Kira Willey
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States
Music
Press
Kira's song, "colors," wins Best Children's Song in this huge songwriting competition, which received more than 160,000 entries. - Just Plain Folks Worldwide Songwriting Contest
Dance for the Sun: Yoga Songs for Kids wins Best Children's Album and track 7, "Caterpillar Caterpillar," wins
Best Children's Song
- Musician's Resource Group
October 2007
Dance for the Sun: Yoga Songs for Kids wins a 2007 Parents' Choice Award, given to audio CDs "on the basis of the production, entertainment and human values they exemplify. This Award indicates a wholesome product that helps children enjoy developing physical, emotional, social or academic skills."
- Parents Choice Foundation
October 2007
Dance for the Sun: Yoga Songs for Kids wins Best Recording for Preschoolers, and track 7, "Caterpillar Caterpillar," wins Best Song for Preschoolers
- Children's Music Web
"Three out of three stars--surefire hit! Don't let the Yoga Songs for Kids subtitle fool you, this is not New Agey meditation music. Written to correspond to yoga poses, these songs are joyful, upbeat, and eminently danceable. Willey's vocals have a breezy coffeehouse quality that will appeal to listeners young and old alike."
- Cookie Magazine
"The sweet nature and aspect of Kira Willey's family-oriented CD, Dance for the Sun, is in the singular fact that the lyrics and music aren't childlike - nothing singsongy here...a record that gives a musical respect to its audience, both young and old, in the interesting and delightful authentic songs she has created. This is one of the best family records we've heard and we look forward to more...will certainly wear out the record for this reviewer's children."
- Earbuzz.com Editor's Review
"Surfer Mama," track 9 from Dance for the Sun, wins Finalist in this prestigious competition's Children's Music Category. Judges' comments: "We believe that kids will request it! It's easy and fun to sing along with, and that's what makes a children's song great! One-of-a-kind--excellent song craft."
- Unisong International Songwriting Competition
"Exploring styles from folky guitar songs and jazzy and bluesy numbers with memorable melodies, Kira Willey, a former music teacher, helps kids to feel comfortable and confident in their bodies, delivering one of the best yoga CDs we have seen come through here..."
- April 2007
March 2007
"This new album inspires young and old(er) with hip tunes that range from bluegrass to doo-wop. The accompanying booklet will have you all crawling like caterpillars, pretending to surf, and doing other fun exercises that build strength and flexibility..."
- Parenting Magazine
March 2007
"Caterpillar Caterpillar," track 7 from Dance for the Sun, is a Finalist Winner in the Children's Music category; the competition received more than 14,000 entries
- International Songwriting Competition
Discography
Dance for the Sun: yoga songs for kids has 13 original songs, a fully illustrated instructional kids' yoga booklet, and 16 Bonus Yoga Tracks.
A new CD is in the works for release in summer 2010! Tracks will be previewed on kirawilley.com.
visit kirawilley.com or cdbaby.com/cd/kirawilley to hear song clips.
Photos
Bio
Kira Willey grew up in New England playing classical violin and singing with her musical family. While living in New York City, she taught music to young children and realized that her students had the most fun when they were up and movingwiggling, stretching, dancing. Having practiced yoga for years, she had the idea to combine music and yoga as a way to fully engage kids, giving them the mind/body benefits of yoga plus the joy of hearing many styles of music. She founded Fireflies Musical Yoga for Kids in 2006.
When she began teaching kids yoga, she brought along her guitar and a few tunes she had written. Instant hit: the kids loved it when Kira sang and played, and they always asked for more music. They learned the songs very quickly, sang along, and easily remembered the poses that went with them.
Kira began writing more and more songs to use in class, which eventually inspired her to record Dance for the Sun: Yoga Songs for Kids, released in early 2007. Thanks to positive word-of-mouth, some great reviews, a handful of awards, and (last but not least) an out-of-the-blue request from Dell Computer to use her song Colors in a worldwide ad campaign in 2008, Kiras music has found a large, diverse and devoted following. Eighteen-year-olds on Facebook, parents of developmentally disabled kids, and at least one monk in Dublin
they, and many others, have been inspired and moved by her songs. Kira has expanded her songwriting beyond the children's yoga genre to family music, and will have new releases in the Spring of 2010!
Links
