I had the great pleasure of performing for two groups of kids at an early learning centre this morning. The kids, kindergarten age and younger, love the music and have a chance to play along. I bring a variety of percussion instruments along, from my big old bass drum to tamborines and shakers and guiros and washboards and castonets. Always, there are a few kids who have a real feel for the music and a great natural sense of rhythm. There was one boy today who did a great job on the bass drum and on the washboard, and one little girl started a whole group of kids dancing.

I play folk music from all kinds of different cultures, from hornpipes to polkas, a couple corridinhos, a waltz or two and even a Basque tune. Strangely enough, they all seem to fit together just fine coming from my accordion. Today I played my Guerrini triple row diatonic button accordion. It is a three voice instrument which gives me quite a variety of sound to mess around with.

Sometimes, with all those kids playing percussion (and various rhythms going on at once), it’s a challenge to concentrate on getting the tune out right, but that’s part of the fun. A big thanks go out to  my blog pal Radmila for arranging things.