Promo/Press Kit

Welcome to my promo/press kit. Here you will find materials to help publicize my performance.

  • Black & white photo in jpg
  • Color photo in jpg
  • Color graphics from Dreams, Drums & Green Thumbs in jpg
  • Press releases, both long and short versions
  • Biography, both long and short versions

Feel free to contact me and request hard copy of any of these materials if you prefer, or to let me know about any further materials you may need. 

Photo Gallery

Short Press Release

(Short version, 178 words)

PRESS RELEASE

BONNIE LOCKHART
Songs and Music Games from Around the World

Bonnie Lockhart will appear in a concert for children and families at [name and  address  of venue] on [date] at [time].  Bonnie’s sing-along, move-along performance of Songs and Music Games from Around the World is sponsored by [name sponsor].

From the African American traditional “This Little Light of Mine,” to the Caribbean “Tingalayo,” Bonnie’s program of original songs and diverse folk music invites children and families to join in the fun of sing-alongs, story songs, finger plays and singing games. Accompanying herself on guitar, keyboards, ukulele and percussion, Bonnie sings with irresistible enthusiasm.  Moving to the call and response of “My Friend the Drum,” planting seeds to the traditional “Bella Hortelana,” and joining Bonnie on stage for an impromptu rhythm band finale, children and families delight in the spirit of community music making.

Children and their families can enjoy Bonnie’s show at [venue name and address] on [date] at [time(s)]. For further information about this performance, contact [venue phone and web address]. If you would like to book another program or schedule an interview, please contact Bonnie Lockhart at 510/451-2005 or email bonnie@bonnielockhart.com

Long Press Release

(Long version: 265 words)

PRESS RELEASE

BONNIE LOCKHART
Songs and Music Games from Around the World

Bonnie Lockhart will appear in a concert for children and families at [name and  address of venue] on [date] at [time].  Bonnie’s sing-along, move-along performance of Songs and Music Games from Around the World is sponsored by [name sponsor].

Bonnie’s show features sing-along, clap along, move-along activities designed to maximize children’s participation. Audiences join Bonnie in songs from many cultures and countries including Jamaica, Japan, Nigeria, Nicaragua and the United States.

In addition to her collection of multicultural folk songs, Bonnie’s original pieces lend a unique vitality to the presentation. School Library Journal selected her solo CD, “Dreams, Drums & Green Thumbs,” as Audio of the Week, recommending “Lockhart’s beautiful composition, poetic imagery, and delightful sense of humor.”  Bonnie’s original songs have been recorded by many singers including Adam Miller, Gary Lapow, Betsy Rose, Lisa Atkinson and Sarah Pirtle.

Accompanying herself on guitar, keyboards, xylophones and percussion, Bonnie sings with irresistible enthusiasm.  She encourages children and their families to sing, dance, and finger play their way into the joys of music. Welcoming all to participate in the music making, Bonnie inspires teachers, youngsters and parents to collaborate in singing games, rhythm bands, lyric improvisation, and story-telling songs. With a repertoire rich in cultural diversity, Bonnie entertains while nurturing the seeds of children’s self esteem.

Children and their families can enjoy Bonnie’s show at  [venue name and address] on [date] at [time(s)]. For further information about this performance, contact [venue phone and web address]. If you would like to book another program or schedule an interview, please contact Bonnie Lockhart at 510/333-8572 or email bonnie@bonnielockhart.com

Short Bio

(Short version, 257 words)

BIOGRAPHY

Bonnie Lockhart weds her long-time love of participatory, community-building song with her background in early childhood education to bring music to young children and their families. 

Bonnie’s life in music includes her avid study of diverse folk traditions as well as jazz.  As a vocalist and pianist, she has recorded, performed, and toured from New York to Nicaragua with various ensembles blending her eclectic musical passions since the early 1970’s. 

Bonnie currently presents interactive concerts, Songs and Music Games from Around the World, for children and families in libraries, schools, and community centers.  Bonnie is an acclaimed songwriter whose compositions appear on award-winning children’s recordings by Gary Lapow, Adam Miller, Sarah Pirtle, and Lisa Atkinson, and her own CD for children, Dreams, Drums, & Green Thumbs.

Bonnie performed and recorded with the now-retired Plum City Players for over twenty years.  The song and story trio appeared at the Sierra, Bay Area, and Mariposa Storytelling Festivals. Bonnie has received artist in residency grants from the California Arts Council and the Wolf Trap Center for the Arts.

Bonnie has taught music in teacher education programs at universities and colleges around the bay area, including San Francisco State, East Bay State, and Mission College.  Woven throughout Bonnie’s sing-along, move-along approach to music in early childhood is her commitment to anti-bias practice, which she studied at Pacific Oaks College, where she earned a masters degree in child development.

Bonnie is the past president and current ardent member of The Children’s Music Network, a national organization promoting empowerment of children through music.

Long Bio

(Long version: 513 words)

BIOGRAPHY

 Bonnie Lockhart is a Northern California singer/songwriter who combines a love of diverse folk traditions, a gift for lyrics both witty and compassionate, and an active commitment to participatory, community-building music. She is a performer, composer, educator, and activist who believes in the transformative power of music in the lives of both individuals and communities.

Bonnie’s first recording, made more than thirty years ago with the anti-war folk rock quartet, The Red Star Singers, is still available through Smithsonian Folkways. Shortly after working as singer and songwriter with the Red Star Singers, Bonnie played piano, sang, and wrote for The Berkeley Women’s Music Collective, a four piece folk rock ensemble. Women’s music pioneers, The Music Collective’s tours and recordings helped blaze a trail for women eager for artistic freedom in their music and control of its production. 

In the 1980’s Bonnie pursued her love of jazz, founding the combo Swingshift as pianist and vocalist. With appearances from the Vancouver Folk Festival in Canada to an International Jazz Festival in Managua, Nicaragua, this eclectic group performed and recorded standards by Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, as well as their own jazz-influenced originals. During this period, Bonnie also played agogo and tambourine (Brazilian hand percussion) and served as assistant musical director for the forty-piece Sistah Boom, an all-woman Afro-Brazilian percussion group.

Awarded grants from the California Arts Council, The Wolf Trap Institute, and the Oakland Civic Arts Commission, Bonnie began working as musician-in-residence in schools and libraries during the 1990’s. Fascinated by the children’s curiosity and imagination, and moved by the power of music in their lives, Bonnie became a student of child development. She received her masters degree from Pacific Oaks College, where she wrote a thesis on multicultural folk music in anti-bias education.

Bonnie continues to compose, perform, record, and tour.  Her original songs have appeared in Sing Out! magazine, Rise up Singing, Here’s to the Women, and Holt Rinehart elementary music texts. Among the artists who have recorded her music are Adam Miller, Gary Lapow, Betsy Rose, Sarah Pirtle, Robin Flower, Charlie King, and Lisa Atkinson.

Harvesting the melodies, rhythms, and harmonies from her involvement with jazz and many folk traditions, Bonnie has created Songs & Music Games from Around the World, her ever-changing show for children. For over thirty years, Bonnie has been giving concerts for children and families at schools, libraries, festivals and community centers.

In addition to performing and recording, Bonnie has taught music for young children in teacher education programs at San Francisco and East Bay State Universities and Mission College in Santa Clara, California.  She is a former president of The Children’s Music Network and served as musical editor of their journal, Pass It On!  

Dreams, Drums, & Green Thumbs, Bonnie’s solo recording, was named Audio of the Week by School Library Journal, which praised “Lockhart’s beautiful composition, poetic imagery, and delightful sense of humor.”  Dreams, Drums, & Green Thumbs is an affirmation of Bonnie’s commitment to young children, to the diverse folk traditions that enliven her music, and to the power of communal, participatory music making.