Local singer and songwriter Amy Martin leads this rowdy pack of youngsters, ages 7 to 11, who have been practicing and singing Martin's original songs nearly every week since summer.
This is the choir's first public performance, which also serves as their first significant tune-up before they den up in a recording studio and produce a CD for the Biomimicry Institute, a Missoula nonprofit organization.
“The songs are crazy and happy - and I like that,” said 10-year-old Katie Reagan, who is a full-time Hellgate Elementary School student when she's not singing with the choir and preparing for the upcoming recording gig,
Reagan smiled and erupted in a fit of giggles when asked to describe the choir's sound and the kind of music they perform.
“It's kind of happyish and exciting,” she said. “It's the kind that makes you want to run all over the place and dance and dance.”
Among her favorite songs: “I Want to Be Like A Tree” and “What Kind of Animal Are You?”
From the look of things at practice on Sunday, the rest of the choir likes the songs, too. Between the choreography and the spontaneous shake-your-booty moves going on, it was difficult for a small group of onlookers not to bust out a few moves of their own.
Martin's songs address the struggles of the planet and the tension between humans and the natural world, but they don't preach.
The goal is to teach people about solving human problems by learning and mimicking the relevant practices of the natural world - which is what her sponsor, the Biomimicry Institute, is all about, Martin said.
“Nature has been thriving and learning how to survive on this planet for 3.8 billion years and humans are new on the scene,” she said. “It makes sense for us to go to nature for answers and to see how other organisms have adapted to get the things they need to survive.”
Martin usually performs solo, although she's been known to team up with other musicians, including the Indigo Girls. When she decided to branch out and write children's music that touched on biomimicry concepts, it became brilliantly clear the music needed children's voices.
“I realized I didn't want to have kids appear at the end of the songs,” she said. “I wanted their voices throughout, so kids will hear kids singing the songs and will learn from other kids.”
Guided by recommendations from Missoula music teachers, Martin pulled together 17 youngsters, who along with their parents committed to a nearly yearlong rehearsal and recording schedule.
Talking about biomimicry can be heady stuff, and translating the concepts into catchy children's songs wasn't going to be easy. Nonetheless, the Biomimicry Institute was excited about Martin's project, said Bryony Schwan, executive director of the nonprofit.
After the Coyote Choir had a few practices behind them, Schwan dropped in to hear how things were going, and was impressed by the choir's sound, joy and dedication.
“What Amy has done is remarkable,” Schwan said. “The choir sounds so good and these songs are so catchy and wonderful, I really see them catching on and spreading everywhere.”
With each subsequent practice, momentum for the project has grown, Schwan said. Along with the album, the goal is to create a whole curriculum that goes with each song and is made available to educators.
After Monday afternoon's concert, the choir will continue rehearsing. They'll record the as-yet-untitled album in the spring, Martin said, with a backup band of professional, well-known musicians who support the project's mission.
When the work is ready for airtime, Martin said she expects the album will be available in local stores, through the Biomimicry Institute and on the Internet.
For Martin, this latest project is perhaps her most profound, she said.
“These kids are going to be the ones living in the world long after we adults are gone,” she explained. “We owe them the chance to think about solutions and they are totally ready for it. They want answers and biomimicry is a way for them to get turned onto those answers that already exist in nature.”
For the Coyote Choir, the project is about fun, about making new friends, about learning how to be treated respectfully and how to treat others - all others, be they human, plant or animal - with respect.
That's why, Katie Reagan said, she loves coming to choir practice.
“It's like we are growing a little family,” she said.
Howling good time
The Missoula Coyote Choir will perform at 3 p.m. in the University Center Theater on the third floor of the University Center at the University of Montana.
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