November Sound Bytes

As we gear up for the holidays, of course we have a new holiday CD to shout about. The latest from Naptime Nanny is a collection of Christmas stories from around the world retold by Judy Rundell, the Naptime Nanny herself. As usual, the music was produced and arranged by Derrick. It includes some holiday favorites as well as some original works worthy of becoming holiday classics themselves. This is the third volume of stories in the series and if early sales are an indication, the Naptime Nanny franchise is well on its way to becoming an annual event at Hear and Now Music. Look for it at www.naptimenanny.com

We have also been busy arranging and composing songs for the Junior Choir at North Shore Unitarian Church. September marked the beginning of the new sessions for the choir and we have two songs under our belt, with a Christmas show to prepare before next year.

SEPTEMBER SOUND BYTES

Summer's over??? Already???

Don't know about you, but we've been too busy here to even write about it!

So.... to catch up a bit....

H&N Music provided original as well as re-worked songs for Lil Language Scholars. The Spanish language school, located in Libertyville, needed a teaching aid for young students. We enlisted the vocal talents of Lily Perez to complete these short, but cute, ditties guaranteed to help youngsters...and their parents... learn Spanish. Another satisfied client!

H&N also provided the music for the Daniel Wright 8th Grade graduation video. This was a massive undertaking, involving a re-sing by some talented students of the Killers song, HUMAN. Thanks to Barb Tolbert for bringing the project here.

The last few months have seen a number of Derrick's original songs placed on high profile TV shows, like Memphis Beat and HBO's True Blood.

New client Elizabeth Egen came in to follow her lifelong dream of doing VoiceOver. The resulting VO demo that we produced should have her feeling like she's well on her way to achieving that dream. That's what we're all about here folks...helping people achieve their dreams.

And speaking of which....

on the heals of here second release, Judy Rundell is back in the studio to work on the next Naptime Nanny project. This time we're going into overdrive to get a Christmas themed package out in time for holiday gift giving. Half way there as of this writing.... stay tuned.

And last, but not least, the long delayed Jim Krzych project looks like it will finally come to completion yet this year. This collaboration with Derrick, and a host of some of Chicago's finest players, contains some of the best ARROYO music that never was!

SOUND BYTES: December

Well, it's holiday time at Hear and Now Music. And what better way to get in the holiday mood than by giving. That's right....giving to a good cause. 2008 marks the first ever Christmas CD benefitting Christian Beginnings Preschool in Deerfield, produced of course, by Hear and Now Music. For only $10 you can own some of the cutest, funniest Christmas music you've ever heard, including several original compositions by Hear and Now's very own Meredith Colby Procell. CD's can be purchased through Christian Beginnings or Hear and Now Music.

Maggie Kain's cd, Blessings in Disguise, is set to be mastered by Trevor Sadler at MasterMind in Milwaukee. Trevor has mastered records by artists such as Tony Levin, The Subdudes, Ramsey Lewis, Urban Knights, Jesse Cook and Tingstad and Rumbel. Check him out @ www.mastermindproductions.com Maggie hopes to have her cd in hand by Christmas. And we do too!

Speaking of gift giving... the 3rd grade students at Half Day School are working on a class project that will have them actually composing their own verse to a song, I'M GRATEFUL, written by frequent H&N client, Sue Wynne. Derrick will take his show on the road to the school to record the kids doing their verses and together as a full chorus and then bring it back to the studio to edit and mix. The resulting individual songs will be turned into cd's for the kids to give as gifts of gratitude to their parents for the holidays.

THIS JUST IN....Hear And Now Music has licensed their song, BECOMING FRIENDS, to the JAX Company for inclusion in the short film, INDIAN HILL. This independent release about boyhood skateboarding friends in Portland in the 70's will be submitted to numerous film festivals in 2009, with the possibility of commercial release soon after.

Hear and Now Music welcomes new clients Ron Cohler and John McCormack!