By GABRIELLE SHIOZAWA
Moapa Valley Progress
Children and parents flocked to the Moapa Valley Library on Friday for a highly anticipated performance: Jim Gill, the beloved children’s author and musician, had finally come to town.
The kids thought they knew what to expect. They’d heard plenty of his music during other Summer Reading Program activities over the course of the summer, and they were already familiar with his upbeat voice.
But this was no regular concert—this was a Jim Gill concert!
“I don’t really do a show,” Gill admitted to the audience. “I play games!”
Gill started out with “Tempo Marches On,” a fun, interactive song that gets faster with every verse. Next, “B-A-N-J-O,” an updated variation of “B-I-N-G-O,” invited the audience to play imaginary guitars, drums, and pianos.
Gill was intent on getting everyone involved, encouraging parents and grandparents to join their children in acting, singing, and playing. “If everybody sings and dances along, we’ll have a fun time!” he said.
Everybody was on their feet for “Jump Up, Turn Around,” following along with Gill’s expressive movements. They stayed on their feet for “Spin Around,” laughing and growing dizzier as the song went on.
The audience returned to the floor for “Knuckles Knees,” a memory game akin to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”
“You know those hand games? Like ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider?’” Jim joked. “Well, mine are better!”
Truly, they were. The first hand game was “Beethoven’s Five Finger Play,” featuring silly rhyming instructions to the tunes of Beethoven’s dramatic Fifth Symphony. Next, in “One From The Left,” young participants practiced counting, adding their fingers together and bringing them out “to dance all night.”
After “I Took A Bath In A Washing Machine,” which was as funny and imaginative, Gill took a break from the games. Keeping in theme with the Summer Reading Program, Gill performed “A Soup Opera,” a picture book. The audience was given parts to sing, and Gill, along with a recording of sounds and voices, performed the rest. The tale, as described by Gill, is simply “a drama about a man and a bowl of soup.”
Before they could get to that, however, they had to warm up their voices. Jim led the audience in “Toe Leg Knee,” a variation of the classic “Do Re Mi” that was easier for the children to follow.
Following “A Soup Opera,” dancing and playing resumed with “Silly Dance Contest” and “Alabama, Mississippi.”
Jim Gill closed his show with “Stick to the Glue,” a variation of “Skip to My Lou.”
Gill’s performances are unique and lively, and he knows just how to get kids excited and involved. There’s a good reason for this: Gill studied child development at the Erikson Institute of Chicago with a special emphasis on the study of play.
“Each of Jim’s recordings and books is created as an opportunity for playful interactions between a child and a caring adult,” reads an official statement from Jim Gill, Inc.
Gill’s performances definitely fulfill their intention, and his visit to the Overton library was the perfect finale for this year’s Summer Reading Program.
