Friday, March 31, 2006

Iiiiiiiit's Official!

Yep. According to the Portland Children's Museum, I, Skye, am a
musician.
Whew! All this time I thought I was pretending. But now I really am. In fact, my credentials as a musician are sufficient that I was the guest musician of honor on Friday for their special "Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood" exhibit (you know, the song from Sesame Street). Apparently they think we have musicians in our neighborhoods. (Isn't there a government registry for that or something? Conscientious parents might want to know.)

I went to talk to the kids about what a musician does and what it's like to be a musician. Answer: mostly I sit at a desk just like every other boring job. Maybe 5-10% of my work time is spent playing music. But that's a boring answer, so it's not what I told the wee ones. In fact, it's a boring topic if you're three years old, so I spent about 60 seconds on it before I moved on to the discussion of "who wants to play an instrument?!" and passed out little shakers and tambourines n' stuff. I did try asking them what they think a musician does. They raised their little hands high and gave me answers like, "They pull rabbits out of hats!" "They do magic tricks!" "I saw a firetruck!" (I gather from these answers that kids a) cannot distinguish between a MAGIcian and a MUSIcian, and b) do not distinguish between what happened earlier today and the topic at hand).

Anyway... I'm pleased to be recognized by the museum for what I truly am. My name badge proves it. And if you think I photoshopped the name badge, YOU'RE WRONG! It's real. I swear! I even have it around here somewhere and I can show you! You gotta believe me, man....

1 comment:

Tamara said...

I've been having discussions with friends lately about artists. Are we not artists until others call us artists? Are we legitimate if our sort of artistry comes after our "real" jobs.
For instance:
lawyer/writer
journalist/actor
paralegal/musician

I mean, really. What's the deal with the slash? Someday I hope artists make enough so they don't have to have more than one identity.