Among the many Shelter Islanders doing their share to keep us all sane is Ari Brand. He conducts sing-alongs for children, and is offering them live on Instagram Monday to Friday at 11AM from his in-laws’ home here.
They’re intended for children up to age 5, but always include at least one song for the grownups. While they’re free to join, donations are welcome through Venmo.
Brand, 35, an actor and classically-trained musician, has been offering in-person sing-alongs in New York City for almost a decade.
“I’ll have a nice baby mosh pit on a weekly basis a couple of times a week,” he said.
The events, at locations like The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, drew regular customers. The wee fans would be accompanied by their parents or caregivers, who Brand said “would throw a couple of bucks in guitar case.”
Live on Instagram
When officials began to recommend social distancing, Brand said he sent out some feelers to his followers to find out if they’d be interested in participating in sing-alongs live on Instagram.
“We did one on Friday from our apartment in New York and it was a bigger success than I was expecting,” he said. “It has kind of caught on like wildfire.”
Instead of collecting cash donations in his guitar case, Brand is accepting them via Venmo (where he is @aribrand).
Brand plays a mix of songs, including classics that everyone knows like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” or a medley of “ABC, Baa-Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
While he misses interacting with the kids in person, Brand says he’s found a workaround. During a session, he keeps an eye on the comment stream, where parents/caregivers post about their children’s responses.
“I’ll see comments like ‘Sadie says hello’, or ‘Max is playing his red guitar’ or ‘Henry is showing you his smelly socks’,” Brand said, adding he’ll make up a song based on what he’s seeing. He’ll also do “some call and response to keep things interactive.”
“I’ll tell them to find something blue from their room, and then find something else blue. Now hold up the blue things. Now you have the blues,” he said.
Avoid ‘the vortex’ by passing time together
“I try to mark the time, and to mark each day so that it feels like we’re passing time together in a way that’s communal so that we don’t all go into a vortex of timelessness,” he said.
And, he always includes a song for the adults.
“We’ve got to do one for the grownups. Today we did ‘Lean on Me’,” he said. “And, I’m taking requests.”
Brand said fans drop in from around the world with guests commenting “Hi from Mexico” or “Hi from Israel”. For kids (and their parents/caregivers) who can’t tune in for the live event, Brand keeps the sing-along up on his feed until the next one begins.
About Ari Brand
Brand said he considers Shelter Island his second home. He’s been coming here since he met his wife of 15 years, Caitlin Petrie. They’re staying with their two young children at the Little Ram Island home of Ann Banks and Peter Petrie.
Brand’s father was a concert pianist and his mother a bassoonist. He was raised in Manhattan and attended Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights. All the while, “making music was a daily practice,” he says on his website.
Brand was a double major in theater and psychology at Wesleyan University. And, he spent a semester at the British American Drama Academy in London. He’s performed in theatrical productions around the country, and played the title role in the award-winning off-Broadway play “My Name is Asher Lev.”
“While establishing a career in theater, Ari has continued playing, teaching and writing music,” his website bio says. “His favorite avenue for this has become the sing-along.”
Here on Shelter Island, Brand said, “I’m the guy at the campfire that the guitar is passed to.”
As we ended our call, Brand reflected on the impact of the abrupt change away from our usual work and activities, and, despite the potential “vortex” offered a hopeful vision.
“I feel that a lot of people are opening up to new possibilities,” he said. “We are on the cusp of some great change. I hope for the better.”