do a cooking demonstration (and give out business cards that the kids can take home to their mmoms... but that's just my idea!)
)
