On March 11th, at 1 p.m., The Green Anthem was performed throughout schools across America and beyond by roughly six million school children!! The Green Anthem was one of seven songs performed as a part of MENC: Music Educators National Conference's World's Largest Concert. On that same day, the judging committee chose the winners for The Green Anthem Lyric- Writing Competition, which was run nationally by MENC (results to be posted soon). It was an exciting stepping stone for a project that reflects close to two years of work.

Students nationwide sang along with a DVD produced by MENC and MC'd by Florence Henderson. Seven schools performed The Green Anthem on the DVD, including:

Salt River Elementary School, Scottsdale, AZ
William E. Cottle Elementary School, Eastchester, NY
Alamance Elementary School, Greensboro, NC
Howe Elementary School, Pittsburgh, PA
Bains Elementary School, St. Francisville, LA
Elwell S. Otis School #30, Rochester, NY

In an article published by the Music Educators Journal, Suzanne Decker, the music specialist at Salt River Elementary School said, "'The Green Anthem' is a song that speaks of our need to preserve and protect the earth and its natural resources. Native people are very conscious of that need and strive to honor Mother Earth by honoring the trust that we have been given." They filmed their performance of The Green Anthem in a sacred site at Red Mountain.

Photos of four of the thousands of schools that sang The Green Anthem in The World's Largest Concert, March 11th, 2010 (produced by MENC: Music Educators National Conference and hosted by Florence Henderson):

Oglethrope Charter School in Savannah, GA:

Nelson-Wilks-Herron Elementary School in Mountain Home, AR:

Carolina Springs Elementary School in Lexington, SC:

Cornwall Central Middle School, conducted by Valerie Ransbottom
Click to see streaming video of their performance.

Back to TOP

MENC: THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
ran the Lyric-Writing competition.

1st Place: Sarah Henry

Cornwall Central Middle School, Cornwall, New York
Teacher: Valerie Ransbottom

Sarah Henry is a 7th grader attending Cornwall Central Middle School. She is a member of Chorus, Select Chorus, Cornwall Singers, and Band as well as her church Youth Group and Choir. She has been acting in drama since she was 3 months old. Her favorite sport is soccer. She would like to thank her mother for dealing with her hectic schedule.

View Sarah's winning entry

2nd Place: Bethany Doyle

Cornwall Central Middle School, Cornwall, New York
Teacher: Valerie Ransbottom

Bethany Doyle is a seventh grader at Cornwall Central Middle School, in Cornwall, NY. She is a straight A student in the honors classes. She sings in the chorus, plays piano, and swims on the varsity swim team. Before moving to New York in 2008, she lived in Germany for two years because her father, who is in the army, was stationed there. She also lived in Washington state for nine years.

View Bethany’s Winning Entry

3rd Place: Brandon Strecker

Harmony Middle School, Overlook Park, Kansas
Teacher: Kathleen McCullough

Brandon is a seventh grade student at Harmony Middle School in Overland Park, Kansas and is the son of Paul and Sheila Strecker. Brandon enjoys playing basketball and baseball, and participates in Boy Scouts, where he is currently a Star Scout and is working toward becoming an Eagle Scout. Brandon has been playing viola for four years and currently plays in the Harmony Middle School Orchestra, directed by Mrs. Kathleen McCullough.

View Brandon’s Winning Entry

Back to TOP

Schools throughout the United States and beyond have been singing or playing The Green Anthem, and many participated in the early 2010 Green Anthem lyric-writing competition. Here is some footage from some of the participating schools:

Kathleen McCullough, Director of Orchestras
Blue Valley Northwest High School
Harmony Middle School, Kansas

Students working on their Green Anthem lyrics and playing a student variation on the melody:

The Duluth, GA High School Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Peter Lemonds premiered the advanced string orchestra version of The Green Anthem at the American String Teachers Association's National Conference in Atlanta March 19th, 2009.

Here is a recording of their live performance:

Back to TOP

The choral, concert band, and string orchestra versions of The Green Anthem were tested at Newtown High School, in Newtown, CT under the direction of John Harned (chorus), Kurt Eckhardt (concert band) and Michelle Hiscavich (string orchestra). Their help enabled Julie Lyonn Lieberman to adjust the scores and to video/record the Newtown chorus during a rehearsal.

Choral Version Levels 3 -6 (slower version) at an open rehearsal at Newtown High School, CT

under the direction of John Harned. Chorus includes: John Harned (Director) with Hannah Deflumer; Bianca Crudo; Andrew Nichols; Katie Cummings; Kristin Daines; Sonia Brand-Fisher; Kevin Walsh; Mary Kate Hubbard; Alex Hennessey; Daniel Berlingeri; Lauren Sippin;

Here's Julie in San Antonio, TX, presenting The Green Anthem to music educators at the Texas Orchestra Directors Convention and the Texas Choral Directors Convention:

The Green Anthem was performed in Princeton, NJ at the GroWW Environmental Fair.

News Story published by West Windsor & Plainsboro News:

Sounding an Anthem
For the Environment

South students Sarah Yu and Jennifer Sharma are organizing a performance of a "green national anthem" during the second annual Greening of West Windsor fair on Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the West Windsor Community Farmers' Market.

Founded by Heidi Kleinman, the GroWW event will feature a full schedule of environmental activities, and residents will be able to visit the stands of more than 75 local exhibitors.

Except Reprinted from the September 25, 2009, issue of the WW-P News

Sounding an Anthem For the Environment

by Cara Latham

Patriotism usually comes hand-in-hand with volunteering and service to the country, but two WW-P student volunteers are taking patriotism to a different level in conjunction with the second-annual Greening of West Windsor (GroWW) environmental fair on Saturday, October 3, at the West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market.

South senior Jennifer Sharma and junior Sarah Yu are helping to organize student musicians for a performance of the Green National Anthem, an environmental piece written by Julie Lyonn Lieberman, cousin of GroWW chairwoman Heidi Kleinman.

But that has not been the only aspect of the fair in which the two have been involved. From volunteering at the West Windsor Farmers’ Market throughout the summer, in order to promote the fair, to performing an energy audit on High School South, and even planning a future Garden Tour, the girls have been involved in a variety of ways to help the GroWW event grow into an even larger community event.

As part of the Planning Committee for the GroWW event, Sharma was given the task, along with a student at North, of organizing the music to be provided at the fair.

She and Yu, however, have worked on getting string players from South and choral groups from the middle school level and from North. The girls also looked for garage bands, similar to a group that played last year and wrote its own environmental music.

This is how both girls got involved with the green national anthem. Naturally, the girls, both of whom play violin in South’s orchestra, decided to perform the piece. “It’s the musician in us,” says Sharma.

Lieberman wrote the lyrics and the scores for the anthem, which is available for orchestra or chorus — or both. “We’ve already gotten string players and a cappella group members” to agree to participate in performing the piece, Sharma said. In addition, the girls say that Louise Haemmerle, the choir director at Grover Middle School, too, will have the choir perform the green national anthem.

Back to TOP