Magic Music Days

Have you ever been sitting in the hot sun, shoulder to shoulder with sweaty strangers, watching ice cream work itself around your kid’s face and hoping that she won’t have to use the restroom…again?  If you answered "yes" then congratulations, you’ve waited for a daytime parade at a Disney park.

Perhaps then you will recall the collective sigh of relief issued from the crowd as the moment you were waiting for arrives, and in the front of the parade (by a very good distance) is something you didn’t expect, some high school marching band from Somewhere City, Whatever State, and at first you think, "my kid is going to freak out, where are the snowglobes?", but you notice that your kid has finished the ice cream, or perhaps it melted, and she is on her feet and squinting through the crowd and the heat to see this band from Somewhere, Whatever, because she is not aware that this band of smiling teenagers, nervous and ready to have a heatstroke, are not part of the usual festivities- they are loud and fun and marching where you told her the parade would be, so why in the world would she care if they aren’t listed in the program? She is having fun, and suddenly you realize that you are too, so you clap for those kids from Somewhere, and you smile at the sweaty stranger whose over-exaggerated hand-clapping causes him to bump into you ever few seconds. You forget about snowglobes and programs and you let go and you cheer, your voice joining thousands of other who have also found themselves experiencing Magic Music Days.

Offered to groups of young performers at both Disney World and the Disneyland Resort, Magic Music Days is not only a chance to perform in front of the worlds best audience, but also a collection of educational workshops and professional guidance for the disciplines of instrument, voice and dance, respectively.  Offered year-round, all you need to apply is a talented group of kids, a video camera and a whole lot of bake sales.

That being said, good luck to those of you that hope to experience Magic Music Days, and congratulations to those of you that have — especially the kid covered in ice cream.