Savannah, Ga. – Elementary students throughout Effingham, Chatham and Bryan Counties are preparing for a concert series with a theme close to home-the Georgia coast. Beginning Sept. 19, award-winning children’s musician Roger Day will perform Marsh Madness, his new show featuring the plants and animals that live in and around the barrier islands of Georgia. Day will perform at nine area schools, along with the Backus Children’s Hospital and the Trustees Theater in Savannah.
In 2009, Georgia Sea Grant and the Savannah Music Festival co-commissioned Day to compose a collection of educational songs featuring the Georgia coast for an elementary school audience. To generate inspiration for the project, Day spent five days as an artist-in-residence at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island.
After exploring the coastal habitats, Day wrote a song cycle about the importance of habitat and watershed health, the creatures that depend on coastal resources and how individuals can help protect the coastal eco-system. Through songs about marsh mud and coastal creatures, Day teaches children about their own backyard: the marshes and ecosystems of the Georgia coast.
The Savannah Music Festival has scheduled Day to perform for more than 7,000 elementary students during the course of one week, pre-kindergarten to 4th grade. To help the children understand the ecosystem topics presented in the songs, Georgia Sea Grant and UGA’s Marine Extension Service created a study guide for teachers to accompany the performance, both of which are based on the state science teaching standards.
Georgia Sea Grant, one of 32 state programs funded by the National Sea Grant and housed at UGA, promotes education and outreach directed at creating a balanced approach toward land use, economic development and ecosystem health in the coastal region of Georgia.
The Savannah Music Festival, Georgia’s largest musical arts event, is dedicated to presenting a world-class celebration of the musical arts by creating timeless and adventurous productions that stimulate arts education, foster economic growth, and unite artists and audiences in Savannah.
Date and location of performances:
*Prime media opportunity
9/19
9:15 a.m. Blandford Elementary*
2:00 p.m. Ebenezer Elementary
9/20
9:00 a.m. Guyton Elementary
1:00 p.m. Marlow Elementary*
4:30 p.m. Backus Hospital
9/21
9:30 a.m. Isle of Hope Elementary
1:00 p.m. Sand Hill Elementary*
9/22
9:00 a.m. South Effingham Elementary
1:30 p.m. Springfield Elementary
9/23
9:00 a.m. Rincon Elementary
9/26
11:00 a.m. Concert at the Trustees Theatre in Savannah for 1,000 elementary school children
9/27
11:00 a.m. Concert at the Trustees Theatre in Savannah for 1,000 elementary school children
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