GoodTime Accordion Band at Bethany Village

Whenever we play for a senior center, we bring a lyric sheet so that the audience can sing along.  The tunes include Tennessee Waltz, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, Love Me Tender, You are My Sunshine, and other old favorites.  I usually lead the singing.  Today something unusual happened.  I usually sing the songs and expect that the audience will sing along.  But this group responded differently.  When I sang, they sat back and listened; passive observers of a reasonably entertaining show.  The songs they participated in the most were the songs that I didn't sing.  When it was just them singing they sang more loudly and enthusiastically.

The picture below shows the audience at the beginning.  They were waiting for lunch to be served and for us to start playing.  By the end of the show almost everyone was talking, smiling, and laughing.

We don't really feel like we've done our job until somebody gets up and dances.  This time it took us the entire show to make it happen.    We ended the show and were doing an encore performance of Beer Barrel Polka as they were walking out, when one couple finally started to dance.  It might have taken so long because it was a Ladies Luncheon and all the men were in the kitchen cooking and serving.  But Garrison Keillor would probably say it's because they were Lutheran.