
DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709300516

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

SINGER RECEIVES CHILDLIKE THRILL FROM PERFORMING FOR KIDS

LET'S HOPE David Grover got a good night's sleep Saturday. Because when he and his Big Bear Band take the stage this afternoon, it's sure to be an exhausting gig.

After all, it won't be a grown-up audience at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater. No, sir. It will be kids.

``There's certainly a different pace to kids' music, a bit of a nonstop pace,'' Grover said. ``Performances for adults build up gradually and flow on down to the end, where, hopefully, there will be requests for an encore. Grown-ups like to feel mellow by the time they leave.''

At least that's how it was when Grover toured with Arlo Guthrie.

But kids . . .

``For kids, you start off at a run and go faster and faster until they run out of steam, and when it's over they're kind of wrung out and so are we,'' Grover said.

Forget the encore.

David Grover and The Big Bear Band have garnered their share of the kid music market for several years now. They're well known for songs about friendship and compassion, folk tunes and lyrics with a message set to rock 'n' roll.

It all started back in Great Barrington, Mass., about 10 years ago. Grover had been lead guitarist and arranger for Guthrie and had played for all the big guys - John Denver, Willie Nelson, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald and Pete Seeger.

His little daughter, Jessica, got him interested in singing for children. Before long, his gigs on kids' night at a local Mexican restaurant outgrew the house.

The rest, as they say, is history. In 1989, the singer/songwriter created ``Grover's Corner,'' a nationally syndicated program on PBS, to teach children about music. In 1991 came a TV special about the festival of Hanukkah and honors and awards that included an Emmy nomination for Best Children and Youth Special.

Grover is 45 now and about to become a grandpa to daughter Jessica's first child. Kids are still his favorite audience.

``It's their kidness, their freshness, their ability to be entertained in a kidlike way,'' he said. ``They can be a tough audience. And kids can tell when you like them and they can figure out when you trust them to sing or trust them to listen.

``When we ask them to sing or invite them up on stage, you're trusting them to behave in a certain way.''

They usually do.

They also seem to like The Big Bear Band's musical messages.

``There's a natural thing that kids do that's hard-wired into human beings,'' Grover said. ``We kind of band together with like people with cliques and friends, people who band together and help us survive the ordeals of growing up. And the idea is to broaden that out - your clique can be anybody and anybody can be your friend.''

Grover also enjoys making sure kids hear old songs, songs that have formed a common thread through generations.

``Kids now sing Harry Chapin and Cat Stevens and that's cool,'' he said. ``But I've thrown out songs to kids like `Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,' and have kids not know it.

``We adults almost assume that kids know certain songs and we forget how kids learn them - like we did, driving around in the car on Sunday and learning them from our folks.

``I think there's a danger of seeing a whole bunch of songs like that that kids won't know. I think they're songs that kids at least ought to hear.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

CHARLIE ROTHSCHILD

David Grover & The Big Bear Band enjoy the fast pace of kids' music.

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

Who: David Grover and the Big Bear Band

When: 2 p.m. today

Where: Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, 1244 Thompkins Lane, Virginia

Beach

Tickets: $7

Call: 424-4327