In the 2016-2017 school year, 2nd Graders at Concord International Elementary School worked with Jack Straw teaching artist Vicky Edmonds to write original poems about family, feelings, and nature. Jack Straw musicians Tai Shan and Levi Fuller wrote songs inspired by the students’ poems – Tai working with Ms. Tabor and Ms. Groszhans’s classes, and Levi working with Ms. Delavigne and Mr. Tobin’s classes. Tai and Levi taught the students their songs, and Jack Straw engineer Daniel Guenther recorded them in the classroom.

Vicky Edmonds also worked with Concord 4th graders in Ms. Klaassen and Ms. Klein’s classes. She helped them write poems on many topics, including family, personal feelings and emotions, and nature. The students came to Jack Straw’s studios, where vocal coaches Alyssa Keene, Katya Landau, and Andrew McGinn helped each of them record the best possible performance of their poem. Jack Straw audio engineers Daniel Guenther, CJ Lazenby, and Joel Maddox recorded everything, and all of the 2nd and 4th graders received a CD of their work.

Listen to the songs and poems from the CD:

Concord Poetry and Song 2017 was produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center and Concord International Elementary School with the generous support of the Creative Advantage, Jubilation Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, the Washington State Arts Commission, and individual contributors.

Artists