I spent last weekend working with the Young Carers project with Bath Phil for the second weekend of the project. We have one more weekend, this weekend, and then the performance right before the end of the program. I enjoy every weekend with them, and I feel like I am getting to know these kids more and getting to know more about music and the process that Bath Phil goes through in their education projects.
On Saturday, we came back to some of the songs from the weekend before to add to them. I spent a good amount of the day setting up for an art project that was at the end of the day. Before that, though, we were doing an art project and one of the kids pointed at a chair at her table, basically asking me to sit with her, which is the first time that something like that has happened for me with these kids. We then made art that was half one thing, and half another. For example, I was given the bottom half of a mushroom and I drew the top half as a house. But the project at the end of the day consisted of the kids filling balloons with glitter and confetti because they said that the storm they were performing rained confetti, glitter, and hope.
I gave myself a slightly sore thumb from using a shaped hole punch to punch balloon-shaped confetti from tissue paper for them to use. It is a pretty long process with not very much payoff, unless you’re using really good hole punches, I imagine. We then were putting balloons over funnels so it was easier for the kids, the result of which was kind of funny looking (see photo below). Personally, I think it looks like a field of light bulbs with red bottoms.
At the end of the day, the kids filled the balloons with the glitter and confetti. We also had helium tanks to blow up the balloons, but, as it turns out, depending on how much glitter and confetti you have in the balloon, it isn’t super likely to actually float. And of course, because it’s glitter, it got everywhere, and I mean everywhere. It didn’t help that at one point I was blowing up a balloon that had a lot of glitter in it, and it popped while I was blowing it up, covering me in glitter (see photo below, which was at the end of blowing all the balloons up). But the kids really enjoyed them, and they looked cool. I spent about an hour vacuuming afterwards and there was still definitely plenty of glitter left. And I have found glitter on places of my body like my arm and chest that were covered the entire time. And it’s in the shoes I was wearing. It’s truly inescapable.
On Sunday, we were more intensely working on the music, and one of the little girls, 7 years old, has basically decided that we were going to do everything together, so I’ve gotten more involved in the music, which I don’t mind. My favorite thing that she said was “Being quiet is boring.” The music is really coming together and I think it’s going to make a really great show. I’m really excited for this weekend and to see how everything comes together for the show. I’m also really thankful that I got to have the chance to do this, it’s been such a good time.
I Prefer Showers 