Planting "Musical" Seeds of Love

Planting Seeds of Love: Making music with babies and their caregivers.

One of my favorite things to do is to work with babies and their caregivers to help encourage bonding and musical response between them. Babies are never too young for music! After all, most begin hearing, in utero, around the 4th month. The same way they are learning the language of their culture they can also learn music. When surrounded by music they actually begin reacting and trying to make music with you! It can be so much fun for adults to learn how to recognize and encourage that playful exchange, and of course the babies just love it! The babies are fascinated by everything we adults do and when we focus on them and sing, they immediately start either kicking their feet , moving to the rhythm, or they may begin to coo and many times will coo in the key in which you are singing to them! If they do coo or make some other sound the best way to begin a musical conversation is to coo back to them. That encourages them to continue and then you can go back to singing the song which further encourages them to continue the exchange. Cooing is a beautiful, non- verbal way to deepen the relationship and at the same time get the language out of the way. I call it planting seeds of love.

-by Pam Donkin


Pam Donkin is an award-winning songwriter, performer and recording artist on the Gentle Wind label. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area she presents workshops for babies (ages infant to age 12 mo) and their caregivers as well as family music programs ( children's ages 2-8) in the Bay Area and beyond.For further information go to www.pamdonkin.com

Teaching Artists' Organizations

Here's a great resource!

TEACHING ARTISTS’ ORGANIZATIONS

THE ASSOCIATION OF TEACHING ARTISTS
http://www.teachingartists.com/

Email list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/associationofteachingartists/
Contact: Dale Davis, Executive Director
ddavis@teachingartists.com

CALIFORNIA

San Francisco
Teaching Artists Organized
http://www.teachingartistsorganized.org/

Newsletter: Send email with "Please Subscribe Me" in subject heading
Contact: tao@teachingartistsorganized.org

CHICAGO
Chicago Teaching Artists’ Collective
http://www.chicagoteachingartists.org/

Email list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teachingartist/
Contact: chicagoteachingartists@gmail.com

NEW ENGLAND
New England Consortium of Artist Educator Professionals
http://www.artisteducators.org/necap_about.htm

Email list: NECAP-on@mail-list.com
Contact: Frumie Selchen, Director, Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire ArtsAllianceNNH@cs.com

Educator Workshops

Did you know that many children's performers offer educator workshops? Well, they do! Many of the artists listed on this Blog are not only performers, but experts in the field of music education. Do you need an in-service, on-site training, workshop or a keynote at an educator conference? Look no further. Children's performers are often bilingual in entertainment and education!

Summer Reading Program

Summer Reading Programs across the US are underway and many libraries hire children's musicians to entertain the children. This is a great opportunity for you to check out children's musicians for possible bookings at your venue; it's the best free showcase of talent around!

Check with the library in your area about the schedule of events this summer and support libraries and musicians at the same time by signing up for the free summer reading program and participating in the fun activities for you and your family!

The theme this year for many libraries is Be Creative @ the Library: READ.

Now rock on down to the library!

Great Dates for Booking Children's Performers

Need a reason to celebrate? Here are some great dates to book children's performers at your venue:

Read Across America Day is March 2, 2009; the event is always held on or near Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

Celebration of the Young Child is April 20-24, 2009

Children’s Book Week is May 11-17, 2009


Call a children's performer today to add a little more fun to the party!

Blog Testimonial

Dear Johnette,

Thank you! We have already enjoyed your resource by using your notes on school study guides to help us do a better job with that.

Take care,
Monica
Banana Slug String Band

http://www.bananaslugstringband.com/


Thanks cool Slugs! Keep up the great work!!

Alphabet Soup Assembly Poll

The results of the Alphabet Soup Assembly Poll are in! Visitors were asked, "If assemblies where alphabet soup, which top three ingredients you would add?" The top three answers were 1) laughter 2) participation 3) movement.

There you have it!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll!

Study Guides for School Shows

By Johnette Downing


Study guides are an important element in your school booking confirmation packet. Study guides assist administrators, teachers and students in preparing for your upcoming performance by giving them useful information about you, your program and how your program fits into the curriculum. Below is a brief outline of the information you should address when creating your study guides:

A. About the Artist

A brief artist bio that indicates something about you, your art form, your accomplishments, and your experience.

B. About the Program

A brief overview indicating the theme, style, age range, length and content of your program. You may expand this section by adding the history of your art form or the particular style within your art form that you will be presenting. For instance, if you are performing a jazz program, you may want to make a statement about the history of jazz and why you have chosen to present this style of music.

C. Curriculum Connections

Indicate how your program makes curriculum connections in the areas of math, science, art, history, music, English, social studies, dance, etc. For instance, a jazz program may make curriculum connections in social studies, history and music.

D. Enrichment Activities

Include simple activities and ideas that the teachers and students can use before and after your program to enhance their understanding of your program and your art form.

E. Resources

Provide teachers with a resource list of books, audios, videos, articles, and websites for further information.

If you make your study guides simple, user friendly, fun and informative, you will increase its usefulness. Teachers have very little time to pour through pages of text or to use activities that require lots of time, materials and energy. The study guides should be on one sheet of paper (if necessary, back and forth) and the activities should be easily accomplished within a few minutes or by using readily available school supplies, books and materials. You can always provide in-depth information or expanded activities by including yourself as a resource on your resource list. The goal of a study guide is to enhance the learning experience about your program and your art form for the children and faculty.

The key is simple, user-friendly, fun and informative.




Copyright 2002 Johnette Downing
www.johnettedowning.com

Themed Shows

Hey Venues!

Did you know that most children's musicians offer shows according to themes such as animals, multi-cultural, holidays, transportation, self-esteem, drug awareness, environment, bugs, marine life, literacy, music history, history, seasons, special needs, character building, etc.? Well, we do! When hiring a musician for your special event, inquire as to whether or not the musician has a show to harmonize with the theme of the event. If the musician does not already have a show to suit the event theme, they may be willing to tailor their show to include songs that do match the theme. Musicians usually have a huge repertoire of songs and can often create a show tailor made for you! The musician will often be happy to do it so give it a try!

Funding for Performances

Venues are often surprised to discover that professional children's musicians do not work for free and charge a respectable fee for their work. Children's musicians are contacted weekly to volunteer their time to perform benefit concerts for worthy causes. While children's musicians are some of the most kind-hearted and worthy-cause-oriented people around, the volume of these calls makes it impossible to accept them all, if any depending upon whether the musician makes his or her sole living from music.

Venues should expect to pay a fee beginning around $200 and going up into the thousands depending upon the experience, reputation, region and needs of the musician. In addition to a performance fee, musicians may also charge for travel, lodging, rental car, excess baggage fees for flights and per diem based on travel distance.

Keeping this in mind, there is help available. If the musician's fee is more than your budget, before asking the musician to volunteer or reduce his or her fee, consider several funding options.

1) Grants from city, county, state or federal agencies, arts councils and organizations.

2) Sponsorships from large corporations, local businesses, individual, hospitals and civic organizations. Usually sponsors will fund music programs in exchange for advertisement.

3) Parent-teacher organizations. Many schools have PTO's that have funds to pay for special programming for children.

4) "Friends" Organizations. Many libraries and non-profit foundations have "Friends of the Library" or "Friends of the Museum" organizations that raise money to fund special programming.

5) Fund-raisers or Raffles. Many schools and venues have fund-raisers to pay for special programs. Some venues raffle off the musician's CDs, books, DVDs or collections to partially or fully fund the performance.

6) Donations. One or more individuals and organizations may make a donation to the venue or the musician to fund the performance.

7) In-school field trips. With the cost of fuel and bus insurance, many schools have adopted in-school field trips. Like off-site field trips, on-site field trips are student funded through a nominal fee per student (often as little as $0.50 to $1 per child).

8) Patrons are individuals or groups that support arts programs and use the expense for the program as a tax deduction.

9) Cover charge. Many venues and musicians work together to share a percentage of the admission fee charged at the door of the venue. Usually an agreed upon amount of money is “guaranteed” to the musician as a base before any amount is collected at the door. If the cover charge collected exceeds the guarantee, the shared percentage applies to the excess funds. If the cover charge collected does not exceed the guarantee, only the guarantee applies to the musician.


Bringing the joy of music to children is worth the effort of finding the right funding source for your venue. There is ample funding available for programming. It just may take a little extra step to find it. The key is building a musician/venue relationship and working together to brainstorm ideas and make a plan of action to make the performance a huge success for everyone.



-Johnette Downing
Copyright 2003 & 2008 Johnette Downing

Preparing For A Performance

You have hired a children's musician for your venue. What next? It is time to prepare the venue and audience for the performance. Here are some items to consider:

Weeks prior to the performance:

1) Inform the staff and child audience that the musician is coming (date, time, purpose of visit, etc.).
2) Publicize the event with flyers and photographs. Many musicians have Media Kits for publicity purposes. This kit may include a press release, publicity flyer, photograph and sample songs or video clips.
3) Invite the local media to cover the event. The media is often looking for "good news" photos and articles to put in the paper, on the radio or on TV. The media is your friend!
4) Ask for artist study guides if available. Copy and distribute the guides to staff and audience. Study guides offer pertinent information about the artist, their work and how the scheduled performance relates to curriculum.
5) Ask for order forms for the musician's products (DVDs, CDs, videos, books and merchandise). Many venues pre-order musician's products and use them prior to the performance in order that the child audience may become familiar with the musician's work.
6) Contact the musician a week prior to the performance to re-confirm and go over final details.
7) Discuss audience etiquette and behavior expectations with venue staff and child audience.

Day of the performance:

1) Make sure the performance space is clean and clear of debris and furniture.
2) Make sure the musician has total access to the space 30-60 minutes prior to the performance to set up equipment and sound check.
3) Reserve a parking space nearest the performance location for easy loading of equipment. Ramp access is preferred.
4) Make sure the musician has access to an electrical outlet.
5) Be available or assign someone to direct the musician to the performance space.
6) Discuss the best seating arrangement with the musician for optimum audience viewing and enjoyment. Be flexible. The musician knows their show best and often has a preferred seating arrangement in mind.
7) Provide a sales table for musician's products and assign a person to staff the table during the performance if possible.
8) Allow ample time prior to the performance to assemble the children in the performance space.
9) Begin the performance on time.
10) Introduce the musician to the audience.
11) Remind staff and audience about audience etiquette and behavioral expectations.
12) Assist with audience management and audience etiquette during the show if necessary.
13) Enjoy the show.
14) Assist with audience dismissal.
15) Confer with the musician after the performance to brainstorm ways to make the next event even better.
16) Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!


-Johnette Downing
Copyright 2003 Johnette Downing

Performing Biz

Hey Musicians!

Do you need a little help with the performing biz? Well look no further! Check out Jeri Goldstein's Performing Biz.com at http://performingbiz.com/. Her book, workshops, seminars, consultations, retreats and weekly hot tips guide musicians step by step into booking and managing their own careers with ease. Also check out her contracts and forms resource which helps organize and simplify the day to day paperwork of running your own music business. Your clients will love you and applaud your business savvy!

Booking Summer Shows!

Add a little spice to your summer camp, summer reading program or special event with a performance by a children's musician. Summer is a busy time for children's musicians so contact them early to reserve that special date for your summer event!

Here is a helpful hint to make the summer performance go as well as possible; book the event indoors or under a pavilion if outdoors. The audience and the performer will thank you!

How To Hire A Children's Musician

You have a great event and you want to hire a children's musician. Where do you find children's musicians? Well, here for starters! How do you hire a children's musician? Here are some things you should do to hire a children's musician:

1) Ask friends, coworkers, venues and other musicians for recommendations.
2) Visit the musician's website.
a) Listen to sound clips and/or videos on the website, if available.
b) Read reviews.
c) View program offerings.
d) Review performance history.
e) Check for awards.
f) View the musician's calendar for availablity and a list of venues who have already hired the musician.
3) A musician's website should give you all the information you need to make a hiring decision. If not, you can ask for a promotional packet and demo audio or video.
4) Attend a concert by the musician.
5) Contact the musician via email or phone, or both.

To make the hiring process easy, here are some things musicians will need to know when you contact them. This information will help them determine an accurate fee for your event.

1) The date of the event.
2) The time of the event.
3) The budget for the event. Remember, when hiring a musician, the performance fee may also include mileage, per diem, lodging and airfare.
4) The location of the event; actual address, the actual space or room the performance will take place in, and if the event is indoors or outdoors.
5) The size of the audience.
6) The age of the audience.
7) If a professional sound system is provided or if the musician needs to provide their own equipment.
8) Your contact information including name, organization name, address, phone, fax, cell phone, email and website (if any).
9) Theme of the event, if any. Many children's musicians have various programs to offer and can often tailor their performance to suit your theme.
10) Map or directions to the event.

Once you have booked the musician, here is what you should expect to receive from them to confirm the event:

1) Booking Confirmation letter and/or contract.
2) Invoice.
3) W9 Form for taxes
4) Publicity pieces (photos, flyers, press release, etc.). Some of these promotional pieces may be downloadable from the musician's website already.

I hope this information is useful to help you and the musician you hire have a pleasant booking experience so that the performance for your venue can be outstanding!

- Johnette Downing

Welcome!

Welcome to Children's Musicians By State resource blog. I hope you find it useful in locating musicians who perform for children in and around your area.