LISBON – Seventy-three students from Lisbon will represent Maine at a concert commemorating “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Flag Day in the nation’s capital.

The fifth-through-12th-grade students will be among 15,000 to 20,000 from the 50 states singing the anthem on the National Mall in Washington.

The event is part of The National Anthem Project, a three-year initiative sponsored by the National Association for Music Education and headed by first lady Laura Bush, explained Lisbon Community School music teacher Jonathan Carsley. It began after a national poll found only a minority of Americans knew the words to the anthem. Music teachers across the country agreed to teach and re-teach the song to students.

Lisbon students came to represent Maine in the mass chorus because Lisbon was the first to sign up, Carsley said. Because no one Lisbon school has enough band and chorus members to form a group, students from the elementary, middle and high schools came together, Carsley said.

Today at 6:30 p.m. at Lisbon Community School, the students will hold a dress rehearsal of their performance for the community, said high school music teacher Steve Schran.

Since October, the students and music teachers Carsley, Schran and Whitney Dorman have rehearsed and raised money for their trip.

“We had pie sales, sold cookie dough. We made wreaths and decorated them at Christmas,” said fifth-grader Colby Perron, who plays the trumpet. “We did a Mother’s Day aroma bears and swans.”

He learned that Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that became the anthem as the U.S. flag still waved after the British attacked Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812. Perron said he was impressed that Key “wasn’t anyone famous at the time.”

The Flag Day ceremony will also include the Smithsonian Institute rededicating the tattered flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the anthem.

Saxophone player April McKay, 12, said she’s excited about performing in Washington.

“Who wouldn’t want to be part of history like this? I’m getting the opportunity of my lifetime,” she said.

Everyone should know the song, she added, “It’s part of American’s history.”

Taylor Haines, 14, will play the drums. He volunteered because “I thought it would be fun. I think it’s going to be a little nerve wracking, but I’m fine with it.”

Gwynne Hunter, 18, a senior, will play the clarinet. She said she wants people to know Lisbon is the only community representing Maine at the event.

Singer and history buff Ryan Brewer, 12, said seeing Washington “will be a fun experience, not just to go to D.C. but to places with a lot of history, the Smithsonian and museums.”

In addition to the June 14 mass chorus, students will perform at venues throughout the city on June 15. Lisbon students will sing outside the Sylvan Theater. The band will perform at the WWII memorial.

Go and do:

What: Patriotic concert by 73 Lisbon students, band and chorus members.

When: 6:30 p.m. today

Where: Lisbon Community School

Info: http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/

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