Garwood Native Launches 'Ange Sings!' Kids Music Biz, Is Seeking Kickstarter Funds

This press release was submitted by Ange Sings.

Children see their world as a stage. They practice dance moves when walking past their reflection in a store window. They sing songs about dressing up their dolls or while racing their cars. A water bottle is a microphone; a broom handle is a guitar. They’re often performing more for themselves than their potential
audience. Jonathan and Rachael Eicholz and Xavier Pavlou of Garwood are doing just that as some of the pintsized stars of a music video by new children’s artist Ange Sings!

Ange Sings! understands the desire to express through music, and how inspiration can strike anywhere. Angela Dallesandro, a Garwood native, writes songs at her kitchen table, in line at the grocery store, and while doing laundry. Now she has developed a smart way to sing to and with kids, while addressing some relevant toddler and early childhood topics.

Her self-titled debut album will feature about a dozen songs ranging in topic from a new twist on the alphabet, to learning to have patience, to the steps of using the bathroom as explained on the CD’s first single, “The Potty Party.”

Ange’s music combines clever rhymes with tongue-in-cheek humor, set to a diverse musical flavor that adults can also enjoy — when their children ask to hear it over and over (and over), as children tend to do.

But Ange doesn’t just want people listening to her music — she also wants them inspired to create their own.

“I want parents to hear my music and feel like they, too, could go home and make up a song about anything,” she said. “I want them to realize the power music has to not only enrich, but inform their children.”

The video for “The Potty Party” offers a look at toddlers in the role of musicians. It was shot at The Crossroads in Garwood, N.J., a live music venue matching the jazzy bass line of a song with an otherwise doowop feel. Ange rounded up 10 toddlers from all over Union, Middlesex and Morris counties in New Jersey and Staten Island, N.Y. to dance and play the horns, keyboard, drums and tambourines.

“Every time one of my songs accomplishes its goal, I’m validated to keep writing,” Ange said. “Knowing kids are singing my song as they use the potty is definitely encouraging.”

Saturday, March 23, was the first viewing of “The Potty Party” at The Crossroads, and the launch of Ange’s Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a fund-raising website designed for filmmakers, musicians, artists and designers to procure funding for their projects and bring their dreams to fruition. Ange has such a dream.

“I have been a lifelong performer, but this is the first time I’ve built a project from scratch. Kickstarter is the perfect way to raise money by involving people on the ground level, and being able to give them something in return,” she said.

Through Kickstarter, Ange aims to raise $15,000 for her album and subsequent tour, and all related Ange Sings! projects, including merchandise and picture books. Tiered pledge dollar amounts come with incentives, from a thank-you email to a private Ange Sings! concert for your school or organization. The way
Kickstarter works, if she raises $15,000 or more, her fundraisers are charged the amount they offered; if she doesn’t meet her goal, she doesn’t get any of the money pledged.

“We only have 6 weeks to raise this money, and every single cent will go toward bringing musical experiences to families everywhere,” she said. “Many of those families have directly inspired this project.”

Ange has been preparing for this album in one way or another for her entire life. She’s been singing since she learned to speak, performing even longer, and writing down her own words and rhymes from the time she could hold a crayon. Her first job was babysitting her younger cousin, and she turned that into a business that she maintained for more than 15 years. Ange watched several children grow up and helped them through many milestones — things like potty training, learning to read and tying their shoes.

“I can rhyme for hours without stopping, and it was a talent I often used to entertain the children I babysat. My rhymes turned into songs that were more effective than words alone when speaking to a tired or disagreeable toddler,” she said. “Once kids know exactly what is expected of them, and the steps are set to something catchy that they’ll remember, it’s easier to get them to follow directions.”

Although she wrote the album’s songs over a 3-month period last year, the ideas and much of the phrasing have come from her experiences as not only a babysitter, but a voice and dance teacher.

“Kids have a huge capacity to learn information, especially through song,” she said. “Anyone who has spent time with a toddler knows they can repeat anything they hear. Why not use that ability to help them learn?”

The typical age range of her listeners is birth to 5 years old, but she has plans to write music tackling curriculum-based material for school-age children.

For more information, visit www.angesings.com/kickstarter or contact Ange at info@angesings.com.