BOOK ALEX & THE KALEIDOSCOPE FOR 2020!!
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Alex Mitnick
hello@alexandthekaleidoscope.com
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John Waldman
Great Knight Productions
Alex & the Kaleidoscope Rocks Ithan Elementary School During Weeklong Residency
Ithan Elementary School students were all smiles as Alex & the Kaleidoscope rocked the school's cafetorium during two assemblies, one for K-2 students and one for grades 3-5, on December 13. The performances were the culminating event in a weeklong residency with the interactive music entertainment brand.
Throughout the week, students in grades 3-5 participated in activities led by the band's frontman Alex Mitnick during regularly scheduled music and library classes. The visits included singing, dancing, storytelling, musical games and more, ultimately preparing the students for the final Friday performance with Alex and the members of his band, Alex & the Kaleidoscope. Fourth-grade students also had hands-on experience composing and performing an original song.
"Alex & the Kaleidoscope encourages and inspires kids to celebrate and learn through the power of songs, fun facts and adventures to interesting places around the world," states the group's website.
This visit was sponsored by the Cultural Arts Committee of the Ithan Elementary School parent-teacher organization and the Radnor Educational Foundation.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2020 here we come!!
We had a blast ringing in the new year at the 5th Annual New Year’s Eve (daytime) Family Jam at The Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, PA.
Photo credit: Kevin Gregory Photography
The 5th Annual New Year's Eve (daytime) Family Jam at The Ardmore Music Hall
Join us on 12/31/19 for live music, dance party, face-painting, balloon art, family photo booth, karate and more!! This event will sell out so BUY TICKETS IN ADVANCE!
The Power Of Peace | The Montessori Story by Alex Mitnick
I had the honor and pleasure of creating a musical for children about the life and work of Dr. Maria Montessori. Little did I know how transformational the experience would be for me. She was a remarkable woman who had an enormous impact on the way children are taught all around the world. I'm so proud of these kids and the whole team that brought my vision of 'The Montessori Story' to life. Thank you all! Here's the finale. The Power Of Peace. During WWII, Dr. Montessori spent nearly seven years living in exile in India where she befriended Mahatma Gandhi who believed her methods were the best way to teach the millions of India's poor, illiterate children. Together they would spread their message of peace through education throughout the world.
Nurturing Potential & Igniting Passion!
By Donald Gilpin
“We nurture potential and seek to ignite each child’s passion,” states the Princeton Montessori School’s (PM) website. “That’s exactly what happened to me,” said PM Music Teacher and Emmy Award-winner Alex Mitnick, who also has his own TV show, Alex & The Kaleidoscope, on New York City Public TV.
“I was in an environment with a school director who allowed me to do what I wanted to do, and it really did ignite a passion that I have for music and kids,” he continued. “I don’t know if it would have happened anywhere else. I’m able to write songs and produce shows in my little laboratory here, and that slogan informs all the work I do.”
In his 19th year at PM and currently teaching music to students from third grade through middle school, Mitnick is working on an original musical about the life of Maria Montessori to celebrate the 50th anniversary of PM. The musical, which will debut on April 12 and 13, involves the entire school, Mitnick said.
“Alex is a treasure and a truly talented individual who brings music, theater, and other performing arts to our school community, while also leading a world renowned children’s group, Alex & The Kaleidoscope Band,” said PM Head Michelle Morrison. “He serves as our music coordinator and instructs our singing groups, drumming circle, guitar players, and directs and writes our original annual musicals. We are very fortunate to have his talents and passion.”
Mitnick, 43, explained that music has always been present in his life. Though not professional musicians, both his parents loved music. His mother sang in community theater groups and played the piano, and his father, an architect, played the guitar. They always had a piano in the house.
Mitnick took up the trumpet in fifth grade, then
started guitar and percussion in high school in Montgomery County, Pa., where he grew up. He enjoyed the high school band, jazz band, and chorus, and especially enjoyed jamming with friends. “Toward the end of high school, I started to experience music as a powerful force for me as an individual, almost like a healing thing for me,” he said. “It gave me power.”
After two years at Penn State, officially studying science and engineering but unofficially playing guitar and drums every day and jamming with friends, Mitnick decided to pursue his future in music. “Once the illusion of following an engineering and science career faded, music was what remained,” he said. He auditioned for the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where his father was an architecture professor, and, on his second try, was accepted.
“Once I got there, my life changed dramatically,” Mitnick recalled. “I cut all my hair off and got very serious. I realized that it’s one thing to play music with your friends at a party, but it’s another thing to play classic or jazz at a high level. I dove headfirst into four more years of music in college, where I practiced four, five, or six hours a day, and I studied with amazing teachers.”
In addition to his guitar playing, Mitnick also developed his vocal abilities, singing in the university’s madrigal choir, joining a barbershop quartet, and performing with the choir of the Philadelphia Orchestra. “I learned more about music singing a cappella than I learned in all my years studying guitar,” he said. “Being able to sing in tune, to sightread a melody, to understand what music is all about with the only instrument being your brain and your voice.”
Graduation brought Mitnick to another transition in his life. “Suddenly I’m competing with my professors for the same jobs,” he said. And after a year or two of finding work performing at the Walnut Street Theater, casinos in Atlantic City, clubs on the Main Line, and various jobs elsewhere, Mitnick realized, “I really wanted something much deeper about music. I completely switched directions to fall madly in love with sacred Hindu chanting,” and that’s what brought him to Princeton, where a friend was playing the tabla and exploring the world of Indian music.
He continued, “I was searching, but a little bit lost, not being clear about what I wanted to do with music. I needed something I could pour my heart and soul into.” Mitnick rented a farmhouse in Hillsborough with a friend, and for almost three years he toured, promoting and facilitating sacred Eastern music.
Needing a paying job, he sent his resume around to private schools, and soon found himself teaching preschool at PM. One year later he was in charge of music for the whole school, preschool through eighth grade.
“I discovered that I was a very good teacher, and I could relate to children in a fun, relaxing way. I started developing my own program for the elementary and middle school kids, where the most important thing was for them to have the same powerful experience with music that I’d had.”
Taking a nontraditional approach to music education, Mitnick infused his classes with “tons of movement and drumming. We ordered sets of percussion instruments, and I started a rock band with the middle schoolers,” he said. “The kids fell in love with music and the music class was one of their favorite times of day.”
About 15 years ago, Mitnick built a small recording studio in the Hillsborough farmhouse, and he and a friend started writing songs for children. They started a summer camp, where they wrote a musical for the kids to perform. “We loved the experience,” he said. “There was no limit on how we could stylize the music. As long as it was catchy, the kids loved it. We all loved the freedom.”
The musicals eventually turned into Mitnick’s first album Kaleidoscope Songs Number One in 2004, and a Parents’ Choice Award, one of many awards that he has received.
Many concerts, CD sales, and five original CDs later, Mitnick is now working on his seventh children’s music CD. Another breakthrough came in 2014, when New York City’s public TV station offered Mitnick the opportunity to produce a TV show. He was able to produce six 30-minute original TV shows called Alex & the Kaleidoscope, where he is the host and he takes the viewers around to museums, zoos, and on other adventures. “We walk around, learn a lot, and integrate original music with the fun facts. You might learn something about recycling, and then there’s a fun recycling song and music video that goes with it.”
In the meantime, Mitnick is working on developing another music-focused show and doing lots of teaching at PM, three or four days a week. He also teaches in Philadelphia and New York public schools as an artist in residence, “teaching them my original music, then they perform with me in a final assembly, which is really fun.”
Mitnick lives in Doylestown, Pa., with his wife Molly, who owns a yoga studio and is getting a master’s degree in counseling psychology. They have two young children with a third expected in May.
“As difficult as a life in the arts can be, it’s fulfilling,” Mitnick said. “I wake up every day and do something that I like. I feel blessed.”
New Year's Eve Family Jam in Ardmore, PA!
Performance, residency and final concert with Alex!
Alex & The Kaleidoscope on tour in the Boston Public Library System
Alex performs a solo tour in all the branches of the Boston Public Library!
Summer Tour is in full swing! Join us in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts and New Jersey
Alex on tour in Beijing, China!
Alex visits China for a series of concerts and workshops for kids and families April 27th-May 5th, 2018.
Watch Alex & The Kaleidoscope LIVE in concert in Wilmington, DE!
Artist residency with Alex & The Kaleidoscope for Fourth Grade students
Five 4th grade classes at the Valley Forge Elementary School in Valley Forge, PA spent one week with Alex & The Kaleidoscope writing songs and performing them in a final concert program with the band. An all school assembly kicked off the week followed by three days of songwriting workshops with each class meeting with Alex for 45 minutes each day. The students composed their own songs with Alex and practiced them for a final performance assembly on the last day of the residency. Parents and teachers alike were delighted by the final show!
Alex & The Kaleidoscope celebrating diversity in NYC public schools
Alex & The Kaleidoscope plays Wolftrap Theatre-in-the-Woods in Washington, D.C.
Alex & The Kaleidoscope rocks the Philadelphia Science Festival!
"You’re performance was absolutely perfect and made the day even more wonderful than it already was. We appreciate your being a part of the Science Festival family!" - Ellen Trappey, The Franklin Institute.
Alex & The Kaleidoscope reaching thousands of children!
Princeton International Children's Festival February 12 2-4pm FREE!
Celebrate Valentine's Day weekend Family Style!
Buy tickets HERE.
Vote for Alex & The Kaleidoscope for Best Local Kindie Band!
Share the love, Philadelphia! Vote for your favorite family go-to spots and local businesses, and be entered to win one of these fantastic prizes! A getaway for the entire family at the Camelback Resort or a Family Four Pack of tickets to both Diggerland USA and Sahara Sam's Oasis Indoor and Outdoor Water Park.