$8.99
Sold by music on Tradebit
The world's largest download marketplace
3,250,841 satisfied buyers
The world's largest download marketplace
3,250,841 satisfied buyers
MP3 Rebecca Frezza - Tall And Small
14 MP3 Songs
KIDS/FAMILY: Children''s Pop, KIDS/FAMILY: General Children''s Music
Details:
WINNER! 2006 NAPPA Gold award
WINNER! 2006 iparenting Media award
As seen on PBS Kids and NOGGIN!!!
“Children''s recording artist Rebecca Frezza rocks your socks off with her band Big Truck.” – Nicole Lyn Pesce, New York Daily News
“With her third studio album, ‘Tall and Small,’ Rebecca Frezza and her band Big Truck make a bid for kids'' music stardom.” -Stefan Shepherd, Zooglobble
“Before Frezza and her freewheeling Big Truck Band are through here, they throw everything from Ramones-style punk to Blues Traveler-type harmonica riffs kids way. Tall or small, 3 or 35, it''s a mash-up that commands a fist-pumping conga line around the toybox. “ - Tammy LaGorce, https://www.tradebit.com Editorial Review
“Frezza’s obvious respect for musical variety, along with a clear understanding of kids’ real-life themes, makes Tall and Small a delightful addition to every family’s music collection.” - Kathy O’Connell, Metrokids, Philadelphia
“Noggin’s latest video superstar melds a classic children’s music sound with today’s adult friendly kiddie pop. Be sure of it, little feet will be dancing. Many tracks will also inspire parental toe-tapping, and perhaps even some humming long after the stereo has been turned off.” – Christopher Healy, Cookie Magazine
“Truly, almost giddily feel-good music for tall, small and all” - Amy Reiter, Time Out NY Kids
Rebecca Frezza’s focus is on creating music for a largely forgotten audience — kids who are too old for pre-school tunes, but who aren’t yet ready for mainstream adult “pop” music. Says Rebecca, “Once kids start elementary school, they don’t have easy access to age-appropriate music. They’re not listening to Raffi any more, but they don’t have music that’s ‘just for them.’ So I’ve tried to write music that speaks to the everyday lives of these kids, but is smart, funny and appealing to parents, too.” The childlike spontaneity of Rebecca, the composer, is matched only by the emotional range, exquisite phrasing, and virtuosity of her voice.
‘Tall and Small’ follows Rebecca Frezza’s 2002 and 2003 recordings, ‘Music In My Heart’ and ‘Road Trip,’ winners of Parents’ Choice, Children’s Music Web, iParenting Media, Parents’ Guide to Children’s Media, and Dr. Toy awards. Barnes&https://www.tradebit.com’s Amy Barkat enthused, “Rebecca Frezza''s talent lies in her fearless exploration of diverse musical styles and her dedication to making the everyday world of kids'' lives burst into musical life through deceptively simple lyrics and a whole lotta heart.” Janet Copple Davis of Parents’ Guide to Children’s Media declared that Rebecca Frezza’s work extends “from lyrical to imaginary to expressive to innovative and reflective – a great panorama of musical sounds.”
On ‘Tall and Small,’ listeners will note influences ranging from rock ‘n’ roll and jazz to Celtic and bluegrass, with a depth of instrumental color that is unusual in a children’s album. In addition to two backup vocalists singing harmony and the usual guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, ‘Tall and Small’ features flute, harmonica, pennywhistle, djembe, bongos, cajon, mandolin, ukulele, fiddle, bodhran, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, electric violin, and washboard!
Rebecca Frezza was a triple threat -- accomplished as a singer, dancer and actress -- whose artistic gifts and hard work carried her into the life of a musical-theater “gypsy.” She crisscrossed the country in regional productions of shows like ‘West Side Story.’ She traveled Europe in ‘A Chorus Line’ and circled the globe in ‘Evita.’
So it was a bit of a surprise, when Rebecca finally left the road to marry and start a family, to find herself with a new performing career -- pretty much in her own backyard.
Just about as soon as her baby daughter could sit up, Rebecca began attending parent-child Music Together classes. “I loved the classes, loved the idea and the practice of bringing music to children,” she says. Soon Rebecca’s son joined them, and Rebecca took the training course that qualified her to teach Music Together classes herself.
“That’s when I started writing music,” she says. “The funny thing is, I didn’t set out to write ‘for kids.’ I wrote a couple of songs that I liked, about topics kids like – birds, my back yard, looking at leaves – and I brought them to my classes. The kids loved them. And the parents loved them too!”
It wasn’t difficult to pinpoint what was special about Rebecca’s songs. “The direction I took really got started when parents started to come to me, saying how their kids had loved the music classes but were outgrowing them,” she says. “Even though the kids still loved so much of what they’d learned, they were ready for more sophisticated material.”
Working in the Music Together program, Rebecca helped create curricula for 3- and 4 year-olds. But she found herself thinking about children outgrowing that range, too. “I was very clear on wanting to make real music for kids,” she recalls, and as she wrote, songs like “I Know I’m Gonna Drive a Car” emerged: more complex ideas, their tone a little more sly and knowing, than music for younger children, yet still completely appropriate to a post-toddler, pre-Lindsay Lohan listener.
Energized, challenged and ready to draw on her musical theater roots, Rebecca rearranged her artistic priorities to place singing first while keeping dance in the mix. While penning the songs that became her first CD, ‘Music in My Heart,’ she was also creating a stage show. Performed by the artists who became Big Truck – a back-up band more accurately described as a shifting cast of multitasking musicians and thoroughly choreographed back-up singers, numbering anywhere from two to ten onstage – Rebecca’s shows, like her songs, feature a global range of instruments, from Celtic pennywhistle to African percussion.
“This band is so versatile, so capable in such a variety of musical styles,” she says. “The nuances really make a difference, giving children something to hang on to. There’s a resonance: they’ll hear one of our songs and recognize these instruments in other music.”
And the music is only part of the bargain. Rebecca’s songs, when performed live, also feature their own set of simple but specific dance moves, taught to each audience by the lifelong hoofer herself. “It’s something like the old Motown choreography – a lot of arm movements,” she explains. “It’s really interesting to see how important the movements are. When the kids are doing them – whether perfectly or not! – the participation is very compelling for the children. There’s such a great life lesson here: It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be fun!”
Now, with the increasing success of ‘Music in My Heart’ and its follow-up, ‘Road Trip,’ Rebecca and her merry band of Big Truck collaborators are looking forward to the release of their third CD, ‘Tall and Small,’ and are poised for nationwide success. Already a popular feature on the NOGGIN Channel’s ‘Jack’s Big Music Show,’ they’re also seen throughout the day in ‘Move to the Music’ interstitials that will continue to air through the summer.
As for touring, “it’s really a question of how much we want to take on,” Rebecca says, “because once we’ve played somewhere, they always hire us back!” From their base in Montclair, N.J., Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck have performed throughout the Tri-State region and have dates set through Fall 2006. (Visit https://www.tradebit.com for specific concert dates.)
Rebecca is especially proud of her success at creating age-appropriate music for youngsters immersed in an overheated, oversexualized media environment. “A couple of weeks ago, I watched a 7-year-old girl dancing her heart out during a show,” Rebecca says. “I thought, now, there’s a girl who could be listening to Britney Spears, and instead she’s having a great time, not a bit self-conscious, totally age-appropriate. My whole point is, you don’t have to lose them!”
File Data