Today, my guest has more energy than anybody
I've ever met. Kara Kaufman is a mother of four
boys. Yeah, four boys. She teaches music. She
writes music. She has a day job. And just saying
that makes me want to nap. How in the heck do
you do all of that, Kara? I don't know. But I
take it day by day and I think honestly playing
music with children and for children is so energy
-giving and they are so joyful that it just keeps
me going, you know? It doesn't seem like a job.
It never seems like a job. So you teach music
what age group? So I have two sort of teaching
gigs going on right now. One of them is in Amherstburg
at the music school there called Music Land and
I do a parent and taught. So it's usually babies
and toddlers and their parent. And so it's essentially
having the child and the parent caregiver engage
with them through music, and we do really fun
activities and sing songs. So I've been doing
that. I'm on my second session of that right
now, which has been a lot of fun. And then my
newest job is teaching at some Montessori schools
in the area, teaching music to babies right through
age four. How do you find them responding to
the music classes? Oh, it's so fun. So I was
taking over for a really talented musician in
the area, Brendan Friel. He has this great program
that he's been doing at the Montessori Schools
locally. So watching him, he's very talented
and I thought I've got some big shoes to fill,
but it has been going so well so far. Just trying
to always keep music fun for them, introduce
them to different sounds, different instruments.
It's been great. I'm only on my second week so
far, so it's been good. Still the honeymoon phase.
It is. Although with kids, it just, that never
ends. No, it doesn't. That's the thing. Years
ago, I started out music playing for adults,
and it was fine. It was fun, but it's nothing
like playing for kids. What made you transition?
Having my own children. Yeah, so when I, I was
still... Gigging continuously when I was pregnant
with my first child even up right up to like
nine months pregnant I'm gonna stop you right
there. Do you write your own music? I do and
you write your own songs. Yes Yes, so back in
the day I had released an album called the curious
case of the past and it was you know All like,
you know moody love songs all the things And
I toured around Southwestern Ontario, Cleveland,
Michigan, and then we lived in Cleveland for
a while, and that's where we had our first child,
and I was still gigging right up into the end,
and I thought, great, I'm gonna have my baby
and just keep playing. Well, that came to a very
quick stop, because as we all know, babies are
a lot. A whole new world. So I really scaled
back a ton, and I didn't play live for a long
time, and then had my second child. I kept writing
music, but then what seemed to naturally make
the most sense was writing kids' music. I knew
I would start with lullabies at some point or
that softer sort of music, but I have five albums
out about dinosaurs, and so what prompted dinosaurs
is that my boys have all loved dinosaurs fiercely
at some point in their youth. And it actually
started with them asking me for some dinosaur
songs in particular. Like they wanted a velociraptor
song and just some dinosaur songs they couldn't
find when they were asking Alexa. And I thought,
oh, you know what? I can write them some songs.
And I thought I would just do it for fun, but
it was actually such a great way to get back
into music and performing live and writing again.
So I wrote them those songs and that was sort
of during the pandemic. And I thought, you know
what? I'm gonna record these. Let's just see
how this goes. So then that was my first album,
Dino Lullabies. Yeah, it sounds like it. And
how many albums do you say you have out now?
Five EPs. So each has five songs on it. So five
different dinosaurs. So it's Dino Lullabies,
Dino Diddies, which are a little more upbeat,
Dino Friends Swim and Dino Friends Fly. So prehistoric
marine and, you know, flying reptiles. And then
at Christmas last year, I did a Christmas album
with dinosaurs. I reworked. like Jingle Bells
and Rudolph into dinosaur songs. And so we had
a lot of fun doing that. So I have that and then
I have a new album coming out. It's not about
dinosaurs, but it's releasing next week. Nice.
Now, where can everybody, for the parents, where
can they find your albums? Yeah, so everything's
available sort of worldwide on any streaming
platform that people listen to. So the most common
ones, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, they're
all there. And what about this new album? Yeah,
so it's called Sunshine. And I initially planned
on releasing it in the summer. But, you know,
we've just, just a challenging summer. My father
passed away in June and it just, I needed to
pause on a few things. So the album, you know,
I slowly worked away at it. But what inspired
it was I also write custom family songs. And
someone asked me to do a cover of You Are My
Sunshine for them. So she loved to sing it to
her daughters. It had a lot of special meaning.
And I said to her, well, the lyrics of that song,
you know, once you get past that chorus, can
be quite sad. So I said, why don't we rework
these verses and we'll put your daughter's names
in. And we just had a lot of fun with that. And
I recorded it for her, you know, sent it to her.
And I got to thinking, you know what, I really
like this version. What if I change the verses
again, take out the girl's names and whatnot,
and release it? So I did that and I thought I
would just put it out as a single But it just
sort of doing like working on that song inspired
a few other songs just about Yes, like special
relationship between a caregiver and their child,
you know and their little one And so there's
some songs about being outdoors playing at the
park taking some quiet moments to color together,
that sort of thing. So it still has the children
in it. Oh, it's still a children's album? Yep,
it's still a children's album. I think I will
probably continue forward with children's music.
We'll see if I dabble back into adult music eventually,
but this is kind of where I want to stay for
now. And I did notice on Instagram that you do
customize songs for people, so it wasn't just
a one -off. Exactly, yeah. So I've been doing
that for the last year and a half or so. I had
a few requests and I thought, you know what,
let me just try it out. It was so much fun with
that. So, you know, I send out a questionnaire.
Send the answers back to me and then I just start
to build the song from there But I love working
through that relationship with that person. I've
worked with a few grandparents. Those are really
special songs a grandmother who was you know
Ordering a song for her first grandchild and
now she's actually just ordered another one for
her second grandchild So they're really meaningful
and that's what I really love about them. But
yeah, that would be so sweet. Oh, it's awesome
Yeah, I'd be tearing up I know, it's so true.
So there's this one song that was requested and
it was a mom, two children. She had gone through
a separation. They moved states. There were a
lot of big changes in their lives and she just
wanted a song that would help them feel like
some cohesion and just some settled feelings.
And so I wrote this song called Big Life Changes.
And I don't know, just something about that song
makes me so emotional every time I listen to
it. Then I actually re -recorded it, and it's
gonna be on the Sunshine EP that's releasing
next week, so everyone will get to hear it. But
that was a really special song, so it does become
emotional when I'm writing them for these families,
yeah. That's so sweet though. Yeah, it's awesome
because we know that music connects us so much.
Right? It's true. And music is like, it's memory,
and it's emotion, it's all these things, right?
So to have your own special song, or has something
you're connecting over. And that's why I love,
like, when I went to write the Dinosaur songs,
I didn't want to, like, there's nothing wrong
with Baby Shark. Like, you know, it's fine. I
don't mind, right? But I wanted to write music
that parents, caregivers, also wanted to listen
to, right? Because I've heard Baby Shark so many
times. Thank God that came out after my son grew
up. And I'm just like, okay, I don't know if
I can hear it again. So I wanted to write songs
that like... an adult would wanna hear as well,
but the theme and the lyrics were geared towards
children, right? So these dinosaurs, of course
dinosaurs, kids love them, but they also infuse
stories of like child wonder, curiosity, growth,
perseverance, self -love. And so I wrote the
songs just the way I would have written any adult
song, but. theme, lyrics figured towards kids.
I did the same thing with the Sunshine song and
even my Custom Family songs are like that too.
So that it's, you know, again, something that
they can listen to together and connect over.
I just find that so important. It really is.
And it's nice to get them off their pad for a
bit. Oh, yes, right. You guys can listen to music,
even make up their own songs. Yes, right. I love
inspiring that in kids. Like, letting them know,
like, you can write your own stuff. I held two
songwriting workshops at Music Land in Amisburg.
And then you also do, and I'm just looking down
here, do you do monthly Music and Me at Amherstburg
Library? Yes, I do. So the next one's coming
up soon on Saturday. So one Saturday a month,
I do a free Music and Me program where families
can come. There's a different theme each time.
And I try to weave in a different music concept,
whether it's beat, tempo, pitch, that sort of
thing. We just have a lot of fun. And then we
make a DIY instrument. So we've made guitars.
out of Kleenex boxes. We've made like kazoos
and yeah, it's really fun. We have a good time.
And again, Amisburg Library once a month and
it's free. Free is always good when you have
kids. Free is good. Well and this is the other
thing too, I think access to music education
and just access to instruments. It's not always
an option for everybody, right? And not all schools
have a robust music program. In Amersberg, we're
lucky. At Amersberg Public School, we've got
a great music program. My boys love it there.
But yeah, it's not always something that people
have. So I like to, at least if I can do my small
part, offering that at the library, something
where families can come and enjoy it. Kids can
try out different instruments. The library has
a really cool music and me kit. So you can actually
rent it out and take it home. And it has all
these different percussion instruments in it,
activities on how to use the percussion instruments.
So those are really cool kits to check out from
any library you can check it out from. I did
not know that. Yeah, it's not cool. Yeah. Well,
this is good to know because I do have a grandbaby
coming up. So that's right. We'll have to try
that. And they live near Amherstburg. Oh, perfect.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure they would love to do something
like that. It's a great option, right? And you'd
have some fun with them. bells and some little
shakers. Now I met you when you were starting
for Jill, Mom Said Duck at Anchor Coffee and
you were just playing such soothing music and
it was wonderful. Do you do that for others as
well? You know I haven't played out sort of you
know adult shows live as much but I miss it.
a lot, so I think about getting back to it, even
if I'm, again, as I mentioned earlier, I don't
know when or if I'll get back into writing adult
geared music, but I wouldn't mind getting out
and playing some cover songs for a night, you
know, and that night I geared all my music towards
Mother's Day, so I played a few of my songs that,
you know, kind of have that feel to it, a lot
of songs from the new EP coming up, and then
just other songs that were, you know, involved
that, you know, parent -child connection, but.
It was fun. Long story short, on AM 800, I watched
it on YouTube in the morning, and Steve, Steve,
I meant Steve, who wrote Humanist. Humanism from
the heart. It's a good book. It really is and
he was telling me you have to meet Kara You have
to make Kara and then I ended up meeting you
by accident I didn't even realize the same person
right you walked over to me. You're like hold
on a second Do you know Steve is this you and
I was like, that's me. I know Steve Because you
did a podcast with him. I did. So we've kind
of talked about this a little bit, but I started
a parenting podcast last summer. Now, it comes
from a blog, a parenting blog that I've had on
and off for years called Little Tot Landing.
And well, after my first, I started it like,
I think he was eight months old. I thought, you
know what, I love writing. I've always been a
writer. I also am a freelance writer on the side.
So I missed writing when I wasn't working as
much in those first few months. So I thought,
I'm gonna do some. you know, parenting blogging.
And as I said, it was kind of on and off and
I decided last summer, you know, who doesn't
want a podcast, I guess, right? It's true. They're
so fun. They're so fun. And I had a great time
interviewing people and Steve was one of them.
We talked, you know, in all these episodes, I've
just talked about different, you know, parenting
topics. But I had to pause on it because I think
just between parenting and work and gigging and
everything, all the things. So, it's there. The
episodes are still live. Are you still blogging
or? So not right now. No. Not right now. But
it also, so what I did when I went back to the
podcast, I went back to blogging as well. So
I would take the episode and then write a blog
post that sort of coincided with the episode.
But your blog's still out there for people to
- People can go read it, they can go listen to
the podcast episodes. And where can they find
that? I will return to it. So it's the podcast
streams anywhere that you can listen to podcasts.
Yeah, and that's Little Totley. and you can follow
it on Instagram, but your website, where your
blog is, what is that? That's littletotlanding
.com. Oh, it is, okay. Yes, yep. Yeah, yeah.
And then for any music things that people might
want to check out, and you can also purchase
my albums on my website. I know most people stream
these days, but they are there. It's caracoffman
.com. It's sometimes easier to just have it downloaded
in one spot than trying to find it every time
the kid's crying. I know, or when you're like,
I did a little video on this in the summer, because
sometimes when you're on a road trip, you know,
we're always on road trips in the summertime,
your connection can get spotty. So whatever music
you love, it's always a good idea to download
it to your phone in whatever capacity that is,
if you're purchasing it or not, but you know,
so it's an option. I want to get into, before
I forget, Spitfires. Yes. So what is going on
with you and the vampires? I know. So October
24th, they're having a Jurassic night and they're
having me come play some songs. So I don't have
all the details yet, but I know that I will be
there that night playing my dinosaur songs. I
cannot wait. I'm so excited. I wonder if the
kids are going to be dressing up like dinosaurs.
I really hope so. That would be so much fun.
I sure hope so. Yes, I hope there is just a lot
of dinosaur action going on because I have a
lot of dinosaur songs to share. I'm really excited.
Okay, so Spitfires, if you're watching this,
make sure the kids are wearing dinosaur costumes.
That would be so much fun. They should have their
costumes ready for Halloween anyway. Well, this
is the thing, right? And so when I was thinking,
oh, this is perfect. Parents could just say,
we're dressing up as dinosaurs this year. You've
got your costume for the Spitfires game. A few
days later, you go out for Halloween. It's perfect.
Do you still do freelance writing? I do. So I
actually work for two companies. that are sort
of in the trades. So I actually, I used to write
like travel and food and now I'm sort of like
talking about manufacturing, but it's really
cool. Like it's just whole different, you know,
change and I love working for these two companies.
So that's something I've always kept as a side
job, part -time job, because I stayed at home
with my children and I wanted that. I wanted
to figure out a way to stay home with them when
they were younger. So I always kept freelancing
up. and then you still have songs coming up in
your mind all the time. And then songs all the
time, so it's like writing about cranes and manufacturing,
and then I go write a song about playing in the
sunshine, but you know, it's a good balance.
Have you thought of different themes other than
just dinosaurs? And I think that's what's fun
about the Sunshine EP that's coming out, it's
just something different. And I knew that eventually
I would transition. Will I write songs about
transport trucks and dump trucks? I don't know.
But I think I'll probably go more in that avenue
of the Sunshine EP, where we're still talking
about kids' feelings, kids' experiences in life,
the connection between a caregiver and a child.
Again, coming back to that family music that
I love to write. I probably will interject dinosaur
songs here and there because it's been so fun.
But yes, I definitely see the evolution and where
it'll, you know, go into different themes. Oh,
and dinosaurs, they're gender neutral. All kids
love dinosaurs. At some point, right? You will
love a dinosaur song, right? That's better than
Barney. I'm sorry. I agree. I agree. That's the
songs that we had when my son was growing up.
And yeah, you wanted to punch that green dinosaur.
That's the feeling about Baby Shark. Again, don't
want to put down Baby Shark, but you can only
hear it so many times before you're like, please,
no more. Now, each one of your dinosaur songs,
do they all kind of... You know how some children's
songs, they all sound exactly the same? They
might have different words, but they just all
sound the same. I think we did a really good
job at making them sound a lot different. When
I say we... I record with Luke Michaud at Highland
Studios in LaSalle. And we've worked together
since the very beginning. I feel so fortunate
to have been paired up with him. I reached out
to another musician in the city and just said
like, you know, where do you recommend I record
at? She pointed me in his direction. He has three
little kids. So like he just understood. Like
when I walked in and I was like, cause I kind
of thought like. are people gonna think this
is weird? I'm coming in and writing these piano
ballads about dinosaurs, you know? And he totally
got it. He was like, oh no, this is cool. So
that started with the dino lullabies and they
inherently are different because they're the
softer, slower ones. So there's a T -Rex song,
a velociraptor, an ankylosaurus on that one.
And then the dino ditties, those are sped up
so I wrote those a little faster, a little more
dance -like. And yeah, we've just been. I guess
with the instrumentation that we add keep them
all sounding really different like some of them
are like total rock songs like Luke just like
goes for it with percussion and his guitars and
like some of these are Super jams like it's fun.
It's like even little kids love it 100 % yeah,
super love it. Yeah, it's fun my son He loved
for some reason when he was a little Tom Petty
in the heartbreak. Oh for sure. Why exactly?
Oh, my boys are obsessed with imagine dragons.
Like they just love that, you know so I think
I also wanted to capture that for kids like I
I want kids to be able to listen to all sorts
of genres of music but have the content be something
that they can listen to at their and understand
right? Yeah. Yeah, cuz I think that We can put
anything on the radio for them, and I do, but
I think sometimes the content is not for their
ears. Not appropriate. Right? And then of course,
on the other part of that is that we want them
to be able to relate to it and see themselves
in these songs. Have you ever thought of making
videos for the songs? Yes. For YouTube? I know,
I'm like... Kara, you gotta get on it. This is
like my running list of things to do. That would
be killer. Yes, and it's funny, I almost created
my first video. It was like last summer. Had
to cancel it. We thought we would rebook. Never
got around to it. Then I thought, do I do like
some DIY ones at home? Like what, but. It is
like on the list of things to do because really,
that's the whole other layer to it, right? To
have the visual, to go with the song, and kids
love that. Right? Get it up on YouTube. Even
the babies, they'll just sit there and stare
at it. Exactly, right? And I mean, we could have
puppets, we could have backgrounds. I mean, there's
so much that can be done. So I really want to
do that part to it. And it doesn't even have
to be anything fancy or expensive. Kids love
anything. When you go on my Spotify and you listen
to a song, you know, sometimes you can see the
little, I think it's eight seconds. It's called
a canvas. It's an eight second video that runs
on a loop. Okay. You ever seen that on Spotify?
Yeah, because you do that on the podcast and
I can throw on a little clip. A little clip,
yeah. So if people go and listen to my songs
on Spotify, you can see the little video running
in the background. And some of them I had a lot
of fun making. So there's like a... Brachiosaurus
like chomping like on a plant in our house and
like my boys are helping you can see one of their
little hands So we did do some little videos,
but I can see like you said it doesn't have to
be a huge production It can be just really simple
where you know, I bet your kids would love how
old are they? Okay, so they are they all just
had birthdays. So now I have to remember they're
a year older now four six nine, and 11. Okay,
so they're all at the age to really have fun
making these. They can have so much fun with
it, right? And they get to do YouTube. Exactly.
I mean, right? Like, how fun for them. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. My 11 -year -old and 9 -year -old
would be totally geeked out about that. So, yeah,
so it's definitely part, you know, hopefully,
I wish I could say it's in the works, but it's,
you know, it's there. The idea is there. You
have enough on the playlist. Like, come on. Your
plate is full. You have like three or four plates
going on there. Yeah, there's a few. There's
a few. I mean, it's something there. Exactly,
right? Yes, yeah, definitely. Yeah. That sounds
like so much fun. Oh, yeah, right? I mean, there's
so many ideas to do with it, and that's just
it again. Like, I think, too, when I think about
a YouTube channel, like, how fun would it be
for me to... Share like the other week. I shared
because I do the DIY instruments at the library
I did a little video showing people how to make
an egg shaker, you know So that sort of content
I think is really great because parents it's
like an easy activity and then they're bringing
music into the home They didn't have to buy an
instrument like when I said we made a kazoo like
we made a really cool kazoo out of popsicle sticks
Wow and a straw and I'll do that video, too,
and I'll put it online. I kind of want to come
to this. It's super cute. Yeah, you should come.
The music and me. You should come. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's fun. Yeah. But yeah, a little taught
landing on YouTube. You could have a little bit
of everything. You could have your podcast. This
is the cool thing, right? That that. podcast
and blog, right, they really go together with
the music that I'm doing because it's all geared
towards families and kids, right? So you're right,
there's a lot there that can connect. God, you
got me thinking of a million things. I love it,
I love it. I'm gonna have her work to the bone
by the end of it. Thank you. I can't guarantee
you'll make money. Give me direction, but yeah.
Oh, I know, right? As long as we're having fun,
right? That's all that matters. It's true, right?
Yeah, and it keeps the gray hairs away. Yes,
it does, right? And, I mean, your job, and your
music is all intertwined with your family, so
it's a lot of family time. It is, because what
I tell people too, the cool thing about the dinosaur
songs, is like my boys wrote them with me. They
would sit there, and they'll come in, you know,
there's four of them, right? So they come in
and out of the room, but at some point someone's
in there, and those very first ones, it was like
my eldest, Radley, and Ace, like they'd say,
Mom. This is what I know about a velociraptor,
right? Because every six to eight -year -old
knows every fact that you can never keep in your
brain, but they can, right? And they would just
tell me all this information and so I'd write
it down and then I'd create a song and I'll say
to them, I'll write a song and I'll say, what
do you think about this? And then they'll tell
me, I like when you sing it higher or I like
when you sing it lower. And so they helped me
so we are spending time together. So it is a
really awesome component to what I'm doing. Have
your kids watched the Jurassic Park, the cartoon?
Oh, the Camp Cretaceous? Like it's the teenagers
who were stuck on the island. They love it. I'm
a little bit obsessed too. I just found that
we have friends that have young kids and they
had it on and I was like glued to it. I know,
right? I never get a chance to watch. Where is
it streaming on? It's Netflix. Okay. It's on
Netflix. Yes. I have to go into the kids section
because I totally do. Yeah, it's so good. And
like I never get a chance to watch TV really
because, well, you know, the list. Yeah. But
this show, like I'll be counting down. They'll
be like, Mom, season three is coming out October,
whatever. I'm like, oh my gosh. Okay. We've got
to have like a marathon. It's so fun. The sad
thing is I'm 55 and I'm going to be watching
it alone. That's okay, because it's a very good
show. It really is. It's so good, I know. There's
some parts I'm like, ooh, is this appropriate
for the four -year -old? I know, it's so true,
right? But I'm like, well, maybe my four -year
-old just has no idea what's going on. They're
clueless. It's funny, too, to watch these little
kids. Some of this stuff is scary. And then if
you watch some of the real Jurassic World or
Jurassic Park movies, I'm like, that doesn't
terrify you that that... dinosaur just attacked
that person, you know? Like, they're fine with
it. They're okay with it. I'm like, okay, no
nightmares, but. But at least they didn't show
it. They just gave you the idea it was happening.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could talk all day about
this. I know. And I think, like, thinking about
these movies, too, and... You know, dinosaurs,
again, like, coming back to it, I just think
it opens, like, such a world up for kids because
why are we all fascinated? But we're fascinated
because scientists find bones and make these
really cool guesses about, you know, what these
animals maybe looked like and how they hunted
or what they ate. Like, it's really cool. that
they can do that and that we actually don't know
the answers. So I think that's what sparks curiosity
for kids. They can think, hey, maybe there's
something more. Maybe there's another idea. Maybe
it wasn't like that. I bring that into my songs
a lot because I know that what I'm writing about
today, that scientific theory probably will change
in 10 years from now. So I like to bring that
into the songs. It's like, you know, maybe we
won't ever know the answer or maybe this will
change, you know? Whatever you want it to be,
it can be. Absolutely, right? So I hope that
that also sparks their curiosity and that growth
and that growth mindset too. Like, well, you
know, we could think about it differently, you
know? That's a great idea. Yeah, it's fun. It's
so fun. Oh, thank you so much, Kara. Oh, absolutely.
This is so much fun and I can't wait to hear
some more music. I know. I'm excited to share
this sunshine EP. I think it's gonna be great.
When is that coming out? So September 19th, Friday.
So like in a week and a half from now, it's gonna
be out. So it will probably be out by the time
this podcast is out. So make sure that you, if
you have little kids, even if you don't. Download
it. Go take a listen. Yep. There's some upbeat
songs. There's of course that remake of You Are
My Sunshine. So yeah, some fun stuff to listen
to. Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't wait
to hear everything and catch some more blogs,
maybe. Yes, right? Hopefully. Hopefully we'll
get, you can keep me on track, right? You said
you'd keep me on track with everything. Yes.
I will. Again, my name is Tracy Martins. Thank
you so much for joining me for another episode
of YQG and Bloom. And make sure that you follow
Kara Kaufman on Instagram and Little Tot's Landing,
the blog, her Instagram, YouTube. She's everywhere.
All the things. All the things. Have a great
day.