Fort Kent girl, 6, to sing at Legislature opening

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FORT KENT – Melanie Saucier is 6 years old today, and, unlike most children her age who might celebrate the day with cake, ice cream and friends, she will be singing at the Legislature in Augusta.

Melanie will sing French songs in the Hall of Flags at the Capitol and perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the House of Representatives to open the day’s session.

The little girl has been practicing for a month. Along with the national anthem, Melanie will sing two French songs selected for their Franco-American and Acadian significance, “Ma Mere Chantais Toujours (Mother Always Sang)” and “Coeur de Mama (Mama’s Heart).”

“My birthday is April 30, Monday, and that’s when I’m going to Augusta,” Melanie said Friday during an interview at her mother’s office. “[Rep.] Marc Michaud played this trick on me, and that’s why I am going there.

“Oh yeah, that’s going to be a big performance there in the rotunda,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough day for me.”

While Michaud made the original overtures to get Melanie to sing in the House, the official invitation came two weeks ago from House Speaker Michael V. Saxl, D-Portland.

“I’m kind of nervous about it because I’ve never been there,” Melanie said of her performance. “I will get to meet the governor, who I met once before.

“I know I will be shy at first, but when I know I’m OK, I will perk up,” she said, throwing her hands into the air. “I know I will be shy when I first see the governor.”

She also was nervous about the recent loss of a front tooth that had been loose.

“Look,” she said pointing to the gap in her mouth, “I got six dollars from the tooth fairy this morning.”

Her parents also admitted to being nervous, with her father, Gary Saucier, a Fort Kent funeral director, the most nervous.

“We are very proud of her,” said her mother, Diane Nadeau-Saucier, corporate relations director at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Melanie said she would wear a white and green gown, with little pearls at the neck to complement her pearl earrings.

The precocious, brown-eyed blonde has performed with her mother and father since she was 4 years old.

Melanie sings with her mother in churches in neighboring New Brunswick and Fort Kent. She also performed with her father in the Fort Kent Lions Club’s “Pride of Lions Show” one year. In addition, she has performed at UMFK’s Mardi Gras Soiree du Bon Vieux Temps – an evening of remembering the good old times, Fort Kent’s annual Fiddlers’ Jamboree and the UMFK Sucrerie, a maple syrup party.

Melanie also plays the piano and was taking dancing lessons until last year. She has her own amplifier and instruments. She practiced at home Friday afternoon with her mother at the keyboard.

She will be accompanied on the trip by her parents, her paternal grandmother, Bernice Saucier, and maternal grandfather Leo Nadeau, both of Fort Kent.

“We’re going down Sunday because it’s a long way from here,” Melanie said. “[Rep.] Marc [Michaud] said it will take most of one day to get there.”

Talkative and sweet, she gave her parents the eye if they attempted to answer questions directed at her.

“He’s interviewing me,” she told her parents with a smile at one point.

“I’ve been practicing the three songs for a month,” she said. “Mom said the more I practiced, the better I would get.

“I like to sing,” Melanie said after belting out one of her French songs while standing, microphone in hand, next to her mother at the organ in the living room of their Route 1 home. “I have to work hard on the pronunciation of some of the words, which are hard.”

Part of the practicing has been done with her voice coach, Etienne Deschenes of St. Jacques, New Brunswick.

“Oh, man, they hugged me this morning,” Melanie said when asked about the reaction of her kindergarten classmates.

“She hugged me, too,” she said of her teacher, Rose Charette. “I know they will be thinking about me on Monday.”

After the performance, the family will head north and stay Monday night in Bangor.

“You know, it’s a long way to Augusta, but it’s also a long way back,” Melanie said. “So we will stop in Bangor to sleep.”

Her performances are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Rotunda and 10 a.m. in the House of Representatives.