Interview with New York Based Children's Musician Patricia Shih, Part 3/4

5. What has been your biggest flop as a children’s musician?

As an artist your only real judge (besides yourself) is your audience.  They determine whether or not something you are doing works for them.  I've had songs and concerts which are received less well than others.  Kids in particular are so honest in their feedback.  When that happens I try to look at what didn't work so well, then see how I can tweak it to improve.  I don't really call them "flops;" I see them as opportunities to make my work better.

6. What are some of your sources of inspiration (other than the kids)?

My whole approach to children's and family music is to try to open young ears, hearts and minds to the wider world around them.  Lyric content is key to me.  My work is not just to entertain but also to educate and enlighten children.  So I try to expose them to big issues and ideas like multiculturalism and differences, nonviolence, social justice, the environment, hunger, literacy, dealing with bullies, gratitude and so on.  It's why my shows are called "Big Ideas!"  I am motivated and inspired by these ideas and my mission is to try to move this hard old world forward, a millimeter at a time through the future, through children and their potential.  I want them to realize the power they have -- we all have -- as individuals and as a community.  Which is why I love to do multi-generational family shows as well as school assemblies.  There's a subtly different dynamic between the two kinds of audiences.  In the latter the educational, curriculum-enhancing component is what's important.  In the former, it's important that families are digging the music and ideas together, because everything starts in the family.  It's wildly important that families have fun and build memories together, maybe use the songs as points of departure for discussion at home.  Parents are, of course, the first teachers.

7. Where do your song ideas come from?

As I said, they almost always start with an idea, an issue; what do I want kids to know?  What are they feeling about something, and how can I open them up to new ideas, thoughts and feelings?  Can I be a guide through new terrain for them?  Can I give them information and tools to use while growing up?  Music makes ideas enticing and exciting and fun.

Of course one never knows where the muse comes from, really.  It's not all intellectual of course.  It's a truism that many times songwriters feel like they are just vehicles through which a song that was formed elsewhere, flows.  Sometimes really great songs just "write themselves."  It's times like those that you feel like someone just handed you a really special gift and your job is to just capture and shape it in some sort of tangible form, and then release it and pass it on so it can live in the world.  Like kids.

And because I love all kinds of music, I write in rock, folk, classical, Broadway, jazz, country and more.  I think it's important to broaden kids' horizons, not only through ideas but through different genres and cultures musically.


Please visit www.patriciashih.com for more about Patricia and her music.