Helen Kemp, of Jamison, sees the wire spiral's slithery motion as a perfect teaching aid when the lesson is cascading musical notes.

Kemp's students never know what she'll pull out of her bag or pocket. But whether it's a satin ribbon or a coiled thingamajig, the teacher and choir director always has a plan.

It's all a part of the teaching arsenal of a woman with 70 years of experience as a singer, teacher, choir director, composer and author.

Kemp has been coaxing sweet sounds out of the mouths of babes since the 1930s, but these days only during special choir festivals. She also leads a choir at her retirement home. Today, scores of youngsters will sing for her in a concert to mark Kemp's 90th birthday, which was March 31.

"We did one when she was 80 and 85, and we'll just keep going," said Guy Rothfuss, who is married to Kemp's daughter Julia.

Rothfuss is music director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Southampton, where the concert will be held at 3 p.m.

"Mama Helen meets people 30 years later who have taken part in one of her choir festivals," he continued, "and they come to her and say it opened up a whole new avenue."

Kemp is a professor emerita of voice and church music at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, where her late husband, John, once led the church music department. She has been the subject of a documentary and a doctoral dissertation. She has led children's choir festivals across the country and abroad.

"When I started, I knew a lot about music and singing, but I didn't know a lot about children," Kemp said. "That's what you have to develop: your knowledge of who they are and think in terms of the possibilities of children."

Kemp grew up in a musical family in Perkasie, but was discouraged from singing at Sell-Perk High School. Because of her German-immigrant roots, Kemp pronounced the letter "r" with an accent.

A choir director called it a speech impediment and turned away Kemp's attempts to join the choir. But another teacher saw talent and asked Kemp to consider starring in an operetta. She got the part.

"I fell in love with singing," said Kemp, who then became a professional soloist singing frequently in churches.

She went on to study voice at Westminster Choir College, where she met graduate student John S.C. Kemp. They married in 1942 at the college.

The Kemps taught at the school for several years but left to settle in Oklahoma City and lead the music department of the First Presbyterian Church.

"It was a chance to create something of our own," Kemp said.

In Oklahoma, Kemp began working with children's choirs. She sang daily with her five children, forming a singing group called the Kemp Carolers. The development of their voices intrigued her, but children's choir resources were scarce. Kemp wrote music and created materials to teach the traditional repertoire that is her specialty: classical pieces, anthems and hymns.

That situation changed in 1949 with the founding of the Choristers Guild, an organization that provides music, instructional materials and other resources for children's and youth choirs.

Kemp helped her husband run the guild for several years, but eventually they left to return to Westminster.

"She and her husband wanted people to be proud to be church musicians - not, 'Oh, well, I work in a church,' " said Scott Hoerl, executive director of Westminster Choir College. John Kemp died in 1997.

In the decades between stints at Westminster, cultural changes affected Kemp's near-lifelong vocation. The church choir has more competition for a child's time. Mom might not be available to take the youngster to rehearsal because she's working, too. Contemporary church music had exploded in popularity.

"We have to work with the parents and continue to challenge the children to become leaders and enthusiastic about a being part of worship, not just decorating the edges," Kemp said.

"By singing in church, they are also learning the worship."

Many of Kemp's students have gone on to become choir directors and musicians. Kemp calls them proof of what "little beginnings" can do. Marcia Sommers Mau, director of music at First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, is one of them.

"She was witty and lovable," Mau said of her teacher at Westminster. "She was a woman of wonderful faith, but that didn't keep her from having fun."

In her 91st year Kemp directs a choir of 18. The Manor Singers are ages 74 to 90. They are residents at the Jamison retirement community where Kemp lives.

"I can't demand that they stand up all the time - because they can't," Kemp said. "It's about caring about the lives they lived, so the main thing is knowing their stories.

"With children, I'm helping them to form their stories. Here, we're recalling their stories."

If You Go

The Festival Concert of Singing Children in honor of Helen Kemp will be at 3 p.m. today at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Street and Churchville Roads, Upper Southampton.

Participating children's choirs will include groups from Princeton United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Calvary Presbyterian Church in Wyncote, Abington Presbyterian Church, Carmel Presbyterian Church in Glenside, and Thompson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Solebury.

New music by nationally renowned church-music composers has been written for the celebration. A freewill offering will be taken. For more information, call 215-357-4791.