Pete Seegers passing brings back to mind the great response I received from one student last January, when I was teaching my classes some of the songs of the Civil Right Movement. (I know I already posted this a year ago, but its worth reviving in peoples consciousness.) At one point, after showing the kids Back of the Bus, Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, We Shall Not be Moved, and my Uncle Jons Lookin for Freedom, I posed the question: Why are these songs all so repetitive? Like, there arent verses and chorus, or complicated rhythmic styles, but just the same format over & over again, with one little word or phrase altered. Why are they like that? So in each class, one kid or another had the insight to offer some variation of Well, if youre having a march with thousands of people, you cant, like, get together and REHEARSE first. So youd need to have songs people could just learn on the way, quickly. Then I raise the same inquiry in one of my first-grade classes - again, Why do they keep it so simple here, just kinda repeating the same thing over and over, and hardly changing it? A little blonde boy raises his hand and suggests, So the white people could understand them?
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 02:49:01 +0000
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