Mountain Music Man Teaches through Song
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
"The Olympic Mountains are what inspire me to listen to, create and share nature's music. Music exists in every high mountain spring, whistling marmot and falling leaf. Just as strongly, music resonates in us all." -- Dan Lieberman
PORT ANGELES – Without this guy, science education could be a drag, a dry heap of doom and hard concepts. But then Mr. L arrives, with a guitar, a smile and a little soft crab. "This is Curiosity," he says, holding up the toy crustacean. Then he proceeds to teach "Curiosity," one of the songs he's written to turn environmental education into a sunny, melodic frolic for kids of any age.
Looking at Mr. L – aka Dan Lieberman – you may not immediately peg him as a science teacher. A better label: Mountain Music man for all seasons. After six years of incubation, Lieberman has hatched a CD of original songs inspired by life under and among the Olympic Mountains – and this Saturday he and a flock of other local singers and players will host a free CD-release celebration at the Sons of Norway hall in Port Angeles.
"Mountain Music" strolls, swims and sings all over this place: "The Forest is a Chorus" came from the Enchanted Valley in Olympic National Park, "Morning Meeting Suite" from Lake Crescent, "Step It Up" from the city of Port Angeles and "See You in the Spring" from a hike along Boulder Creek. Lieberman, a science teacher at Lincoln High School in Port Angeles and a former Olympic Park Institute educator and Olympic National Park interpretive ranger, has lived on the Peninsula since fall 2001. He's been writing songs about the mountains and waters ever since.
In the liner notes, Lieberman sums up his hopes for what his new disc can do."Mountain Music is an adventure in music, an adventure that now includes you as an essential player. Together, let's do our part to learn, teach, share, sing out loud and, especially, to enjoy our home, each other and music," he writes.
One morning this week, Mr. L did all of the above with the young singers at Stevens Middle School. He taught them to sing "Curiosity," and brought even the most blasé students to their feet. "This is Curiosity the crab, who teaches us that it's all about asking questions," Lieberman began. "Being successful in life and in school comes from being curious." From there he went to "Take a Drink," a call-and-response romp about the circle of water and life. "Drip, drop," the students chanted. "H2O boogie," Lieberman sang while playing an ebullient guitar riff. "In fact, we're made of water – three-quarters our weight – without it we'd be in a sorry state," they carried on together. "The truth about water shouldn't go unspoken: The cycle is a circle, may it be unbroken." After urging the kids to "give yourself a round of applause," Lieberman invited them to join the singing this Saturday during the party. Anyone who arrives around 4 p.m. can make a "forest mask," and then wear it when partygoers get together at 5 p.m. to sing "The Forest is a Chorus," "Nurse Log" and "Tree Fallin.'" "There's going to be a lot of music ... and we'll have the words up," on big boards so it'll be easy for everybody to participate, Lieberman promised.
"I'm going," announced Krissy Marvelle, 12, one of the morning singers at Stevens Middle School. Her classmates also perked up when they heard about the potluck dinner. "That means there will be a lot of food," one said.
The party will also feature Andy Mackie, the renowned Jefferson County music teacher. Lieberman used the Andy Mackie Music Stick, a simple wooden instrument used to teach youngsters, on several Mountain Music songs. "I love this instrument and the man who has brought [it] to hundreds, if not thousands of kids in Northwestern Washington," Lieberman writes in the "Mountain Music" songbook.
A year ago Lieberman was awarded a $3,000 Yosemite National Institutes grant that helped him produce the CD. His mission: make music that teachers and students can enjoy together, not only in science class, but also in language arts, chorus – anywhere people can learn through song.
Copies of the "Mountain Music" songbook, which contains song boards to ease teaching, will be available at Saturday's celebration for a donation, and can be downloaded free from www.OlympicMountainMusic.com. Saturday's event will be a convergence of local musical groups – Shades of Green, the Renaissance People Choir, Rate Limiting Step, Perry Spring – with a kind of snack bar of mountain-oriented educational activities, such as plant-potting with the Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners and other crafts. The party will wrap up around sunset, but of course Mr. L doesn't want people to quit celebrating.
When he set out on this "Mountain Music" adventure, Lieberman said, he hoped to inspire his listeners to express themselves, through song or any kind of art. He hopes too that the music will move people "to deepen their connection to their own home, and to connect with each other." Making the CD "taught me the power of working with other people, of sharing ideas and creating moments, musical moments that enliven."
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Schedule of Performances
Mountain Music Celebration April 26, 2008
4:00 Perry Spring and PT Songlines
4:30 Forest Sing-Along with Ranger Greg
5:00 Dry Creek Elementary School 6th Grade Choir
5:15 Stevens Middle School Choir
5:30 Shades of Green
6:00 Andy Mackie and Friends
6:30 Black Diamond Fiddle Club
7:00 Songs and Stories with Dunbar and Alice Susong
7:30 Claire Samuel and Ryan Hilperts
8:00 Renaissance People Choir
8:30 Rate Limiting Step
