Introduction
The Arbor Rangers™ is an educational outreach program created by Certified Arborist and Senior Art Director Jeff Harris that is primarily focused on fifth-graders, but can benefit most elementary school-age children and their grown-ups. The Arbor Rangers™ is presented as an entertaining adventure series to help kids learn basic knowledge in fun ways about trees in our urban environment and how to become good tree stewards.
The Power of Music in Learning
Jeff has always recognized the importance of music in education from growing up in the early 1970s through the 1980s, watching kids’ shows on PBS, like Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Electric Company, and Zoom, to name just a few. Weekdays after school and Saturday morning cartoons were filled with entertaining shows like Jonny Quest, The Super Friends, Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones, and Schoolhouse Rock! What better way to help teach children about trees and their importance than through animation and music?
A Theme Song is Born
To accomplish this dream of making animations with music, the development of a theme song for the then-unnamed series was sparked back in April 2009. According to Jeff, “I just started humming some notes that were swirling around in my head out loud,” explaining how The Arbor Rangers™ theme song originated. “I knew I wanted something ‘catchy’ and fun that kids could be excited about and bob their heads to! I was imagining my childhood and the shows that my children were watching. I drew inspiration from newer cartoon shows from the 1990s. Eventually, through my humming and whistling, I started to formulate a melody I liked. I then was afraid I’d forget it, and so I purchased an MP3 digital recorder and began recording myself when the melody would return to my head, and I tried to hum or whistle the tune out loud again. Putting together some basic lyrics as I imagined a title sequence for a show helped me remember the tune easier. One thing was for sure: from that tune, I unmistakably found the name of my new series, The Arbor Rangers!™ It took a few tries and several rewrites to nail down the lyrics to where I like how they flowed, and finally, I had my theme song! Unfortunately, I am no musician. Writing sheet music for the song so that other musicians could play it was out of my area of expertise. I decided that my limited “hunt-n-peck” self-taught method of learning to play songs on my inexpensive piano keyboard would have to do. It didn’t take too long for me to learn to play the basic melody of my theme song, and after a bit of practice, I also managed to add a simple beat track and then recorded my performance.”
Delays and Setbacks
This endeavor has been one of passion for learning and teaching, but all of it is a self-funded outreach project. Inevitably, since those early days of development, progress in production has been slowed or indefinitely postponed due to other obligations or engagements in volunteer activities for non-profit organizations. In the meantime, Jeff has made efforts to define and refine the core Arbor Rangers™ team characters and is back to illustrating new elements for producing animations and publications (e.g., comic books). He still wants to produce a professionally arranged and recorded Official Theme track.
Arbor Rangers™ Theme Song (Lyrics & Basic Keys)
[Intro] (Brief drummer intro)
[Verse]
Ar-bor Ran-gers!
E E G E
Bet-ter call on the dou-ble!
B B B B B A B
Ar-bor Ran-gers!
E E G E
When your trees are in trou-ble!
B B C C C B C
Ar-bor Ran-gers!
E E G E
E-ver rea-dy; re-source-ful!
B B B B B A B
[Chorus]
For-e-sters of ur-ban na-ture,
C C B C D C B A
When threats put our trees in dan-ger,
C C B C D C B A
You can count on Ar-bor Ran-gers! Yah!
C C B C D C B A B
[Instrumental Break] (Energetic guitar solo with percussion)
B C C C A G F# G A B B B G F# E
B C C C A G F# G A B
B B B C C C C C D C B A B B B C D E
G G G G G A G F# G A G F# G B
(Repeat Main Verse and Chorus, skip Break, then Final Verse)
[Final Verse]
Ar-bor Ran-gers!
E E G E
[Outro]
Here is a sample of the basic Arbor Rangers Theme Song tune composed by Jeff Harris. Use the Up/Down Arrow keys on your computer keyboard to increase or decrease volume while playing the tune.
THEME SONG DEVELOPMENT
The decision on how to move forward in producing the theme music will ultimately define the spirit of the Arbor Rangers™ team and the adventures they will embark upon.
We are considering two, maybe three, possibilities:
- Conduct a contest (statewide, national, or even international) among grade school bands and choirs* to submit their performance of the theme song for a chance to have it used in future Arbor Rangers™ animated productions and live shows, be named in the credits, and receive a one-time cash prize; or Select and work in collaboration with a willing local school band and choir group in preparing instrumentals for the finished score, with acknowledgments in future productions that feature these works and a one-time cash donation to their music department/school.
- Put out an ad in various music vines to offer a chance for new or established bands looking for exposure of their talents to put together a finished song track using the established Arbor Ranger™ theme song melody and lyrics, which includes their name featured in the credits to future productions utilizing their work, and also a one-time cash bonus.
- Hire a music producer from a platform like Fiverr.
*The best renditions may be featured in a future Arbor Rangers™ music CD, with the top winning submission used as the official adaptation, which would be featured on the Arbor Rangers™ website and in future productions!
Check back in this MUSIC section for more songs about nature and trees, which are being written for future Arbor Rangers™ live and animated productions.
