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King
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LOL, you will do one of two things, either entertain them, in which case, 
or bore them to death, 
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This topic just brought up a curious thought!
Who was your first audience? Who was your favorite? And how did it go?
I've read interviews with other musicians who said it was there parents, pets, cousins, stuffed animals,et. What's everyone else's story? 
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
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Fiddlestix said
LOL, you will do one of two things, either entertain them, in which case,
LOL! In my case it's the second. My mom told me once: "It's so nice to sleep when you are playing ...mmmm....."
King
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EJKiszenia said
This topic just brought up a curious thought!Who was your first audience? Who was your favorite? And how did it go?
I've read interviews with other musicians who said it was there parents, pets, cousins, stuffed animals,et. What's everyone else's story?
The first time that I remember playing for anyone but my Mother, was when I was 5 years old, we were at my mom's cousin's home near Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. It was Sunday, I think,,,, of course I had to take my violin with me on that visit. They asked me to play for them and they would make a record. They had a recorder and they could cut 78 rpm records.
The year was "1948". that was "Long, Long Ago" and hasn't improved a bit. 
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You played well at five years old, Fiddlestix! That's nice to have such a recording. I'm sure any recordings of me playing the guitar, flute or fife are long gone or moldy in the basement.
As for me, my first audiences were the usual parents, family and classmates. Later I played the guitar at church and at summer camp around the campfire.
And, being in a fife and drum corps, as well as the school marching and concert bands, I had some larger audiences, too, along parade routes, at football games and in auditoriums. Of course, I was just one player in a large group in those instances...a small fish in a large school, as it were.
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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That's from a 78, Fiddlestix? Very clean, you must have taken good care of it.
I played at an assembly in school with Flutophone in I think it was maybe 4th grade, but that was with the class. After that it would have been after I started teaching myself to play guitar in high school. I hadn't really played for family, but I didn't avoid playing when they were around.
Then I had what I thought was a jam session and was sort of an audition with a group on a Friday, played in front of their usual fans/crowd (they had maybe a dozen) on Saturday when I thought I was showing up for a rehearsal, and then a small pay gig for one of the fan's birthday that Sunday. They did it that way more or less intentionally so that I "didn't get the chance to get the jitters". That was pretty cool of them in some ways, but at the time I really didn't think so. LOL
I'd only spent a couple hours late Friday night practising (very briefly) about 20 songs I knew almost none of, and I had to use lead sheets and have the bass player mumble chords to me to be able to get through it in front of people.
Incidentally, I'd had severe doubts about playing with them after the session on Friday, after Saturday I had made up my mind I was only going in on Sunday to tell them I quit. But I ended up playing with them for close to 6 months. That's how it goes sometimes. LOL
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
King
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I appologize for letting everyone think that was a 63 year old recording. I recorded it at 9:00 AM this morning, just before I posted. I hadn't played or even thought about that song in at least 60 years, until E.J. brought up the subject. I wish I still had that record.
It just brought back so many memories from the past. That's why I said in the previous post, "and hasn't improved a bit". 
Another time was when I was playing a solo recital on stage at about age 9, there was about 40 or 50 people in the audience, I was in the middle of a song and the E string broke, luckily I don't think I needed the E string in the piece I was playing. I can't remember the whole song or even the name of it. I haven't played this song either since probably 1952 when I had to give up playing violin because my mom couldn't afford lesson's anymore. They were above her budget at that time, I think they were like $ 0.75 per hour and violin rental was about $3.00 - $5.00 per month.
If anyone recognizes this song, I would love to know it's name again, it's been alota years. I just adlibed the last couple notes because I don't remember where it went after that. Sure sound's not good.
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I always maintain certain Christmas Carols as part of my regular practice repertoire for that very reason. I have them committed to memory, Anyone asks me to play around the holidays I just stand in front of the tree and play a few old favorites, you know, "Oh Christmas Tree", "Silent Night", "Jingle Bells", "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem", "Chestnuts Roasting..." and everyone is happy. If you are a bit more daring you might throw in "Ave Maria". "Auld Lang Syne" is also a handy one to play if the familky calls you down on a New Years Eve. And as simple as it sounds, "Happy Birthday" is a handy tune, as birthdays happen a lot and you never know when the relatives may want to hear you crank out the tune. Most of these tunes are relatively simple. I call these tunes, "Simple but Satisfying", for you and for your family audience. Makes everyone happy.
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