Join me as I interview Kevin & Leah Klein, authors of the brand new storybook, The Showdown Symphony. They've written an adorable new picture book that is Peter & the Wolf-esk, with a theme for each adorable animal and a full orchestration that accompanies this story.

They created their project to be as multimodal as possible, with a book video version, an animated book video version, an ebook version, and an audio file version with music and narration. They hope to create an immersive experience for children and parents, where they can read the book together and then listen to the audio file separately. Kevin & Leah are excited by the possibility of children having a similar magical experience with their project as they did with Peter and the Wolf.

Check out Kevin & Leah Klein's Kickstarter Campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/.../showdow.../showdown-symphony

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TRANSCRIPTION:

Hello and welcome to our first author interview ever in the music teacher group. And I am here with Kevin Klein and Leah Klein. I'm gonna tell you just a little bit about them before we get started. Kevin is the sixth grade elementary teacher from Oram, Utah. He studied English poetry psychology in college and has also taught at the college high school and junior high levels in Utah, as well as in Perth, Australia, where his wife is from. And their two kids now, teenagers were born. One thing Kevin loves about elementary is all the possibilities to integrate art, music, and theater into the core curriculum. His students sing about air pressure and thermal energy and theater into the core cur, sorry, I I messed that up. And performed dramatizations of solving algebraic equations. Wow, that is so cool. Um, he's in the process of self-publishing Showdown Symphony, a picture book that tells a fun farmyard chase story in pictures, music and poetry.

And Leah has been a high school economics teacher in her hometown of Perth, Australia, and a licensed professional counselor and school psychologist in Utah. So needed right now where she met her husband Kevin. She and Kevin are the parents of the two teenagers, a freshman in college and a senior in high school. Leah spends her time working as a school psychologist at an elementary charter school watching rom coms with her daughter. A favorite of mine as well, , turning at her son's soccer games and going on walks with the family's mini Ossie Shepherd. We're gonna need to see a picture of that shepherd at some point. So, um, I know that, um, y'all have written this amazing book and we've been working together for a while now, and I'm so excited about this book because it's, it's just, I don't know, I just, I can't say enough positive about it. It's kind of, you know, Peter and the Wolf esque, but, but also very different. So, um, why don't you guys tell me, first of all a little bit about Kickstarter, because I was not real familiar with Kickstarter and, um, maybe some of our viewers are not either.

Sure, thanks Jeanette. So Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform. Uh, they do all sorts of creative projects, uh, on there. It's, um, often used for board game, uh, people who design, uh, board games, uh, or videos. A lot of, uh, book, um, authors will, will use, um, Kickstarter. It's become famous. Recently, Brandon Sanderson, uh, decided that he was going to, uh, release a series of books on Cake Starter and I think 42 million or something he raised, um, yeah, from , that's a, I think a lot more than he would've made through his, uh, in traditional publisher probably. So, uh, it's a, it's a very, um, uh, robust way to, to get people to support what you're doing. Um, a lot of smaller authors like us, um, will self-publish, and what Kickstarter allows you to do is, um, basically, some people call it pre-ordering. So you have your book and if you have any merchandise or, um, accessories, we have a, a mouse plushy that looks just like the mouse that, um, is in the book and some stickers and posters, and you create reward tiers and people can go on and then they can pledge a certain amount to back the project.

And you generally put about, uh, several thousand dollars to cover the cost of the printing and, uh, making the other, um, items. And then, uh, when if you get enough, um, pledges, uh, from these backers, these people who are supporting your campaign, then you get that money and you can use that for your project. And if you don't raise it, uh, the money that you've stipulated at the beginning of the campaign, then uh, the no one has to pay the pledges. You don't get the money and, uh, you chalk it up as a learning experience. So,

Okay.

This has been our first ca, uh, Kickstarter campaign. Um, all the, uh, projects are on kickstarter.com and ours is is there too. And, uh, so we're learning a lot in the process.

I'm sure, you know, anytime you do a new adventure, I find I'd, I'm learning every day, I feel like every day. Um, so tell us a little bit about this storybook, because I know that's what everyone is dying to hear about.

Thank you. Well, as you mentioned, it's called, uh, shore Down Symphony, uh, the idea, can I share some pictures? Sure. You kinda hold it up maybe. Um, this is the, so we've, we've had the soft cover printed on, uh, through K D P, uh, Amazon, K D p, Kindle Direct Publishing. Um, the money that we're trying to raise through Kickstarter is for the, um, hardcover print edition, which is a lot, you can get a lot higher quality and, uh, cheaper cost per book if you do it through China. They just needed upfront as opposed to a print on demand model. Um, and, uh, so yeah, the book came because, uh, when our kids were growing up and just, I have a poetry background. I really loved lyrical picture books. And, um, also I think like a lot of people have positive associations with Peter and the Wolf.

Um, and, uh, our kids were watching the Sesame Street once and there was this, uh, beat poetry, um, counting little sequence about the number seven in these cats. And it was really cool. And I thought, I wonder if I could do that with poetry and language in the picture book instead of a video. And that was the first character was this cat and added the mouse into the owl and the dog. And, um, they all have different rhythms the way they're moving. And I thought, well, I'll just make it a symphony. And, uh, that's what we did.

I love the Sesame Street connection. I am so big a fan. I mean, I, we, we all grew up watching Sesame Street. That's, um, so that's amazing. I love that story. And tell us a little bit about, um, where you see this project going from, like what happens next if you, if your Kickstarter gets funded, then what happens next?

Another good question. Love to see it used. Um, I, I, I'm an elementary teacher and our district is very big. Um, in fact, in the state of Utah, arts integration is a very, uh, there's a big push for it. We have a kind of a, um, a funding or organization entity just for arts integration in the districts in the, uh, throughout the state. And, um, I've shown them a book and there's a, a video that goes along with it, some learning resources that we've created. And, um, you've done some, uh, marvelous work with, uh, movement and, uh, just the literature ties in some lesson plans that you're writing for the book as well. And so I'd love to see not only music teachers, but um, our district's arts integration specialists say, Hey, we want this in, um, general ed classrooms too. Um, because it's a fun picture book. There's that music component. Uh, but that music helps bring the understanding for the way the poetry is working, you know, the rhythm and the rhyme and the aaia, these things are that are in, um, the ELA standards in the early grades and middle elementary grades. So just love to see, not only used in schools that way, but um, also kids just at home with parents.

That's, that's amazing. The, um, I love that your state has arts integration. Uh, I feel like that's so needed. I, I had a friend in, um, when I taught in Florida who taught in an arts integration school, and she always said to me that anytime they did something where they used any sort of arts integration, the kids scored so much higher on assessments than they did, um, when, you know, when they were, uh, just doing, uh, regular classroom learning. So I think it's so valuable and, um, I just, I really wish that there was more of it, you know, which is one of the, it it's one of my passions. Um, so tell me what, uh, tell, tell the music teachers a little bit about the connections between, obviously you've got the symphony, um, that, well, first of all, tell them a little bit about the musical component and, um, you know, the, the idea of the symphony playing for the, the read out of the book, because there, there is that aspect as well,

Which is my favorite part actually, being able to see the video and the music in the background and the narrator. I really like it like that, but yeah.

Right. So, excuse me. We, um, we, the book is, it takes, I guess, takes place in five movements, and we just decided to, um, make them symphonic movements. Um, the first one is Allegro and, uh, it has, um, we hired a composer to write a, like a Peter and the Wolf, a mini symphony for it. So the first movement is written in Allegro tempo, about 120 beats per minute. And, um, the poetry matches that. So you wanna read it? Uh, sure, yeah, yeah. Let's see. Just the, the, the first little movement is of the mouse, and so there's the, the mouse moving look. Well, I guess I can read it rather than tell the story. Yeah. Uh, Russell Bustle, pitter patter mouse is frantic, what's the matter? All her baby mouse to feed and all night, not a single seed skirt, scurry hurry, patter pitter, autumn wind is turning bitter beneath the last leaf in the field. Mouse squeaks Eureka at the yield, her little pause, dance, pitter pat, there's that image right there catching the notice of the cat. So it's an allegro, it's quick. The mouse is looking around and at first frantic, but then because the mouse, uh, finds the seeds, I thought it, it fit the, um, the theme of Allegro well meaning happy and, and quick as well.

And who is the, uh, which, um, instrument is the cat? Let us know.

Yeah, sure. The mouse is an OBO and has this particular motif, which you'll hear, uh, in different keys three times throughout the, the little. Um, it's a four minute, uh, orchestration, and the, the cat then comes and the cat is aggio because the cat is slinking and sliding and creeping. And the poetry changes there too, from, um, to get technical, it was toic to traer. So, and now it goes into three spawns. So stress syllables on each word, and there's single syllable words to really slow it down. Slink slide creep coiled like a spring curl, crouch leap as if plucked by a string. So then the cat is creeping along, and then that adagio is 60 something, um, beats per permitted, I think. And the cat is a viola, so it kind of sounds a little scratchy. Little menacing.

Yeah, it's really well done.

Uh, so I, I love the verbiage, the, the, the lyrics, if you will, in the book. Um, that was one of the things that really drew me to it. Um, the, the different tempos going on. I mean, music teachers, there is so much you can do with this book. I mean, the, I I had so much fun. I created five lesson plans, and I truly have another five in my pocket that I have not done yet, but that are, that are, uh, planned. So it's really, um, very usable for, uh, for music teachers. Um, so quite obviously you have a musical background. Tell us a little bit about that.

Sure. Um, I grew up, uh, my mom taught me piano Suzuki method. And, uh, so, and then I kind of taught myself how to read music. Um, I had to play the, I played the trumpet in junior high, and so started learning the, the, the notes on the, the, the CLEs there and, um, picked up guitar. Um, and I've kind of stayed with the guitar poetry, um, being in Australia, I got myself adger due, uh, which, uh, not a lot of notes with that, but, um,

But you can play it.

It's a fun thing to play, right. Learn how to do the circular breathing. And, um,

I have one in my classroom and I can't even make a sound with it.

.

Right. I can't either. Right. It's hard.

Yeah. Leah's got quite a, a musical background. Yeah.

My, my dad's actually a musician. He plays in a band. That's what he's done, uh, for his career throughout his life. He's got a recording studio. When we visited as a family, our daughter and her cousin recorded a song that was a lot of fun. So yeah, I've grown up listening to a lot of music and I love it too. Yeah.

Awesome. Yeah, I mean, you can, the reading the book, you can just feel the love of music in the book, you know, it really just, it lends itself to that. Um, so tell me a little bit about your process for, um, how did you go about having the symphony? Um, how did you find an orchestra? How did you, how did you do all that?

Right. Well, excuse me. We've got the, the university that we actually graduated from is near us here in Utah, Brigham Young University. Mm-hmm. . Um, they have a decent football team, uh, at times some people know it for that. And, um, they have a, a very good commercial music program. And, uh, so I reached out to the, the head of that, and he put it, the, the notice out, um, about a year ago, a little bit more than a year ago, and got a lot of responses. And, uh, the person, her name is Emmaline Jackson, uh, she's also lives here in Utah. Uh, she responded and she had, um, a great, um, real pro, um, her, her projects were quite similar to kinda what we were looking, uh, and listening for. Uh, same with the illustrator. She's actually someone local here too, who loved drawing mice and, um, just, uh, had that look that we thought, I think she'd do a great job with it. And I think they're both been, uh, phenomenal.

And another thing we did just with our family would like to involve Lexi and Tyler as well, because they love music. Lexi plays the piano. Tyler played the trumpet for a while. He loves music too. And so we would, um, play the different, you know, uh, snippets I guess of, of the different music that people sent in. And we'd have a look at their websites and we'd see, okay, yeah, this might fit or this wouldn't. But it's been exciting having the kids involved and getting their opinions as well for a lot of the different aspects. But the music, especially Kevin and Lexi went and went up to Salt Lake and went with Emma Line, and so that was good.

Yeah, we worked with the composer a bit, um, made a couple changes that we really liked with the, um, the composition. So it's, it's, it's fun to kind of work those those processes through as a family, so

Definitely. That's amazing. The, a whole family affair, so to speak, you know? Mm-hmm. . Um, so how long has this process taken? Like when did you start and how, how, I mean, it's gotta be so exciting to actually see it come to fruition.

It's been a while. It has,

Right? Well, ev anyone who's tried to publish a a picture book probably knows that you get a manuscript and you love it, and you know, you, you take it to editors and maybe submit it to publishers. And I finished this manuscript really in about 2018 and critiqued it around and just realized that, um, yeah, this is a, it's, it's a very specialty project. One that, um, uh, uh, unless I had a kind of a big name, a publisher would probably not be willing to take on. But, you know, I, I love the education community kind of saw its, its values. So, um, we pushed forward just, um, yeah, self-publishing it, um, started with the illustrator in about October of 2021, and that takes, you know, the illustration, uh, takes about a year and a bit and all the other. Oh, wow. Right. So most of the time, if you, oh, yeah.

If you publish traditionally, um, I do have a, a traditionally published picture book, and, and those take about two years, um, from the time they accept the manuscript, you can expect in about, uh, two years. And some people who self-publish, they do that because they, they don't wanna wait two years for their book to come out. Right. So, fair enough. Uh, this one will take about that long, I think just because of all the components of it. Uh, you know, we had the, had the illustration done, and then we found the composer and worked with the composer, and then we hired a narrator and worked on that component. And then you have obviously the picture book design and the layout and the cover, and yeah, they're just learning as we go. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle.

And the lesson plan , right?

Oh, yes, yes. Seriously. I mean, the, the amount of people involved in this project is just astounding, you know? I mean, you, you've got all of the people you mentioned and then, um, you know, the, the people developing the lesson plans. Uh, it's really amazing. So, what else can you tell me about the book? Like what else do you want people to know or the project?

I think it's worth a listen. I think if you, um, have a look at the book video, it's just the music. I just never get tired of it. And it's just, I don't know. It's very compelling. It's very catchy and the words as well, and, and the characters are adorable. I think that a lot of children will enjoy learning through, you know, this book. I really think it's, um, it's been a fun project for us and, and, uh, certainly we've shared it with family members and people that we know and, and they've enjoyed reading and yeah. So,

All

Right. Take a listen.

Yeah, we've, we've made it as kind of multimodal as possible. Um, you can, uh, there's a, a book video version. There's actually an animated book video version, and, um, if you go to the Kickstarter, um, page, you'll be able to see all those, uh, just examples of them all. Uh, you can have use, read it as an ebook if you want to show your class again, uh, you could put the ebook up on the, um, screen, or you could show them the video with the narrator, or you can just play the music, or you can just have them listen to the music and just the audio file. Um, just wanted to make this, um, that kind of experience that maybe the parents read the book with the, with the child before they go to bed. And then in the car they, they play just the audio track and the kid will be able to know, oh, yeah, I can, okay. Yep. I hear the, I hear the cat, I can hear the cat creeping mm-hmm. . And there's some, there's, that's kinda the magic that, you know, when we grew up listening to Peter and the Wolf and, and you hear the French horns, those, those really ominous French horns, uh, of the, of the wolf. Uh, I just, it really makes me happy to think that kids might have that experience with this as well.

I agree. And, um, really everything you said, uh, the, you know, when I first saw the illustrations and you and I first talked about it, and then I heard the music and the narrator you chose is just everything about it. It's wonderful to listen to. It's wonderful to read the, the, just the way that it, it's got a very, um, lyrical poetry kind of feel to it, obviously. Um, it, it's just, I was really excited to be a part of your project. So tell people, um, we're, we're going to include the link again, but tell people a little bit about the different levels, because I know you have different levels of, uh, donation and, um, tell them just a little bit i, the, the add-ons and that sort of thing, just, just a little bit about that.

Sure. So, excuse me. One of the beauties of a Kickstarter campaign is that you can, um, support a project at whatever level you'd like. If you want to give a $2 donation with no reward, that's totally fine. Five, our, um, um, rewards start at $8, and then you get some of the, um, digital features. Um, 18 is more digital features, uh, both videos and the ebook and, and, uh, basically all the different ways you could use, um, uh, the story digitally. Um, a hardback, um, with all those digital components is $25. Um, and then the add-ons, if you want the, the picture book or the plushy, the little mouse doll that is, um, $12. And, uh, there's some 18 by 24 inch posters made them, especially for music teachers that have the instrument families. And then down to the bottom are each of the characters of the story and the instruments that represent the characters. And then cute little stickers that, um, you can see they're on the, um, the campaign as well. And all of those, you could, if you just want the book and maybe three plushies, you can choose that $25, um, tier and then add three plushies on so that, um, and when you make a pledge there, again, it doesn't charge it until the campaign ends. And the, and if the campaign's been funded, then, um, it'll take several months to get the book printed, but that's all stipulated there in the, in the campaign.

Yeah, that, that I love. First of all, the plushies are so adorable. Mm-hmm. , I haven't seen them in person, but I've seen pictures, and I love that you can make small donation, um, you know, if you just wanna help out. But the, the lowest tier is just $8. And I mean, where do you get a even a digital version of a storybook, which honestly, I think is great because then you can put it up on your projector. And I mean, where does that happen? That, that you get a digital version of a storybook for $8? So I think that's awesome. Anything else you want people to know? What about the

Educator package or the music package?

Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. There are. You wanna explain those or? Yeah, you go. Okay. So the, there are also, there are tiers higher than that. Um, uh, I think for $250, if you really have a, a budget that, um, uh, you, you want to go through, uh, you can get a number of books, a number of those digital packages, and, um, also a visit from authors or, and the composer, uh, and or the illustrators just to zoom, uh, visit with you or class or, um, and then the composer's going to be transcribing the music to make it available for any high school orchestra that, that would be adventurous enough to, to play the, uh, the tune. We'd love to see that happen. I think that would be a real, uh, neat thing. It's a four minute piece. Uh, the oval part's a bit complex, but, uh, we have a high school orchestra teacher friend of ours, and she said, yeah, I know a few, um, orchestras around here that could probably play this. So,

Wow.

Yeah, I can imagine just as a, as a, as a piece in a, in a spring showing or something like that, or a fall showing with, um, all the kids running around, it's just something that, you know, you've done a lot with movement in the book mm-hmm. . And, um, it could be a, a piece that people really enjoy seeing, watching, listening to as, as part of a concert. So

Yeah, I mean, I could even see like a collaboration between the high school, the middle school, and the elementary school where, you know, the elementary school was doing some movement things and, you know, I, I think that would be amazing.

Yes, it'd be, it would be fun to see that. Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. I'm really excited to see where this goes. Um, so tell people, we will put the link in below the live so that you can have the link again, but tell people what is the best way, if they have questions to get in touch with you, besides clicking the link. Is that their best option? That's

Good. I, we've got a website that's, um, it's, uh, it, it's in its infancy, but it's functional. And so if you go there and just, uh, you can, uh, sign up for our newsletter and I'll see your email, you can ask me questions, and that is at, uh, klein writing.com. We can also put a link for that in there. Definitely. And, uh, yeah, I'd be, I'd love to talk to teachers. It's what I do all day, and, uh, just collaborate, get ideas. Um, we are building out, you know, the ELA and science lessons. There's a social emotional, uh, of this resilient mouse that, um, that some other, you know, teachers are interested in. And, uh, any ideas that people have that, you know, I'd like to see this. Um, love to take those on board, so. Cool.

Um, and then where can they follow you on social media?

So Kevin dot klein dot writing, and on Instagram. Um, I've got a Facebook business page as well. And, uh, yeah, I'll just put those links in there and definitely love to connect. Definitely.

All right. Well, I really appreciate you guys taking your time tonight, and I'm so excited about this project, and I can't wait to get my own copy. .

Thank you so much, Jeanette. Yeah, it's been great talking with you. It's been

Lovely. Thank you. No problem. And, uh, it, it was, uh, great having you guys. Well,

That's all I have for you today, but before I go, let me remind you, keep learning, keep growing and keep being fabulous. You.