Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman - Kat Raio Rende: Sesame Street composer, vocalist, producer, mother

Kat Raio Rende: Sesame Street composer, vocalist, producer, mother

10/14/23 • 88 min

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Today’s guest is the Emmy-winning songwriter, singer, producer and composer Kat Raio Rende. Together with her husband JP Rende she has a successful songwriting and production company Earworm Music company. This episode is a fascinating window into the world of music for children’s tv shows, jingles, working with celebrities, and music production in general. We talked about writing for Sesame Street, including “Friends with a Penguin” featuring Billy Porter and “We Don’t Walk Alone”, Baby Shark, how to write for characters as opposed to singers, her big break that led to singing backup for big stars, the benefits and challenges of having ADHD, advice for setting up an inexpensive studio and learning production tricks, family/work balance, parenting, and most importantly, expressing emotions through music to help children.Kat’s infectious delight in music, composition, and singing as well as her personal story and perspectives as a parent will fascinate listeners everywhere.

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Like all my episodes, you can listen to this on your favourite podcast player, (search Conversations with Musicians with Leah Roseman) watch the video on YouTube, read the transcript, and navigate with the timestamps: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/kat-raio-rende

Here are some videos we talk about during the episode, that Kat wrote the music for with JP Rende (her husband and colleague at Earworm Music https://www.earwormny.com/ )Billy Porter in Sesame Street's Friends with a Penguin, EMMY winning song: https://youtu.be/f-YxjLUnnP0?si=PPElVWAiKYR2Chie Sesame Street's We Don't Walk Alone: https://youtu.be/LNlAHNzd6WY?si=KHhBhHIA1pDKsWeX Cardi B in Baby Shark Does the Seaweed Sway: https://youtu.be/NHFLk7937dI?si=wyKbLWcN-uD6SQdN Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:23) writing for Billy Porter “Friends with a Penguin” for Sesame Street (06:56) clip from Friends with a Penguin (07:50) writing “We Don’t Walk Alone” for Sesame Street (10:43) clip from “We Don’t Walk Alone” (12:14) writing for Baby Shark, working with Cardi B (18:01) working with husband JP Rende, creative process (21:31) please support this independant podcast (21:47) writing songs for specific characters, creative process (25:39) Kat’s musical influences, singing backup and demos, SUNY Purchase (30:24) writing for Sesame Street, starting Earworm with JP, writing jingles (32:56) getting big breaks, singing backup in New York (39:05) benefits and challenges of ADHD, writing jingles, musicologist Sandy Wilber (47:26) parenting, kids shows (51:57) having to pitch, producing, advice for setting up an inexpensive studio (01:02:02) family/work balance working from home, helping kids learn music (01:11:00) Kat’s childhood music education (01:14:23) vocal producing and directing (01:21:31) expressing emotions through music to help children

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Previous Episode

Margaret Maria: Cellist/Composer, Improvisor, Educator

Margaret Maria is a wonderful cellist who’s a unique composer. Her compositions are all written by layering cello lines in some gorgeous and emotive aural tapestries. Her personal story is interesting and moving: she started the cello as a teenager, was admitted to the University of Toronto at age 16 without graduating from high school, and was then admitted to the prestigious Curtis Institute. She went on to have a successful career as a member of the Vancouver Symphony and then Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, which is how I came to know her. She gave up her job with the NAC after a few years, and embarked on a new life as a composer, meanwhile continuing to teach. Some of her work as an educator has been with the Orkidstra program, which she has been involved with since it’s inception in 2007. It’s a social development program that serves over 650 youth from over 62 linguistic and cultural backgrounds by building community through free music programs. This episode has a lot of powerful music; you can use the timestamps to navigate. Like all the episodes in this series, this is available wherever you get your podcasts, as well as this video, and the transcript and show notes are all linked to my website https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/margaret-maria https://margaretmariamusic.com/home

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Timestamps (00:00) Intro(02:44) Teaching improvisation in Breno, Maribyllia, creative process(06:57) Marbyllia duo with Bill Gilliam, clip from Gravitational March(07:47) Margaret’s music education and evolution as a cellist and composer(12:52) intro to Blessing of Awakening and Margaret’s creative process(17:00) clip from Blessing of Awakening(18:03) Margaret’s personal story and evolution as a composer(19:46) please support this podcast(20:01) perfectionism, starting late, playing injuries(23:39) Curtis(27:05) more about Margaret’s personal story and evolution as a composer(31:32) Orkidstra and music education(34:26) Alice Kanack, the benefits of teaching improvisation (38:35) producing music with Craig McConnell, intro to Raging Red(41:24) clip from Raging Red with Craig McConnell(42:04) duo project with singer Donna Brown, rock opera with Julian Gracia Reig, getting grants(50:22) From Scars to Infinite Stars(55:19) where to find Margaret’s music(56:20) Margaret’s approach to teaching (01:05:49) reflections on her life, intro to Her Heart on a Platter(01:08:29) Her Heart on a Platter(01:14:39) Margaret’s sheet music(01:15:34) empath feeling others’ emotions, intro to Shame on an Angel, artist Angel Muriel(01:20:39) Sham on an Angel(01:25:52) Margaret’s creative process

photo of Margaret: Bret Archangel Menezes

Next Episode

Jack Everly: Stories from Broadway, Film Music and More (re-release)

This week I’m highlighting an episode from the archive: the charming and engaging Jack Everly, who is well-known to audiences throughout the United States and Canada for his Symphonic Pops programs and storytelling. We recorded this in 2021 when concerts had been mostly shut down for a year. It was so much fun having this opportunity to sit down and speak in depth with Jack. We had a lively exchange discussing his varied and distinguished career on Broadway, for the American Ballet Theatre, the challenges of syncing a live orchestra with the music of great films, and so much more. The video and transcript are linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e16-s1-jack-everly-conductor

I'm an independant podcaster, and I need my listners' help!

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I hope you enjoyed this episode! There’s such a fascinating variety to a life in music; and this series features wonderful musicians worldwide with in-depth conversations and great music, with over 100 episodes to explore. Many episodes feature guests playing music spontaneously as part of the episode or sharing performances and albums. I hope that the inspiration and connection found in a meaningful creative life, the challenges faced, and the stories from such a diversity of artists will draw you into this weekly series, with many topics that will resonate with all listeners. Please share your favourite episodes with your friends, and do consider supporting this independant podcast. Have a great week!