Donny and the Ghost

“Donny and the Ghost” is about a boy so involved in his computer games that he is oblivious to a ghost haunting his bedroom. This podcast is based on a short story I wrote in the mid-90’s.

This year’s class (2006 - 2007) is a collection of especially talented writers and oral readers. Last Fall it occurred to me that this would be the perfect group to turn “Donny” into a theater podcast. Tyler, a 5th grader, volunteered to rewrite the short story as a script–which was no easy task. The class then revised and edited that script (revising and editing are a vital part of the writing process even with theater podcasts). Using the vocal talents of (4th grader) Jacob as “Donny,” (5th grader) Denise as “Donny’s mother,” and an assortment of other character actors and narrators we began recording in late November 2006. It wasn’t until February 2007 that all the voices were recorded, music and special sound effects composed and the pieces assembled.

For this tale I needed to write music which imitated the style of music I’ve heard used in arcade-style video games. After I completed the music and played it for my students, they asked if the music could be available separately from the podcast. Of course! Kids (and adults) should feel free to dowload it (below) to their iPods or other .mp3 players. (Nearly all the special effects were created by us. Even the moaning, gurlging, growling ghost sounds were made by me with the help of a little digital magic.)

TIP: Our podcast is recorded using high quality stereo sounds. For maximum enjoyment, listen with headphones.

Click on the title to download the file to your browser (if you’d like to download it for your iPod or other mp3-player) or click on the right-pointing triangle below the title to play it from this webpage. Sit back, relax and enjoy “Donny and the Ghost.” — Mr. Bledsoe, 4th-5th grade teacher, Molalla Elementary School, Molalla, Oregon.

Podcast: Donny and the Ghost (19 minutes - 21.8 MB)

Music to “Iron Fist Combat of the Golden Temple of Death 7” (2:48 minutes - 3.2 MB)