Students record Erie Canal songs

SANDY CREEK — "Low bridge, everybody down. Low bridge, for we're coming to a town."

While many are familiar with this 1905 song about mule-powered barges on the Erie Canal, fewer will be acquainted with the lyrics "I came from Italy, she came from Germany. It was treacherous: broke our backs, skinned our knees."

That's because the second song was written by Sandy Creek Central School seventh-graders. The students are members of five classes who will perform songs of their own creation about the Erie Canal early this afternoon at the school. The concert is part of a larger "Fishing for Facts on the Erie Canal" project, funded by the Oswego County BOCES Arts in the Education program, the New York State Council on the Arts and Partners for Arts Education.

From Tuesday to today, five social studies classes teamed up with Dave E. Ruch, a teaching artist from Buffalo, to write and record their own historically accurate songs about the Erie Canal. Mr. Ruch guided the students through the composing process using a combination of contemporary songs, preexisting tunes (just as the old-timecanal workers did) and melodies of the students' own making.

During class, seventh-graders called out ideas for lyrics to their songs while Mr. Ruch guided the discussion and provided accompaniment on the guitar.

"Most of what I do is just a day or half a day of concerts," said Mr. Ruch, explaining that his four-day residency at Sandy Creek was special in that it gave him extended time to spend with the students.

Described on his Web site as "equal parts historian, entertainer, educator, comedian and folklorist," Mr. Ruch gives more than 325 concerts and workshops at schools, music festivals, libraries, professional conferences and historical societies each year. He annually performs a concert for fourth graders at Sandy Creek.

Upon arriving at Sandy Creek Tuesday morning, Mr. Ruch gave a performance featuring traditional canal music for the seventh-graders. He said that he works primarily with elementary and high-school students but enjoys the opportunity to teach a different age group.

"It's nice to be able to spend a couple days with the kids," he said.

Jackie Hobbs, the school's music teacher as well as the Arts in the Education coordinator, said that the students designed artwork and written reflection journals to accompany their music.

"We did this project — we're making our own CD covers," said Stacey L. Lyons, 12, daughter of Christina Durgan and Randy Lyons, Richland. She said that her CD case included a drawing of the water of the Erie Canal and a canal boat.

To provide inspiration for the song writing, students visited the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse last week. The museum includes exhibits such as a full-size replica of an Erie Canal line boat, a penny postcard arcade and a restored weighmaster's office.

"It was pretty cool," said seventh-grader Craig J. Smith, son of Sherrie and Robert Smith. "We saw a whole bunch of interesting things that we didn't learn in school."

The public is invited to attend the students' performances of their songs at 12:45 p.m. today at the school.