A Maritime Concert with David Coffin and Kent Allyn
David Coffin and Kent Allyn will present a Maritime Concert at the Performing Arts Center at the Marblehead Veterans Middle School on Sunday, March 11, at 2 p.m. The performance is free for all ages.
The Sunday concert will feature many songs from David’s Marblehead school performances in hopes that students will join him on stage to sing on the choruses. He will take his audience on an imaginary whaling voyage from 19th century Nantucket, around the Horn to the Pacific whaling grounds. Through stories and songs the audience will learn what it was like onboard a whaling ship undertaking the most dangerous job one can imagine. There is a marvelous clip of David performing on his website. Do take a look.
David’s program will neatly dovetail with Nathaniel Philbrick’s upcoming talk on his book, In The Heart of the Sea, in which one of David’s ancestors was a sailor on the board the Whaleship Essex. He describes a program dedicated entirely to the Essex on his website.
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David Coffin has been performing throughout New England for decades. He has devoted himself to showing school children how accessible both Early Music and Folk Music can be. He currently presents several School Enrichment Programs to all grade levels, including an exciting presentation about the history of the recorder and many other early wind instruments. Having played the recorder since he was four years old, he can show his audience what the recorder can really do “if you practice.”
Mr. Coffin’s ancestry goes back to the 1600’s in New England as ship captains and whaler men out of Nantucket. Most of David’s vocal repertoire centers on the Maritime songs that bring the life of the sailor right into the room. With his concertina and harpoon, he’s not satisfied until the entire audience is singing full throttle. His Life at Sea program is rich with sea chanteys, whaling and fishing songs, and lively stories depicting the dangers of a whale hunt, including a Nantucket Sleighride.
David spends his summers taking over 4000 children on a history tour of Boston Harbor including a visit to George’s Island. Since 1980 David has been performing with Revels, and, since 1991, as master of ceremonies, teaching and leading the audience in song. Most recently David has been named Director of Education for the internationally acclaimed Boston Early Music Festival.
David has performed his Enrichment Programs in hundreds of schools for thousands of students. Many schools book him yearly to augment their recorder program. His Life at Sea Program has been presented in schools and also at Mystic Seaport. David’s residency program thematically uses the sea to create a performance with the students based on their current curriculum.
Kent Allyn is a freelance musician who has been working in the NH/SouthernMaine seacoast area since 1976. Playing piano, guitar and bass, he has been steadily employed since then with Ben Baldwin and the Big Note, a swing and R and B quintet and numerous singer/songwriters including Cosy Sheridan, Susie Burke and David Surette. He is also a charter member of the Night Heron Consort, an eclectic group of musicians, including David Coffin, headed up by Steve Schuch, an award winning violinist and songwriter. Kent has recorded over fifty CDs with local and national artists including Bill Morrissey, Brooks Williams and David Coffin.
The Marblehead Veterans Middle School is located at 217 Pleasant Street, Marblehead.
