When my father-in-law asked Riley if he would play for his Great-Granny at her 80th birthday party, Riley didn't miss a beat, "That's fine," he assented confidently. But the morning of the party, he realized that he would be up in front of more than 300 people; when Poppa came back to get him, Riley's eyes were as big as saucers. I quickly suggested that Jake could go up there with him. Riley visibly relaxed, picked up his mandolin, and the three generations walked up to the front of the crowd.
Riley played three songs: Bach's "Bourrée in E minor", "Cripplecreek", and "Walk Don't Run." Classical, bluegrass, and surf-guitar. The boy showed his musical chops and definitely impressed some folks, not just with his ability, but with his composure. The only thing I can think, because he has never performed in front of that many people, is that he is so absorbed in his music that it really was just a case of "a boy and his mandolin." He didn't even see the 300 plus people.
And an added bonus to his performance, photographs, and Facebook: someone saw this photo who wrote in that that looked like her mandolin that she had given to Isaac years ago. I wrote her back and confirmed, yep, Isaac gave it to Riley. It's neat to know the history of the instrument.
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