Cathy & Marcy's Blog

We hang with lots of musicians and music lovers. Here’s a friend you GOTTA know, (unless of course, you already know him!).
Robbie Schaefer has become a wonderful voice in family music – on the radio (Sirius XM’s Kids Place Live), on stage, on recording and now, through a new effort called OneVoice, linking US schools to schools abroad in music.
Catch him live at Wolf Trap Theater in the Woods July 6-10, or check his schedule at
www.robbieschaefer.com

Robbie also took the time to jam with us in the XM Parking lot! Watch the video clip at the end of the interview.

C&M – ROBBIE, YOU ARE PART OF A FABULOUS BAND, EDDIE FROM OHIO. GREAT SONGS, HARMONIES AND SPIRIT. YOUR SOLO WORK HAS FOCUSED MORE ON FAMILY MUSIC. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT ADDING THAT DIMENSION TO YOUR MUSICAL WORK?

Robbie- Hi Cathy and Marcy. I fell into family music a bit by “accident” (and there are no accidents). I had been teaching music once a week at my son’s preschool when Julie Wells, the lead singer in Eddie From Ohio, was diagnosed with breast cancer. All of a sudden, our winter tour was canceled, our future was uncertain, and I found myself wondering what I’d be when I grew up. I decided that it would be as good a time as any to try to record a children’s CD. I did, and that eventually led me to an on-air gig at Kids Place Live. I found that I really loved making and sharing music for and with families and kids. There’s a purity to it for me. It is so often less about performance and more about communication–sharing music and stories. For me it ends up being more about the essence of the thing. I still very much enjoy playing with EFO and performing my own “grown-up” solo material, but with music for kids and families there’s a lightness of being that comes with playing music at such an essential level that I’m really drawn to. By the way, Julie is fully recovered and doing well these days.

C&M – WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA FOR OneVoice AND WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE GOALS?

Robbie-OneVoice came about in June of 2009. I was sitting with Kenny Curtis, my boss at Sirius XM and he was saying, “so where do you want to move creatively with your show in the next year?”. Great question, right? And I told him I didn’t know for sure but I felt that as a channel that reaches anywhere from 500,000 to a million listeners per week, we had an incredible amount of power, and with that power an incredible responsibility to do more than just entertain. I wasn’t sure how to do that, but I had long wanted to play music with kids in Africa, having seen my friend (and fabulous musician) Samite do just that. Samite is from Uganda but has lived in the U.S. for about 25 years or so. He goes back and plays for kids in refugee camps and orphanages every now and then. Anyway, Kenny practically leapt out of his chair and said, “that’s what we should do–we should send you to Africa!”. I was shell-shocked. I mean, Sirius XM is a big corporation, but they don’t just send a kids’ DJ to Africa because he feels like it. The short of it is that within the next two weeks or so, a more specific idea revealed itself: to help to create and cultivate peace and cultural awareness through musical sister-school relationships between kids abroad and kids here in the U.S. Kind of like musical pen pals whose “conversation” would then be broadcast to our audience.

Talk about fun and energizing–this just lit me up! We still didn’t know how we’d do it, where we’d go, or where the money would come from, but you know, all that is really needed is to set your own intention and the rest will come. Sure enough, within a couple of weeks, I was headed to Uganda to visit with the Brain Tree school. I went with a freelance videographer, Tom Hommeyer, whom I had never met, and who donated his time and talents. It was, of course, an unforgettable experience. Upon returning I knew that I needed to continue this kind of work. It’s what I’m here for. And yet, I couldn’t expect Sirius XM to keep sending me all over the world. So, since then I’ve been working to create OneVoice as it’s own organization to support this work in the future.

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT 1 OR 2 OF YOUR EXPERIENCES IN UGANDA THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO CREATING AN ORGANIZATION THAT WILL SUPPORT THIS WORK.

Two that stand out are “The Avocado Tree” and “The Security Guard”. I’ll start with the latter. While at Brain Tree, I would gather separately with each class of kids in an unfinished schoolroom. The room had open squares in the walls for windows, a concrete floor, and not much else. The kids would come and sing their hearts out. But as each class would sing, other children would wander over from their classrooms or from the library and peek in the windows–even if their class had just been singing with me minutes earlier! They couldn’t help but be drawn to the music–in Uganda music is a very communal thing. Anyway, as at most schools over there, there was a gate and an armed security guard who, as you might imagine, never smiles and whose job is to look as imposing as possible. It’s quite noticeable since everyone else in Uganda seems to smile all the time. On my last day there I was teaching the kids “Do, Re, Mi” from The Sound of Music. They had never heard this music and were just loving it. We were going over it again and again so we could perform it for Muzzei Mukasa (who founded the school with his wife Agnes) when, out of the corner of my eye I saw the security guard, leaning in one of the open windows, mouthing the words to the song–learning Do, Re, Mi–with such intent and interest. It was so beautiful to see this tough imposing man inexorably drawn to the music. I think that’s when I realized that this music is for everyone. I know this is so trite, but the language is truly universal, not just across countries and cultures, but across generations.

Ok. Second story. I think it’s best told from the blog I wrote while I was there. This is at the end of our last day at Brain Tree . . . . They called us to the front of the school at about 5pm. The kids were all gathered and there were two holes in the ground and two baby avocado trees. To be planted in our names (mine and Tom the cameraman). Knock me over with a feather. I placed mine in the ground and filled it with dirt and watered it. The whole school was singing and cheering. They do this thing in Swahili where they rub their hands together and say “asanti asan to you” (or something like that) and clap six times. It’s their way of giving thanks to you. When they say “to you”, you are supposed to put out your hands with your palms up and bring them to your heart to receive the thanks. We did this over and over. And then we said goodbye to the kids. I choked up so many times I lost count. Some gave us colored pictures, some letters. I stood there not talking. Not even a little. There is so much to learn about living. Just as we, in the U.S., are certainly rich in ways that most Ugandans are not, they are rich in so many ways that we are not. This was not hospitality, it was love. Ugandans seem to live close to the essence of life, and while that can include violence and chaos rarely seen in our country, it also reveals itself in an outpouring of love–for people, the earth, and yes, music–that is equally rare. I think that if I can bring the richness of what I experienced and learned in Uganda to children literally halfway across the world in North America–and vice versa–then that’s a meaningful day’s work.

HOW CAN KIDS AND FAMILIES HERE GET INVOLVED, BOTH ON THEIR OWN, AND IN SUPPORT OF OneVoice?

Good question because I very much feel that this is and will be a collective creation. The more people investing their energy, the better. That said, since OneVoice, as an official organization, is still developing, the best thing to do would be to sign up on my mailing list (www.robbieschaefer.com) and I’ll keep everyone up to date on the shape of things. In the meantime, I say, SHARE MUSIC. Sing with your family, begin learning an instrument, make up a song in the car–do whatever you can to bring more music into your community and the world.

THANKS TO ROBBIE SCHAEFER for his music and inspiration. CATCH HIM THIS SUMMER LIVE, ON HIS RADIO SHOW, “ROBBIE SCHAEFER’S BANDWAGON” ON KIDS PLACE LIVE–SIRIUS XM CHANNEL 116, OR ON RECORDING. LET’S MAKE OUR WORLD BIGGER AND SMALLER AT THE SAME TIME!
Here we are having a lunchtime jam at XM’s parking lot.

We have always enjoyed hearing, seeing and performing with talented kids. Our upcoming 24th Annual Winter Family Concert will include the best in Scottish music. Our good friend and master Scottish fiddler, Bonnie Rideout joins us. In 1998 Marcy produced Bonnie’s family CD, “Gimme Elbow Room” which won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

Bonnie introduced us to the Rockville High School Pipe Band. They will also perform in the concert. The members of the band meet every Wednesday at Rockville High School to rehearse. Ages range from 12yrs.-high school. They work hard, practicing as a group for 2 hours per week marching in formation, learning new material and fine tuning the band sound with Highland Pipes, bass drum and snare drums.To keep up, many of the kids take private lessons during the week and everyone has to practice. We LOVED the sound of lots of Pipes together.

This band has been going since 1961 (with different kids of course). Some of its more notable performances include concerts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the dedication parade for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial; a Redskins half-time show; the world premeires of the movies Patton and a Bridge Too Far. For over 30 years, the Pipe Band has also been responsible for holding the annual National Capital Area Scottish Festival.

Come meet these talented kids, see and hear how the bagpipes work-or if you don’t live near here, find a local Pipe group.
Hear the Pipe Band, Bonnie Rideout & Cathy & Marcy together!
Check out the pipes up close!
For tickets, click HERE