Susan Reed Entertains Granby Kids

“Hello, Hello, How’d you do, How’d you do,” sang Susan Reed as an introduction to an audience of pre-schoolers and adults on Sunday at The First Congregational Church in Granby.

Reed, who lives in Boston, Mass., has made a career as a singer, folk musician, and storyteller and she's been doing it for many years.  She started out as a classical violinist and then admits after having kids, things changed.

"I realized that late night evening performances coupled with the early morning demands of parenthood was not cutting it," Reed said.

Striving for a better fit, she started using her knowledge as a mom to write songs and tell stories to young kids.

“You can track my life with my music," Reed said.  "It’s totally real life and it represents my kids and what’s going on in their lives at the time."

The Valley Pre-School and the Granby Education Foundation teamed up to have Reed entertain Granby's youth.

“I noticed there were a lot of venues for older kids community-wide, but not so much for the young, and that is why we asked Susan to entertain us today,” Valley Pre-School teacher Nannie Brown said.

Reed introduced the crowd to the three instruments showcased at the front of the room - a banjo, guitar and dulcimer.  As she played the dulcimer she asked the kids to play along by “winding the bobbin up” as fast as they could with their hands.  

Many tiny hands motioned the winding action of a bobbin as Reed sang “Wind the bobbin up, wind the bobbin up, pull, pull, clap, clap, clap.”  Much laughter, singing and clapping could be heard as Reed literally wound them up.

“I would like to do a silly song now, but I don’t know if you like silly songs?” Reed asked.

Enthusiastically, the crowd cheered and as she asked for volunteers to name an animal and something silly that the animal could do. A small sea of hands appeared.

Flying alligators, a penguin jumping rope and a hippo roller-skating were all suggestions that Reed used in her silly song. 

Paola Maroney and her children, Maeve 3, and Sean,  2, were enjoying the music at Sunday’s concert.

“I thought she was wonderful, she definitely connected to the children and the parents,” Paola  stated.

 “It was funny and I liked the way the lady sounds,” Griffin Fairchild 6, happily reported.

For Reed, singing her songs is a family affair.  All three of her kids, ranging from 12 to 15 are her back -up singers and musicians in her latest CDs.  Nationwide, Reed can be found playing, singing, and storytelling with an orchestra  on stage and writing award winning books.  She also was the founder of the Ogontz Suzuki Institute in New Hampshire.