by 3 people |
Kid Pan Alley started with a brilliant but obvious discovery—kids make the greatest co-writers—especially when you are writing songs for kids. Paul Reisler, songwriter, composer, master songwriting teacher and founder of Trapezoid, learned this during an elementary school songwriting residency project in rural Rappahannock County, VA. There, he co-wrote over 50 songs with all of the 600 children in the county.
The songs were funny, touching, goofy, gross and completely enchanting. They turned out to be so good that Reisler asked a number of the county's professional musicians—many of them nationally and internationally known—to record one song each in their own style. The recording, Tidal Wave of Song, became an expression of the whole community—and of the power of song to inspire the spirit of community.
Ever since, Kid Pan Alley has created a tidal wave of songs around the country. They've now written over 600 songs with over 12,000 children and completed a CD project in Nashville in partnership with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. The CD features some of the city's top recording artists including Amy Grant, Delbert McClinton, Kix Brooks, Raul Malo and Kix Brooks recording songs written with the kids. That album received a Grammy nomination as well as a number of other awards including a Parents' Choice Gold Award.
go to the source
Newly updated
- the official Kid Pan Alley web site
- Inspiring children to be creators, not consumers of music. They have written over 500 songs with over 10,000 children in classrooms across the country. And then produced many of these songs with major recording artists.
- Video: TV news gets behind the scene
- Want to see Kid Pan Alley in action? Here's a short video showing what it's really like.
- the electronic press kit
- The Kid Pan Alley electronic press kit is available here.
founder of Kid Pan Alley
- Paul Reisler
"The most important thing I've learned is that kids need to know that they can be creators and not just consumers. Our entire culture teaches them how to consume stuff -- how to buy -- as if we could buy our way out of the world's problems, $200 billion here, $30 million there... We don't buy our way out, we create our way out. We may be entertaining our children through TV and video games, but we're not teaching them how to do the thing that's actually going to make the world a better place - creating."
people are talking
quotes
- Jeffrey Allison, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
"The Nashville Kid Pan Alley CD has not left my car CD player since I first received it. Kids of all ages love it. The songwriting of the school children along with adult songwriters is so incredibly disarming."
- Amy Grant, Grammy award-winning artist
"Feel-good songs, bluesy songs, funny songs and silly songs, big-hearted I-know-how-you-feel songs: this beautifully produced CD is an all-inclusive celebration of creativiy, shared experiences and new horizons."
- Parents' Choice Magazine
"...A veritable tsunami of homegrown music ... wide-ranging, surprising and fun. I love it!"
- John McCutcheon
Hear it for Yourself
CD Baby is the best place to get Kid Pan Alley CDs
- A Tidal Wave of Song
- Listen to samples here from the first CD, Tidal Wave of Song.
- Kid Pan Alley Nashville
- Listen to samples of all 18 songs from the Kid Pan Alley Nashville CD.
what the press says about KPA
- WPLN Nashville Public Radio
- Kid Pan Alley Nashville
- Parents' Choice Foundation
- Parents' Choice Foundation reviews the Nashville CD.
- Dirty Linen article
- Making a noise in the world.
- Oxford American Magazine
- Kids are more creative than we give them credit for.
- iParenting Media Awards
- 2006 Best Product Award
by Daniel_David_Johnson
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