Special Teacher - Special Music

Jody Feinberg may be reached at jfeinberg@ledger.com.

As conductor Eve Montague introduced each singer, the chorus rehearsal took on the tone of a pep rally.

“And then we have Linda,” said Montague, welcoming her with an infectious smile amid cheers and applause. “We have five new people.”

Montague started SSC Community Voices two years ago, and its special-needs teens and adults met recently at Ellison Center for the Arts in Duxbury to start preparing for their May concert.

“We’re going to do a little warming up and get right to the singing,” said Montague, who made her singers laugh when she patted her cheeks. “And then I want you to guess the theme for our spring concert.”

Some of the singers could read the words, some could not. Some sang boldly, a few just listened. But all seemed to enjoy themselves.

“I wanted them to be able to come together and make music, and I knew they didn’t have an opportunity to do that,” said Montague, a music therapist and voice instructor who directs South Shore Conservatory’s music therapy and community partnership programs.

Montague loves music and said she believes everyone of all abilities can experience its joy. Her singers have Down syndrome, developmental delays, physical impairments and Asperger’s syndrome.

During the hour of rehearsal, she led the singers in “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “The Ash Grove,” “Fields of Gold” and “True Colors.” Many knew the “Wizard of Oz” classic, but not the Welsh folk tune, which Montague told them was about walking peacefully among “ash trees,” not ashtrays.

Montague’s playfulness is part of what wins her singers’ devotion, said Laurel Shea, whose daughter, Lucy, 20, joined the chorus last year.

“Eve always keeps them laughing, but she’s also teaching them and respecting them,” said Shea, of Plymouth. “She’s gifted and has a big heart.”

Lucy suffered uncontrollable seizures that required the removal of half her brain at age 2, but she bounces to the beat and sings with musicality. Another singer can’t speak but moves to the music, while another has a vocal range of only four notes. But many singers easily and heartedly carry the tunes.

“We can accommodate anyone,” said Montague, who gives a CD to students so they can practice on their own for the two or more concerts a year. “Music can be for everyone, no matter what their ability. I know it’s a cliche, but music really is the universal language.”

The South Shore Conservatory is the rare music school that offers music therapy, and Montague has expanded the program in her three years there.

“There’s a much better understanding of music therapy now than years ago, but most of it still happens only for the elderly,” said Montague, who formerly worked at the Massachusetts Hospital School. “People still say, ‘What does music really do other than make you feel good?’ I want people to see that it’s not a fluffy thing, that there’s science behind it.”

From her own experience and from academic studies, she knows that music therapy can help people with speech, mobility, and social development. At nursing facilities in Hingham, she said she has seen music help people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other conditions.

“I want to be a resource to the community that doesn’t cost a lot of money,” said Montague, 50, who lives in Pembroke with her husband. “I don’t want people to not participate in music because they get stuck on how to do it.”

To that end, she works with special-needs students in the Pembroke public schools and advises music teachers on ways to integrate special-needs children and adapt instruction and music. She speaks to parent groups and service agencies to raise awareness about the opportunities to pursue music. Proficient in piano, guitar and percussion, she also does individual evaluations and therapy.

Montague also creates service opportunities for high school students. Ilve Bayturk, a ninth-grade student at SSC, accompanied the group on piano, and Marshfield High School student Ashley Rossi was a second pair of hands for Montague.

Montague hopes to start a similar chorus in the Quincy area. And she’d like to create internship opportunities for music therapy students at Berklee College of Music and Lesley College.

Montague, who grew up in Toronto, originally wanted to be a social worker until she realized she could combine her love of music and service as a music therapist. In addition to her job at the conservatory, she is the music director at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Hanson and sings with Opera by the Bay, most recently in the November production of “Hansel and Gretel.”

In March, she becomes president of the New England chapter of the American Music Therapy Association.

“I have one of the greatest jobs,” she said. “I get to see the power of music to affect change in individuals.”