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SOCIETY

Where, Oh Where, Have the Good Old Songs Gone?
By Lane Jennings

As schools cut music programs, America's folk music may disappear.

Whenever school budgets shrink, music programs tend to feel the pinch early and hard. But new research warns that America's rich folk heritage of lullabies, play songs, historic and patriotic ballads, and even the national anthem could be permanently lost unless teachers get help fast.

Traditional folk songs have largely disappeared from the educational and cultural landscape, and folk singing in America could become a dead art--forgotten and ignored by all but music historians and a few fanatic devotees of antique entertainments. Along with the music, cultural knowledge will fade, fears music-education scholar Marilyn Ward. Her research for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida revealed that schoolchildren no longer know the words or tunes to many of the songs their parents and grandparents grew up singing, especially songs of work, history, and patriotic sentiment, such as "Home on the Range," "Erie Canal," and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again."

"When people stand up, but don’t sing the 'Star-Spangled Banner,'" Ward reports, "there’s a reason for that. They don’t know it." She points out that other countries do a better job of preserving their past through music. "In Hungary, schoolchildren sing nothing but folk songs of their heritage, and usually a cappella, through fourth grade. Other nations uniformly value their heritage."

Ward began her study by compiling a list of 100 familiar American folk songs recommended by music educators and a representative sampling of men and women over 60 years old. She then surveyed 4,000 school music teachers from every state. Few of the teachers surveyed believed their students could sing many of the listed songs from memory, and most reported that they had little time or encouragement to include traditional songs in their classroom. While results varied slightly in different regions (Nebraska ranked highest overall for teaching traditional songs, and California ranked lowest), Ward found that urban schoolteachers taught the most children’s songs, and suburban schools the fewest.

The economic pressure on many public school systems is partly responsible for cutting back music teaching overall, but another concern, Ward discovered, is the new emphasis on mandatory testing for reading and math, which is forcing many schools to refocus their curricula.

The long-term danger in this trend is a disconnect from the nation's past. Ward concludes that learning traditional songs helps children relate more closely to the hardships and joys their ancestors experienced and gain a more personal and emotional experience of events from history. Not learning these songs, she argues, weakens children’s connection to their community, which may contribute to antisocial attitudes and behavior.

"In the classroom, teachers need the flexibility to supplement their core curriculum with whatever they're good at and interested in," says Ward. "Just like in every subject, there are core concepts and songs we need to teach, [including] a core repertoire of American children's folk songs, songs that have been passed down for generations in America and help children bond and form connections with their communities and nation."

Popular music is so pervasive that efforts to bring the old tunes back to life face stiff competition. But the problem with current pop songs is that "the lyrics are usually unsuitable for both children and psychology healthy adults," Ward charges. Also, because these songs disappear quickly, there is little that is passed on from one generation to the next. "Listeners need a well-rounded diet that includes folk songs of their American heritage, something of lasting value."

More funding and more time for teaching could help, but long-term prospects for preserving America’s folk music tradition will require more than what schools alone can do. Adults need to care and get involved as well. Ward recommends that parents sing these songs with their children or seek recordings at libraries or on the Internet.

"Singing favorite songs with children makes long car trips more pleasant, and lullabies are such a nice way to put a young child to sleep," she says. "Music and songs still permeate our entire day. People seem to sing more when they're happy."

The Old Top 40: Folk Songs for the Future Music-education scholar Marilyn Ward's recommendations for songs to be taught to future generations include:
1. You Are My Sunshine (my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray) 2. Old MacDonald (had a farm, e-i-e-i-o) 3. Crawdad Song (You get a line, and I’ll get a pole honey) 4. I’ve Been Workin’ On the Railroad (all the live long day) 5. I Love (little baby ducks, old pick-up trucks, slow-moving trains, and rain) by Tom T. Hall, was not on the original list of songs prepared by the study, but Ward includes it as a special recommendation.
Rounding out the selected top 40:
A Tisket, A Tasket (a green and yellow basket) Amazing Grace (how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me) America (my country, ‘tis of Thee, sweet land of liberty) America, the Beautiful (oh beautiful for spacious skies) Battle Hymn of the Republic (glory, glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on) Bingo (there was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o) Clementine (oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine) Eency, Weency Spider (went up the water spout) The Farmer in the Dell (hi-ho the dairy-o, the farmer in the dell) God Bless America (land that I love, stand beside her and guide her) Hickory Dickory Dock (the mouse ran up the clock) Home on the Range (where the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word) Hush Little Baby (don’t say a word, papa’s going to buy you a mockingbird) Mary Had a Little Lamb (it’s fleece was white as snow) Michael Row the Boat Ashore (hallelujah) Polly Wolly Doodle (oh I went down south for to see my Sal, singin’ polly wolly doodle all the day) Pop, Goes the Weasel! (all around the cobbler’s bench the monkey chased the weasel)	Ring Around the Rosies (pocket full of posies) Rock-a-by Baby (in the treetops, when the wind blows the cradle will rock) Row, Row, Row Your Boat (gently down the stream) She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain (when she comes) Shoo Fly (don’t bother me, shoo-fly don’t bother me, shoo-fly don’t bother me for I belong to somebody) Short'nin' Bread (mammy’s little baby loves short'nin' short'nin') Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (a long way from home) The Star-Spangled Banner (Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (comin’ for to carry me home) Take Me Out to the Ballgame (buy me some peanuts and crackerjack, I don’t care if I ever get back) This Land is Your Land (this land is my land) This Old Man (he played one, he played knick-knack on my drum) Three Blind Mice (see how they run) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (how I wonder what you are) The Wheels on the Bus (go round and round) When the Saints Go Marching In (oh how I want to be in that number) Yankee Doodle (went to town riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap) You’re A Grand Old Flag (you’re a high-flying flag)

Source: Marilyn Ward, Children's Folk Song Study, University of Florida, School of Music, 130 MUB, Gainesville, Florida 32611. Web site www.neflin.org/marilyn/folksongsurvey.

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