CONVERSATION
Meet ‘King of the Kids’ Tim Jackman, an actor and musician who stacks shelves by night and entertains the preschool masses by day … almost like a superhero in reverse! Interview by Natasha Higgins
After a night of stacking shelves at his local supermarket, Tim can be found realising his true passion for entertaining children. Tim has been entertaining children and adults alike for over a decade with his two alter egos – one a mad scientist with a paint-splattered lab coat and wild hairdo, and the other a red fairy with wings and a flower crown – and revels in the “mostly-joyful process of sharing music with wonderful little souls”. With his guitar, kazoo and rock ‘n’ roll rhymes, Tim brings music and rhythm to every audience. You’ll find him each week at ‘The Corner’ at the State Library of Queensland enthralling a large group of under-8s with his show ‘Hickory Dickory Rock!’, an all singing, all dancing, wild Woodstock-like ride of nursery rhymes. Tim has also performed for the children of the Woodford Folk Festival for more than ten years and is a regular at the Sydney Children’s Festival. He can also be found performing at children’s birthday parties and other events where little people gather.
into it – singing and dancing without a second thought. I don’t think I did that as a kid, and I don’t think many adults do it in our daily lives!
HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR HOME LIFE AND WORK LIFE? Well, the big money I pull in keeps my wife happy … but seriously(!), the ability to work some nights and some days actually makes for a flexible timetable, plus my dear old mum has babysat one day a week from the start; it’s allowed me to have Darcy at home with me two days a week until he went to kindy this year, which we’ll hopefully repeat with the little chap.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST LIFE-DEFINING MOMENT? I was in Sri Lanka about a year after the tsunami. As part of our travels we’d planned to visit an orphanage, where we played cricket (my religion!) and some music with the kids. To see these beautiful children radiate so much joy despite all they’d been through put my ‘First World Problems’ into perspective … forever.
Tim and his wife Deborah have two rambunctious boys: Darcy, 3½ years, and Felix, 5 months. You can just imagine the fun and laughter in their home each day!
WHAT GENERAL ADVICE HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU? “Slow down, you move too fast; You got to make the morning last
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WORKING IN CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT? In the late '90s I was performing at the old Cement
…” (I reckon there could be a song in that …)
Box theatre at Queensland Uni with a lovely group of regulars, and we were asked to stage a play for kids at the Woodford Folk Festival. We slogged through the 44-degree heat in full costume(!), then coincidentally, the Children’s Festival asked us back the next year as general roustabouts, and thus the Fairies of Woodford were born! We’d have two fairies on every shift walking around the Children’s Festival, making sure lost children/shoes/gumboot/ parents were returned to their rightful owners. It was a lovely gig, and I did it for 13 years, but then my own family began. Meanwhile, in early 2008, the State Library was outsourcing staff for ‘The Corner’, their dedicated space for under-8s, and a friend found me some work there, just interacting with the kids – building blocks and reading stories, that sort of thing. When the State Library decided to staff it themselves, I was rehired under the proviso that myself and six other ‘artsworkers’ all had a particular skill to share, so that there would be something happening in the space seven days a week. I’d been playing guitar for a couple of years at that point, so I said I’d sing nursery rhymes to the kids … and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since!
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR WORK? Just watching kids sing, dance and perform. I especially love the moment when I’m singing an old classic and see a toddler gaze up at their grandparent with a look of “How do you know this song, Nan?” There’s something fantastic in bridging three generations instantly … but that’s the meaning of folk music. ‘Folk’ is ‘volk’ – ‘people’ music.
WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT CHILDREN’S REACTION TO YOU? Sometimes a child walks in and just gets straight
WHAT PARENTING ADVICE HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU? “Let that boy boogie-woogie; It’s in him, and it got to come out.” (John Lee Hooker, I think)
HOW HAS HAVING CHILDREN CHANGED YOUR LIFE? I’m immeasurably stronger. I have banished my dependence on sanity, sleep and privacy.
WHAT LIFE MESSAGE DO YOU MOST WANT YOUR CHILDREN TO LEARN? Simple – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Also, Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata should be learned by rote; it’s like sunlight distilled into words … it makes for a calm, happy heart.
WHAT’S THE MOTTO YOU LIVE BY REGARDING YOUR FAMILY AND BEING A PARENT? A minute without laughter is a minute wasted. “It wasn’t me; it was the dog!” is also handy.
DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER ‘WORDS OF WISDOM’ TO SHARE? Read to your kids from as young as possible; Google Mem Fox’s Reading Commandments for tips, but just READ - everything flows from that. Children have a fundamental learning advantage if they are literate, because if you have the words, you can ask the questions. Last, but not least – MUSIC! Step 1: Buy a $25 dollar ukulele plus tuner (ask the salesperson to put a strap on the uke). Step 2: Buy the beginner-book by Aussie ukulele guru Mike Jackson and put the stickers on the uke as instructed. Step 3: Strum the THREE CHORDS YOU HAVE JUST INSTANTLY LEARNED! Step 4: Play the various songs in your book to your child. Step 5: Hand the uke to your child and watch them love it: “Mum/Dad play it, therefore it’s normal, therefore I’ll play it, too!” Step 6: Sit back and think, “Wow … if I’d been given a uke at the age of 2, I’d be the best guitarist in the world right now!” Step 7: Smile.
To find out more about Tim and hear some of his music, visit www.kingofthekids.com.au. 36
Kids on the Coast – NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2014
www.kidsonthecoast.com.au