Bake Sale - Zooglobble: Recent Episodes
Zooglobble
There's some great stuff on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites specifically for kids and families, but it can be hard to find it sometimes. This show will hopefully make that a little easier
Project: Flying Spaghetti Music
Creator: Monty Harper
Description: Oklahoma-based Harper has always been ahead of the technological and IT curve, with podcasts and Facebooks and Twitters and, more recently, crowdfunding. His latest crowdfunding experiment is with Patreon, designed more for ongoing work than one-time project work.
Supporters pledge per song, and for varying levels you can get different benefits -- access to Harper, digital downloads, and more.
If you'd like a taste, here's the first creation, "Pet Rock."
Tim Ferrin is a filmmaker and video production specialist from Chicago. He's using Indiegogo to raise funds for an Ella Jenkins documentary. Of course we share Ella Jenkins stories.
Project: Calling Mover Nation
Creator: Imagination Movers
Description: The New Orleans-based band is working with PledgeMusic to raise funds for its 9th album and DVD and barely 4 days into the campaign they're already 77% to their goal. Seems like they're gonna make it, no? If you want to get a sense of the sound, the thumping live version of "Big Hola," a work in progress, on the site makes it clear they haven't gone all easy-listening on us. And they've got the usual range of rewards (starting at $10 for the eventual album on mp3), including a nice set of personalized rewards for the Mover-obsessed kid in your life. (Something tells me, however, the instruments and microphones were snatched up by Mover-obsessed parents.)
Jeff Krebs is using PledgeMusic to crowdfund his 2nd full-length album for families, Full Moon Full Moon. We chat about his start in kindie, recording the album, and using PledgeMusic.
Project: Josh & the Jamtones present "Bear Hunt: The Mini-Movie!"
Creator: Josh and the Jamtones
Description: When Josh & the Jamtones' album Bear Hunt was released last fall, I liked the music and the energy the band brings, but I -- an admitted grinch when it comes to skits on albums -- was less keen on the skits on this particular album. Not because they weren't funny -- they are -- but because they felt like they part of a different thing altogether.
But when I heard that the Boston-based band had set up a Kickstarter to turn the skits into a series of animated shorts and videos for DVD, I thought it was a brilliant idea. Without a doubt, those skits (featuring head honcho Josh Shriber and drummer/producer Pat Hanlin) are going to shine in a visual format. With only a couple days to go, the band's shot way past its $12,500 goal, but there's still time for you to get into the action. You can watch the Kickstarter video below for a sense of the humor here, or read Shriber's responses to a few questions...
Zooglobble: How much fun do you have creating and recording those sketches?
HAHA! [Jamtones drummer/producer] Pat [Hanlin] and I have spent a LOT of time going on Bear Hunts in studio, performances, parties, kids classes and we even embarked on a mad bear hunt live in-studio at the Sirius XM Rumpus Room with Mindy last year. That was long before the album was even in progress.
Anyway, what you don't hear in the final product is all the times we had to cut 'cuz we were hysterically laughing at each other. Doing these skits improv-style is one thing but being separated in different rooms (for sound purposes) puts a completely new unknown spin on this whole thing. We were listening to each other with out seeing each other so we really had no idea what the other was thinking and it just added this whole crazy spontaneity.
OK, short answer?... I've never had so much fun in the studio! I'm super lucky to have found Pat. He and I really work well together, we get along great, and crack each other up on an all too often basis. Though this is some good comedy action, we have just as much fun in the studio when we're recording music, dialogue, rippin' solos, and so on. If it's not FUN in the studio, especially in this genre, the listener will surely hear it.
Seriously, are you, like, a comedian who plays music, or a musician who likes comedy?
Well I've been a pied piper for years, hitting schools, hangin' out at our performance center in Wellesley, Massachusetts every day, rockin' shows with the Jamtones, teaching music to the children, et cetera. So while I thank you for thinking we have any skill in the comedy world, we've been going at this from a musical standpoint all along! I've never been on stage in a stand up, theatrical, comedic role in my life. I've just always felt that for this audience, you need to inject humor. I mean how can anyone take themselves serious while singing about the likes of race cars, row boats and rocket ships. Oh and trains! Every kindie artist loves a good train song. C'mon if its not somewhat funny, then to me it's just corny and cheesy, ya know? Ooooh, cheesy corndogs anyone? I'm gonna take a quick lunch break... be right back.
Was a movie always part of the plan (or hope) when y'all created "Bear Hunt?"
Not at all! But once it was done, we knew there was so much more we could do with this! I also have 2 young kids at home in the same age range as our Jamtones demographic and they love music but they really LOVE their screen time. I know Raffi will be mad at me for saying that but what kid does'nt love veggggggin' out in front of the TV or iPad? And when you listen to the skits, they are funny (if I do say so myself) but we felt there was sooo much humor sorta left on the table -- like the awkward silences, the sarcasm that can be heard but would be so much funnier if it could be seen in body language and facial expression. Plus we have crazy imaginations around here and we're playing with this material every day in our Program Center. When you are so involved with your material and keep tweaking it, it often morphs in different directions... who knows where our bear hunt will take us tomorrow.
Anyway, once it lives as a final product on a CD, you start thinking, "What if we did this, that, these, those to bring this to life?" So here comes the movie where we get to flesh out the 13 million ideas we've had since this CD was released in October.
A bear? In the Kickstarter video? OK, whose idea was that?
Well obviously?!?!?! Leading up to the release of the Bear Hunt CD, we were doing photo shoots, practicing for release parties, and needed to continually rent this bear suit from a store about 45 minutes north of our center. It cost a lot and was a total hassle. SOOOOOO we called China and said, "Hello, China? Please send us a very expensive, crappily made Bear suit." And they did.
Now that bear lives and works with us every day. He makes cameo appearances in our classes, makes babies cry, interrupts classical piano lessons and basically just distracts us and helps us lose as much focus as possible on any given day. That bear is a real pain in the [tuchus]. We didn't want him in the video but he forced our hand.
Project: Yumzah! Pre-Order
Creator: Yumzah!
Description: OK, this isn't really a crowdfunding campaign as I've come to think of it -- or, rather Nashville's just being more open than most creators that his album as Yumzah is done, and his Indiegogo flexible funding campaign is purely for pre-orders. But if you've heard What Did You Do Today, Stephen Scott Lee?, you'd know that new music from this guy (and folks like The Wood Brothers, Chris Wood, Kyle Andrews, and more) is worth checking out.
Project: ScratchJr: Coding for Young Kids
Creator: Mitchel Resnick at Lifelong Kindergarten at MIT
Description: Coding for kids is all the rage these days -- seems like you can't go through Kickstarter pages without running into at least one of these every week (here's one of my favorites). But it's also true that the Lifelong Kindergarten lab at MIT has been interested in the subject for a long time, most visibly in the creation of Scratch, a web-based programming interface for kids ages 8 and up. Now, with ScratchJr, they hope to expand that work down to kids ages 5 through 7.
The website is free, so rewards are for ancillary items such as t-shirts, stickers, and seminars. But if ScratchJr is as cool as its elder sibling, it's worth pitching in.
A chat with the NYC-based Shelton about her kids' music career, recording an album, and the myth of the DIY musician.
Project:"Imagination Nation" The new children's CD from Steve Elci
Creator: Steve Elci
Description: The Connecticut-based pop-rocker Elci goes simple in his Kickstarter pitch for Imagination Nation, his follow-up to his kindie debut Crayons in a Box. Short funding period (only 25 days at launch), short pitch video (less than 30 seconds!), and short list of rewards (CD, signed CD, concert, and sponsorship). But it seems to be working thus far -- he's already raised more than half of his $3,500 goal, which'll fund not just recording costs but the costs of producing an animated music video.
I talk with Joanie Leeds, who's going back to Kickstarter to raise money for her forthcoming sixth family music album, Good Egg. We chat about her path to making music for kids, recording in upstate New York, and what she learned about doing Kickstarter from her last Kickstarter project (for her previous album Bandwagon). I had lots of fun talking with her -- sadly (really!), our discussion of weather highs and lows in our lives did not make the recorded portion of the chat.
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Links
"Good Egg" - Joanie Leeds rocks her 6th Kids CD
Joanie Leeds
Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights on Facebook
Review of Joanie Leeds' album Bandwagon
Dean Jones' No Parking Studios
Project: Mai Mai Miracle
Creator: All the Anime
Description: Hopefully the phrase "protege of Hayao Miyazaki" is sufficient for fans of family-friendly movies, but just watch what is essentially a trailer for director Sunao Katabuchi's Mai Mai Miracle and hopefully that will convince you that this would be a worthy movie to see in the English-language part of the world.
The movie itself won a number of awards upon its release in 2009 but hasn't yet been released in the UK or the United States. This Kickstarter will raise the funds to produce English subtitles, and assuming they reach their stretch goal of $60,000 (very likely given their success in just 48 hours), a dubbed version of the movie. Definitely looks promising.
Project: minimúsica Volume 4 - Education
Creator: minimúsica
Description: Do I like the indie pop/rock of Spain's minimúsica? I liked Volumes 1 and 2, and Volume 3, too, so the answer is safely "yes."
Now the outfit is back, trying to raise the funds produce Volume 4, this one with an "Education" theme. It'll feature music from… OK, I don't recognize any of the artists except Candela y Los Supremos, but I really didn't recognize any of the artists on Volumes 1 through 3, and those turned out pretty awesome.
They're trying to raise 15,000 Euros, or roughly $20,000 depending on the exchange rate, and while the reward levels might not work for too many on this side of the pond (and I don't think they've even contemplated the possibility that they'd receive foreign contributions), for just $27 or so you can get the CD plus the book Transports from one of the prior volumes.
Project: My Wooden Horse
Creator: Shalgi Design Studio
Description: I'm sort of out of the market for toddler/preschooler toys, so I'm not the primary target audience for these lovely, movable wooden horses. But they look like an awesome playthings for your favorite 3-year-old.
Pledge quickly, and you can get one of these horses for just $50. The money will be used to convert the convert the current handmade process into an industrial one. Still looks sweet, though.
Project: The Whizpops Ocean Album!
Creator: The Whizpops
Description: Montana isn't the first place I'd think to look for bands to record an album of ocean-themed songs (miles of ocean waterfront in Montana = 0), but the Missoula-based kindie band has shown a taste for science-themed music on their first two albums, so I trust in their ability to overcome their familiarity with wide-open landscapes.
The money will be used to record the album, film some music videos, and create and self-publish some kids' books. And maybe to purchase a dinosaur? OK, scratch the dinosaur part.
I talk with Danny Weinkauf, who's played bass with They Might Be Giants for more than 15 years, about musical memories, the inspiration for his kids songs, and James Jamerson, one of the most influential bass players ever.
Project: A toy for empathy: unlocking creativity at all ages
Creator: Twenty One Toys
Description: A lot of the wooden toys on Kickstarter encourage creativity, but that's sort of a byproduct of the toy itself. The "Empathy and Creative Dialogue Toy" from the Canadian company Twenty One Toys is much more designed with creativity (and empathy) as the end product, using the toy as the medium through which those skills are taught.
The basic concept is that one player puts together five blocks of a color, then has to aid a second player in putting together her own set of blocks in exactly the same way.. while blindfolded. You don't know a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes or put together his puzzle blocks blindfolded. To me, even more than empathy, this project teaches communication.
Anyway, backing the project will help the company process an order for 1,000 sets at dramatically reduced prices. You can grab a set for yourself and/or your classroom, too.
Randy Kaplan is a storyteller and musician (or is that musician-storyteller?) who's made music for kids and families for about a decade and after funding albums in every conceivable way, he's turning to Kickstarter for album #5.
Project: More Songs from the Science Frontier
Creator: Monty Harper
Description: I've been reviewing music from the Oklahoma-based Harper for a number of years now -- I've always thought he's been more skilled than most folks at weaving together the educational into the musical (not an easy task, and one that I have little patience for when done poorly). Harper's also been forward thinking -- this Kickstarter for a new album of science-themed songs (produced by Sugar Free Allstars' Chris Wiser) is actually his second; he turned to the site more than 3 years ago to help fund this album's predecessor.
Harper's set himself a tight turnaround time to meet his $10,000 goal, but he kindly answered a few questions about the project, about science, and the nature of love (really!)...
Zooglobble: How were the song subjects selected for this new CD?
Monty Harper: As you can tell from the working title, More Songs From the Science Frontier, this CD will be about science!
One song is called "Fizz Boom Read," to match the science theme public libraries across the U.S. are using for their reading programs this summer, and it celebrates reading about science, of course!
The other songs were inspired by current scientific research happening here in Oklahoma. The topics are based on the research projects of scientists who have volunteered for my "Born to Do Science" programs, where I help them explain their work to an audience of 3rd-8th grade students. I use the songs to introduce the topics and motivate questions from the kids. The writing process is important for me, too, as a way of boiling each research project down to the essentials. Why is this interesting? Why would a person devote his or her life to this study?
Most of the research projects I write about are not the highly visible sort you'd see on Nova or hear of on Science Friday. The scientists I present are quietly working away at "every day" science. When I first started doing these I was a little worried I might run into a subject that just wouldn't inspire a song. To the contrary! Even though the scientists are somewhat randomly selected (I work with whomever wants to participate), I've found all of their research to be engaging, important, and most definitely song-worthy! I believe I have found my muse!
Songs lined up for the new CD address brain science, psychology, zoology, ecotoxicology, algae, fungus, gardening, vaccination, particle physics, photosynthesis, evolution, and the nature of love. As a group they also about the process of science, how and why we explore the world around us. There are seventeen possible titles, but only ten slots to fill. I've been performing them on my video blog, and my Kickstarter backers will get to help choose which songs actually end up on the CD.
How do you go about learning about the science (and scientists) behind each song?
I start with a preliminary conversation with the scientist to narrow down the topic we'll be addressing. Often I have to do a little convincing to get them over the hump of not wanting to talk about their own research. The perception is that the kids either won't understand it or won't be interested. But they usually warm to the idea when they see how genuine my own interest is.
Then we set up a face to face interview. I ask a lot of questions and try my best to understand what problem is being addressed, why it's interesting or difficult, and how the tools and methods used can help find answers. Often I'll take a tour of the lab so I get to see what's going on for myself! At home I type up the recorded interview and look for a focus that will become a song. Once I have an idea what the song will be about I read the scientist's published papers or visit recommended websites for any additional information I may need.
When I think the song is done I ask for feedback from the scientist. I do want to make sure the details are correct!
What are the particular challenges of fitting particularly informational-rich lyrics into a song?
Good question - if I were writing a book about songwriting a complete answer could fill a chapter at least!
The technical challenges have to do with fitting big unfamiliar words naturally into a song so that they rhyme, scan well, and don't throw the listener off the main idea. It's like working a puzzle. Often it's best to start with the most important, most awkward words, and build rhythms, melody, and even song structure around them.
Perhaps the bigger challenge is sorting through a ton of detailed information to extract a song-worthy idea. It's tempting to want to put in all the big words and cool facts. But a song is about one thing. It needs focus and a particular emotional angle to hook the listener. Those don't fall naturally out of a list of details; they must be discovered and drawn out.
For example when writing about why prairie voles are monogamous, I learned an entire process that happens in the voles' brains which bonds a male and female together with many steps and many fancy chemical names. All those details are cool and interesting but they don't tell a compelling story on their own. What drew me in the most about prairie vole pair bonding is that prairie voles are often used as models for human behavior, which brings up certain questions: Is love just a chemical reaction in the brain? If so, does it matter?
In the song ("My One and Only Vole") I used a few carefully selected details out of that long list of chemical processes ("My dopamine receptors go insane") in order to frame and support the real question at hand. The result is an uplifting love song from a vole to his mate. At the climax he solves the paradox for himself: "Science says our bond is made with chemistry / Oxytocin's all it's fashioned of / I just know that you're the only vole for me / And chemicals don't mean I'm not in love!"
Were you always interested in science, or have projects like this sharpened that interest (or both)?
Both!
I was a total science geek as a kid. I would stay in from recess in second grade to copy dinosaur facts off of a set of cards we had in the classroom. Then I made a huge chart of them that I hung on my wall at home. I went through a phase where all I wanted to read was science books. I think it's natural for kids to be intensely curious about the world around them and how everything works.
But like a lot of kids, I lost interest in science sometime during high school. Our esteemed educational system left me with the impression that all the tractable questions of science had been answered over the past two hundred years, and that those answers were located "in the back of the book." Any open questions were way too difficult for me to comprehend and I didn't see myself as a possible contributor. I guess I thought scientists were mostly either teachers or TV personalities.
At some point as an adult I picked up a Discover magazine and discovered that science is in fact still happening! The more I read the more I realized that there has been enormous progress made since I was in high school in all kinds of areas from cellular biology to brain science to materials science to astronomy, and on and on... This sense that science is a living, breathing, advancing, changing body of knowledge that actual normal human beings contribute to every day is almost totally missing in the way science is usually presented to kids.
That is the void I set out to help fill with my songs. Talking with scientists and writing about their work continues to intensify my desire to share all this awesome information with the world. Welcome to the frontiers of human knowledge, baby! This is where it's at!
You Kickstart-ed this album's predecessor 3 years ago before Kickstarter really took off -- have you noticed any differences this time around, either in the system itself or on how your fans react to it?
Nobody has asked me what Kickstarter is this time around! I guess that's the main difference. In the first campaign half my effort went to educating people about crowd funding and Kickstarter. This time around I'm mostly talking about science and songs.
I did have to adjust to one change in policy at Kickstarter. Last time I allowed people to buy a CD which I delivered to a school on their behalf with a card recognizing the backer as the donor.
This time I wanted to do the same for public libraries, since they will be able to use science themed music for their reading programs this summer. But Kickstarter had me redesign my page before I could launch. They view this sort of thing as "contributing to a cause" which is no longer allowed as part of your rewards system.
What I'm doing instead is offering a two-CD deal, "one for yourself and one you can give to your local public library." Under this plan I'm really just making a suggestion. Backers will be responsible for the actual giving.
Project: The Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow
Creator: Laki Karavias (part of the large group of folks making the S.S. Bunglow)
Description: There are many folks using Kickstarter to raise funds for their first kids music album, but few such projects whose ideas seem as fully thought as that from the Portland-based collective of artists who want to make a very nautically-themed story and album.
Project: Bari Koral's New Album - The Apple Tree & The Honey Bee
Creator: Bari Koral
Description: The New York City Koral went down to Nashville (to record with producer Brad Jones), and is coming back with a new album, her fourth. The Kickstarter campaign features a fairly standard set of rewards for a music campaign, but that's OK -- that's what pledgers want, right? The music, the swag, and the chance to see the artist.
Project: Primo - Teaching programming logic to children age 4 to 7
Creator: Primo
Description: Teaching kids programming and programming logic is the In Thing these days, but one of the cooler implementations of it appears to come from the UK-based firm Primo. They've designed a tiny robot (Cubetto) with an appealing puzzle-piece form, which can be controlled via an interface board "programmed" by putting in blocks which serve as non-verbal blocks of programming code. It's an expensive toy, perhaps (the full assembled kit costs 160 pounds), and one which reminds me of trying to get a remote-controlled car moving, but one with a little more brainy heft. Fun stuff.
Project Title: Everyone's Invited!
Creator: Jason Didner and the Jungle Gym Jam
Description: There have been a flurry of kids' music projects raising money through crowdfunding sites. Many of these are from artists who have been around for awhile, but sometimes they're from artists trying to release their first album. New Jersey's Jason Didner is an example of the latter, but he hasn't been shy about talking about and sharing kids music with others.
I chatted with Didner via e-mail about his entry into kids music and his PledgeMusic project to raise monies for the release of his band's debut kindie album, Everyone's Invited!
How did you get into making music for kids?
When my wife and I thought about bringing a child into the picture, we knew we'd be playing Beatles music in the house. We knew we'd be playing the singer-songwriter classics we loved as a soothing soundtrack to our daily lives. As our daughter grew and started going to first birthday parties, we became aware of the music other parents were choosing for their kids and we set out to build our library of kids' music. We had already had John Lithgow's zany and heartwarming collection of kids' tunes, but needed more variety. One morning I used iHeartRadio (similar to Pandora) and discovered Laurie Berkner, Justin Roberts and Milkshake and was astounded at the combination of authentic musicianship and age-appropriateness. I was hooked on kindie from that moment.
I've been a lifelong musician as well. Before making kids' music I was more known as a songwriter singing about heavy subjects like post-9/11 American life and humorous takes on navigating New Jersey's baffling left-turns. I had gotten airplay on NPR's Car Talk and press in the New York Times for "You Can't Get There from Here in Jersey." There have been hints making music for children earlier in my life, with my mother and wife Amy both being teachers and my occasionally visiting their schools to entertain the students with whatever music I was making at the time.
Being a dad had changed my tune, literally! What really opened the floodgates was my daughter (now 2-1/2) becoming aware and fascinated with the world around her. Amy and I felt the things our daughter would notice and point out us would be strong song ideas - a ladybug on the ceiling, the Moon playing "peek-a-boo" from behind the clouds, a toddler's fascination with a guitar pick. So we would write lyrics as gifts to our little girl. When I set these ideas to music, we felt these little gems could delight and enrich lots of other kids too, and we kept going. I recruited a band, booked some gigs, and we got to see other toddlers and pre-schoolers bounce up and down to our creations - very gratifying!
Between blogging and your video show (and other activities), you're spending a lot of time on activities related to kids music, if not kids music itself -- what value do you find from that?
With a 2-year-old child, I'm both a creator and consumer of kindie music. Our family time after dinner is often spent watching playlists of kindie videos. I wanted to share that experience with families that might not have heard this exciting genre of music. I'm aware of how much extraordinarily good music is out there for kids and their families these days. I want to share that with the families of our local area and cultivate an audience for the genre, which should grow our own audience, too. Unlike in other genres of music where competitions between bands can get cut-throat, I think it actually helps all kindie bands when families get to like the genre and want hours of music for their kids for those long car trips or to have some variety at the kitchen table.
So when I host a local TV show of kindie videos (in Montclair, New Jersey), I'm inviting parents to explore arts and creativity with their kids. I'm following the path that BB King followed in his blues career. Early on, he was a blues radio DJ. His following came to trust his knowledge of the blues and it followed into his own music making. I foresee establishing a relationship with our TV audience and with fellow artists.
Surprisingly, from creating this outlet for fellow artists, I've struck up very productive relationships with their publicists. Justin Roberts' publicist suggested I interview Roberts when he was to perform in our area. Once I picked my jaw up from the floor, we arranged the interview. Of course, I delegated the interviewing to Amy as she has always had a natural instinct for asking great questions and eliciting great human interest stories. She conducted a fabulous interview which will air in December.
This brings us to the part about the blogging. A great piece of advice I got from a music marketing coach is to give people a reason to return to our web site after their first visit. Keeping up a blog is a way to keep the site fresh and interesting. When I go about telling my story and offering things of value - my own new learning as a parent or artist, or an anti-bullying message, I reveal things about myself that may interest someone in my story and our music. My site also becomes a more likely search result. Almost every day someone finds my site because they searched for an anti-bullying or anti-cyberbullying poem. This creates the foundation for a relationship. It also doesn't hurt that Goldie Hawn, a Hollywood icon and fellow anti-bullying champion, tweeted that she loved my poem, "Before You Click Send."
Why did you turn to crowdfunding for your debut album Everyone's Invited?
I listen to lots of podcasts about the music business (including yours!), and CD Baby's music marketing podcast had Benji Rogers, founder of PledgeMusic, as his guest. I was so genuinely impressed with his heartfelt discussion of building a community of supportive fans who want to participate in a favorite artists' career. He spoke passionately of the letters he receives where fans had such great experiences interacting with these artists. I became interested in offering experiences families could enjoy together, like a Skype birthday concert or music lesson, or going instrument shopping with a family of fans to pick out a child's first instrument.
By the time I took an interest in a direct-to-fan campaign, our band had already recorded almost all the tracks with our own funds. I figured a small campaign could help us do a little more with the manufacturing and publicity and, more importantly, build relationships with forward-thinking families who are looking for new ways to experience their favorite music, especially with the industry changing so rapidly before our eyes.
Why did you choose PledgeMusic over other crowdfunding sites?
In his interview, Benji referred to PledgeMusic as "direct-to-fan marketing" rather than "crowdfunding." He backed that up by speaking to the personal involvement of the people at PledgeMusic. They are there to make sure everything goes smoothly with the delivery of the exclusive benefits, from T-shirts to private concerts. He doesn't want fans to feel like just a "face in a crowd" and it shows. There's lots of social connection and interaction between PledgeMusic's staff, the artists and the fans. I feel like I'm dealing with a team, not a platform. Ariana, the project manager assigned to my project, was answering my questions before I took the plunge, and helped me set a realistic goal for a new band playing to a very different audience than is typical for Pledge. We're planning to raise $2,000 which is a big deal for us, but much smaller than a typical album project. She also emphasized the importance of regular updates.
The philanthropic component of PledgeMusic grabbed my attention as well, and we chose to partner with Guitars in the Classroom, a national organization out of California that not only supplies the instruments but guides teachers to include music-making in every subject and the "between-the-lines" skills kids need - socialization, creative thinking, and problem solving. A portion of every donation supports this great cause.
What are you looking forward to in 2014?
I love my daughter's excitement when she hears my songs played on a podcast or radio show, and I'm looking forward to seeing her excitement continue to grow as our band and the songs get better known. Amy and I love seeing her bounce up and down at our concerts and look forward to a lot more of that. She really is the heart and soul of the band. I'm looking forward to seeing where the Cool Rockin' Daddy Video Show leads, so that more families can discover what you and I have known for a while - the sheer abundance of great music for families.
I'm looking forward to traveling with the band and the family to share our music with new families. I'm looking forward to growing our audience here in our wonderful artsy community of Montclair and to becoming a greater part of nearby New York City's vibrant arts community. Amy and I have dozens of new song ideas inspired by our daughter and I'm looking forward to developing them into a follow-up album. I'm looking forward to advancing my anti-bullying work and helping kids feel safe at school and at home as well.
I also look forward to seeing another abundant year for great, diverse, authentic and imaginative kindie music. I'm looking forward to seeing (and helping) a new way forward emerge for kindie artists to support themselves and their families as they offer the riches of their creativity to kids and families everywhere.
Project: All New Adventures of Morph from Aardman Animations
Creator: Peter Lord
Description: Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Pirates!, and Chicken Run, is looking for help to re-launch one of their classic characters, Morph, online with a dozen new episodes? Sign. Me. Up. As of this writing, they're already cleared their goal and are shooting for stretch goal #1 -- 15 episodes instead of 12. Peter Lord, one of Aardman's co-founders, is in charge. Like I said, Sign. Me. Up.
Brady Rymer is turning to Kickstarter to raise funds to produce his seventh album for famlies, Just Say Hi. We talk about Kickstarter and community
Project: Phileas Reid Knows We Are Not Alone
Creator: Scott Fogg
Description: I am not a big comics/graphic novel guy, but that's mostly because I'm not into the superhero thing. Or the violence thing. I know, I know, there are plenty of comics out there that aren't that, but there you go. So I'm always interested in seeing all-ages comics because by definition they're probably going to tone down the violence. And I'm especially interested in all-ages comics that don't appear to follow the standard superhero trajectory.
Cue Phileas Reid Knows We Are Not Alone, a projected 100-page graphic novel whose main four characters are a scientist, reporter, 10-year-old kid, and 14-year-old rebellious alien teen. And, I think, not a cape in sight. Cool by me.
Rafael Atijas used Kickstarter to develop his Master's business plan at NYU into an actual business. Now he's back to turn his acoustic 3-string Loog guitar into an electric version. Power chords, electrified!
Project: More Family Supa Jams!!
Creator: Mo Phillips
Description: Portland-based Mo Phillips had so much fun (and success) Kickstarting his last album, Monster Suit, a couple years ago that he's doing it again for his latest album. Less than a couple days to go, but it'll be fun...
Project: HI BABYBOO! \\ Video Series & App for Babies and Families
Creator: Scott Schultz (Hi Babyboo)
Description: When Scott Schultz, one of the creators of the very popular (and successful) Nick Jr. TV show (and tour and album-generator and product-generator) Yo Gabba Gabba!, believes crowdfunding is the best way to raise money for his next project, it's clear something has shifted in the media production landscape.
Schultz is seeking to raise $150,000 for the show, with a goal of producing about 30 minutes of content. To a great extent, the series sounds like Yo Gabba Gabba! for a slightly younger set, though in his slick Kickstarter video, Schultz outlines how the show might differ from its older sibling. Fewer words! More pictures! Lots of drooling! (I'm just kidding on that last one.) There will be music from interesting bands (plus a soundtrack available to certain backers).
The most interesting thing to me about the project (besides its funding) is integration of an app as part of the project. I'm sure that a lot of shows are developed with apps in mind these days, but with Portland-based Night & Day Studios, who have been part of a lot of apps, including one with Cat Doorman, working on the project, I have high hopes for it.
Project: The Electric Loog Guitar
Creator: Rafael Atijas (Loog Guitars)
Description: I'm hopeful to have an interview with Loog Guitars creator Rafael Atijas on the podcast soon, but for now, just take my word, this is really cool. I pledged for the original, acoustic version, liked it a lot, and now this version is electric and cheaper. Better start saving up for an amp, too, I guess.
Project Title: Phineas McBoof Crashes the Symphony
Creator: Cory Cullinan AKA Doctor Noize
Description: For the past several years, Cullinan's been amusing kids with his Doctor Noize and Grammaropolis projects while subtly teaching them something. And while Cullinan's passion for classical music hasn't been hidden amongst the songs he's written and recorded, in his latest project, a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to record an album of his introduce-kids-to-orchestral-form live event, it takes center stage.
I chatted briefly with Cullinan via e-mail last about the project, though anyone who's chatter with him about a subject he's passionate about knows that it's easy for him to move beyond briefly.
You joke in the mini-opera that your kids don't listen to orchestral music, but what was the real inspiration for the project? (Or maybe it was, in fact, your daughters.)
You are correct -- my kids have always listened to orchestral music and opera with me. But they are the exception to the norm, so I gave them those lines to say in the video.
The inspiration for the project is kids and the wonder of orchestral music. One of my degrees from Stanford is in classical music, but I have been a teacher, coach, and children's musician my whole life. I know what many adults forget: Kids are the smartest, most adventurous, and most creative audience in the world. They are made for colorful, challenging music. The question isn't why am I creating orchestral music for kids. The question is: Why isn't everyone doing that?
We have dumbed down our own commercial arts culture to the point where the most revered musical art form is the 3-minute pop song with a catchy hook. I love rock and pop music, and I love to write and record it. But I have also studied enough great music to know that any great composer could write a great pop song on a lazy afternoon. We are being lazy with what we present our children with, and it couldn't come at a worse time: The next generation is going to have to be more sophisticated than our generation is. Issues like climate change will not be solved by minds who have been fed nothing but simple instant-gratification pop song hooks and their intellectual internet-world equivalents.
We should be giving kids the kind of music that both their brains and the world they're inheriting from us demand. We should go big and give them our best stuff. We should inspire them to love a challenge and master big things. They're gonna have to.
What is the difference between, say, Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" and your piece?
First of all: I love both of those pieces. There is no replacing what they've meant to the culture and many generations. I taught both of those pieces to my students when I was a teacher. I am doing this because I love pieces like Britten's and Prokofiev's, not because I think they failed.
That being said... The Young Person's Guide, as its very title suggests, is dated and stodgy to modern ears. Peter & The Wolf still resonates with young ears today because it features a compelling story and is character-based, like Phineas McBoof Crashes The Symphony. But listen to the story and you will notice that it describes a world and sensibilities that are now over a century old. Most kids today don't relate to hunts and wolves outside their back yard.
Phineas McBoof Crashes The Symphony is similar to Peter & The Wolf in that it uses story and characters to draw children -- and adults -- in. In tone, it is both deeper educationally and more modern in its wild and crazy humor than Prokofiev's piece.
As to the educational element, it goes beyond Peter & Young Person's education on instruments and orchestration -- which it has -- to introduce some pretty deep stuff within the story. This includes Classical Sonata Form structure, Modern Pop Song Structure, and how the former inspired the latter. (This is something most modern rock stars who write hit songs in Modern Pop Song Structure don't even know -- but your kids will!) It teaches about the five major periods of classical music. And it even tells a very complex story about a complex character -- Phineas -- and how the choices he's made that seem so modern, heroic and bold have actually created problems and disappointments for the people he loves. He learns to be a better person and relate to more complex social needs than simply the need to please his own muse.
The other difference is that, unlike Peter and Young Person's Guide, Phineas McBoof Crashes The Symphony is actually a full-length opera for kids and their parents. It's the length of a movie, in two acts -- and we hope to make it into an animated film someday. It's a complete work of musical theater, or opera for kids. But it's not written by a guy who's spent his life in the concert hall for adults -- it's written by a guy who has spent the last 15 years making music for kids and -- before that -- running a high school arts department and music program. I love classical music, but I also know what resonates with kids from years of experience.
My background reflects an unusual combination of experience that lead me to believe I had to write this opera for kids. If I'm truly gonna live by my stated belief system, reach for the moon, and bring kids and families the most unique and rewarding thing I can give them, this is it. They don't need another pop album from me right now -- there are plenty of others who can do that well too. This is what I need to do now to live my life the way Phineas McBoof would live it.
The fact that we've successfully tested a one-hour live version of the show to sell-out orchestral audiences in multiple states, and it's been a hit everywhere it's played, makes it much less of a risk to record too.
So Isabel Leonard and Nathan Gunn are Kind Of A Big Deal in opera circles -- how did they get involved?
I have been friends with Nathan Gunn for a long time -- in fact, he's been on every Doctor Noize album, from the very first one. Nathan married the daughter of my hometown childhood piano teacher. His wife is an exceptional pianist, and the whole family is made of great musicians. His mother-in-law (my former piano teacher) and I conducted joint orchestral/choral concerts together when we ran the music departments at neighboring high schools in Silicon Valley. So our family connection is pretty deep.
Nathan is brilliant and hilarious, and he gets exactly what we're doing: He has to be musically brilliant and downright hysterical to kids. Working with him in the studio is always a hilarious and fun day. It doesn't hurt our PR that he was one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive. And he is so revered in the industry that he has opened a lot of doors for us with this production. For example...
I have never known a better actress and musician than Isabel Leonard. As you may know, she won one of opera's major awards this year: the Richard Tucker Award. Isabel joined us because Nathan -- who has worked with her in several major productions -- told her it was a blast and she should play our fun evil villain. I called Isabel up and thought I was gonna have to give her a sales pitch, but Nathan had already told her how much fun it was, so she was already in. So -- thanks Nathan!
Nathan and Isabel are both parents, and they want to do this for both personal and philosophical reasons. We may have some other fun casting news in the near future via similar "cast recruitment methods"...
What does $50,000 [the goal for the Kickstarter project] buy you these days in putting together an orchestral record?
$50,000 will get us halfway there to a double CD of an orchestral/operatic album. We are recording with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra -- a world-class orchestra. I wanted to record with an American orchestra instead of going to Prague, which is what a lot of people do to save money. The album will have state-of-the-art 3D animation on the cover and packaging, and it will be produced with the best engineers and mastering in the world. We are not giving kids a second-rate orchestral recording.
Half of the money is being raised on Kickstarter, and the other half is being raised through traditional fundraising means straight to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, which makes it a non-profit charitable donation.
If we don't raise the money to do it right, I won't do it. We won't record anything less than a first-rate orchestra with first-rate singers and first-rate engineering. For many kids, this is gonna be the only time someone puts orchestral music in front of them -- it would be a tragedy to give them anything less than the best opera singers and the most gorgeous colors of the orchestra possible. Do it right and kids are intrigued for life; do it wrong and they'll think it's dull and boring.
We'll do it right or I'll do something else, just like everything else with Doctor Noize. I am fully cognizant that it would be easier for me to make a living as Doctor Noize -- and, frankly, get more attention and acclaim from the children's media industry -- by recording album after album of pop songs with simple, catchy hits like "Banana." But just as I challenge kids to reach in the Doctor Noize stories, I do this job to do my best stuff and make the most positive impact on the world I can -- not to find the path of least resistance to supposed success.
OK, the elevator speech -- why is it important that people pledge to this project?
Kids are the most important and creative audience in the world, and thus they should experience the most colorful and inspiring music in the world. Today's culture promotes increasingly short-attention-span multimedia to a generation who'll grow up to face increasingly sophisticated challenges. Kids want to reach and challenge themselves to master Big Things. To reach is the purest state of joy.
Like any great teacher, Phineas has high expectations of kids. Like all kids, today's kids are up to the challenge. Watch 'em memorize every bit of a song in ways an adult never would, and you'll know they'll conquer music's highest forms with Phineas.
It's significant that all the "serious reasons" for releasing Phineas McBoof Crashes The Symphony are "under the hood" for kids. I outlined the serious reasons to you because you asked; but as far as kids are concerned, this is just a big fun work of musical theater for orchestra.
To quote the head of the University Of Denver's woodwind department at last weekend's live orchestral Colorado premiere of Phineas: "That was an auditorium of pure joy." As long as it's done with humor -- in a fun way that is as playful as it is educational -- kids have more fun stretching their minds than they do relaxing them. That is one of the great truths that's overlooked by so much children's media today -- and it's overlooked because adults are lazy, not because kids are.
If you agree with what I just said, you should support this project and make sure it happens -- because there may never be another group of people with our unique combination of passion and experience to bring orchestral music to kids as the production crew and talent we have committed to this project.
If you think kids should just listen to pop songs by Doctor Noize and other musicians -- and not larger-form works -- then you should not spend your money and time supporting this project.
A former head of Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music's fabled Wiggleworms program, Laura Doherty is raising funds for her third kids' music album "In a Heartbeat." We talk all about that project, along with shyness, flamingos, and running both an Indiegogo and Kickstarter campaign (not simultaneously)
Ann Torralba has making music as Little Miss Ann for nearly a decade. I chat with her about her path to kids musician, the healing power of music, and the only thing we might remember more from our childhoods than music
Project Title: Brain Food: A Design for Good Product by AIGA Portland
Creator: AIGA Portland
Description: This project is the product of a collaboration between the Portland branch AIGA ("the professional association for design") and The Right Brain Initiative, which promotes "whole brain learning," i.e., integrating the arts into daily curriculum in Portland-area schools.
The group is attempting to get these 50-card decks with all sorts of ideas (build castles out of blankets) into 44 Portland-area schools. You, too, can get PDF or printed copies of the set plus some other cool schwag.
Laurie Berkner is a kids music superstar, and in this conversation we talk about her latest project, a lullaby album, which she's seeking to crowdfund via Kickstarter. Hear about lullabies from her own childhood and the possibilities that Kickstarter affords creators.
Project Title: Laura Doherty is recording a new kids' CD: "In a Heartbeat"!
Creator: Laura Doherty
Description: Hopefully I'll also get a chance to talk with the Chicago-based Doherty about her new Kickstarter to fund the recording, etc. of her next kids music album. Doherty crowdfunded her last album, the fine Shining Like a Star, via Indiegogo, but is turning to Kickstarter this time around. The rewards beyond the music include buttons and t-shirts.
Project Title: Laurie Berkner is making a Lullaby Album
Creator: Laurie Berkner
Description: I'm hopeful I'll be able to chat more with Berkner about the project, but for those of you glued to the Bake Sale site, I wanted to make sure I pointed out this brand new project from the kindie superstar which will fund the recording of her brand new album, an album of lullabies.
Berkner has funded all of her previous albums herself, so it's not like she absolutely needs Kickstarter for the finances -- rather, I suspect it's a way to make it easier upfront and to engage fans as part of the process. And, little more than 30 hours into her project, she's already cleared $10,000. For the Laurie Berkner fan in your life, there are a bunch of nice, reasonably-priced rewards.
Project Title: Robot Turtles: The Board Game for Little Programmers
Creator: Dan Shapiro
Description: As soon as I saw this project, I thought it would do well and while my kids are a shade too old to get much out of this, I am a minor backer, one of the first. I did, however, think I'd get a chance to interview Shapiro for the Bake Sale podcast.
That was before he'd attracted more than 3,700 backers only about 72 hours into the project. Shapiro -- a Google programmer who took some time off this summer to develop the game -- is gonna need all the time he can get fulfilling the project without spending time talking to me. So I'm just going to plug it here.
What is this thing that's become a raging Kickstarter success? It's a board game designed (subtly) to teach programming concepts. Turtles and debugging. Awesome.
Project Title: The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations - Final Push
Creator: Hannah Jayanti
Description: I don't think there's much I need to say about this particular project. It's the last bit of funding filmmaker Jayanti is seeking to complete The Phantom Tollbooth : Beyond Expectations , a documentary on the classic book by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Post-production, legal, marketing -- not exactly fun, but necessary indeed. Hey, even Bill Harley's involved.
Adam Marshall is the music guy, Eric Kreidler is the visual guy, together they've created 6 great kindie videos that have already generated more than a half-million YouTube views. They're now turning to Kickstarter to raise funds to produce four more.
Project Title: A New Kids Album
Creator: Jon Samson
Description: Jon Samson has created a couple albums of kids music that sounds slightly different from a lot of kids music. It has a bit of an improvisational feel to it, most likely inspired by his music therapy work. He's now trying to raise $10,000 to finish his third album, and it looks like he'll probably make it by the time his brief Kickstarter campaign ends a week from now.
I chatted briefly with Samson via e-mail last about the project.
Bake Sale: What do you like the most about making music for kids and families?
Jon Samson: Unconditional love! Children and families are not looking to judge or compare. They just want to feel good and are a very appreciative audience. There's a certain pressure that comes with being in the music industry that seems to be less prominent in the kids music genre, and for the better I'd say. But most importantly, children's faces don't lie. When I'm singing and they light up, I know I have done my job well, and it's an exquisite feeling!
How are you inspired by the kids you work with in your music therapy work?
Something I think many of us grown ups lack, or more precisely, lose touch with, is an innate ability to express and create without worrying about what others will think. Kids age 1-5 are absolute role models for this. Even before they speak, they vocalize freely and openly. Their breathing is more connected too.
Children in general are endlessly inspiring to me. They have a natural ability to see the world with a fresh perspective- they see the beauty in things and are enchanted with what many of us adults take for granted. The children I work with are as much my teachers as I am theirs. When I hold the space for them to sing and play, and I see how excited and open they get, it gives the courage to do the same. I am very grateful for my "job" :).
Dollar level aside, what reward do you most hope somebody pledges for so you can fulfill that?
I love sharing my music, so the more people request shows/performances/ lectures, the more I get to meet new faces and share my passion. Because of my full time music therapy practice, I don't actively promote my music as much as I'd like. So one of the many perks of Kickstarter has been to make what I do accessible to a wider audience. I'd also like to add, I'm honestly delighted when someone donates a dollar- even through it's "just a buck" they are letting me know that they feel the music and care about the work.
Noah and Nanda Wilson -- AKA Mr. and Mrs. Muffins -- join me to talk about their musical and artistic partnership and the inspirations behind their latest album and LP, The Misty Cowboy and Other Songs to Dream By
Project Title : River Raisin Ragtime Revue: Children's Ragtime CD
Creator : William Pemberton (River Raisin Ragtime Revue)
Description : With the resurgence in family music, especially over the past five years or so, you can find many different subgenre albums -- punk, polka, country, what-have-you. But there really isn't any ragtime kindie out there. I suppose one could argue that a lot of ragtime -- think Scott Joplin -- is kid-friendly, but this new project from Michigan's River Raisin Ragtime Revue promises a nice little animal-themed distraction and maybe a different entry point into this very American musical style. I'm eager to hear the result. (Hurry up, though, if you want to pledge -- the campaign ends today, Wednesday.)
Jerome Schoolar -- AKA Dusty Biscuit -- joins me to talk about his Kickstarter campaign to finish building a Fine Arts Farm that will host classes, workshops, concerts for schoolkids and others, along with a free-to-the-public fine arts "farm."
Project Title: App Camp For Girls
Creator : Jean McDonald (App Camp for Girls)
Description: It's a little sad that there has to be a fundraiser to establish a non-profit camp to encourage girls to get into programming. Software is such an important part of our lives these days that one might hope that their wouldn't be massive gender disparity in terms of who's coding and that these camps targeted at older tween and early teenaged girls wouldn't be necessary.
But the disparity does exist, and so here we are. And while the camp right now is set up for a Portland-area event only, if it goes well (and they raise enough money), they're hoping to expand to other areas of the country in 2014. Hear, hear.
Project Title : LightUp: Learn by Making (with Augmented Reality)
Creator : Josh Chan (LightUp)
Description : I've been a supporter of this project since day 1, if I recall correctly, and though I wanted to get Josh and the LightUp folks onto the Bake Sale podcast, we just couldn't get our schedules to sync. No wonder, too, because their project's been a stunning success, raising more than $100,000 compared to their $50,000 goal.
What is LightUp? It's a little bit like Snap Circuits in its use of kid-safe electronic components (e.g., complete a circuit and turn on a light) except that the LightUp adds to that an augmented reality app via your smartphone that will allow kids to "virtually" see the electricity flowing through the circuit -- or not flowing, if you and your kids have failed to construct the circuit properly. That's the sort of thing that I think really makes the educational possibilities of this project shine.
There are lots of different types of kits available starting at $39, and the fancier ones will even allow you and your kids to do some Arduino programming. If you'd like to support the project, though, you'd better hurry as it ends Sunday night, June 30.
Tim Sheridan is seeking to publish an illustrated children's book based on a story he developed many years ago about best friends Thunder and Lightning (who are, in fact, thunder and lightning).
Project Title : MOBIUS - the animated series!
Creator : Charlie Price (Mini Screen Pictures)
Description : I love the concept of this project -- it's an animated series developed for smartphones and tablets about Mobius, "an incredibly adventurous 8 year old, who loves nothing more than to escape his hum-drum, fish and chips, tea and toast village in rural England and go on expeditions that almost every kid dreams of." The rough "animatic" posted on the project page is funny, and does seem to hit the mark for humor for both parent and kid.
Unfortunately, the project doesn't seem to have taken off, and they've only had about 0.5% of the $260,000 British pounds they're seeking collected. But even with that, a pledge for this project is a vote for good, smart family entertainment.
Project Title : Be Alive! An album for kids and their adults.
Creator : Johnny and Jason
Description : I liked the debut album Go, Go... Go, Go, Go from the Portland duo. In fact, I called it one of 2011's best debut kids music albums. As a result, I was happy to hear that the duo was working on a follow-up album called Be Alive! and using Kickstarter to master the tracks, duplicate it, and get it out into the world. There's just a little bit less than 2 days to go, and they've safely cleared their $3,700 project goal. So you can safely pledge in confidence knowing that the project will reach the finish line (and that you'll like it when it does).
Project Title: The Code Witch: A Novel
Creator: Sarah Sterman / Elise Guinee-Cooper
Description : Programmer Ada Lovelace is having a bit of a Kickstarter moment. There was Wollstonecraft, a YA novel about Lovelace and Mary Shelley (programming and steampunk), and now a novel from a pair of Stanford University seniors, Sarah Sterman and Elise Guinee-Cooper are writing The Code Witch . It's a pre-teen fantasy novel featuring a female programmer, whose setup is described as "a dragon shows up at Ada's door, starting an adventure of magic and coding."
Miss Mary Mack might very well be the perfect target audience for this novel -- interested in reading and math, and probably susceptible to being swayed into coding. Even though my coding days never got past computer science classes in high school, I'm excited about the idea that more women should be coding, and every little bit, even fictional narratives, can change the culture. $8 gets you the e-book, $15, the paperback.
Project Title: BrickPi: LEGO® Bricks with a Raspberry Pi Brain
Creator : Dexter Industries
Description : Take your Raspberry Pi computer (it's about the size of a credit card), place it in the board, and you can connect the board to LEGO® motors and gears. The case will protect as it motors on the go.
As a parent of a child who's eagerly anticipating the start of LEGO Robotics at the start of the school year, this sounds like an awesome way to have fun and learn some programming skills. I'm not as eager about the idea of programming a robot to become a ball cannon, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. $45 gets you the board and case (Raspberry Pi, about $25-$40, and LEGOs are your own responsibility.)
For a variety of reasons, there are family-friendly Kickstarter and other crowdfunding projects I'd like to feature but just can't do it in podcast format.
Why should that stop me from promoting them, though?
So I'm going to start mentioning them occasionally here on the website. They'll be brief mentions, not much more than a summary, but if you're enjoying what you're hearing about, I think you'll like reading about some of these items, too. We'll call it the "Non-Cast." Hope it helps you find even more cool projects.
Django Jones is one of the side projects of the currently-on-hiatus folk-rock band Girlyman. They've got a Kickstarter project to help bring their harmonies and humor to the kids music world
Kaitlin McGaw founded the trio Alphabet Rockers, which marries hip-hop to learning. We talk about the Rockers' Kickstarter project to fund a TV pilot, the learning goals of the music, and a little bit about why their isn't more hip-hop for kids
I'm starting to get the hang of getting into iTunes. If you go to this link, you'll be automagically directed to the iTunes Store page for the podcast. As always, I'll ask that you please subscribe and rate and review the podcast, no matter what your opinion -- subscriptions and ratings help the podcast's visibility in iTunes generally.
And if you use something besides Apple's Podcasts app (such as, say, iTunes on your computer) you can always enter this link direct into your podcasting app: http://zooglobble.com/bakesale?format=rss
Thanks for listening. More interviews on their way!
Heidi Swedberg is a ukulele evangelist whose music is designed not only for enjoyment but also participation. We talk about her new Kickstarter project to finish the physical production of her second family album, "My Cup of Tea"
The first Kickstarter project I backed was Elena Moon Park's Rabbit Days and Dumplings, a family music album of songs from East Asia. Besides the album having a Dan Zanes pedigree, always a good sign, it had personal meaning for me.
It took me awhile before I really got into crowdfunding and Kickstarter generally, but now I'm a big supporter. While I like Kickstarter, I think the site does a poor job of highlighting projects for kids and families. They have a children's book category, but no children's music category, and there's no other easy way to find projects targeted at the younger set.
I'm hoping to change that just a little bit with this new show. I'm going to feature creators of Kickstarter projects pitched for kids and families while their project is underway. So if you've got a young 'un in your life, I hope you'll tune and find projects they (and you) can enjoy.