Dubuque Residency Recap (3/15-3/26)

Number of Schools hit:
27 (in 10 school days!)

Miles driven:
523

Number of students entertained:
7240

Recap:
What a crazy week! This was quite the experience. Every day I woke up around 6am, quickly got ready, and packed the car. It was usually a 15 minute loading time because I was on the third floor. The car was filled with my marimba, four djembes, and lots of percussion accessories. I would usually perform three assemblies in one day, and would always have a board member with me making sure that I (the “artist”) had chairs and a microphone. They would often be on the phone calling the next location to prepare, because there was often very little time between performances. For example, we would have an 8:30 performance (that got over at 9:15), and then a 10:00 performance. So, it would all depend on how far the two sites were from each other.

It was a wonderful opportunity for me, and it gave me a chance to experiment with different elements in the show. For example, most of the time my assemblies are around 30 minutes, and I often perform two assemblies per school (to break up age ranges). This was not the case on this trip, as I would perform once for 45 minutes. So, I resolved to include more audience participation, and got more kids involved with the performing. I think that this made my assembly infinitely better.

I unfortunately was not able to record any of my performances, but I was able to post some photos. There will hopefully be more to come (taken by board members), so follow twitter to keep updated on that. I want to thank the Dubuque Arts Council for the opportunity, and I want to thank all of the schools for welcoming me.