Music
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Letter of Recommendation for The Chickadees February 4, 2008
Dear Chickadees,
Thank you so much for sharing your vibrancy, your energy, your talent, and your obvious love of music with our children and their families! Your entertainment was the magical ingredient for our Open House guests! You energized young and not-so-young with your lively and sweet children’s music! I watched the audience as they smiled and hummed along with you!
Your program was engaging; the audience participation and interaction was spontaneous. I believe that there were children dancing to the melody within a few seconds of your first number! Within a short time, the “older” students were dancing and holding hands with the little ones! Parents were captivated, as well, by your smiling faces and happy songs.
Thank you so very much for being such an integral part of our day! You added a magical ingredient to our Open House! It was the most successful Open House that we have ever had! I gave your CD to our Junior Kindergarten teacher; she was thrilled to have a copy! She will share it with the Senior Kindergarten teacher! The next day, as I was taking the third graders to ShoreHaven to entertain the seniors, one mom driver said, “They’ll enjoy listening to the CD…it’s The Chickadees!”
We are going to have our Second Annual Adventure Day on Wednesday, April 30th! It would be so wonderful if you could visit with our kindergarteners and primary children again! They would love to see you, and the children who were not here on Sunday, January 27th, could have a wonderful musical experience with you, as well.
Thank you so much for sharing your gifts of talent and song with the St. Joan of Arc Parish School Family!
God Bless You Always!
Mrs. Mary Ann Rudella, Principal
- unpublished
Discography
The Chickadees - 2007
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Bio
Mary Karlzen, Anjl Rodee and Carmen Nickerson have been collaborating for some time on “grown-up” music projects, in Milwaukee, when they were inspired to apply their talents in the world of children’s music.
Karlzen, a successful singer-songwriter in the Americana genre, has released cd’s on the Atlantic, Dualtone and Y&T Music labels. She has toured extensively but decided to slow down with the arrival of her first child. Now the mother of two, Karlzen believes, “having kids changed my perspective on everything, including music”.
While her daughters attended the nature-based Schlitz Audubon preschool north of Milwaukee, Karlzen would at times help out in the classroom. “This preschool is set in a vast nature center whose curriculum inspires and nurtures a love of nature and has fun doing it! So writing songs about these school experiences just came naturally.”
Karlzens’ children’s songs combine these themes in an educational way with participation and movement. Songs like ‘Five Shiny Red Apples’ link audience participation with the concept of counting backward. In, “Acorn, Acorn” a fun story of squirrels and acorns is related while teaching that acorns are seeds from oak trees. Patti Baillie, the director of the Audubon preschool was an early supporter and fan, “the Chickadees’ songs are really terrific and the kids just can’t get enough”.
When Karlzen decided to take the songs a step further, she enrolled the talents of her friends, Anjl Rodee and Carmen Nickerson.
Anjl Rodee is a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist who has been a fixture on the Milwaukee music scene for over 10 years. She has performed across the country from Minneapolis, Chicago, to Austin, on national television and radio.
Carmen Nickerson is a professional vocalist and has traveled the world. In LA, Carmen recorded sessions for Hollywood Records and has performed on soundtracks. She has worked with local bands including Mary Karlzen, Sister Moon, and The Eddie Butts Band. www.carmennickerson.com .
Nickerson was a little hesitant at first to jump into children’s music.
“Our first show was so much fun! Sometimes it’s difficult to win over adult audiences, but the kids were so into it, bouncing around, having fun. It makes it fun for me too!” Nickerson adds. Rodee jumped right into the role. “Its great to just get up there and be silly! How often do you get to do that?”
The Chickadees have just released their first cd, “Songs from the Great Outdoors”, available at their website www.thechickadees.net. They will be working on a video this spring and look forward to upcoming shows in the Milwaukee area.
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