Frank Leto and Pandemonium

Frank Leto's
Award-winning Children's Educational Music

Ask any preschool teacher about good music for children and you will learn that there are few children's classics. After all, where do you find an accomplished musician who is also an experienced preschool teacher? Is there such a person?

Happily, the answer is yes! Frank Leto is an early childhood educator, a Montessori teacher with tremendous sensitivity to the needs of young children. He is also a professional musician, Orff music teacher and steel band director. He brilliantly combines his skills as both teacher and musician to create a sound that your children will love!

Children's Artist: Interactive and Multicultural:
Frank's music for children is exceptionally popular with teachers and parents throughout the United States. His music is designed to encourage children's participation through singing, dancing, fingerplays, games and exercises. Most of Frank's songs are sung in call and response, where Frank sings first and then the children echo him. The lyrics give direction to the games, dances and finger plays which make his music so irresistible to children.

Frank's approach is multicultural. His songs are set to musical forms such as calypso, soca, reggae, Hawaiian, jazz, blues, salsa, samba, rumba, zydeco, African and Native American, all of which are played on traditional instruments.

Frank has seven interactive, multicultural CDs, two of which have won educational awards. His Kids Will Be Kids DVD series invites children at home to participate through song, dance and physical exercise.

Frank offers a wonderfully fun, interactive children's concert for ages preschool through 2nd grade. In New Mexico, this annual concert has been hailed as "the best fieldtrip of the year!" by teachers and parents alike.

Benefits of Frank's original music for children

• Songs are sung in a call and response manner, where Frank sings first and the children echo him.
• Songs are in keys suited for children's voices with simple melodies.
• On the first listening, children are able to interact with the song through the echoes.
• Children are attracted to the sound of other children's voices. (Most songs have children singing the response.)
• Lyrics give children directions to games, finger plays, dances and movement.
• Children develop strong listening skills.
• Music helps with the development of language.
• Children acquire a repertoire of rhythms and melodies as they interact with the songs.
• Each song holds the children's interest from beginning to the end.
• Songs are multicultural. Children are introduced to calypso, reggae, samba, salsa, zydeco, blues, jazz, Hawaiian, African and Native American styles of music.
• Entertaining and educational at the same time.
• The songs are fun and children want to repeat them over and over again.

World Music Musician:
Frank Leto is a multidimensional artist who has found a balance between professional musician and professional educator. His lifelong pursuit of musical knowledge has led him to appreciate the music of many cultures. Frank's talent as a composer has allowed him to share this love for music with his peers, students and community.

Frank is a talented instrumentalist who plays Brazilian percussion, Afro-Cuban percussion and Trinidadian Steel Drums. Frank's band PANdemonium, features Frank on vocals, steel drums and percussion. He writes all the music for the band which blends musical styles like reggae, ska, soca, calypso, samba, salsa and zouk into his own unique sound. PANdemonium has recorded two World Music CDs.

Music and Montessori Educator:
In 1975 Frank leto became Montessori certified. He has taught at Montessori schools in Michigan, St. Thomas, San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii and New Mexico. Dr. Maria Montessori's philosophy on education inspired Frank to develop a similar approach in music education.

While in the Virgin Islands, Frank saw his first steel band. As an ORFF music instructor, he knew instantly that it would be easy for children to successfully play these instruments. For over twenty years, Frank has arranged and directed steel bands for children. They have performed in Disneyland, Disney World, Epcot Center, Washington DC, Universal Studios and educational conferences across the country.

Musical Keynote Speaker:
Frank Leto travels the nation extensively, presenting keynote speeches and workshops at such educational conferences as the Music Educators Association, the Association for the Education for Young Children, the Orff Schulwerk Association and the American Montessori Society to name a few.

Frank's clinics promote his own approach to imparting the love of music on to children. His interactive workshops for teachers are designed for non-musicians. In the course of a single workshop, attendees are singing, dancing and playing instruments with a new sense of confidence. With newly learned skills they enthusiastically return to the classroom and enrich the children's musical