Child Air. This is the name of the airline that I will establish soon. As you might guess, this airline is only for traveling children. No longer will children be allowed to fly with the adult population; their parents must purchase the little sweeties a ticket on Child Air. I'm still working out the logistics in my head, but where there's a will, there's a way!

I was thinking of this while boarding a flight from Hong Kong to Manila for an education conference. Across the aisle from me was a restless two year old boy. He was pulling the typical moves a child of his age would pull on an airplane--crying, trying to escape from his mother, drooling, etc. It was a two hour flight that I knew was going to seem much longer. I really don't blame the kid. Even adults don't like sitting still in a crammed airplane for two hours. He just wanted to walk around and explore the airplane.

About an hour into the flight, just as this boy's mother had no more tricks up her sleeve to quiet the child, and just as I was thinking about producing a makeshift parachute to escape, something wonderful happened........the mother started quietly singing the alphabet song. The boy quickly got quiet and and remained still. It was a great moment, that is, until the song ended. Oh NO!!!!!!! What next? Isn't it obvious? The wheels on the bus go round and round............ I felt like joining in on the song!

This came as I was flying to Manila to present a workshop on integrating music into the school community. It was a nice example of how music impacts all of us in different ways. Music can tame even the wildest two year old beasts.

I went to the Green Day concert last night at the Asia World Arena in Hong Kong. I know of the band and am familiar with a few of their songs, but do not follow them religiously. I ordered the tickets early and looked forward to experiencing the sights and sounds of a live rock concert. I sat stage left and had a side view of the band.

At times I experienced a sensory overload: loud and fast music, flashing lights, pyrotechnics, cheering crowd, clapping and waving, jumping. This is to be expected, of course. Looking out at the crowd and watching everyone dance looked "really cool." Looking at people dancing individually was another story. Let's just say that there were very few people eligible for the show "So You Think You Can Dance." I am definitely included in that group. The band did a great job of getting the audience to participate through call and response singing, clapping on the beat, and chanting "Hey" on the offbeats.

I wore ear plugs throughout the entire concert. It really allowed me to hear the instruments and voice clearly without the reverb from the venue. The band played well, but everything was in a 4 beat pattern. The band finally played in a 3 pattern for about 45 seconds at the end of the show. It was refreshing for the music teacher in me to hear something other than 4. The band used the typical show format of starting with new music and ending with some of their classic songs.

For a few moment during the concert, I looked out at the crowd enjoying the music and thought about how interesting it is to be living in this moment in human history with the advancements and technology in our grasp. Despite our busy and hectic lives, music can still bring thousands of people together for a common purpose. It's a beautiful thing.