Patricia Margarita Maertens
Creator of Ladybug Music

Ladybug Music's Producer/Songwriter & Vocalist/Musician

Ladybug Music founder Patricia M. Maertens has a simple mission: marrying great music with great education. An early-childhood music educator since 2004, Maertens started her Los Angeles-based business following a two-decade professional career as a singer, songwriter and producer whose original material has been featured in films and on TV. Her own education includes study at the prestigious Dick Grove School of Music and Musicians Institute.

As Ladybug’s primary creative force, Maertens seeks to synthesize the wide spectrum of styles and sounds she’s been exposed to throughout her life. Born in Hollywood, she grew up in the culturally mixed neighborhoods of South L.A. and Portuguese Bend; she also accompanied her El Salvadoran mother and German father on their extensive world travels. Today her taste roams freely over the boundaries of genre and origin, from Billie Holiday to the Clash, Tinariwen to Rickie Lee Jones.

The Ladybug songbook—which spans six full-length CDs—reflects that variety. In addition to writing her own original songs inspired by nature and fantasy, Maertens spends much of her time researching and sourcing songs from all over the globe, be it a West Indian field recording or an Irish street chant. She composes on guitar and piano, taking special care to incorporate odd time signatures and unusual scales, then enlists her favorite musicians to play in the studio. The result is a curriculum with music that honors the intelligence of young children without alienating their parents.

“My goal with Ladybug is teaching kids foundational musical skills: the ability to keep a beat and match a pitch,” Maertens says. “But my dream is to inspire families to experience the great joy of exploring and discovering new music with their children. "

 

The Ladybug Music musicians

 

Brad Dujmovic – Vocalist/Musician & Engineer/co-producer

Born and raised in Chicago, IL he began his studies of music at the age of 5, on the piano.  He holds a Bachelors degree in Music Theory and Composition with an emphasis in Recording Technology from Ball State University.  He moved to LA in 2002, where he began his professional career in music.

He was head engineer of Hancock Park Studios from 2004 to 2007 and formed the band Invitro in 2006. They signed to Gridiron records and spent two years touring the US with such acts as Korn, Evanesence, Sevendust. After Invitro disbanded in 2008, he started his own studio where he is a sound designer for many indie films including an award winning documentary, "American Harmony". He also produces several SoCal indie bands and  is writing, producing and performing in his own original music project and has launched his indie label Ecleticore. Check out his new tracks at http://eclecticore.bandcamp.com

 

 

Toshi Yanagi – Guitar

Toshi hails from the wonderful city of Tokyo, Japan but has been in Los Angeles since 1988. Coming from a musical family Toshi started playing classical violin and piano at a very young age but at 8 years old he found rock & roll, picked up a guitar and never looked back!

In 1988 he graduated from Musicians Institute and embarked on a very succesfull career as one of the LA’s top call studio musicians.

Currently he is an in- house band member of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and just finished his first CD.

Paul Cartwright – Violin & Mandolin