Take the Risk of Trying
Trying to launch a new business is hard. Especially when you have to do ALL the things. For Mike & Julie of Kid Save the World, that meant writing, composing & creating the music, doing the voices, singing, editing, producing and doing all the marketing for their new podcast ‘The Super Secret Hive’. Seems to have paid off! They were featured in the New York Times this month. In this week’s StoryMaven podcast we talk process, perspective and trying before you evaluate.
Show Notes
This week’s guests are: Julie Frost & Mike Dombrow who just this week were featured in the New York Times At Home section! Their new kids podcast ‘The Super Secret Hive’, produced by their Kid Save the World network, was touted as Thursday’s thing to do for families. They are the creators and producers of Kid Save the World a network for kids of all ages and backgrounds. Their vision is that kids can make a positive impact in our world. Their first project is the 6 episode podcast for kids called The Super Secret Hive. It’s a musical adventure for the whole family with the characters going on crazy cool quests to help kids save the world. From Honey bees to ocean clean up to dinosaurs to outer space. It’s fun and engaging. They’ve also created activity sheets for listeners, a great resource for kids and their parents. I know Mike and Julie from Walt Disney World so let me tell you a bit more about them.
Julie Frost spent her career learning how to best inspire happier and healthier kids. Julie was a singer and actress for Disney for over nine years and has performed for over four million live audience members across five countries and 26 states.
Mike Dombrow has worked as a music educator and composer for over two decades. Past roles include teaching artist with Disney Performing Arts, casting director at The American Idol Experience, composer and music director for Imagination Stage, and public school choral and musical theatre educator.
StoryMaven Takeaways:
Writing music and writing for children gives us a lot of story telling take aways.
Having a mission for your story — something bigger than yourself and using that to drive each story.
Taking the risk of trying. When writing music, you have to involve other people. Mike describes the eye rolling of students just looking at the music he handed out. But we have to sing it to have an opinion. So write it, read it out loud, then give your opinion on it.
Understanding voices. Some pieces of music need a different perspective. Mike’s story of asking bright young students to sing as if they were 80 years old helped them find the right tone for the piece.
Having an authentic voice. Julie talked about doing voice over, and bringing your authentic voice to it, offering what you have. If the line wasn’t working, re write it so your authentic voice comes through.
These last two sound contradictory but they’re not. You need to consider your audience, who are they, what they need to hear. But if you only write what you think they need to hear, you can loose your authentic connection to what you’re offering. You want to also know who you are and what you are offering. Not everyone will want what you have to offer. In my digital course we’ll talk about the audience need and your offer and how to include both in your messaging.
Links:
