My brother asked me to animate a short story he wrote for his pre-school class. (You can see an example of my animation capabilities hosted at www.changestorm.comgodzilla) It's about some frogs in a swamp, and has rhyming lyrics that beg to be put to simple song and music. (I'll leave the decision as to style of music to the musically inclined volunteer.) I can send a copy of the hand-illustrated "story book" (actually, it's in more of a phamphlet format currently) to spark the musical inspiration of anyone interested in helping with this. Thank you.

This won't help with the song, unless you already have the lyrics, but if you're going to need music for your animations, and have access to a Mac, GarageBand is an incredible application. It comes with lots of loops (you can buy even more or import your own) that you can alter and combine to fit the length of your animation. Warning: it's as addictive as Poser! It's part of Apple's iLife application with iMovie (for combining Poser scenes, adding other elements), iPhoto (create titles, etc), iTunes and iDVD (distribute your creations) - an incredible deal at $79. It comes free with an iMac Mini at $499, if you have any display, keyboard and mouse. (No, I don't own Apple stock.)

Thank you for the tip, gyyffin. I'll check it out. Yes, I have the son's lyrics. What I'm looking for at the moment is someone who can put the rhyming lyrics that I already have for the story/animation to music (and, yes, sing). It's a simple, upbeat piece that probably could be accompanied by a single instrument, like an acoustic guitar or banjo or something "countryish" like that. Anyone? You'd get major billing in the credits, and if it ever went commercial (who knows, other schools might want it), you'd get a percentage of the take.

Terry, you've my attention with that vid. The whole thing is absolutely GREAT, but without giving anything away, my favorite part is final justice for that smarmy la la purple pukey putrid punk dino. THANK YOU FOR THAT! I am a composer with full setup for audio composing and recording, and, well, I can sing in a "Mr. Rogers" fasion. Would love to have the chance to volunteer for your opportunity. Please contact me. ::::: Opera :::::

I have written "kids" songs for a traffic safety puppet show, that is lip synched to a pre-recorded script (by the puppets, live). The entire script is also recorded on the CD...
The song is not only recorded and played with an accoustic guitar, but harmony tracks are also recorded on the chorus of the song. The voices (all recorded by me) are then "morphed" to sound.... "puppetish".
The irony is that growing up an 80's "metalhead" that did the "hairband" thing, and packed my 'lectric guitar 'round the schools, of course I always had the dream of getting my own recording/s out there.
HEEHEE Now, in my (backside of 30's) later life, I DO have a CD "Out there", that is used by my States Traffic Safety Commission... and no one knows its ME on it... Then again, having explained the "metalhead" image of the past, I would just as soon keep it that way... heh heh! (picture a metal singer singing a puppet show song in a puppet voice.... I rest my case"... ;)
IM me , perhaps I can help. I'd be willing to get with any others here that wanna help too.

Message edited on: 05/01/2005 15:31

you could try fruity loops. (www.fruityloops.com) - its a complete desktop synthesizer and you don't need any external midi equipment, or other programs to run it. I'm most possitive its available for mac as well as pc. (if you have external midi equipment then you can use it with the program to make your own sound files, etc.) i've never seen any other program quite like it. There's a trial version and a license is somewhere around $40 (various levels of licensing tho. one, i believe, gives free lifetime upgrades, or use to). The only thing you'd need would be a microphone for the singing, which you can use a standard desktop mic. its tone banks are virtually endless, and you can create your own. I've played with the program before, its rather addictive. a friend of mine uses it fairly regularly and when he needs voice, he uses his desktop mic with no problem. E.D.

I've played a 5-string banjo for about 30 years now. The combinations of musician & starving artist is a great motivator. IM me if you would like some banjo stuff done.