Fallbrook musicians perform before Beaumont Elementary School assembly

Three Fallbrook musicians performed before approximately 100 schoolchildren at a December 8 assembly in the auditorium of Beaumont Elementary School.

Organizer Arlene Yates sang and played rhythm guitar while Teri Leigh played the keyboard and James East provided music from his bass guitar.

“It went very well,” Yates said. “The kids loved it. They’re real happy.”

The one-hour performance in Beaumont mixed some of Yates’ original songs with rock and roll classics. The performance consisted of approximately a dozen songs. “We just let the kids participate as much as they could,” Yates said. “It just basically was very colorful and upbeat.”

All of the students were from the school’s kindergarten classes. Yates as an individual had performed in one of the classrooms at the school last year, but this was her debut for any school auditorium performance. “It was exciting,” she said. “I wish I could have one a week.”

Yates was formerly in bands and has performed at other levels before relatively large audiences but had not previously performed at a school assembly or before such a large audience other than when she was with a band. East once played with Eric Clapton; his brother, Nathan East, is currently Clapton’s bass player. “I had a good band behind me,” Yates said. “They’re fabulous musicians.”

The trio did not have a drummer, so a drum machine was used instead.

The three musicians were joined by nine children with instruments and costumes. Those students were chosen by their kindergarten teachers, and they had been given copies of Yates’ compact disk of children’s songs so that they could familiarize themselves with those songs.

Yates began the concert with “Hello, My Friend,” which tells children how to say “hello” and “goodbye” in Spanish, Hawaiian, and Japanese. The act included costumes and even hula dancing. Yates had appropriate puppets for “My Dog Shadow” and for the bird-oriented song “Wings.”

All of the songs on Yates’ “Arlene for Children” CD are originals except “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Yates performed that song on the ukulele – after explaining the history of that Hawaiian instrument.

The rock and roll songs increased participation by the audience. “They were all laughing and clapping their hands and participating,” Yates said.

Yates enjoyed performing at the school. “I wish they’d have me regularly,” she said.