Ann Zimmerman

“Happy Birthday to you … how many syllables is that? And how can the words be changed to make a new song that sounds like the original?” Ann Zimmerman, a musician from Kansas who is performing Wednesday, asked those questions as she explored the concepts of making music with a group of children from Epworth Heights summer resort in a two- day workshop that started Monday morning.

The Epworth kids who were part of the workshop sang familiar tunes like “Happy Birthday to You,” “Home on the Range,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and as a group rewrote the lyrics. The children also discussed the rhyme schemes in the songs, how many syllables make the words that rhyme and Zimmerman said today they will work on using words to make a picture and writing more new lyrics. Elizabeth Wilkinson of Troy said she learned a lot about music from the workshop. “I don’t play an instrument,” she said. “My brother and sister do though.”

Zimmerman is at the Ludington resort this week after an Epworth cottager had seen her play in her own home state of Kansas. “Everyone has enjoyed her so much we had to have her back,” Carole McKnight said about Zimmerman. “She has such a warm and genuine personality.”

Zimmerman, who like McKnight is from Kansas, will perform contemporary folk music at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 16 at the Epworth auditorium in a concert open to the public. She will be doing two 45- minute sets with an intermission between. She is back at Epworth for the fourth time, but is teaching a workshop for children the first time.

“I like to teach creative thinking by songwriting,” Zimmerman said about why she likes to teach the workshops. “People hear songs all of the time but don’t think about how it is written.”

Zimmerman has a friend from Kansas who stays at Epworth and asked her to come after hearing a song she had about crossing Lake Michigan. She sings and plays the keyboard and guitar, primarily simple songs in the contemporary folk tradition, about half of which she writes herself.

Zimmerman grew up surrounded by music. Her mother collected folk music when Zimmerman was a child and she got her start performing with her mother at women’s clubs and school assemblies. While in school herself, Zimmerman played piano, was in the church choir, and the school choir — so she says the interest in music came naturally. What to expect from her show?

“At its best, with this kind of performance, people should think about the lyrics as they never have before and let the words allow them to experience feelings they hadn’t felt before. Zimmerman performs mostly in Kansas but has been playing around the country. She has three CDs, which can be found on www.annzimmerman.com. In addition to being a musician, Zimmerman is a graduate of Harvard School of Law and mediates when she is not performing and teaching music.

“It’s about half and half,” she said about how she spends her time with both jobs.