by Jeffrey Stanley

“This is my twelfth year at BFS and my twenty-ninth as a teacher, but I started doing this as a parent because both of my kids went here.” Middle School teacher Tony Soll was reminiscing about the origins of his annual family concert “Dinosaurs, Dolphins and Dreams,” a fundraiser for the BFS PAT. The upcoming February 12 concert marks its nineteenth year.

Tony’s co-organizer and wife Sara Soll, Preschool teacher director of admissions, organizes everything about the concert but the music. They have been involved with the school for more than two decades and sent their own children here. Their son Jesse started at Brooklyn Friends in kindergarten and graduated in 1995. Their daughter Becky, who was in the school’s first Preschool class, graduated in 1999.

“The concert was actually our idea,” Sara recalled. “Tony suggested to the PAT to pick an afternoon and he would set up a concert. There wouldn’t be any expenses and whatever we made would be something to contribute to the school.” The first concert was performed on April 9, 1988. “Since I can’t play an instrument and I don’t perform in front of an audience if I can help it,” continued Sara, “it made sense for me to work on the end I could manage.”

Sara’s so-called manageable end includes the calls to volunteers to donate baked goods, help sell tickets, set up and sell refreshments before and after the concert, and to stay afterward to clean up. She also oversees the making and mailing of the flyers and posters and handles the paperwork.

“I never get tired of it,” said Sara, when asked how she feels 19 years later. “Seeing teachers and parents and friends who have done this for years, and watching Middle Schoolers up there on the stage performing together, seems to represent what the school is all about.”

Not to mention the very real contributions the concert has provided for Brooklyn Friends. Over the years the event has raised over $23,000, all of which goes to support mini-grants for faculty to make classroom purchases outside the budget. “Tony and I could never have given that much to the school [on our own] so it feels good.”

Tony reflected on how the concert has changed over the years. “The audience has gotten younger, or maybe I’m getting older,” he joked. One reason for the demographic shift is that he sings once a week for Preschoolers, so these children and their parents are fans of his work. Technically though, the concert is aimed at Lower School and Middle School students as well. “It’s not all, ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round,’” he stressed. “We got electric guitars, we do rock and blues.” Tony admitted that he and his impromptu band do perform “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands,”—“but the rest of it is folk rock with kid lyrics,” he said.

Many of the songs are his own. He’s written dozens of children’s songs over the years, some with his writing partner Nancy Silber. Some of the songs were released on the children’s album Dinosaurs, Dolphins and Dreams (CMS Records, 1985) and published in the book Children’s Songs for a Friendly Planet (World Around Songs, 1986).

This year’s talent lineup will be the annual reunion of concert veterans Yuki Furui, a long-time BFS Japanese language and drumming teacher, and Soll’s friend Annette Kudrak, a movie music editor. “She did Chicago and the Scorcese documentary on Dylan. She plays accordion for us,” explained Soll. Larry Jacobs, a Lower and Middle School parent, plays electric guitar.

This year’s ensemble will also feature a newcomer, bass player and Preschool parent Andy Cichon, who regularly performs with Billy Joel and Shania Twain.

Several Middle School students have volunteered to sing, and Jeremy Bloom, a former BFS student who’s currently a sophomore at another school, will be returning as well. “He started as a fifth grader at the concert helping with tech,” said Tony. “Now he plays penny whistle, violin, lots of things.”

Tony beamed when recalling that one of his original songs, “Revel, My Friends,” which was released on the 1985 children’s album, has become a standard at many schools. “It’s everyone’s favorite nonsecular holiday song. After 23 years people still know it. I love that the songs have a life outside the concert.”