Confetti Park Children's Workshop

Tag: music

  • Validating a child’s talent can set them on a lifelong musical journey

    Validating a child’s talent can set them on a lifelong musical journey

    Judy Caplan Ginsburgh has been performing children's music since 1981.
    Judy Caplan Ginsburgh has been performing children’s music since 1981.

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a special childhood memory from Judy Caplan Ginsburgh of Alexandria, Louisiana, an internationally recognized and multi-award winning performer, recording artist and educator.

    Judy sings as a cantorial soloist and travels throughout North America presenting concerts, residencies, educational keynotes and workshops. Judy works actively in both Jewish and non-Jewish settings and she has developed a number of interactive, educational performances and arts-in-education residencies for school-age children. She has been creating children’s music since 1981!

    Judy shares how important the validation of adults can be when it comes to nurturing a child’s natural talents and interests, and how an experience that  happened when she was just eight years old set her on a career in music!

    Says Judy: “We had a music teacher who came to our school maybe every other week, and she would do music with all the children in the school.

    At one point our local symphony here in Rapides parish needed a children’s chorus… and they auditioned people at our elementary school.

    I remember a gentleman coming, he listened to all of us, and we sang, I think, “Happy Birthday.” And we sang in groups of like five. And he walked in front of us and listened to us, and picked certain people to be in this children’s chorus.

    I was one of those that was picked, when I was about 8 years old, and at that moment, I knew that I was good. That my voice was good. Someone had validated me…..

    I’m still in touch with this gentleman, by the way, and I always tell him that he’s responsible for making sure that I went into music as my career.”

    Thank you, Judy, for sharing your childhood music memory with Confetti Park!

    Learn more about Judy at http://www.judymusic.com/ and check out this more in depth interview with Judy.

  • Music Medley: Who’s at the Door?

    Music Medley: Who’s at the Door?

    Who is at the door?Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    We’re Going to Confetti Park! – Confetti Park Players
    Best Friends – Zachary Richard
    Moving Along – Johnette Downing
    Be My Honey Bee – Schazty
    Baby Bumblebee – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    When You’re Smiling – Jeremy Lyons
    Curious George Main Theme Song –  Dr. John
    Row Row Row Your Boat – Dr. John (Mac Rebennack with The Ends)
    Monsters – Jazzy Ash

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Dr. Sick and the storytime feature F Words – Fantastic by Ms. Chocolate, and poems from Louisiana kids!

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Watching Feufollet at the New Orleans Film Fest! #NOFF2016

    Watching Feufollet at the New Orleans Film Fest! #NOFF2016

    Feufollet at the New Orleans Film Fest
    Feufollet at the New Orleans Film Fest

    I was SO excited to watch my music video “Feufollet” on the Entergy Giant Screen! It was an official selection at the 2016 New Orleans Film Festival.  Look at this amazing company of Family Friendly Animated Shorts!

    The Boy Who Learned To Fly (Moonbot)
    Circles (Ma’agalim) (Uri Lotan)
    “Feufollet” (me!)
    Mosquito: The Bite of Passage (Teng Cheng, Brian Vincent Rhodes)
    Moom (Tonko House)
    Little Shimajiro (Isamu Hirabayashi)

    It was very cool to meet the other film makers, such as Limbert Fabian of Moonbot (The Boy Who Learned to Fly) and Brian Vincent Rhodes  (Mosquito: The Bite of Passage).  We took part in a Q&A after the film and fielded questions from a friendly, curious and supportive audience!

    How I wish I could have had the company of Santiago Germano and Gustavo Wenzel, the amazingly talented animators who created “Feufollet” (and Santiago illustrated The Little Mouse Santi). I hope I represented them well.

    I did have the marvelous company of some of the best friends and family in the world! Thanks to my husband Dave, son Louis, and to my brother Marc and sister-in-law Gina and to Annabel for coming to the fest with me!

    Family at the fest!
    All the way from Shreveport, my brother Marcus and sister-in law Gina. And my husband Dave, son Louis, and niece Annabel.

    And to my delight, just before the lights were lowered and the films began, some of my Confetti Park Players sprinted into the theatre…. It was a wonderful surprise!!!

    And here we are after the film showings.

    Some of the Confetti Park Players attend the New Orleans Film Festival.
    Some of the Confetti Park Players attend the New Orleans Film Festival.

    And now… for the film!

    “Feufollet” is an animated short produced by Confetti Park. This is the music video for the song featuring Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players, animated by Santiago Germano and Gustav Wenzel.

    “Feufollet” is performed by Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players, from the album “We’re Going to Confetti Park!” available on CD & digitally. It was recorded at Marigny Recording Studio by Matt Aguiluz and mastered by Bruce Barielle.

    Featuring: Rick G. Nelson, bass; Sarah Quintana, background vocals and fae giggles; Katy Ray, vocals; Tim Robertson, guitar; Dr. Sick, violin, musical saw, toy piano; Dylan Field Turner, broom and other percussion.

    [dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/were-going-to-confetti-park!/id1057427046″ size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Buy Track on iTunes[/dt_sc_button]

    [dt_sc_button type=”with-icon” link=”https://www.amazon.com/Were-Going-Confetti-Hobgood-Players/dp/B017X9VR70/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=” size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Buy Track on Amazon[/dt_sc_button]


    LYRICS:
    In a boat, in a swamp, in the darkness
    All around you is the night
    Creatures jumping, night birds calling
    When you see a flickering light

    You think it could be a lantern
    On some friendly neighbor’s trawl
    Or the porch light on a swamp house
    But it’s not friendly light at all

    Chorus:
    Don’t follow the Feufollet
    Don’t follow the Feufollet
    Lest you both should fade away

    Pawpaw gave a warning to me
    Don’t follow the Feufollet
    Don’t get tricked by those lights in the sky,
    They will lead you far astray

    The swamp has many dangers
    Use your wits, you’ll be OK
    Trust the rats, the snakes and the gators
    Before you trust the Feufollet

    How will I know it Pawpaw?
    What shall I do when I see?
    When those flickering lights start to call to you
    Do not follow, ma cherie.

    It’s a will o’ the wisp, a trickster
    Gives false comfort in the night
    Stay close to the course you know in your heart
    Or do not move ’til morning light.

  • How the Jackson 5 brought two different people together in Shreveport

    How the Jackson 5 brought two different people together in Shreveport

    Jeff CampbellIn this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a music  memory from Jeff Campbell, founder of Hungry for Music, a nonprofit organization distributes musical instruments to children in need.

    Jeff, originally from Shreveport, established Hungry for Music in 1994 in Washington D.C. Since then, the nonprofit has donated over 8,000 instruments to children in 27 states and 14 countries.

    Jeff was ten years old in 1972 when he attended his first concert—the Jackson 5. And while the music was powerful, the experience was made more so by a connection he forged with a woman in the audience.

    Jeff shares the memory: “My first concert was the Jackson 5 at Hirsch Coliseum in Shreveport. I remember…a black woman had the same ticket as me. So she said, ‘You can sit in my lap.’ She offered me gum, and it was just very nice. And knowing what I know about the racial division there, that was something very powerful. It had a really powerful effect on me. Not only the music, but the gesture she made toward me that has an impact today.”

    Learn more about Hungry for Music and the good work Jeff has been doing for the past two decades. You can listen to a more in depth interview with Confetti Park, as well.

    Thank you, Jeff, for sharing your memory with Confetti Park!

  • Media Advisory: New Orleans children’s ball inspires a new book and a song

    Media Advisory: New Orleans children’s ball inspires a new book and a song

    New Orleans kids’ choir director launches Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a children’s book and song called “Candy Land Ball”

    What: Candy Land Ball, a children’s book (36 pages) about a magical night at the ball, written in rhyming verse and beautifully illustrated by watercolor artist Emanuela Serafina. It comes with piano sheet music and a download code for the song performed by Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players. The book is being pre-sold book on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to cover production and printing costs. The author’s goal is to raise $3000 in pre-sales.

    Who: Katy Hobgood Ray, director of New Orleans-based kids’ chorus Confetti Park Players and host of the kids radio show and podcast Confetti Park.

    When: The crowdfunding campaign runs from September 25-November 24, 2016. Autographed books and CDs and other perks will be shipped to supporters in the first week of December 2016.

    Where: Four special packages are available for sale at https://igg.me/at/candylandball/x/11554329. Packages range from $15-$100, and include perks such as autographed books, CDs, musical toys, and gourmet candy gift baskets.

    Why: The Candy Land Ball story book is the follow-up to the recorded song from the Parents’ Choice® Award-winning children’s music album, We’re Going to Confetti Park! featuring Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players. The story was inspired by an annual event that raises funds for parks and children’s programming in Algiers Point for 501(c)3 Confetti Kids, Inc. A portion of proceeds from the campaign will go to Confetti Kids, Inc., an organization for which Katy has volunteered for four years. This is the second children’s book from Confetti Park. The first, The Little Mouse Santi, was named a Best Book of 2015 by Kirkus Reviews and won a Moonbeam Award and Gold Mom’s Choice Award.

    Learn more at confettipark.com. Media members, please email for inquiries or call 504-650-1238.

  • Jimmy Caskey’s lifelong fascination with recorded music

    Jimmy Caskey’s lifelong fascination with recorded music

    It’s a music memory brought to you by Confetti Park!

    Jimmy Caskey lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and his wife Jacques own and operate a beloved lunchtime restaurant called Jacquelyn’s Cafe. Jimmy has been playing guitar all his life, and has performed in several different bands around north Louisiana.

    Whenever people go to Jacquelyn’s Cafe, in addition to enjoying the shrimp salad and Monte Cristo sandwiches, bowls of gumbo and red beans and rice, they’re getting a musical education (whether they know it or not!).  Jim Caskey is the deejay, and he lovingly shares his large and eclectic recording collection with everyone who steps through the doors. He will talk music with anyone who is interested in learning about what they’re hearing.

    Jimmy’s love for music is lifelong. In this music memory, Jimmy discusses discovering his parents’ turntable and records when he was small child:

    “I was around 5 or 6 in Mississippi, I remember my folks had albums and a turntable. And I remember sitting there listening to the albums and was fascinated by music. And I’ve been fascinated ever since then by recorded music…..And when I was 13 I started playing guitar, and I don’t know why I can’t explain it, but I was always infected and amazed by music of all sorts. Except for heavy metal.”

    Thank you, Jimmy, for sharing your childhood music memory with Confetti Park!

  • Music Medley – Up Hill, Down Hill

    Music Medley – Up Hill, Down Hill

    Music medley from Confetti Park - uphill and down hill.Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Wake-Y-Up-O – Kevin Griffin
    Birds Birdy, Tweet Tweet – Mr. Christopher
    Bullfrog – Louis Ray
    Jack & Jill – Confetti Park Players
    Skip to My Lou – Swing Setters
    Farm – Imagination Movers
    Summit of Sound – Renzi Center
    When Something is Gnawing You – Hrilina Ramrakhiani
    Old Man – Leadbelly
    A Rum Sum Sum – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Papillon

    Also featured in this episode, a Louisiana folk tale called The Little Louisiana Pine Tree,  a music memory from Shreveport musician Leonard Service, and a poem from Confetti Park Player Hrilina Ramrakhiani.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Music Medley – Up Hill, Down Hill

    Music Medley – Up Hill, Down Hill

    Music medley from Confetti Park - uphill and down hill.Confetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Wake-Y-Up-O – Kevin Griffin
    Birds Birdy, Tweet Tweet – Mr. Christopher
    Bullfrog – Louis Ray
    Jack & Jill – Confetti Park Players
    Skip to My Lou – Swing Setters
    Farm – Imagination Movers
    Summit of Sound – Renzi Center
    When Something is Gnawing You – Hrilina Ramrakhiani
    Old Man – Leadbelly
    A Rum Sum Sum – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Papillon

    Also featured in this episode, a Louisiana folk tale called The Little Louisiana Pine Tree,  a music memory from Shreveport musician Leonard Service, and a poem from Confetti Park Player Hrilina Ramrakhiani.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Thanksgiving playlists make beautiful music memories for Rich Collins

    Thanksgiving playlists make beautiful music memories for Rich Collins

    Rich Collins
    Rich Collins

    It’s a childhood music memory from Rich Collins, a founder and front man for one of the most popular children’s music groups in the world, the Imagination Movers. Rich also has a burgeoning solo career, with a new album of songs geared toward adults. (Scroll down for music videos!)

    In this music memory, Rich talks about the music he associates with large family gatherings at Thanksgiving:

    “My family up in DC was large and we would all gather for all the major holidays, and the holiday that was at our house every year was Thanksgiving. And we had a very fun family, so basically the way every one of these gatherings ended was with all the tables and chairs being pushed aside, and we would put on records and start dancing.”

    Rich talks about how his father curated the albums that became the basis for Thanksgiving memories: “The soundtrack to my youth, and to these parties, and to these great family memories, was the Beatles, Creedence, and Otis Redding.”

    Today, the tradition lives on for Rich and his family.

    “Every other year here in New Orleans (where I’ve been for 25 years), I host Thanksgiving. And I have a Pandora channel with those three artists on it and I put it on and it’s playing the whole time that I’m gathered with my sisters and my mom and the next generation…”

    Thanks, Rich, for sharing this wonderful family tradition with Confetti Park. Listen to this extended interview with Rich Collins, all about the music of the Imagination Movers. 

  • Storytime: The Adventures of the Swamp Kids – The Missing Chord by Leif Pedersen

    Storytime: The Adventures of the Swamp Kids – The Missing Chord by Leif Pedersen

    Leif Pedersen, creator of the Swamp Kids series
    Leif Pedersen, creator of the Swamp Kids series

    It’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, we hear Louisiana-born big band leader and children’s author Leif Pedersen narrate The Missing Chord, the very first book of the Swamp Kids series.

    The Swamp Kids are friends and bandmates who live in Bayou Bleu near Mamou, Louisiana. Led by Pierre a le Gator on fiddle, the musical swamp kids include Mon Cher the pretty raccoon and TuTu the Turtle on washboard. There’s also a fish who keeps time by splashing his tail in the water.

    But they just can’t get their sounds quite right! What’s missing? Will they find it before the big Battle of the Bands contest?

    Sachet the Crawfish longs to join in the merry music making, but he wants to bring just the right sound to the group. Maybe he has just what the Swamp Kids need!

    Swamp Kids’ creator Leif Pedersen is a fabulous musician in his own right. Leif has been a lead singer for many famous internationally touring Big Bands orchestras, such as Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Al Beletto’s Big Jazz Band, Pete Fountain, and Woody Herman’s Band. Today, the New Orleans native leads his own band.

    The Swamp Kids is a growing enterprise, with four books in the series and more coming. All of the books contain “Lagniappe Lessons” by Louisiana celebrities—famous Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw is the guest star in The Lost Chord!
    Visit www.theswampkids.com for puzzles, plush toys, activity sheets of teachers, and more!

    This podcast features a bit of “Se Pas La Pan” performed by the Hackberry Ramblers.

  • Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players in Story Monsters Ink

    Katy Hobgood Ray & the Confetti Park Players in Story Monsters Ink

    Story Monsters Ink features the Confetti Park Players and Katy Hobgood Ray
    Story Monsters Ink features the Confetti Park Players and Katy Hobgood Ray

    What an honor! The August 2016 issue of Story Monsters Ink has a lovely feature story on Katy Hobgood Ray, director of the Confetti Park Players.

    The cover story for this issue is on Dav Pilkey, author of the beloved Adventures of Captain Underpants series, one of the most popular series of books written for elementary-school aged children. There is also a profile on children’s author and illustrator Liz Pichon, creator of the popular  Tom Gates series, and on Linda Dennis, founder of the Team Backpack Journalists program.

    The article on Katy was written by Melissa Fales.

    “As the host and producer of the New Orleans-based Confetti Park children’s radio show and director of the Confetti Park Players children’s chorus, Katy Hobgood Ray pays homage to the music and culture of her beloved home state of Louisiana. Both projects allow Ray to share her vast musical knowledge and songwriting talent with children and adults alike.”

    Thank you so much for the wonderful support, to writer Melissa and to Editor-in-Chief, Cristy Bertini!

    Download the issue

    Story Monsters Ink is a free, subscription-based magazine that gives parents and educators the latest news about award-winning and debut books, profiles on both renowned and newly published authors, upcoming book events, author presentations and more.

     

  • John Doheny recalls jamming cartoon theme songs as a kid

    John Doheny recalls jamming cartoon theme songs as a kid

    Saxophonist John Doheny jams with Chuck Bee (l) and Roger Lewis (r).
    Saxophonist John Doheny at a Confetti Park recording session with Chuck Bee (L) and Roger Lewis (R).

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a childhood music memory from New Orleans-based saxophonist John Doheny.

    John has a long career as a professional jazz musician, band leader, writer, and educator. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he first started playing clarinet as a child and was part of youth orchestras from an early age.

    John switched to saxophone as a teenager, and says he developed his chops playing six nights a week as a college student in Vancouver. He spent his twenties and thirties playing and recording with a slate of well-known pop and rhythm and blues artists such as the Coasters, the Platters, Bobby Curtola, Buddy Knox, the Temptations, Solomon Burke, Michael Buble, and Doug and the Slugs.

    In 2003, John moved to New Orleans and enrolled in the graduate school at Tulane University. In addition to earning an MA in Musicology (with a concentration in Early New Orleans Jazz), he served as Professor of Practice in the music department and directed the student jazz band. He also served as band leader of the Professors of Pleasure, and has released several straight-ahead jazz recordings. (We are honored that John appears on a track with the Confetti Park Players—The Clapping Song.)

    In this memory, John recalls how his mother made him practice every day, and how it led to a favorite jam.

    “My mother said you have to practice for 30 minutes after school or no cartoons. And so I would be sitting there playing with the Klose book, and then the cartoons would come on, and then because I already had the horn in my hand, I taught myself how to play the Bugs Bunny theme song. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was teaching myself how to play what I hear, which is kind of what you want to do.”