First Performance...

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pektel

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My oldest son got his wish on the last day of kindergarten this year. He's been asking me to come in to play/sing with him in front of his class.

I have TERRIBLE stage fright, so I figured a room full of kindergarteners is a great place to start. Alex (my son) did a short intro on what an ukulele is, how to say it properly, where it comes from, etc.

The kid is a natural performer. He's never been to a show before, but he somehow instinctively knew to get the audience involved. So by the last chorus, he had his whole class singing along!

We played 2 songs: Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" and Tom Petty's "Free Fallin". We had a blast. As you can tell from the silly "proud parent" grin on my face in both pictures. :)
 

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That is wonderful! He looks comfortable and like a natural. I love sharing this magical instrument with young people. I'm glad you got the chance to go. I played with my son's kinder class during "U" week and we had a sing along and I passed around some ukes. It was a lot of fun.
 
Your grinning face is priceless, truly shows the joy you were experiencing. It put a big grin on my face just seeing yours. Well done and thanks for sharing, really awesome.
 
That is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
 
Good for both of you !!!!
I have played both Kindergartens and Senior homes.
The kids are much more fun.
The "Daily Ukulele" (yellow) has a whole section of children songs. Most of them are easy to play and the kids know all the words, great sing-a-longs.
With so many schools cutting music, it is important for us to help keep music in the schools. I might add I don't have kids in school, but I have teacher friends who are happy to host a ukulele program.
 
awesome story thank you so much for sharing. hope he gets interested in it and maybe play with you...

Great intro to performing, the more you do it the more relaxed you get and more fun.. .and to do with with a young son like that.. it is priceless!

Aloha!
Ivan
 
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. :)

I'm currently looking for a decent beginner soprano for him. The only one he has right now is a Mahalo (IIRC). Toy-grade, and the lack of it staying in tune really bothers him. I'm going to be looking for something more playable for him.
 
Congratulations! That is really cool. I can identify with you. I never thought I'd play for anyone other than myself, but at the recent SoCal Mountain Uke Retreat I attended I decided to do a song during open mic. Seemed like a great idea until I got on stage. Gulp. I know it's completely irrational because everybody there is so supportive. You likely faced a harsher audience with the kindergartners! Despite the irrationality of it, I was shaking while playing. And since my wife spontaneously took up the uke at camp and she has a nice voice, I suspect there will be more in my future. Might have to invest in some Depends, though. ;-)
 
Very cool! I love it! I have perfromance anxiety as well. About the onaly people I ain't scared to play for are my patients and families....keep it up!
 
that is so cute!
 
Very cute seeing you two together. Playing in front of an accepting audience of youngsters is a great way to overcome stage fright. I was super nervous when I first started. I went to a guitar circle (other instruments too, banjo, mando, bass, fiddles) and found it very intimidating playing in front of more experienced players. Later on, in my search for other ukers to play with, I started a local uke club and we have a lot of beginners, and I found that playing in front of beginners was soooo much easier. It really allowed me to loosen up and be a better performer. It really does get easier.
If your son is interested in playing, I think a flea makes a great kid uke. It's super durable (not that you want him to be rough with an instrument, but accidents do happen). It's the uke that I lend out to children and inexperienced players. If he winds up not digging the uke, a flea is a great knock around uke for you.
 
itsme said:
One question: Why isn't your son playing uke, too? :p
Click to expand...

He's learning at home right now. :) But playing + singing is tough for any beginner. ;)

He really wanted to sing for his class.

Our big lesson right now is teaching him how to sing melody while I sing harmony.
 
bunnyf said:
Very cute seeing you two together. Playing in front of an accepting audience of youngsters is a great way to overcome stage fright. I was super nervous when I first started. I went to a guitar circle (other instruments too, banjo, mando, bass, fiddles) and found it very intimidating playing in front of more experienced players. Later on, in my search for other ukers to play with, I started a local uke club and we have a lot of beginners, and I found that playing in front of beginners was soooo much easier. It really allowed me to loosen up and be a better performer. It really does get easier.
If your son is interested in playing, I think a flea makes a great kid uke. It's super durable (not that you want him to be rough with an instrument, but accidents do happen). It's the uke that I lend out to children and inexperienced players. If he winds up not digging the uke, a flea is a great knock around uke for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks! And thanks for the recommendation on the flea. I'll look that up. Heard the name a bunch of times, but never researched them. My current knockaround uke is a lanikai LU21-T, but it's a little too big for him still.
 
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