Jim Mayer, bass player for Jimmy Buffett, has more nieces and nephews than a Parrothead has Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops.
The uncle of 26, Mayer would make up songs for his young relatives. A month later, he would be back with them and they would ask him to sing the lyrics.
“I wouldn’t remember them, but they would sing the song lyrics back to me,” Mayer said. “It was then that I realized I may have something here.”
Mayer, who goes by “Uncle Jim” for school performances, brought his high-energy message to Pleasantdale Elementary School for three shows Friday.
Armed with puppets and a headgear of broccoli (worn after a video of him making a salad and he leaves out broccoli), Mayer engaged with students on showing empathy to others, such as not leaving out classmates who want to join in games on the playground.
Told a decade ago that he should take his songs into the schools, Mayer began performing before students, creating lyrics with an anti-bullying message. He also began talking with teachers about what he should be addressing.
He said Pleasantdale kindergarten teacher Kristin McFadden was one of the educators who helped him expand the program’s message.
“She told me that bullying was only one small portion of what needed to be addressed,” Mayer said. “She said empathy was something students needed to hear about.”
Mayer has now performed before 50,000 students during 10 years of performances.
He noted with pride that his song “Funky Like a Diaper” reached No. 1 on XM Kids Radio, while kids songs by Avril Lavigne and Paul McCartney were No. 5 and 10, respectively.
Mayer’s IM4U song-based program to address the social-emotional learning environment in early childhood classrooms was created with curriculum author Ellen Booth Church. The IM4U effort is just the tip of the iceberg on what the two have in the works for early childhood education.
There are a line of puppets, books and educational programs planned.
In March, he will make a presentation at Harvard University on the Seven Principles of Community Building.
Pleasantdale principal Matt Vandercar said the program helped spread the empathy message.
“The program reinforced the social-emotional lessons we provide here,” Vandercar said. “Empathy is one of our areas of focus.”
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Third-grader Bruno Ligammari liked Baby DJ, a doll Mayer dressed like a hip music mixer to help drive home the message of “Learning like a Baby.”
Falling over like a toddler learning to walk, Mayer asked students what would happen if that toddler decided to crawl everywhere because learning to walk was too hard.
“He would crawl for the rest of his life,” Mayer said. “He would crawl to school. He would crawl to baseball games. He would crawl to the breakfast table. Being like that you don’t know how to walk, saying it’s just too hard.”
Mayer told students that undertaking any new task requires five steps of learning like a baby:
* Start
* Sometimes struggle
* Stick with it
* Success
* Support others
Mayer said his work in schools fits in well with his time as part of Buffett’s band.
“Our main time for shows is May through August,” with much of that time schools being closed, Mayer said.
Mayer’s message got through to Bruno Ligammari.
“Be kinder,” he said as one of the takeaways he got from the program.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.