On a golden summer evening, the harmonized voices of children fill the Chautauqua meadows with a song about a flesh-eating bacterium: “Oh Giardia, I don’t want ya’ to give me the runs.”
A woman on stage, draped in a full-body bat costume, sways back and forth beside her partner, who dons a purple cowboy hat and rainbow-striped socks. The crowd, most of them no taller than three feet, cheer on the performers with enthusiastic applause.
Jeff and Paige have become icons in the Boulder County educational scene. They’ve captivated families for nearly two decades with catchy tunes centered on science and conservation. Their performances eschew the conventional, featuring a plethora of costume changes as they transform from bats to ungulates to butterflies and beyond.
Jeff Kagan and Paige Doughty met while pursuing master’s degrees in environmental education. With a shared passion for music, education and conservation, they also found common ground in their desire to transform science education into an engaging, immersive experience. Kagan says teaching in his 20s inspired him to re-evaluate his own education and adopt an “edu-tainment” approach.
Kagan, who was on staff with Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department (OSMP) at the time, penned the duo’s first jingle, “Scoop a Doop Poop,” while sitting next to a dog waste trash can one hot summer day.
“That’s what started it all,” he says with a laugh. Soon after, the pair collaborated with OSMP to launch Meadow Music at Chautauqua. The series, which has now run across a decade of summers, offers a family-friendly hike soundtracked by Kagan and Doughty’s songs about tectonics and trees.
Their relationship with OSMP has become an essential element of the organization’s mission to provide environmental education to Boulder Valley youth.
“Jeff and Paige are incredible naturalists, educators and performers,” says Curry Rosato, OSMP’s education manager. “It takes a village to do nature-connection work and inspire stewardship, and we are grateful for our partnership.”
Slow it down
Doughty and Kagan’s warmth and creativity is evident in their Boulder home, appropriately nestled against the open space they so often sing about, its garage doors decorated with chalk-drawn rainbows.
“[Our work] is fueled by awe for other species, how we feel when we are in nature, to feel in concert with the planet, and the opportunity to create community and to live in this town,” Kagan says. Doughty nods in agreement.
“It’s a dedication to the slowness of the change,” she says. “Us doing a show isn’t going to have an impact in this huge way, but doing thousands of shows over and over for thousands of kids, and inviting them over and over again to connect to presence, to nature, to themselves, to connect to the world around them, that’s what keeps me going.”
The duo’s slow-and-steady approach has also made them a fixture of Boulder Valley School District’s (BVSD) science curriculum; they perform at more than 25 schools annually and participate in an average of 40 school assemblies. Through their partnership with OSMP, most of these shows are offered free of charge. The duo has also showcased their musical brand of education at a handful of Operation Water Festivals, a joint effort between the City of Boulder and BVSD to educate students on conservation, protection and science.
“Their creativity to incorporate the world around kids is something I’ve never really seen in other performers,” says Laurel Olsen, community engagement manager for the City of Boulder.
Follow the joy
The tuneful twosome’s local popularity speaks to their ability to unveil the magic of science, with a typical concert involving three to four costume changes. Their infectious jingles teach children about local flora and fauna, as well as complex concepts such as density. Their brand is built on transcending classroom walls and encouraging wonder and curiosity, which they have found to be the most effective teaching method, even for difficult topics like climate change.
“We’ve figured out how to perform and present these concepts without offending or polarizing people,” Doughty says.
After 19 years performing across Boulder Valley, Kagan and Doughty’s work has inspired countless children and families to pursue the sciences and take an active role in preserving the natural world.
“We have all these high school- and college-age kids coming back to tell us what an impact we had on their lives,” Doughty says. “It’s just so beautiful and feels so meaningful. I don’t think I could have decided to do that, it just came from following the joy.”
There’s evidence of the couple’s influence at every Jeff and Paige show. As the sun sets on that golden summer evening in the Chautauqua meadows, Kagan and Doughty meet eager fans after the concert. Nearby, a child sporting rainbow socks sings out: “Planting the seeds in rows… 21st-century heroes!”
