What do I ask my guest musician when they visit our choir for our petting zoo?
Glad you asked.
Or maybe you are asking “What is this talk about a petting zoo? I thought this site was about a church children’s choir.”
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Well, a “petting zoo” is what I’m calling the time that I ask one of our church members to bring their instrument to our rehearsal to show it off and be interviewed about it. Just as kids get to get up-close-and-personal with animals in petting zoo at a farm, this is a time for kids to get up-close-and-personal with an instrument and a musician.
A few overarching tips for a successful petting zoo:
- Spread out the visitors so that it is more of a “treat” than an expectation. I am aiming to do one visitor every 2 months.
- Have your eyes out for people in your church that play an instrument but that are otherwise unconnected with the children or your children’s ministry programming.
- Ask the same questions of each visitor. This makes it easy on you to share the questions with the guest ahead of time so they know what to expect. It also will set expectations for the kids, which we all know that kids operate well and learn best when they know what to expect. See below for the questions I use.
- Let the kids ask questions.
- Remember, no instrument is too obscure. You could argue that the more obscure an instrument is, the better! Know a mandolin player? Know a harmonica player? Anyone play the didgeridoo? ?
- Encourage the guest to actually play something on the instrument. Even just a few notes. This is very important so the kids can start to associate a particular sound with a particular instrument.
- Try to record it to share with your choir families so the parents can get in on the conversation. We aren’t talking Hollywood here, folks. Just ask someone to hold your phone and video it and send it to the parents of the kids in the church. If the kids’ parents can continue discussing these instruments, it might lead to increased music and instrument appreciation in that home. Maybe a girl or boy is in music lessons and wanting to quit and that guest at choir rehearsal talked about the time they wanted to quit. Or perhaps the video will at least explain why their child came home saying they really, really, really want to get started taking cello lessons.
- If you run in to any kids before rehearsal who don’t come to your choir rehearsal for whatever reason, take the opportunity to let them know that you really would love to have them back and that there will be a really special visitor that day that they won’t want to miss.
Sample Interview Questions
- Please describe your instrument. Tell us about the parts, materials, etc. What makes it special?
- Tell us about how you started playing this instrument? How old were you? How did you learn? etc?
- What is your favorite thing about being a __________ (whatever sort of musician they are, violinist, pianist, banjo picker, drummer, etc)?
- What is the most frustrating experience that you’ve had with your instrument and how did you overcome that challenge?
- How have you been able to use your instrument to bring glory to God and serve God?
What questions would you add to this list for your choir? Come to our Simply Joyful Noises Facebook Group and tell us there.
Who in your church can you ask to be your first petting zoo participant? And who can be second?
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