Rudolf Budginas, piano virtuoso from Lithuania, shares his thoughts about outreach concerts for children while on tour in the US and how kids are loving the classics.

Going on a year-long tour throughout the United States is every musician’s dream. The best part about the tour though is that every evening’s concert is preceded by a children’s outreach concert during the day. I do the outreach concert at no cost to the community because the fun I have and the impact I feel it makes on the kids in attendance is payment enough.

I am a classical pianist and I must say children are very suspicious of what they are about to hear. However, I quickly twist this image and catch their attention when they see me in my jeans, Converse sneakers and messed-up hair (because most of the time, it’s an early morning concert). My references to Taylor Swift or Lady GaGa in between Beethoven and Chopin build trust and when they hear Gershwin played with piano, a red jembe and harmonica, then classical music all of a sudden is really cool. By the end of the concert, kids know how to recognize the symphony form, who Franz Liszt and Bach are, and at the end they are all riled up!

The tour often takes me to small towns throughout the States where children have fewer opportunities to be exposed to live performances, especially of classical music. This makes for a very challenging audience for me because I need to find the key into the children’s interests, which often differ from town to town. Children in the southern part of the US listen to very different music than children on the west coast or in the heartland of America.

I have to be quick on my toes since I am in a different city every day and I don’t have much time to find the pulse of the particular town I am in. So I do it while on stage. I start the concert by talking with the kids and asking them questions. This is where I find out what they are interested in and I tie it in to the program. I am constantly fascinated by kids’ genuine remarks and curiosity; therefore, every concert makes me grow as an artist.

I have found the administrators and students are very respectful and excited about my visiting their school. They always make me feel welcome but the best part is seeing kids leaving the auditorium singing or drumming a beat on their knees. It is so exciting for me to be a part of their introduction to the arts, to evoke organic enthusiasm, to inspire an interest in music and to develop abstract thinking.

I have found, presented the right way, classical music is very much alive and kids are especially open to it. This type of concert provokes subconscious learning. The personal gratification I get from interaction with children is immeasurable.

I am currently on a year-long tour and photo-journaling the experience on my blog at www.rudolfpiano.blogspot.com.

Los Angeles concert: Tues., Jan. 5 at 7:30 pm at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 125 S. Hutchins St., Lodi; 310.937.6607; presented by South Bay Community Concerts.