After working on songwriting with local mime and musician Scot Cannon for a few days throughout the month of January, students at Appleton Village School finally saw — and heard —the fruits of their labor.

Partners for Enrichment, a local non-profit group dedicated to bringing more of the arts and sciences to Union 69 schools of Hope, Appleton and Lincolnville, sponsored Cannon’s five day residency. He worked with students in grades kindergarten through fourth.

His goal was to work with the children to create a CD featuring songs they would help write themselves. After selecting their topics, the students wrote the lyrics with help from their teachers. Scot then used his magic to find the right music to fit the lyrics/topics that the students had studied and written about.

Cannon uses the computer program known as Logic Express, and is able to record the students’ voices and all of the different portions of the music in separate tracks, and blend the tracks to create the songs in their entirety.

On the last day of the residency, the children gathered in the gym and Cannon unveiled the CD, playing songs that each class created under his guidance. Through the use of an over- head projector, the lyrics of each song were displayed on a screen at the front of the room so all of the children and teachers could sing along. At the end of the show, Cannon distributed a CD for each of the students to bring home and share with their families. The kids were very invested and excited to hear their ideas put to music.

Overall, Cannon said he hopes the project will help each child appreciate art, in all forms and help get them interested in the arts as a way to express who they are.