Baby Love Music Fun in China Concert Tour - Week 2
Concert 1 -Shijiazhuang June 25
Concert number one in Shijiazhuang went so well. We had around 700 families come along and the team of directors and producers from CCTV were really happy with the end result. In the concert we had 4 cameras capturing all the action. Can't wait to see the finished product and how it all gets edited together. It's going to look so fantastic. As you can see from the images captured on smartphone the giant LED background scenes really enhance the story and add colour and fun to the whole concert.
In China no expense is spared in giving their children experiences. Kids and families arrive to this concert and get to walk the red carpet. Look at the joy in this little girl's face. She also gets to participate in the concert with her parents. A lifelong bonding memory right there!
Week 2 - Beijing
Week 2 of our concert tour was in Beijing. There are now five centres running BLMF in Beijing and we got to visit them all as each of the five acts of our musical had teachers and parents from each of the five centres so this was also a great way to see the centres and how the teachers and parents are receiving the
At the first centre I discovered this new expert poster which is in all the centres now. There's my blond head in amongst all of the other experts...the expert of the music development program. Proud to see them promoting Baby Love Music Fun and me as the Founder in all centres.
The rehearsal for me this week has focussed on how to create more interaction moments for the audiences. We want them to stay really involved and engaged and there are some clever ways in which we are going to get them more involved. I'll be using a lot of non-verbal gesture which I always do in music classes anyway even with english and a few key chinese words like Shizi (Lion) for Lion sleeps tonight.
We'll be using blow up batons for the audience to conduct some of the classical music with me like Trish Trash Polka - to which GymAngel has now set Chinese words about being in the Sydney opera house. We'll be using GymAngel instructors throughout the audience helping the audience to engage with key moments and interaction from their seats and even sometimes to get up an dance.
Interview for CCTV - Science and Education Channel
Through the week I also managed to squeeze in a four hour interview shoot for CCTV with Head of Training for Gym Angel, Claire. I know Claire well - she and Xuhong were the 2 directors who came to Australia back in 2015 to meet me and observe my program. I was delighted to see she was now 7 months pregnant wit her first baby.
The Chinese know how to make stuff happen. At 9am makeup crew arrived at my hotel room. They were followed by 4 burly chinese guys (camera, sound crew) who packed up my bed and moved it outside into the hallway.
The questions were brilliant and as I have now come to expect from GymAngel the focus is always on the benefits of the program to child development and how parents can get the most from our classes and I just loved talking about BLMF and the benefits and science behind child development and music. The four hours passed so quickly - I guess when you are doing something you love it's never hardwork.
The great news is I'll be getting a copy of this which I will also be able to use to promote the value of our program in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Concert Number 2 - Beijing July 3
The concert in Beijing was on July 3rd at 4pm. The theatre was beautiful (check it out in photo) and large enough to house 1000's of people. I was excited to see the state of the art equipment and felt that the team from CCTV were really keen to make this concert the biggest and best of the 3 concerts we were doing. It was also important because being the capital - if Beiingers loved it then we knew we were onto a winning formula for our ongoing concert relationship.
The rehearsals went late the night mainly plotting lights and stage positions. This theatre had all the technical settings to really enhance the look of the show. Watching the final product now on video it was worth it - it looks magnificent.
The second concert was a huge success. We had 1000 families attending from the stage looking out the three tiers of the theatre looked full and the audience was extremely responsive and excited. The concert ended and 1000 families were chanting "Mel, Mel Mel". I was starting to get a taste of maybe they were right in saying they could make me a star in China...maybe they were right!
After the concert stayed on stage for 30 minutes with families lining up to have a photo with me. Blown away!
Can't wait for the next concert - July 9 in Chengdu.
Here's a video snippets of the Beijing concert.
