Stellar lineup of musicians tackle bullying in meaningful and entertaining ways

 

This past October was National Anti-Bullying Month, and it was established to create awareness in the media, hopefully reaching out to parents and educators with news and messages about this consistently growing problem, which unfortunately may spell tragedy in young lives.

                                           

Bullying affects kids every day and not just for a month.

In June, this column covered some startling facts about bullying along with excellent literary resources to share and help open a dialogue with the children and teens in your life.  Authors J.D. Holiday, Annie Fox and 70 other writers were part of a recommended reading list, which you’ll find by connecting to this previous post – The Book Report: Books about ‘Bullying’

In today’s column, we cover a host of musicians who have joined the anti-bullying cause and whose music addresses this burgeoning problem, which is not only fraught with intimidation and cruelty, but issues of self-esteem.

Each of these recommended CDs helps to reach kids on a different entertaining level.

From Recess Music and their Best Foot Forward Series comes Big Bully, a compilation of 15 tuneful tracks (45-minutes, ages 4-11) featuring genres that range from pop to rock, rap to country, all expertly performed by highly recognizable music industry professionals – performers include Milkshake, The Hipwaders, Mary Kaye and The Uncle Brothers (to name a few) who ply their craft with important messages for kids that are delivered in a meaningful and non-preachy way. 

Tracks such as “I’m Sorry,” “Don’t Bully Me” and “I Can Make a Difference” impart a good dose of recognition and enlightenment on a kid-friendly level.

Big Bully is available to sound sample and download in MP3 format from Amazon.com for $0.99 per track, or all 15 songs for $8.99. The CD format is also available through Amazon for $13.14 or Amazon Marketplace for $6.12.

Also from Recess Music, comes an awesome adjunct album to the Big Bully CD – U R SOME 1.

Again, part of the Best Foot Forward Series, this newest release, U R SOME 1 includes 12 tracks (32 minutes ages 4-11) with songs that focus on self-awareness, acceptance and self-esteem.

Gifted children’s musicians Peter Himmelman, Anna Moo, Katherine Dines and others provide an upbeat and happy recording whose overall message stresses that being human and unique is a pretty nifty thing.

The album is available to sound sample and download in MP3 format from Amazon.com for $0.99 per track, or all 12 songs for $8.99. The CD format is also available through Amazon for $13.14 or Amazon Marketplace for $8.31.

Steve Pullara, a Grammy nominated Producer and Parents’ Choice and NAPPA Awards- Winner, has created a one-of-a-kind recording that effectively tackles head-on, the difficult topic of bullying in the album,  All About Bullies… Big and Small.

Pullara, who not only served as Producer and Supervising Creative Director for this recording, is also part of the performance line-up. In the creation of All About Bullies, Pullara assembled one of the most diverse and recognized teams of recording artists and producers in the music industry. The contributing credits for this album read like a “Who’s Who”, and the end result and combined creativity is a recording that not only entertains but fosters parent/child communication about a difficult topic.

All About Bullies is a masterfully crafted gem that marries spoken words delivering wise messages, poetry and music, and toe-tapping tunes with meaningful lyrics. The end result offers up 37 unique tracks, with a mix of genres created from one of the largest assembled musical casts, each participating artist offers their own special message and approach on the subject of bullying.

Full-track sound samples are available for listening at: 

http://allaboutbulliesbigandsmall.com/albums/all-about-bullies-big-and-small

CD Baby has the entire All About Bullies… Big and Small CD album available for $15.00, or MP3 download of the entire album for $10.00.

All profits from the proceeds of this recording are donated to PACERKidsAgainstBullying.org

Pullara’s commitment to this anti-bullying project is best summed up when he says “Always keep in mind, we have another tomorrow and that bullying shouldn’t be a part of childhood.”

Below, for your enjoyment are three music videos created from the album.

Debbie and Friends – “Walk Away”

Blue October- “Jump Rope”

Peter Alsop – “Courage”