Soundzania

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

Hilltown Families hosted a t-shirt review several weeks ago and they have just posted their results. It wasn’t exactly a contest, but more of a review. Several shirts got “kids pick” or “parents pick”. Every shirt got a little review done. Read this post to see the reviews of ALL of the shirts.

Soundzania, they said, would have gotten an honorable mention if they were giving them out We think our newer tie-dye designs are bit more attention-getting. We submitted some of the color washes. Anyway, check out the other shirts and give us a holler about ours, do you like ‘em?

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

This here is the first ever Soundzania Newsletter!
Big things are happening in Soundzania and we wanted to tell you all about ‘em.

First off, we want to thank everyone for their support of Soundzania! We hope that everyone you share the Soundzania CD with is enjoying it and tapping their big toe

With that support, we have been able to continue promoting Soundzania through elementary classroom visits, online contests, our newly redesigned website as well as our new wonderful t-shirts hand tie-dyed by our own Mandy Lynn.

We are beginning plans for our second CD !
Yes, it is time. This new CD will focus on homemade instruments with a particular effort given to educating kids and parents on making and playing them. We want everyone to have fun playing music, and if you don’t have any of them fancy store-made instruments, well, we can help you get started with some things around the house.

Over the next several months with the launch of our new website, we will be posting stories and other bits as we progress towards the creation of our second CD. If you stay tuned, you can hear it get made

Please continue your wonderful support!
Support Soundzania with one of these actions:

• picking up a CD for a friend
• ordering a fabulous t-shirt made by Mandy Lynn
• subscribing to Soundzania to keep in touch (via RSS or via E-MAIL)

** From now until November 20th, get 10% off any order at Soundzania.com. Enter the coupon code ZANIA10 during the checkout process.

Until then, make music and share it!!!

Thanks a million,

Ben Joe and the whole Soundzania gang !

Well, that took a while. Mandy Lynn and I just finished setting up the store with all the t-shirts in it. You should check out the different designs she has made. You can also custom order from a choice of several designs and colors.

Also, notice that we have a $5 OFF SALE going on for a limited time, when you buy a CD and a t-shirt, you can get $5 OFF the CD !! Just enter CDFOR5 in the coupon code during checkout.

Well, thats it for now, gotta go write a newsletter.

Ben

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.

Mandy Lynn is just tie-dyeing as many shirts as she can. Here is a quick picture of her working on one of the shirts.  Keep an eye out, the t-shirt section will keep getting shirts added to it as she makes them.

Recently, I received an e-mail from a fellow citizen of Soundzania (we’re all citizens actually, read the citizen’s motto). In the e-mail, Claire (6-years old) shared her drawing with me. Here it is:

I think its a wonderful coloring of Cory Net. Thanks a bunch for sharing Claire !

Print out some of our coloring pages, color them in and send them our way !  We’ll share what you share.

Soundzania was contacted recently about joining in a t-shirt contest. Well, we didn’t have a t-shirt at the time, but we sure thought it sounded like fun ! We quickly made a design based on the CD and Mandy’s wonderful tie-dye creations, and …

viola - we have t-shirts!!

So anyway, back to the contest. Check out The Hilltown Family Variety Show’s 1st Annual T-Shirt Review Mini-Fest & Ice Cream Social

This festival looks like its going to be lots of fun for all the kids and musicians ! I wish I lived closer to them so I could join in on the fun.

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