Debbie & Friends Remix Contest
Calling all Kids (and their Parents): Create a Debbie and Friends Remix in GarageBand and enter your remix to win some great prizes!
Here’s a chance to try your hand as a record producer. Between now and April 4, families can play around with the tracks of “Willy Won’t,” a new song from our forthcoming CD, More Story Songs & Sing Alongs, to create their own version.
It is easy to enter the contest at http://debbieandfriendsremix.ning.com/.
Contestants may download the Garageband file to the song “Willy Won’t” from the contest site, and load it into their GarageBand app on their Mac computer. The family mix engineers can then record additional tracks, raise or lower the volume on existing tracks, add special effects, and add their own special touches to create a unique version of “Willy Won’t.”
Contestants must submit their remix entries by Sunday, April 4th, as instructed on the contest site.
All entries will be considered, and the winner will be announced on Monday, April 5th. The winners will receive great prizes from Debbie and Friends including CDs, music instructional books, t-shirts and other great gear. The winning remix will also be featured on this blog.
Here’s the original version.
Let’s hear what yours will sound like! Good luck!
MEDIA CONTACT:
Beth Blenz-Clucas, Sugar Mountain PR
(503) 293-9498 beth@sugarmountainpr.com
Berklee’s New Kids/Family Concert Series
Berklee College of Music is kicking off a brand new a Kids/Family Concert Series beginning this Saturday, January 9th with Debbie and Friends!
The shows will be held in Berklee’s newest performance venue, The Red Room at Cafe 939 located at 939 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for kids, and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
Buy 10:00am show tickets here.
Buy 11:30am show tickets here.
Everybody goes home with Debbie and Friends’ tattoos and a free new song download card!
In honor of this new series, the Cactus Club is offering 20% off lunch entrees for anyone with a Debbie and Friends’ concert ticket! The Cactus Club is in the same building as Cafe 939, so you won’t even have to put on your coats to go to lunch!
The band and I hope to see you on Saturday!
- Debbie
Debbie and Friends
Willy Won’t Smile for the Camera - Cartoon
Here’s the newest Debbie and Friends’s music cartoon featuring my nephew, Will Cavalier.
Enjoy!
Filed under Cartoon, Children's Music, Debbie and Friends, Family Activities, Music, Videos | Comment (0)“Willy Won’t” Animated Music Video Storyboard
The storyboard for our next animated music video is here! The song is “Willy Won’t: Smile for the Camera.” The video below is a rough draft designed to give you a sneak peak into what’s in store for January 2010. Have fun singing a long with “Willy Won’t.” See how many famous places Willy visits and learn “why” he does what he does in pictures!
For information about the story behind the song, please click here.
Filed under Cartoon, Children's Music, Family Activities, Music, Videos | Comment (0)Win 4 Tickets to D&F Shows!
Our good friends at Boston Children’s Music are offering 4 tickets to two different Boston-area Debbie and Friends’ concerts shows.
To enter, all you have to do is visit the Boston Children’s Music web site and post a comment. Here’s the link.
Good luck!
Filed under Children's Music, Concerts, Debbie and Friends, Family Activities, Music | Comment (0)
In the Recording Studio with Debbie and Friends
In the Recording Studio with Debbie and Friends!
Debbie and Friends’ second CD, More Story Songs and Sing Alongs is going to be released in January 2010, and we’re having so much fun recording the songs. Many of you have asked about the recording process, and so I thought I’d share how we constructed our new song, “So, So Happy,” in the studio.
First, let’s listen to the whole song. Then we’ll listen to the individual parts (or tracks) we recorded.
So So Happy - in production by Debbie and Friends
With our producer Mike Carrera guiding the way, we recorded the rhythm section tracks for “So, So, Happy.” The rhythm section includes Drums, Bass, Guitar, and Piano.
Let’s listen to each individual rhythm section instrument we recorded for “So, So, Happy,” and meet the players.
Drums with Bill D’Agostino.
Bill D’Agostino on drums.
Drums - So, So Happy by Debbie and Friends
Bass with Danny “Mo” Morris.
Danno Mo on bass.
Bass - “So, So Happy” by Debbie and Friends
Guitar with Kevin Belz.
Kevin Belz on guitar.
Guitar - “So, So Happy” by Debbie and Friends
Keyboard with Dave Limina.
Dave Limina on piano (also plays organ).
Keyboard - “So, So Happy” by Debbie and Friends
Kids: My nephews and niece had a lot of fun making cheering, clapping, and shouting sounds for the chorus parts of the song.
My superstars!
Even though we captured each instrument on its own track, the parts were recorded at the same time, as a band. That’s why, when you listen really closely to the drum track above, you can hear a hint of guitar coming through the drum mics.
Now that you’ve heard the different parts, listen to the full song again and see if you and your family can pick out the individual instrument parts when they are all mixed together. It’s fun to do this with other recordings you listen to as well!
For an added challenge, click on the individual instrument tracks in this post, one at a time, and take turns guessing which instruments you are hearing: either drums, bass, guitar or piano.
Have any of you had any experience recording music? Please post your comments, or questions, below!
Filed under Children's Music, Debbie and Friends, Family Activities, Music, Music Education, Recording | Comment (0)FREE Song Coupon for Trick or Treaters!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Debbie and Friends! How about some music to go with all that sugar?
Here’s a link to a page with free song download COUPONS you can print, cut, and give out to your Trick or Treaters on October 31! (Better give them candy too, so you don’t get egg’d!)
Build A Bear (Cartoon that is!)
As I mentioned in our last movie announcement, all of the Debbie and Friends animated cartoons are based on songs from our CD, Story Songs and Sing Alongs. The next animated cartoon in development is based on the “Golidlocks and the Three Bears song.”
Goldilocks by DebbieandFriends
Here’s the process. Once we know which song we want to develop into a music cartoon, we ask our good friend Rob Heath at Barkley Studios to help us by creating some fun characters for the cartoon.
Character design.
Then, we create scenes based on the lyrics of the song.
Golidlocks doing what she does!
And finally, we develop a storyboard movie… it’s like a “rough version” of what the animation will be like, set to music. Here’s our storyboard movie/rough version of the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” animated music video.
After that, our amazing animators at Planet Sunday do their thing and create the real animated feature. The “real thing” will be ready by the end of October. Stay tuned!!! Until then, please be sure to check out the other Debbie and Friends cartoons and performance videos on our YouTube Channel!
Filed under Concerts, Debbie and Friends, Family Activities, Videos | Comment (0)Jack and the Beanstalk Music Video
Introducing our newest music video based on our story song about “Jack and the Beanstalk.” We hope you enjoy it! Please be sure to post a message and let us know what you think!
Filed under Cartoon, Children's Music, Debbie and Friends, Family Activities, Music, Videos | Comments (2)iPhone + Smule Ocarina + Three Pigs = Family Jam Session!
What do you get when you take an Apple iPhone, a Smule Ocarina App, and the music notation and recorded tracks to Debbie and Friends’ song “Three Pigs and a Wolf” and put them all together? A Family Jam Session!
Here’s a link to download our fun play-along PDF for you and your family to enjoy!
Debbie and Friends Play-Along for Smule Ocarina
Here’s a quick orientation to the play-along file:
The triangle in the upper-right hand corner will start the recording. The square boxes above the music notation are Ocarina TAB. The blue holes are the ones to cover, the white holes are left open. And, the music notation, chords, and lyrics are there for all of the singers, guitar players, and piano players in the house! (Don’t forget to add some percussion instruments)
Have fun making music together with Debbie and Friends’ “Three Pigs and a Wolf” song. Please be sure to post a message and share your experience.
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