Hurrah for Lovely Maine

As part of my Songs of the Civil War Era school visits, I show the students how popular songs of the era often changed over time as people "borrowed" melodies and wrote new lyrics to suit their own agendas (a perfect example is "Bonnie Blue Flag," which I discussed during my Bowdoin College lecture/concert).

This spring, I've been visiting the fifth graders of Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School. After I visited each class, I worked with a group of twenty-five students who put together a rallying song of their own, to the tune of "Bonnie Blue Flag." The students did a great job collaborating. In fact, they were able to brainstorm an idea, come up with five verses, rehearse, and record all in the two hours we had together! Pretty impressive!

You can read the lyrics on the broadside below (click on the image to zoom in). You can also listen to the HBS fifth graders sing their song in the Songwriting for Kids Listening Room.

Don't you think they did a terrific job sticking to the original rhythm and getting their agenda across loud and clear?

Grab Bag Friday: Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary

Today I'm off to Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary to talk to 5th graders about Songs of the Civil War Era. Huzzah!

Yesterday, I had a great time with the classrooms of Ms. Bailey, Mrs. Belanger, Mrs. Brescia, and Mr. Kittredge. The students had great singing voices and offered a lot of terrific insights.

In one exercise, I have the students imagine they are slogging back to their tents after a long day at war. Tired, dirty, and possibly wounded, they try to get comfortable and go to sleep. Then someone on the campground (in this case, me) starts to sing,

We're tenting tonight on the old campground
Give us a song to cheer
Our weary hearts, a song of home
And friends we love so dear

Slowly, as the song goes on, people join in until we are all singing loudly together,

Tenting tonight, tenting tonight, tenting on the old campground
Tenting tonight, tenting tonight, tenting on the old campground

At the end of the song, I asked the students if singing the song changed how they felt. Some of the things I heard were:

"I felt less lonely."

"I thought of my family. Singing the song made me feel like I would get to see them again."

"I thought of all the people who died that I cared about."

"I felt stronger."

"I felt proud to fight for what I believe in."

Aren't those great responses? I love how music has the power to stir our souls, even 150 years after it was written.

Songs of the Civil War Era Grant!

Thanks to a generous grant from the Senter Fund, I'll be returning to the Brunswick School District this spring! I'm looking forward to teaching my Songs of the Civil War Era workshop to a whole new batch of 5th graders. I'll give four school performances, teach a workshop on songwriting, and participate in a Civil War Reenactment run by the fifth grade class.

Last year, the Brunswick students wrote "class verses" to two popular Civil War songs. We recorded the verses and created an 1800's style broadside (click on the image below to see a larger image, or check it out at the Songwriting for Kids website). I'm so excited to be back in the classroom again this year!

Concert This Weekend!

As many of you know, I recently finished up a Songs of the Civil War Era artist residency in the Brunswick, Maine school district. I visited each fifth grade classroom three times and we had loads of fun singing the songs sung on the battlefield, cotton fields, and the homefront. We saw how the changing views of African Americans began to appear in popular music well before the war, and we learned about the "new American music" that the whole world was talking about long after the fighting was over.

But the fun's not over yet!

This Saturday, I'll give a final concert along with Martin Swinger (who's been working with the 1st graders). It's open to the public, so if you're in the area, I hope you'll come!

Saturday, May 21

2pm

Crooker Theater

I'm inviting all willing fifth graders to come up on stage with me to sing for you. If you're lucky, they'll share some of the "battle songs" they wrote themselves!

And even if you don't come to the concert, you can still hear the classroom songs. Some are funny, some are touching, some are very proud! You can listen to the classroom songs in the Listening Room at Songwriting for Kids. And you can even check out The Brunswick Broadside (.pdf) to read all the lyrics.

I hope I'll see you on Saturday. Thanks, as always, to Arts Are Elementary for the grant that made all of this possible!

Songs of the Civil War Era Rerun: Walk Together Children

It's my last week of my 5th grade school visit tour de force. Phew! These last few days, we'll be talking about the spirituals and "slave songs" that were sung in the cotton fields. Here's the last installment of my Songs of the Civil War Era blog reruns, in which I get very long winded and say "um" quite a bit more than anybody should.

Songs of the Civil War Era: Walk Together Children (originally posted on December 2, 2009)

For the last post in my Songs of the Civil War Era series, I thought I'd put up one of my favorite African-American spirituals, "Walk Together Children." I love the energy and joy in this song. And the lyrics are timeless, hopeful, inspirational, and true. If we work together toward that better day, just think what we can do!

Walk together children, don't you get weary

In the concert, the talking that comes before the song goes on a little long (and I apologize in advance for all the "um's") so I separated it out. That way, if you're not in the mood for a lecture, you can head straight for the music.

Here's the talking:


And here's the song:

Songs of the Civil War Era Rerun: Bonnie Blue Flag Medly

I've embarked on the first week of my 5th grade school visit tour de force! I'm planning to visit each fifth grade classroom in the district...three times each. Our first session, we'll start off with Songs of the Battlefield. Then we'll move on to songs from the home front and the cotton fields and learn how each of these musical forms fused together during the Civil War Era to form a new "American" style of music. Here's installment 3 of my Songs of the Civil War Era blog rerun:

Songs of the Civil War Era: Bonnie Blue Flag Medly (originally posted on November 25, 2009)

When I was putting together my recent Songs of the Civil War Era concert, there were some areas I already had pretty well under my belt. I've been singing the spirituals and popular songs of the time (like Oh Susanna and Gum Tree Canoe) for quite a while now.

But I wasn't as familiar with songs that were sung on the battlefield. It was very interesting to research these tunes and find out how they evolved. One fascinating example was "Bonnie Blue Flag," and you can hear the whole story by clicking on the player below (again, if you're in Facebook, you might have to go directly to my blog).

If you want to follow along at home (like one of my favorite childhood shows?), here are the images: Page 2, Pages 3 & 4, Page 5.

Songs of the Civil War Era Rerun: Tenting Tonight

Here's the second installment of my Songs of the Civil War Era blog rerun. "Tenting Tonight" is the first song I'm going to teach the 5th graders next week, and I hope it will set the stage for the history they're learning this year.

Songs of the Civil War Era: Tenting Tonight (originally posted November 18, 2009)

I recently received some mp3s of my Songs of the Civil War Era concert/lecture at Bowdoin College, so for those of you who missed it, I'm going to post a song each Wednesday for the next three weeks.

The first is "Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground," and you can listen to it by clicking on the player below (if you're on Facebook or the like, and can't see the player, try accessing it directly from my blog).

The sound guy kindly faded this one out for me, but if you'd truly like to set the scene, picture yourself in a nice crowded auditorium. Everyone's just settled in. You've heard a little intro about what to expect during the program, and this sad, slow song begins. Now as I enter the last chorus (where the fade starts), imagine the piercing bleep bleep of a fire alarm! Just in case you were getting a little *too* comfortable. :)

All turned out fine. We got a little cold outside (in the spirit of things, I suppose) but were able to head back in and finish up. Enjoy...

Songs of the Civil War Era: 5th Grade Tour de Force!

Thanks to a generous grant from Arts Are Elementary, I am gearing up to visit every 5th grade classroom in our school district. Which translates to: thirty classroom visits in two weeks! I've still got a week and a half to tune up my guitar, print handouts, and hydrate!

The fifth graders here in Maine have been learning about the Civil War and I am planning a curriculum for them based on the Songs of the Civil War Era lecture/concert I gave at Bowdoin College a couple years ago. Since my life is going to get exceedingly busy very soon, I thought I'd post a few reruns of highlights from that lecture over the next few weeks. Here's the first installment, starting with a great MPBN radio piece by Tom Porter.

Wish me luck on my school-visit marathon!


My Concert: Songs of the Civil War Era (originally posted on November 11, 2009)

My lecture/concert "Songs of the Civil War Era" ended up in the news a couple times last week!

First, Daisy Alioto wrote a very nice article in The Bowdoin Orient. She starts with:

"Josephine Cameron '98 sat center stage in Kanbar Auditorium strumming her guitar and letting her melodic voice soar sweetly around the room on Tuesday. She sang "Tenting on the Old Campground," the first piece in a program of Civil War-era songs that offer insight into the popular culture of the era. The song, a song of peace sung by war-weary soldiers, Union and Confederate alike, was truncated mid-verse by the piercing shriek of the fire alarm. The audience, slow to react, could hardly conceal their disappointment as Josie's voice still echoed in the rafters."

You can read the rest of the article here (how's that for suspense?)

And then Tom Porter from Maine Public Radio did a great spot on Maine Things Considered. You can listen to the whole thing here:

Songs of the Civil War Era: Walk Together Children

For the last post in my Songs of the Civil War Era series, I thought I'd put up one of my favorite African-American spirituals, "Walk Together Children." I love the energy and joy in this song. And the lyrics are timeless, hopeful, inspirational, and true. If we work together toward that better day, just think what we can do!

Walk together children, don't you get weary

In the concert, the talking that comes before the song goes on a little long (and I apologize in advance for all the "um's") so I separated it out. That way, if you're not in the mood for a lecture, you can head straight for the music.

Here's the talking:


And here's the song:

Songs of the Civil War Era: Bonnie Blue Flag Medley

When I was putting together my recent Songs of the Civil War Era concert, there were some areas I already had pretty well under my belt. I've been singing the spirituals and popular songs of the time (like Oh Susanna and Gum Tree Canoe) for quite a while now.

But I wasn't as familiar with songs that were sung on the battlefield. It was very interesting to research these tunes and find out how they evolved. One fascinating example was "Bonnie Blue Flag," and you can hear the whole story by clicking on the player below (again, if you're in Facebook, you might have to go directly to my blog).

If you want to follow along at home (like one of my favorite childhood shows?), here are the images: Page 2, Pages 3 & 4, Page 5.

Songs of the Civil War Era: Tenting Tonight

I recently received some mp3s of my Songs of the Civil War Era concert/lecture at Bowdoin College, so for those of you who missed it, I'm going to post a song each Wednesday for the next three weeks.

The first is "Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground," and you can listen to it by clicking on the player below (if you're on Facebook or the like, and can't see the player, try accessing it directly from my blog).

The sound guy kindly faded this one out for me, but if you'd truly like to set the scene, picture yourself in a nice crowded auditorium. Everyone's just settled in. You've heard a little intro about what to expect during the program, and this sad, slow song begins. Now as I enter the last chorus (where the fade starts), imagine the piercing bleep bleep of a fire alarm! Just in case you were getting a little *too* comfortable. :)

All turned out fine. We got a little cold outside (in the spirit of things, I suppose) but were able to head back in and finish up. Enjoy...

My Concert: Songs of the Civil War Era

My lecture/concert "Songs of the Civil War Era" ended up in the news a couple times last week!

First, Daisy Alioto wrote a very nice article in The Bowdoin Orient. She starts with:

"Josephine Cameron '98 sat center stage in Kanbar Auditorium strumming her guitar and letting her melodic voice soar sweetly around the room on Tuesday. She sang "Tenting on the Old Campground," the first piece in a program of Civil War-era songs that offer insight into the popular culture of the era. The song, a song of peace sung by war-weary soldiers, Union and Confederate alike, was truncated mid-verse by the piercing shriek of the fire alarm. The audience, slow to react, could hardly conceal their disappointment as Josie's voice still echoed in the rafters."

You can read the rest of the article here (how's that for suspense?)

And then Tom Porter from Maine Public Radio did a great spot on Maine Things Considered. You can listen to the whole thing here:

Etta James: Swing Low Sweet Chariot

I had a blast at yesterday's Songs of the Civil War Era concert, despite the fire alarm that went off about 7 minutes into the program (no joke!) We stood outside, shivered, and got to know each other for about 20 minutes and then everyone kindly filed back in to finish the show.

There was a fabulously full, responsive audience of Bowdoin College students, Longfellow Elementary School fifth graders, and members of the local community. They all did a great job singing the popular spiritual "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" in call and response style! There was also a reporter from MPBN there, so I'll keep you posted if all those lovely voices end up on the radio. :)

In thanks to everyone who came and participated (and waited around in the cold), here is a great version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" by the imperially soulful Etta James. Enjoy!

Concert Tomorrow: Songs of the Civil War Era

Tomorrow, I'll be giving a lecture/concert at Bowdoin College on Songs of the Civil War Era. (Tues, Oct. 27th at 11:30 in Studzinski Auditorium)

I'll talk about the new "American music" that began to take shape during the Civil War Era and how this music reflected and informed attitudes toward African Americans. I'll sing some songs and spirituals from the battlefield, the home front, the cotton fields, and the Underground Railroad.

In preparation for this talk, I found Irwin Silber's book Songs of the Civil War very useful for its take on songs sung on the battlefield. Silber not only includes the original versions of popular songs like "Bonnie Blue Flag" or "Battle Hymn of the Republic," but also many of the lyrics of popular parodies and spin-offs that were created during the war.

To the tune of "Bonnie Blue Flag," for instance, there were a dozen popular Civil War songs. Of the most interesting, there was a Northern version "The Stripes and Stars," a prisoners-of-war version "Bonnie White Flag," and a version called "The Southern Girl with the Homespun Dress," which praises the simplicity and goodness of the Southern Girl, and then calls soldiers to arms...because good Southern Girls only love boys who fight in the Confederate army. I wonder how many recruits they got out of that one?

And now, young man, a word to you;
If you would win the fair,
Go to the field where honor calls,
And win your lady there.
Remember that our brightest smiles
Are for the true and brave,
And that our tears are all for those
Who fill a soldier's grave.