With Kids and For Kids
I’ve had the great pleasure to write songs for kids and with kids. The lyrics to the song below with the (*) have been written 100% by kids as a special collaboration project. To learn more, please contact me!
Songs About Tacos
When life hands you lemons, you make tacos. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right! In any case, I gave myself the challenge to write a collection of kid’s songs about tacos. Here is the first batch. It includes “A Pirate Who Loves Tacos”, a rousing song from a somewhat unreliable narrator, “Shattered Tacos” a rock taco opera with extra cheese and “Counting Tacos” a fun number (hah!) for the preschool set.
Song Form Song
Every spring for the last 10, I’ve collaborated with 2nd graders to write songs. They provide ideas about a character trait or something fact-based, I turn their ideas into lyrics, then add music. Once it’s finished they work with their music teacher to learn the song. The physical distancing situation that we’ve been in for the last year has meant that this project was in jeopardy of happening at all. But when there’s a will… let’s just say we figured a bunch of workarounds!
During the first session of our songwriting workshop I teach about pop song form. This year I made a video! I formalized it a little more than usual. Here is the “Song Form Song”. I used the 80s rock ballad genre (of course) for the music.