An iconic kids entertainer swung by a local primary school recently to deliver some of his well-known catchy tunes to the kids and teachers.
Mt Evelyn Primary School kids got a special mid-week celebrity concert this week when beloved Australian Children’s singer Peter Combe dropped in to perform at the school.
Combe has visited Mt Evelyn Primary for the second time now and the school was thrilled to have him. Performing arts teacher at the school and long-time fan of Combe, Jayne Setford said the concert on Wednesday on 21 May was fantastic and the kids had a ball.
“It was great seeing the kids so excited – they were so happy,” she said.
Combe said the Mt Evelyn kids were a great audience and were really engaged from the start.
“It’s always good when you come in and they’re really attentive in the first couple of songs – that’s a great start,” he said.
“My performing roots are from primary schools and back in 1983 I used to do masses of school concerts, and I still like doing them.”
With origins as a primary school teacher himself, Combe played a variety of his music for the kids, both old and new and entertained the kids with what he described as a little bit of “comic business” in between songs.
The ARIA-winning musical artist was visiting from South Australia and celebrating the launch of his most recent album ‘A Frog in My Cheese Sandwich’.
Stopping over at a few schools in Victoria to share his catchy tunes, he also performed some of his classics like ‘Wash your face in Orange Juice (Mr Clickety Cane)’ and ‘Spaghetti Bolognaise’ along with newer releases as well.
Ms Setford said that she loves using Combe’s songs with her students because they are catchy and imaginative.
“ So many of them have such deep visuals and imagination,” she said.
“The kids love it – and he has a lot of action songs, a lot of echoing songs.”
While releasing and performing regularly, to adults and children alike, Combe said the music production side of the business has slowed down somewhat, partly due to the work of finding new subjects to sing about.
“I feel I am going a bit slower – I’m writing less,” he said.
It wasn’t until six years ago that the renowned musician who’s written about just about everything from Italian cuisine to life choices involved in teeth brushing, wrote a song about dinosaurs.
“I got this urge to do it. One of my granddaughters said she’d love to have a song about dinosaurs,” he said.
In recent years, the musician has performed to his now grown-up fans in places like the Adelaide Fringe or the Spiegeltent in Western Australia, using classics like ‘It’s so hot today’.
“I start my fringe shows with that very song, because you get out in Perth and it’s actually 40 odd degrees outside,” he said.
“So you come on stage and you simply go, it’s so hot today, and the audience sort of packs up laughing.”
The kids all enjoyed the afternoon, and Ms Setford said they would love to have him back again.
“Music is fun. That is my whole teaching – you teach all the concepts in a fun way,” she said.
“Peter Combe very much reflects that.”
