Entries Tagged 'Music' ↓

We’ve recorded another song – Individual. This one was by Lee Parker – words and basic music. A lot of interesting voices on this one. It also has some fun percussion with the cowbell and floor tom. It might be the song of the week next week, we’ll see. Anyway, the point of the song is that we are all individuals, but how… how can that be with 7 billion people ?? How can we actually be unique? On the flip side, there are tons of things we share and make us all alike. My favorite line in this song is “if I say I love you will you say you love me too”. Nice touch Lee ! Yes, we all need some of the same things don’t we 🙂

Take care – and until next time….keep the safari going

Ben Joe

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I’ve added another little game to Soundzania.com. Sound Check provides you 2 controls… each one plays the same song, the trick is to try to get the two going in the same place at the same time so they sound as one. Or, you could just play around to see what other interesting timings you can come up with. Its sure to be a fun little diversion.

Enjoy !

Ben

This is the first in a series of posts that will reveal some of the coming album from Soundzania. Each week (or so) we will post another track from the upcoming album. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button at the top of the page (the link changes each week though) !!

Building Blocks was written by Lee Parker and was extremely fun to record! The crunch sound you hear is actually a slew of lincoln logs being thrown about in a big plastic bin. Each toss is different… it was recorded live, so I had to throw those lincoln logs for the entire song… my arms got tired :)This one has been a clear favorite with my kids for the past month… but recently another track has displaced it… more on that track later!

Stay tuned and enjoy the sneak listen! Ben Joe

Soundzania is now available for download from CD Baby here.

We’ve been available on iTunes for quite some time.  Just search “Soundzania” on the iTunes website or from within iTunes on your computer.   iTunes charges $10 for the download.  You can get it for $9 at CD Baby (more goes to the artist with CD Baby).

So, support Soundzania today and download your own copy for only $9 here.

Thats the title of an article we’ve written and Washington Parent published in their February issue.

Pick up a copy of their February issue almost anywhere around town where kids go.

Washington Parent (a publication providing family enrichment through education and support) published an article written by Scott Flory (our friend who produced Soundzania!). This article appeared in the February issue of Washington Parent. For a peek at the article contents, see an earlier blog post here.

The other week, the Hilltown Family Variety Show aired a special “Watercycle” show. Here is a link to check it out. They picked the “Rain” PSA from the Soundzania CD as part of the show. I think thats nice and appropriate… the PSA tried to describe the watercycle in less than 30 seconds 🙂

We have a scheduled performance at Good Shepherd pre-school coming up on December 14th.  This is the same kind of performance we have given in the past to other schools.  I bring several instruments (acoustic guitar, banjo, ukelele, stand-up bass, and kazoo).  For each instrument, I tell the kids a little about where it came from, show a few ways to make sounds with it, and then play a song with it.  The kazoo and the ukelele are usually the funnest ones!

If you are interested in having us come by your school and give a similar performance, just give us a holler.

Ben Joe

When we first saw this video several months ago, my family could not get enough… it is incredibly funny. Well, I’m posting it here because it recently resurfaced… after 3 months, the kids requested hearing it again. I think it is done by a very clever teenager in Montana as far as I can tell. He and his friends got together and made a video, cool.

This is safe to share with your kids, just an odd video that is insanely funny:

Do you ever have your kids make music at home? Ever think that it might be fun to have your kids and a few of their friends make music together?

Its not all that hard, and very rewarding for the kids, to be able to help them make a little music and sing.

This is one of the missions of Soundzania, to foster making music – the creative process and, in general, to make the creation of music a little more common. I believe music is just as important of an outlet as sports or other games kids do… and just like sports, kids do play them formally and informally. I’m trying to spur on the notion of more informal music.

I’ve started writing an article on this topic for Washington Parent. They are a trusted resource for parenting in the greater Metropolitan DC area and publish superb articles on education, arts and more. Read more about this publication by visiting WashingtonParent.com

When the article runs, I’ll put another post up here to link you to it. In the meantime, stay tuned for the first homemade instrument posting. In the process of creating our next CD, we will be making some instruments and sharing them with you here.

Make music – then share it !!

Ben Joe

Google just told me we were played on the radio – Valley Free Radio to be exact. Thats very nice to know your music is played for a large audience to hear. I think it was played by a guest DJ who was part of Hilltown Families who just ran their first ever t-shirt contest. So, Sienna, thanks for the play !

The playlist that Sienna hosted is chock full of some excellent kids music. Look some of these bands up, they have some very fun music for everyone.