“Where words fail, music speaks," wrote Hans Christian Andersen of music's ability to facilitate communication -- and yet there are key places where music literacy is lacking, including in Washington County elementary schools. Recognizing that absence, the Lubec Area Musicians' Philanthropic Society (LAMPS) and the Machias Bay Chamber Concerts (MBCC) have collaborated to develop a two series program bringing music to hundreds of students around the county.
      "This whole idea of bringing live music to the elementary schools came about when we learned about all the challenges facing music programs at schools in Washington County," says Chris Farr, president of LAMPS. "Last winter for example, a small group from LAMPS visited the Edmunds school, and we learned that they had not had live music at the school in over three years."
      Music can provide invaluable benefit, particularly when processing emotions. "Love, sadness, anger, frustration, regret -- you name it, there is music for it," writes MBCC President Jane Lanctot in the materials provided to schools in advance of their visit. "Classical and world music is a great engine of empathy. It allows us to experience and express emotions, recover from emotional distress and get better at understanding fellow human beings."
      For young people, music provides the opportunity to explore new avenues of emotional processing at the same time as enhancing cognitive skills and focus. And, importantly, children in Washington County are looking for musical outlets. "At the LAMPS summer concerts I can see that there is a pool of talent in Washington County -- but with all of the school funding cuts -- and the 'meanness' of our current society, I worry that kids won't have the opportunities that I was lucky to have," says Farr, who is now in his 70s.
      Estimating that around 40% of Washington County's elementary schools have no music program, Farr and Lanctot joined the forces of LAMPS and MBCC together to design a two part music series -- one that engages children with popular songs themed around work and a second that broadens their musical understanding with classical and world music.
      Choosing the theme of work and labor for popular music allows LAMPS to include a variety of favorites such as the sea shanty "Blow the Man Down," cowboy songs such as "Home on the Range" and modern songs such as "9 to 5." The group brings the music to life on several instruments, with Duane Ingalls, Lauren Koss and Kurt Andresen contributing vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin and washboard; Brendon Sohre on drums; Art Lindemanis on bass guitar; and Chris Farr on keyboard.
      Beyond simply exposing students to live music, the performance enables them to see adults working together and supporting one another in a band. "They learn how music allows people to express feelings that may be very hard to describe in words," Farr says. "They see how music can tell the history of the country and show us how society works. When you talk to the kids you quickly realize that the expression 'music is a universal language' really is true."
      During the first LAMPS performance at the Edmunds Consolidated School in February, the entire school attended and met the musicians with enthusiasm. "I thought the performance was great," first and second grade teacher Cindy Garnett later shared with Farr. "I knew all the songs and most of them took me back to my younger days, especially the 'Hallelujah I'm A Bum' song." Garnett added that the songs were well explained and the work theme was effective in tying them together. "I hope we see you again!"
      The classical program, which began in Eastport on March 7, is also a hit, according to Lanctot. Performers Sarah Dalton Phillips, Helen Swallow and Lanctot play western classical music as well as music from Ireland, Ethiopia and Cambodia. The classical songs are played on flute, recorder, harpsichord and keyboard, while the world music is expressed on instruments from Cambodia -- the "tro" or two string fiddle, "roneat" or xylophone and a "gong thom" or circle of gongs.
      The LAMPS program was performed at the Whiting Village School on March 20 and the Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School in Machias on March 26. The MBCC program will be performed at Edmunds, Lubec, Whiting and Machias as well as Pembroke later in the spring. If it goes as well as the organizers hope and they're able to secure sufficient funding, they aim to bring the programs back next year and expand to every school in the county.
      In the short term, Farr is hoping to hold a concert for parents and grandparents to attend, with May as a tentative date.