Al deCant: Educating Children Through Music

The halls are alive with music – children’s music that is, and the halls are those within a school. This former teacher and principal incorporated music within his educational program while working in multiple schools during his teaching career.
 

Former Peck Place School principal Al deCant always knew he wanted to pursue music. Growing up in New Haven and moving to Orange his junior year of high school, deCant says he was conflicted about his future career ever since he was young. Music was a big part of his life, but he also had a love for teaching, graduating with a degree in elementary education at Castleton University in Vermont
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But once he became a teacher, deCant realized he could combine those passions. He started bringing his guitar to school with him and played songs for his students.
 

It was only when deCant had children of his own that he became interested in making kids’ music, citing influences like Red Grammer, Tom Chapin, and Raffi, who were writing catchy pop songs that both children and their parents could enjoy. Their music is what led deCant to the realization that he could do that too.
 

After working in education for over 30 years, deCant made the decision five years ago to take his music career full-time. He says he still considers what he does now to be educational, just in a different way.
 

DeCant describes his music style as “pop for kids,” but that doesn’t mean there’s no depth to it.
 

 “A lot of what I write about is kids being kind to one another and accepting one another,” deCant says. His latest album, This Little World, released in June, covers all kinds of kid-friendly topics, from waking up in the morning to recess to even reading.
 

When it came time to make This Little World, deCant turned to local musicians for help. One of them was Jim Olden, another teacher in the Orange school system whom deCant met when they were both working at Peck Place School.
 

 “Jim played the hard parts,” deCant jokes. “He also played the banjo, the mandolin, and the slide guitar. He’s very intuitive.”
 

Another frequent collaborator of deCant’s is Jill Kubeck. The pair has been performing together for about two years now, and she also sings backup on a lot of his songs. To deCant, working with and promoting other artists in the area is important.
 

Even though he just put out an album, deCant says another one is already in the works, though the timeline for it is uncertain. “I have enough music, I just need to speed up the process,” he says.
 

He’s also decided that for now, he’s staying with music for younger children. “I’ve been approached to target middle schoolers, but I’m still so focused on elementary,” he says. “I’d spread myself too thin if I tried to target other ages.”
 

Besides, it’s the elementary schoolers he enjoys connecting with the most. “It’s all about the smiles on the kids’ faces,” deCant says. “That’s my biggest motivator.”
 

When he’s not recording music, deCant travels and performs at schools and libraries. One of his most popular shows is a literacy program called Rockin’ & Reading with Pete the Cat, where deCant brings the aforementioned popular book character’s adventures to life.
 

Some of his other programs include The Earth’s My Home, which teaches environmental awareness; CARING Kids, which stands for Courteous, Achieving, Responsible, Neighborly, and Growing and encourages kids to think about how they treat one another and consider the effects of their actions.
 

DeCant also does Music and Movement classes at preschools that are high energy, interactive performances that teach literacy and numeracy as well as incorporate movement. Sometimes he works with teachers to help them incorporate music and movement in their classrooms to foster early literacy because, as he puts it, “You just can’t take the teacher out of me.”
 

It’s a lot of work, but deCant says he has no plans of stopping at the moment. “Things are getting bigger and bigger, so I just want to ride with this as long as I can,” he says. “I get this feeling that if I ever stop performing … I don’t know, it’s ingrained in me. I love it.”