Ellen Allard Music

It was the perfect day to find this pic of me. I had done a lot of troubleshooting on my own, sought help from chatgpt and Sweetwater (great online source for musicians) and finally figured out how to make the ADAM Audio monitors (studio speakers) work with the rest of my home recording setup. But what do studio speakers have to do with a picture of me as a baby sitting at a toy piano?

Here's what happened. I was frustrated as hell. Could not for the life of me get a sound to come out of the new speakers. I had pulled up a YouTube video on my laptop and could hear the sound coming through my MacBook Air laptop speakers. I could also hear it through my headphones plugged into the Focusrite Scarlett interface. I tried unplugging and replugging. I tried rebooting. I tried everything I could throw at it. Nada, nothing from the Adam Audio fancy-pants speakers.

I thought about calling and imploring my friend and colleague Kevin Kelly to help me out of my misery. But I knew his m.o. He knows that if he tells me how to do it, I will be less likely to remember how to do it the next time.

So I decided to have a little online convo with chatgpt. I listed all of the problem solving steps I had already tried, employing what Kevin taught me to do (think sequentially). Brick wall.

In desperation (because I wasn’t ready to admit defeat to Kevin!), I called Sweetwater. After being transferred to the right person, I was told (ego boost) that in fact I'd done everything right except for one little tiny step I’d overlooked. There was an input switch on the back of both speakers. All I had to do was flip both switches up. Voila! I’m in business. Not to mention being on top of the world for sticking to it and mostly figuring out the problem.

Now I just have to decide which song to record. I'm thinking the Spin Your Groggers song I wrote last year with Kevin's wife, the inimitable Stacy Lowenheim Kelly (we formed a band called the Marvelous Matzo Balls). Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. And drum roll, to revisit the pic of me as a baby sitting at a toy piano, the recording will feature me on keys, playing my fabulous digital Yamaha keyboard, as well as a few other hip musicians. 😎

🕎 🎵 EIGHT HANUKKAH NIGHTS! It's here! Well, almost. Still have to wait for it to be fully streamed. Meawhile, here's a teeny sneak peak at the track: https://tinyurl.com/eighthanukkahnights

And yes, I am now officially one of the two Marvelous Matza Balls, the other being the one and only Stacy Lowenheim Kelly.

Raise your hand if you're ready for another Hanukkah song! 🖐

NEW SONG ALERT! I’m in the process of recording a new song that I co-wrote with Stacy Lowenheim Kelly. It’s called Eight Chanukkah Nights. I know, I know. Is it Hanukah? Or Hanukkah? Or Chanukah? According to my Hebrew grammatical guru (thank you Cantor Ross Wolman), it is spelled “Chanukkah”. Whatever it is, we think you’re gonna love it. Let’s just say my husband has been walking around the house for days humming and singing it. That’s always a good sign!

Here's a rough demo (good for learning) of one of my Hanukah songs called "A Great Miracle Happened There". An oldie but goodie for kids. Sheet music link is included. https://tinyurl.com/24eyx4f3

Excited to be presenting a workshop tomorrow for a staff development day at Temple Beth Shalom Children's Center, Needham, MA. (https://www.facebook.com/tbscc). It's always exciting to work with early childhood teachers who want to learn how their curriculum can support integrating music more fully into the lives of their young students.

50% Discount
High Holiday Song PDF
17 Songs including 3 new ones. Link below.

EDITED POST: New song added - collection has 17 total songs. Next 48 hour doorbuster sale (LOL, I think I'll stick to composing and not marketing!)!!! I'm thrilled to announce that my downloadable PDF collection of children's Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur songs (including 3 new songs) is available at a reduced price—more than 50% off - through Saturday at midnight! 🎉

Whether you're teaching, leading services, or singing at home, these songs are perfect for engaging kids (and adults, too). All but one of the songs are my compositions and were written with my many years experience composing, teaching and performing for young kids.

Grab the collection before midnight on Saturday. Don't be that person who waits till Sunday! 💥🎵

I invite you to share this post. Sharing is caring 💜!!

On the off chance that someone might know the answer: I am trying to create a printable (and digital) songbook with pdf sheet music that was created with Sibelius and saved on my mac. When I import the pdf songs into Canva, it doesn't recognize the music notes and instead turns them into funny circle and different shapes. The latest work-around has been to take a screen shot of each page of the sheet music and import as a jpg into Canva. But when I print this said sheet music (which has been turned into jpgs from Canva), it is pixalated. While clear enough to read the notes and lyrics, it still doesn't look as good as when I print the pdf itself from my hard drive or from google drive. Has anyone tried to create a songbook in Canva? I've tried googling to find the answer and have been unsuccessful. I'd appreciate any help you can offer.

Rosh Hashanah + Yom Kippur
New Kid's Song - link in 1st comment
Title: Shana Tova