Kid Pan Alley Lets Kids Write The Tunes

What if everybody could write a song? That seems like a grand concept, except that most people don't have either the equipment, the time, the experience, or the idea of where to start. Kid Pan Alley was founded to give children a safe harbor and a window into the world of music. Their new CD, ONE LITTLE SONG CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, is a collection of tunes written with classrooms of kids. It doesn't seek to change the world as much as let people know that things like this are even possible.

The Kid Pan Alley program promotes ideals such as teamwork, creative thinking, and respect for intellectual property (I wonder if they have a PowerPoint on Spotify royalties). We do this by keeping them engaged and giving them the power to create something unique, lasting and completely their own. ONE LITTLE SONGis about respect for others, the environment, the community and ourselves. The songs are recorded by the Kid Pan Alley band, which includes Grammy nominated vocalists.

Kid Pan Alley is the brainchild of Paul Reisler, and the program has been cultivating young minds since 1999.

ONE LITTLE SONG goes high in its concepts, but you can point the finger at the fevered little minds getting the opportunity to set the table. Songs cover "I Don't Think So, You're a Bully," "Don't Put Me Down, Or My Dog," and "True To Me." It certainly provides a wonderful vocal showcase for performers such as Lea Morris, Heath Francis, Ysaye Barnwell, Jason McGlory, Justin Hopkins, Vance Gilbert, and Alison Rapetti. But in reality, my kids have been exposed to so many songs with these concepts – by artists they are familiar with – that the treatments here didn't really engage them.

ONE LITTLE SONG is a neat little curio and probably worth a listen for the families of the kids involved. However music education in disparate forms continues to be an important curriculum and should be supported. To that end, Kid Pan Alley is a worthwhile project and definitely has its ear (and eye) on bringing children into the world of music.

ONE LITTLE SONG CAN CHANGE THE WORLD is available at iTunes, Amazon, and CDBABY.

Here is the video for the song, "Don't Put Me Down, Or My Dog":