Youth Talent Show

A little over a month ago I was at a local library reading the community announcement board to see if there was anything interesting happening. I saw one flyer announcing an upcoming talent show – auditions were now being held. I thought that this would be an opportunity to play one or two songs on my guitar so I went to find out more information.

I soon found out that the talent show was for young children but the librarian still thought that there would be a place for me to participate. She asked if I would be the opening performance, since I did have a little experience playing in front of people she thought that I could ‘warm up the crowd’ and break any nervous tension in the room. Of course, I agreed!

A few weeks later I arrived at the library with a few minutes to spare before we started. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of youngsters and parents that had made this event apart of their Saturday afternoon.

I had asked the librarian to use my camera to record the two songs I was going to sing, so I don’t have any photographs from my performance. I do hope to have this recording edited for another upload to my youtube account in the next few weeks… so stay tuned for that upcoming blog and link!!!

It was a really fun time listening to and watching all these young performers…

Many of the girls that sang did so with their best friend. I imagine that they had spent lots of time rehearsing in their bedrooms using hairbrushes as microphones – LOL!


Some of the young girls preferred to sing solo. Not only did they sing, but a few of them had some small dance moves to share with the audience, as well.


It was really great to see the parents in the audience getting into the performances. On several occasions we would all join in with the music to clap and sing. This always made the performers smile – it made them feel like a superstar!!!


Although there were a lot of young boys in the audience, only one had joined this talent show. He entertained us with his piano playing and we realized later that this was a bit of a struggle for him since he had just had a cast removed from his one hand, only a few days before.


There were other piano performances, as well. Every participant gave 110% and we all enjoyed this event!

It was impossible for me to get a photo of this young girl playing her flute. By the time I had gotten into position and raised my camera – which took me about twenty seconds – her song was over! Many other parents felt the same way – no one had their camera ready in such a short time – and we all cheered and asked her to play another song. She told us that that song was all that she knew, so we asked her to play it again. She smiled and shook her head ‘No!’ and rushed off the stage before we could see her bright red blushing face.


While most girls sang songs for us, one youngster just wanted to dance. During her performance, I imagined her and her mom dancing in their living room. Her mom obviously loved to line-dance to country music and she had spent a lot of time teaching these dance steps to her daughter.


At the end of the talent show the librarian had decided to give each of the performers a few small tokens of appreciation. I had brought lots of my peace Stik-ers to give away, as well as two artprints and one special T-shirt that I had designed and made for the students who ride my bus to school.


Then it was time for a group photo. Of course, for one of the photos, I had all the children hold their hands out in a peace sign and say ‘Peeeaaaccccee’ while the photo was being taken.

There are so many interesting and inspiring events happening in our communities everyday. I find a lot of my enjoyment comes from attending and occasionally participating in some of these gatherings. It’s a great way to meet new people to share inspiration and feelings of joy!

Jim