CAMBRIDGE -- Music rules all of Allison Lupton's classes at Manchester Public School, from math to science.

It's a tool to bring wandering young minds back to their studies.

"Instead of raising my voice, I sing to them," says the Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee.

"I sing: 'So, Mi' and they sing 'So, Mi' back."

Lupton teaches music to all students and helps lead the school's senior choir, along with teaching a Grade 4/5 class.

"I see the looks in their faces when I see the reaction to their first exposure to music . . . I remember being like that.

"This is planting little music seeds."

Lupton listens for voices with natural talent, or minds open to the music.

The students who are capable of much more than classmates who dream only of playing Xbox or Wii after school.

The ones able -- with a little encouragement -- to dedicate themselves to singing or playing a musical instrument, revel in creating a joyful sound.

"You still see the kids who have the spark for music," she said, a hint of her own excitement in her voice.

"Not everyone is going to be a musician, but they will grow up and may buy an album and support the music industry."

Lupton, 43, is nominated in the traditional folk singer of the year category for vocals on her second album, Fly Like Swallows. She also plays flute and penny whistle in the Allison Lupton band.

She downplays the nomination, saying it's an honour to be named with such a group of skilled musicians. The awards gala is set for Nov. 23 in St. John's, NL.

Lupton grew up on a dairy farm in West Zorra Township, near Tavistock. She was enthralled by her grandmother's ability to play piano by ear.

"For me, that is just magic, for someone who can just play like that," Lupton said.

She studied music in senior public school, playing cello. "I used to drag it home on the (school) bus, banging it around."

At Stratford Central Secondary School she moved to flute because there was no string program. Lupton's parents arranged for private flute lessons. She joined the school band where she remembers "great teachers" urging her to pursue music.

"For me, band was a little something for me and all my geeky friends."

Music studies followed at the University of Toronto and she graduated with a teaching certificate in 1991. Her first job was at Tait Street Public School in Cambridge. In 1997, she moved to Saginaw Public School, then to Manchester in 2002.

After she started teaching in Cambridge, she sought out other local folk and Celtic musicians. It was at freewheeling jam sessions at the Woolwich Arms in Guelph that she learned to play by ear -- like her grandmother did -- and eventually joined other musicians to form the band Killiecranki.

The band faded after a decade that included a couple of albums, playing at the Mariposa folk festival and on CBC. It was replaced with what became the Allison Lupton Band, a regular on local stages and at the Mill Race Folk Festival. Denis Rondeau, Ian Bell, Jay Weiler and Lupton's husband Geoff Summers are a "group of friends" making "Celtic-ish" music.

Lupton talks about the band as a living entity, growing with ideas planted by anyone at any moment as they blend their skills.

"It's really a nice democracy we have. What makes the music happen is people bringing things to the sessions."

kswayze@cambridgereporter.com