“Hello, Cricket!”

Musica Sierra’s Musical Headwaters: Hello, Cricket! is a newly commissioned musical work created especially for first-grade students, aligning with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) theme of invertebrates. Developed in collaboration with The Chivalrous Crickets—a folk-Celtic ensemble rooted in Celtic, American roots, and early European traditions—this project uses music, storytelling, and play to help children connect deeply to the natural world and to themselves.

It is the sixth Musical Headwaters commission in a set of seven works created to align with grade-level NGSS science themes and designed to integrate music, social-emotional learning, and place-based environmental education.

This project addresses a critical, community-identified need: access to meaningful, developmentally appropriate cultural enrichment for our youngest learners in a region with little exposure to live performing arts. With a widening divide between children and nature—exacerbated by screen time, social isolation, and geographic remoteness—Hello, Cricket! offers an inspiring and joyful outlet for eco-literacy, emotional exploration, and creative connection.

Through a week-long residency in Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District, the project will reach hundreds of students and culminate in a public performance at Musica Sierra’s newly restored 139-year-old schoolhouse. Every student will also receive a Musical Field Journal—a companion learning tool for drawing, journaling, and emotional reflection that reinforces classroom instruction and deepens the connection between science, self, and song.

Musica Sierra is committed to equity, accessibility, and cultural integrity. We partner with artists whose work bridges community engagement and traditional art forms, ensuring relevance, inspiration, and educational value. Each Musical Headwaters commission is created with care—to give children and their communities a lens through which to learn, reflect, and reconnect with the living world.

Meet the Chivalrous Crickets!

tradition re\arranged

the Crickets' backgrounds, skills and passions combine in a unique sound centered on rich vocal harmonies,
provocative instrumental blends, rousing arrangements and innovative programming of traditional, original
and historical music from the Celtic, American roots and European early music traditions.

Based in eastern PA, central NJ & NYC, the 2018-formed band, which includes siblings, partners and friends, plays diverse venues from museums to forest preserves to schooners, classrooms to theaters, concert series to folk festivals around the nation.

They specialize in creating visually stunning theatrical folk holiday shows, dances, cross-genre collaborative and educational experiences with partner organizations, seasonal & nature-based programs, concert-theater works, and shows that demonstrate the historic roots and broad reach of Celtic music around the world.