By SERAINE PAGE

Kitsap Week

The music is what keeps him young.

Looking at Dave Webb, one would be hard-pressed to guess his age. He claims he’s in his early 70s, but he looks much younger than that. If you ask him his secret to eternal youth, he’ll chuckle and tell you it’s the music.

When Webb agreed to sing in his daughter’s class years ago, he never dreamed it would turn into a traveling adventure that would take him across the country.

Webb, 72, is a Bainbridge Island resident who spends his days singing folk music locally. Before settling into his current lifestyle, Webb took to the road to entertain thousands of school children with his repertoire of American folk tunes.

“I never did it as a profession,” he said. “It was always a hobby.”

After being asked to sing for his daughter’s kindergarten class, he was invited back each year after to sing at the school. Eventually, he suggested one assembly program for the entire school, which gave birth to the idea of “Sing Along Alive.”

Webb took his guitar and songbooks on the road during the ’80s, performing in 23 states for more than 300,000 children at different schools. At the request of principals, he visited schools and offered a brief description of folk music and acoustic guitar before inviting children to sing along. One year he recorded a live program in Ohio with 300 children, resulting in a CD of favorite children’s songs.

“It was fun to do. I like to travel,” he said. “It was a nice way to see the country.”

Guitar hasn’t always been his instrument of choice. When he was young, he picked up the trombone.

“I hated it,” he said of his grade-school trombone lessons. He estimates the lessons and trombone-fueled torment lasted about six months.

Then came along a louder, larger instrument: the drums. Webb kept at it through junior high, then joined the marching band and chorus in high school. On occasion, he picked up a three-piece combo drum gig.

It wasn’t until his 30s, however, that he discovered the guitar.

“The guitar’s real easy,” he said. “It’s portable; you can go anywhere. I really like to sing. It basically keeps me in tune.”

Some of his favorites to perform include John Denver songs, mainly because of the message behind the lyrics. He estimates he has at least 1,200 songs he can choose from during any given performance.

“I can pick songs for whoever I’m singing for. I can do new songs and old songs,” he said.

“I don’t do rap, obviously.”

Depending on the week, Webb performs upward of nine times for about 30 minutes. Some days he is at the Waterfront Park Community Center Senior Center on Bainbridge Island. Other days he is at the nearby Kids Discovery Museum entertaining little ones who can’t seem to sit still.

Sometimes his audience members are very still, like the ones with Alzheimer’s he visits. Even the tapping of a toe is an indicator to him that someone is feeling what he sings about, he said. He sings on knowing that at least someone will hear his voice, even if they aren’t sitting directly in front of him physically or mentally.

Often, the music is just as much for him as it is for others.

“It’s just like meditating every day,” Webb said. “Whether it’s out or in. I play every day. It’s good for the soul.”

Sue Barrington, manager of the Waterfront Park Community Center, has watched Webb engage audiences inside the senior center for the last two years.

“He adds a funky coffeehouse vibe to the place, and we all benefit from the change of atmosphere,” Barrington said. “People always leave smiling and humming along, and I believe their days inevitably take an improved direction for the gift of his music.”

On a recent Friday, Webb sat on a stool in the Fireside Room of the senior center. When his fingers first hit the strings, a few elderly visitors sat at tables, chatting or eating lunch.

By mid-chorus, the room filled with men and women tapping their feet and nodding their heads.

“He has a real good assortment,” said Mary Louise Timpone, a regular at the center. “It’s better than any pill you can take.”

Timpone often sits close to the front of the room where Webb performs, knitting and nodding in time to the music. Sometimes she’ll clap or sing along, smiling as he belts out her favorite songs.

Even though she listens to him every week, she still couldn’t pick a favorite song he croons.

“I like all of them,” she said. “He’s a beautiful, beautiful man. Isn’t it beautiful to have a talent like that?”

After nearly 40 years of performing, the best compliment Webb can think of is when someone gives thanks for what he offers for free. For him, it was never about making tons of money or becoming famous. He just wanted to share his love of folk music and acoustic guitar with others, he said.

“It relaxes people. It puts them in a positive mood,” Webb said. “Music clears the clouds away. It’s true.”