They must have thought we were insane. The waiters of the Holiday Inn in Albany were serving dinner to a conference group, when all of a sudden one of the attendees stood up and asked everyone to raise their spoons. The fact that we all obeyed may have been strange enough, but then we started to sing a song about good manners, passing our spoons around the tables. This wasn't just any conference, though - this was the Children's Music Network. And we've never been big on the sitting quietly.
Of course, the spoon game happened on Saturday night, so they had probably grown accustomed to us. We opened on Friday night, filling the ballroom with white bath poufs as we threw them around in a musical "snowball fight." We laughed and shouted over each other, desperately trying to introduce everyone in the room to everyone else. We sang in pairs and made a giant circle around the room. We were no ordinary, sedate business meeting, and we certainly were rejoicing in the fact, and in each other.
Saturday we moved upstairs. (To the SECOND FLOOR!) By the end of the first workshop, one of the conference rooms had one of the aforementioned bath poufs resting comfortably in a hanging light fixture. The situation was the result of a parachute game. Again, no ordinary meeting. After lunch brought a wonderful round robin, and afterwards came choice time. (You can tell we work with kids - I'm not sure what it was really called, but "choice time" it became in short order.) There was yoga, many of us rehearsed for the evening Round Robin, and towards the end a spontaneous circle of singing games evolved in the open area by the lunchroom.
A few of my young friends invited me to sit with them for dinner, where I took the chance to learn some new hand claps, and I taught a few of them to play the spoons (inspired by the aforementioned manners song). After dinner brought a fabulous and inspiring keynote from Kim and Reggie Harris, complete with a singalong, then the Round Robin. My own performance was early on the program, but by this point in the weekend I had already lost most of my voice. But boy, the kids made up for it! They were a huge hit! We went until after 1 pm - so late that half the lights went off on a timer in the middle of the show. But we had fun and everyone was wonderful.
On Sunday breakfast, something new - one of the waiters joined in a song! Everyone was so excited. The first workshop I went to on Sunday was singing games. We made circles and picked partners and did our best to coordinate our hands and feet. And I even learned a few new songs, and heard ones I'd only seen on paper. Really, you can't learn this stuff from books. Its charm happens only when the games are played. Preferably with a circle of people whose good natures make up for any sleep-deprived coordination shortcomings. The last workshop I attended was a preschool song swap. I led a few of my favorites, and learned some wonderful new songs. The weekend was just full of music, and I could hardly believe it was almost over.
The Magic Penny tribute was beautiful, and as always, the magic of Sarah Pirtle moved us all. We were late to lunch, but it was well worth it. I had to leave early, but oh, I wanted to stay! I'd made so many new friends and re-connected with old ones. I'd sung and danced and played and laughed and cried and it was way too short!! I can hardly wait for next year in Chicago.