A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » misc.kids » General (moderated)
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Songs they don't teach any more



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #22  
Old January 22nd 04, 04:06 AM
Donna Metler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more


"Scott" wrote in message
...

I was amazed to learn this month that my kids (10.5 and
almost 8) have not learned the words to 'Erie Canal'.
I thought that was required learning for elementary schoolers
everywhere, but it seems I was mistaken.

Scott DD 10.5 and DS 7.9

Erie Canal is in the grade 5 Macmillan-McGraw Hill Music book. I don't have
the Silver Burdett at home, but it is similar. Grade 5 is usually when the
big push on US history comes into play, and therefore a lot of the
traditional folk songs come in at this age.

  #23  
Old January 22nd 04, 04:07 AM
Donna Metler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more


"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...
In ,
Leah Adezio wrote:

*I wonder if it is more a generational thing -- after all, those of us who
*are in our 40's now were schoolchildren in the late 60's - early 70s when
*folk music was coming to the forefront of the American musical scene, and
*with it, an interest in early Americana folk songs.

Well, I'm 33 (34 next month!).

*The music books we had in 3rd-5th grade (1968-71) were full of songs like
*'Erie Canal', 'Shenandoah' (probably sp), 'Red River Valley', 'Kumbaya',

'Go
*Down Moses' (I specifically remember singing this as a solo during class
*when I was in 3rd grade), 'Go Tell Aunt Rhody', 'Skye Boat Song', 'Where
*Have All the Flowers Gone', 'This Land is Your Land', 'Kukaburra',

'Waltzing
*Matilda' and the ilk. Yes, I know these aren't all American folk songs,

but

We had Shenandoah, Kumbaya, Go Down Moses, Where Have all the Flowers
Gone, This Land is Your Land, Kookaburra, and Waltzing Mathilda, for sure.
Definitely not those other ones, though


What music is taught depends heavily on the philosophy of the music teacher.
Orff or Kodaly trained teachers will lean heavily towards folk songs, both
US and international. Teachers who are more traditional/choral will do fewer
folk songs, and more choral works, which generally means either new music or
more classical music. Both Orff and Kodaly were predominantly musicologists,
and teachers trained in their tradition have similar focuses. The Macmillan
series is designed for Orff/Kodaly-type instruction, and is heavy on folk
songs, but other common resources such as Music Alive! barely touch on the
American folk song tradition. Music K-8, which is often used because it is
much less expensive than textbooks, includes maybe 1 folk song out of 10
pieces. (I use Music K-8 as a supplement, but use Macmillan as the primary
text for my classes, plus lots of other Orff resources. I don't use Music
Alive! at all.) Almost no music teacher goes cover to cover in the books,
both because there isn't enough time, and because you quickly learn which
songs work and which don't really work well with your children-and there are
always some in each book which fall totally flat with the kids-and which the
teacher isn't thrilled with, either. The grade 6 Macmillan book includes a
lot of '80's bubblegum pop songs, which the kids don't like at all-and
which don't serve any objectives which can't be reached by much more
appealing music.

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large


  #24  
Old January 22nd 04, 11:37 AM
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more

In article , H Schinske says...

wrote:

Many of the folk songs we learned in
elementary school came out of the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s,
such as: Michael Row The Boat Ashore, If I Had A Hammer, Tom Dooley, Drill
Ye Tarriers, man, a little walk down memory lane -- I could go on and on.


Your list made me recall that one of the songs I came home from kindergarten
singing was "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." I don't know if I learned it from the
teacher or another child, though! Probably the latter.


That's The Beatles; not a folk song.

Banty

  #25  
Old January 22nd 04, 11:40 AM
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more

In article , user says...

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 21:19:24 EST, Banty wrote:
In article , Scott says...


I was amazed to learn this month that my kids (10.5 and
almost 8) have not learned the words to 'Erie Canal'.
I thought that was required learning for elementary schoolers
everywhere, but it seems I was mistaken.

Scott DD 10.5 and DS 7.9


I never heard it until I lived in Rochester, New York. I thought it was local
(Rochester is close to the canal, called the "barge canal" there), until I heard
it on a Wee Sings tape.


Fellow Rochestarians are everywhere. ;-)


If you count living there for one summer whilst working for The Great Yellow
Father...

Banty (..and learning how to play bocce near Lyell Ave.)

  #26  
Old January 22nd 04, 11:40 AM
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more

In article , Leah Adezio says...


"Iowacookiemom" wrote in message
...
I grew up in WI and didn't learn "Erie Canal," but I vividly remember that

it
seemed like the whole curriculum for 4th grade music consisted of us

singing
"Red River Valley."


I wonder if it is more a generational thing -- after all, those of us who
are in our 40's now were schoolchildren in the late 60's - early 70s when
folk music was coming to the forefront of the American musical scene, and
with it, an interest in early Americana folk songs.

The music books we had in 3rd-5th grade (1968-71) were full of songs like
'Erie Canal', 'Shenandoah' (probably sp), 'Red River Valley', 'Kumbaya', 'Go
Down Moses' (I specifically remember singing this as a solo during class
when I was in 3rd grade), 'Go Tell Aunt Rhody', 'Skye Boat Song', 'Where
Have All the Flowers Gone', 'This Land is Your Land', 'Kukaburra', 'Waltzing
Matilda' and the ilk. Yes, I know these aren't all American folk songs, but
there was a definite trend towards the study of *folk* music during that
time.

Leah


You mean they didn't teach you "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prarie" ??!?

Banty (maybe it was a Wichita Falls thing...)

  #27  
Old January 22nd 04, 01:59 PM
Marijke
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more


"chiam margalit" wrote in message YOu've never heard
the song, or heard kids learning the song? I find
it almost impossible to believe anyone hasn't heard the song (Chorus
is "Low Bridge, Everybody Down, Low Bridge, Cause we're Coming to a
Town, Well you'll always know your neighbor, You'll always know your
pal, if you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal." It's on about a
million PBS/History channel specials. :-)


Never heard of it.

Marijke

  #29  
Old January 22nd 04, 06:56 PM
user
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:23:04 EST, Donna Metler wrote:

"H Schinske" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Many of the folk songs we learned in
elementary school came out of the folk music revival of the 1950s and

1960s,
such as: Michael Row The Boat Ashore, If I Had A Hammer, Tom Dooley,

Drill
Ye Tarriers, man, a little walk down memory lane -- I could go on and on.


Your list made me recall that one of the songs I came home from

kindergarten
singing was "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." I don't know if I learned it from

the
teacher or another child, though! Probably the latter.

Tom Dooley is in my Guitar book for my 3rd-5th graders, but given today's
zero-tolerance for mention of violence, I rather figure I should skip that
one! Same with some of the other folk songs.


Interesting that you should mention that... I'm taking my DS, who
will be 3-1/2 at the time, on a weekend trip to Fort Klock
(
http://www.fortklock.com ) for, interspersed with some genealogy research,
their Colonial camp life re-enactment. I mentioned this to one
friend, who thought I was absolutely nuts to take a child that
small to an event where people would be "pretending to kill each other".

I then mentioned it to another friend who is in the midst of
teaching a unit on the Revolutionary War period to her combined
5th/6th grade class, and she told me that the curriculum skips
entirely over *any* facts relating to casualties. if she stuck
entirely to the approved lesson material, the kids would only
know that a battle occurred on such-and-such a date, and that
it's generally accepted that side X won.

Particularly when it comes to the Revolution, where "major"
battles in Upstate NY often involved only a few dozen or hundred
combatants with very few casualties, it seems like the students
are missing out on both the facts and the context - it would
be too easy for them to imagine that the battles involved
tens or hundreds of thousands of soldiers as in the Civil War
or later engagements.

Anyhow, I'm curious about how sanitized current Elementary and
Middle/High school texts have become, in regards to history.
I have distinct recollections of seeing many graphic Matthew
Brady photographs in my texts from the early 1980's, and was
wondering if that was still the case.



  #30  
Old January 22nd 04, 07:42 PM
Tracey
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Songs they don't teach any more

I'm finding this discussion particularly interesting, especially considering
the fact that so many school districts have decreased the quantity of music
education in the curriculum.

When I was in elementary school (70s) and middle school (79-81) I do
remember learning "Erie Canal". My memories include TONS of patriotic songs
and songs like Erie Canal that seem to discuss American history. Someone
else mentioned Home on the Range, and that was part of our reperoitoire as
well. I bought several of the Wee Sing tapes when my DD (age 7) was a
toddler, and was surprised that I knew almost all of gthe songs on all of
the tapes (though I think I learned as many or more of them at YMCA Camp and
in Girl Scouts as I did in school).

My middle school music experience was based soley on the whims of our music
teacher I think. All I remember from music class in middle school was that
we learned "Greensleeves", "Morning has Broken", "One Tin Solider", "The
boxer" and we did an in depth study of "Tommy".

tracey in CT

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
How do I teach my child to... jojo General 16 January 24th 04 11:56 AM
Teach Your Baby to Read Stan General (moderated) 2 November 24th 03 02:45 PM
Late follow up re easy part songs for family singing H Schinske General 0 August 12th 03 01:36 AM
easy part songs for family singing? H Schinske General 4 July 25th 03 09:44 PM
Songs with gestures lola General 12 July 17th 03 01:56 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:45 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.