SALISBURY — Playing instruments made of household items and coming up with fun raps and dances, Salisbury Elementary students have been enjoying the Junk 2 Funk program since last Monday as fifth-graders prepare for a couple big performances in front of family, friends and peers.
“What makes it, I think, so special is that it gives kids an opportunity to break out of their shells,” SES Assistant Principal Jane Keeler said.
Junk 2 Funk is a program brought to the school by Jeff Erwin, co-founder of Trashcan Lid Productions. The program is designed to introduce youth to music using ordinary objects as instruments while building confidence and educating on environmental issues.
While Erwin works with all grades in the school, he focuses on the fifth-grade, as they are selected each year to perform, with this year’s gigs set for Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. at the school.
“They do an in-house performance for their peers in the school community during the day. And then at night, there’s a performance available for the families to come in,” Keeler said.
Sitting in the band room surrounded by instruments made of everything from pots and pans to plastic buckets, Erwin spoke about what else goes into the performance.
“We have some DJs, some rappers, and some creative shadow choreography. Each class does a junk song and then like a rap or some kind of other song,” Erwin said.
He said a lot of his work with the kids is about getting them out of their comfort zones.
“Because at first they’re not like, ‘Oh I’ll be a rapper.’ Sometimes it takes a little risk taking on their part, a little convincing,” Erwin said.
The best part for Erwin is when the students start to believe in themselves.
“They do it and they find out they can and they are like ‘wow, I can do this, it’s great.’ Part of this is just giving kids an opportunity to learn new things about themselves,” Erwin said.
Keeler said they have had the program at the school for at least seven years, praising its empowering impact.
“His message is really positive, and he really brings a nice level of encouraging kids to believe in themselves, that they can do things that they never thought they could do,” Keeler said.
She said the younger students always look forward to the year they will get to take the stage,
“Every year, the kids are like, ‘oh, it’s almost our turn to perform.’ Like, the fourth-graders this year are probably like, ‘oh, next year, it’ll be our turn to perform.’ So it’s pretty cool to see them so excited,” Keeler said.
Erwin shared that it has been fun seeing students from previous years visit him during the concerts, allowing him to see how they have grown.
“Sometimes they’ll come to a sibling’s concert, and they’re in high school now and they’ll come up with a smile and say, ‘I remember doing this,’ and so that can be really cool,” Erwin said.
Information on Junk 2 Funk and other programs run by Erwin can be found at trashcanlidproductions.com
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.