Karaoke Forums

ok so if you ever get kids singing during your karaoke show, who (gender) and what was the song they sang?

had a young boy sing "uptown funk". kid didn't disappoint. he could carry a tune. almost immediately had the crowd going. the applause afterwards for him was loud. kid was beaming. kid acts for me are rare, so when i get one, i put 'em up without delay.

Kids and karaoke is a double edged sword. If your venue is an advertised family environment then you my not have much control. If it is a heavy drinking, loud, late night venue then I would say "no children allowed".

My shows are always early (7-10) and are filled with grandma/grandpa types. Several weeks ago (pre-back surgery) I had a 9 year old sing at my fill-in's show and she was quite good. The owner of the bar got a lot of negative feedback because he let a kid sing. The owner thought the kid sang quite well and was a very nice addition to the show.

What the owner didn't conceive was a possible onslaught of of children and a mass exodus of regulars who don't think children belong in a bar or think "isn't that cute". I have had a couple of kids in all my years of hosting and have always had negative feedback about their presence in spite of the high concentration of grandma types.

My conclusion is run a kiddie karaoke show or an all adult show but don't combine the two.

Both of my regular, weekly shows are at service clubs...

At the Thursday evening show kids must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and are allowed to stay until 9:00 pm, at which time they must leave. I always try to ensure they have the opportunity to sing at least once before their 'curfew'. We seldom have more than 1 or 2 kids attend a Thursday show. More often than not, there are none.

Saturday evenings, at the Moose Lodge, there are no time restrictions for children. They can stay as long as they're accompanied by a parent or guardian. In the four years I've been hosting there, we've never had more than two kids attend, and again, more often than not, there are none. We have a little girl, whom I've nick-named 'the princess', who's there with her father once a month. They each sing one song, and then leave.

Bottom line is... we've been really fortunate in that we've never had a problem with kids at either of our shows.

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

We used to do a "kids only" show at a sports bar every tuesday night. it was from 6to8pm and we seen our share of talented children. We also had a clown lady who would paint faces and make balloon animals, etc.

The reason we didnt keep the gig was that we became the daycare for the kids while mommy and daddy went and drank and socialized with friends. It got be very difficult with kids running around and screaming, etc. It lasted for almost a year and then we bailed. The gig was very stressful and the girl I had doing it, (a music teacher) said she couldn't do it anymore.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

The only kid problems I've encountered at shows are the mini-me prima donnas with the stage moms.

Most of the blame falls on the stage-parents but a couple of kids I've had at shows (and their parents) really need their silver spoons rigorously inserted in a location where sunlight does not dwell.

I have had some real standouts also. One young man came in off and on for two years and sang a lot of very well rendered high note female C\W. He disappeared for a year and then showed up one day and nailed a perfect rendition of Randy Travis - Three Wooden Crosses. He said he couldn't sing in public for quite awhile because his voice cracked so badly. Guess he got a double dose of puberty.

A young girl about 11/12 came up recently to sing with her mother and considering her mother was smoking at the same time the girl actually sang really well. It didn't seem to bother her.

I don't allow cigs or drinks at the mic or anywhere near my gear.

I have never had an issue as most people are careful by holding cigs against the the side of the mic as was the case here. I think the mother just wanted to take a drag between verses, the girl had a little bit of smoke blown over her while she was singing as she was standing the side of the cig but it didn't seem to bother her, she sang well regardless.

Except they take a huge drag and hold it in as long as they can and then expel it directly into the mic.

No thanks. I'd rather they drop their pants and (@$%&#!) on the microphone. Smells the same to the next singer and the (@$%&#!) wouldn't corrode the electronics as badly.

If they are that badly addicted to nicotine or alcohol that they can't make it through a four minute song without a hit then they can find another bar.

I usually don't have that problem as I purposely price myself out of smoking gigs.

I have always found that singers who smoke while singing do indeed take a drag but don't tend to hold it in long as they are then exhaling and singing the next verse and most of them sing with the mic a little below their mouths so the smoke goes accross in front of them rather than onto the mic.

I don't like children as a rule, so I generally avoid venues that cater to the kid/family crowd. However, there is one gig I attend that is held monthly in a country pub where accompanied children are welcome, and there is usually a young boy and girl present (aged about 8-11), I think they are offspring of some of the regulars from other gigs. I have to say both of them are as good as gold. The lad doesn't sing (at least I haven't seen him on stage) and usually stays at his table playing with his tablet. The little girl will get up and sing a song with gusto (she has vocal timbre and talent way beyond her years) and will blend into the background for the rest of the rotation.

The place that I have been hosting at (prior to my spinal fusion) is now advertising "Welcome to all ages young and old". I have been told that there have been several kids singing in the past 7 weeks that I have been gone, and add that to the pool table on the dance floor, it looks like they don't want karaoke anymore (at least by me).

I guess I'm a bit different in that I have two very popular nights at a chain restaurant, so age restrictions aren't really a thing there.

That being said, kids are something of a double-edged sword. In a family-friendly environment, the occasional child can be a cute novelty (and, quite frankly, I can appear endearing to the public when I fake being good with kids). I have a family that shows up where the kids span 11-24, and they're always good-natured, enthusiastic, and respectful, so I don't mind that. (Doesn't hurt that the 11-year-old is a prodigy and always earns the loudest applause of the night. When it was my birthday last summer, she sang me "Happy Birthday" in Italian.)

But then you get the divas -- the stage moms pushing their kids into something they don't really want to do just so they can post a video of them sobbing through "Let It Go" to Facebook. They irk me, and they invariably want me to push their songs ahead of everyone else's as though *I'm* responsible for their kids' bedtime. You also get kids who parents allow to sing very risqué material, and that gets uncomfortable if you let it.

Honestly, the biggest issue with all-ages gigs that I've seen is teenagers. They're autonomous enough to come out on their own, but without a chaperone there's no one to call them on their crap. (And, let's face it, we were all teenagers once -- teenagers are largely terrible.) They roll out in large numbers, clog walkways, and take up space in both the restaurant and the rotation without actually pulling in sales because they don't have jobs or the ability to drink. I prefer adult karaoke every time, but I'll take a flock of young kids over a rowdy gaggle of 16-year-olds any day of the week.

Yes I have seen unaccompanied teenagers at karaoke before usually around 15 to 18 years old. Most of them are OK because they can't drink, but I saw a group of about 8 to 9 teenage girls once, they took to the stage, some were smoking cigarettes while they were singing and they had to share mics because there wasn't enough to go round!

I'll take a crowd of Boomers over any other crowd especially drunk 20 somethin's!!!!!!..... children would second, then teens.

I have a "Family Karaoke" Show at my weekend place. My girlfriend runs it. We have been doing it for about 4 weeks, and it has taken off like a rocket. She is great with the kids. The show runs from 2:00 pm - 6:00 PM. Then I get there at 8:00 for the adult show.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE