Tom Chapin Headlines Chocolate Festival

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, HamilTunes

Wed, Aug 24, 2011

Singer-songwriter will perform and talk with educators here next month.

The man whose most recent collection of songs is called Give Peas A Chance will headline the Great Chocolate Train Festival in Hamilton Sept. 24.

The Partnership for Community Development (PCD) today announced that three-time Grammy Award-winning musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter and storyteller Tom Chapin will be the featured performer for the festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A unique blend of chocolate and train themed exhibits and events, the festival is a celebration of the historic railroad chocolate spill of 1955 in Hamilton. An Oswego & Western train filled with Nesltes Crunch Bars and Nestles Quik derailed near Lebanon Street and spilled chocolate goods everywhere.

Chapin has recorded a dozen collections of family songs and almost as many CDs for adults. He may be best known by many who watched Make A Wish, the children's TV show he hosted in the early 1970s.

Brother to the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, Billboard magazine has called Tom Chapin “the best family artist around.” Co- sponsored by the Earlville Opera House and the PCD, Chapin will also perform three of his songs with a select group of children from Hamilton’s Elementary school under the direction of Music teacher, Annette Silver.

Chapin will also conduct a teacher education workshop at the Colgate Bookstore the day before the festival. Sponsored by Colgate's Educational Studies Department, the workshop is entitled: The Power of Song Inside the Classroom/Outside the Music Room. Chapin’s lecture will demonstrate through live performance how music can be incorporated and utilized to teach a variety of non-music-related subjects in the classroom.

"Tom Chapin reminds us of the crucial place the arts play in education,” says Colgate Educational Studies professor Kay Johnston. “In these days when school achievement measured by tests often results in neglecting art and music, we welcome this reminder."

Chapin will demonstrate how music can be incorporated and utilized to teach a variety of subjects in the classroom, including the environment, healthy eating, language, tolerance, and friendship.

Chapin performed his song, Not On The Test at the 2008 convention of the New York State United Teachers, and sang his testimony to the Ne York State Senate in 2009.

In 2008, the National Music Council honored Chapin for his “great contribution to music and music education in our nation.” His family albums have been recognized with awards from the American Library Association, Parents’ Choice, the New York Music Awards, the National Association of Parenting Publications and Parents Magazine.

He is a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh.

The Workshop will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Colgate Bookstore. It is a free event and open to elementary school teachers and early childhood educators.

To reserve a spot for the Workshop or for more information on the Great Chocolate Train Festival, contact jillsmith@twcny.rr.com or 825-3537. Seating for the workshop is limited.

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