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Illustrated by Allen Garns
Knopf, 1992
Summary: This is an irresistible collection of songs: from spirituals to tall tales, from lullabies to work songs, from ballads to protests; there's something for everyone. The annotations for each song give teachers a wealth of information for lesson plans to cross the entire curriculum. The music for guitar and piano is arranged simply enough for a beginner. So 'round! Clap your hands! Tap your feet! Sing your head off
Level: Ages 7 to Adult.
Themes:
Hard Times - Good Times
Love
Freedom
Determination
Imagination and Fun
American History
Regional Traditions and Patriotism.
Activities:
1a. Folk songs are part of our oral tradition. We learn about our country and our heritage by singing songs like these. Using a computer program like "TimeLiner," make a time line featuring some of the songs in this book. ("Yankee Doodle" - Revolutionary War period, "Follow the Drinking Gourd" - Civil War period, "The Cowboy's Lament" - Westward Expansion, etc).
b. "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" shows an illustrated time line. Is the artist's time line accurate? Why or why not? Rearrange and make corrections if needed. Talk about the elements of a limerick and make up verses for different historical periods. Illustrate them and add them to the artist's time line.
c. Make a large map of the United States like the one on the next page, and place the regional songs on the map. (Regional songs could be a category in your database).
2. This book contains many different types of songs. They are arranged alphabetically rather than by type. (There is an index of song types in the back of the book if you get stuck). As a class, brainstorm as many different categories as possible. Choose several types and make a computer database listing the songs in this book. (Some songs will fall under more than one category; place them in only one). Using your database categories, do a survey to find other favorites. Take a poll to determine the class's and/or the school's favorite songs. Plan a song book of your own. (If you make the book, research copyright laws on reproducing music).
3a. This book begs for a hootenanny! Get in the spirit by making some folk instruments for the whole class: comb harmonicas, coffee can drums, cigar box guitars, light bulb maracas, flower pot gongs and, of course, kazoos! Find them all in Musical Instruments You Can Make by Phyllis Hayes.
b. Read the Eyewitness Book Music. Compare the section on guitars with the folk instruments you made. Do more research to see what different effects are produced by using different strings (gut, nylon or steel), different shapes (classical or fiat topped) and different woods.
4a. The California Gold Rush of 1849 was an adventurous period in our country's history. Make the excitement of the past come alive by relating it to present day prospecting. Read Clementine by Robert Quackenbush. Consult the appendix concerning the geographical area of the United States where gold may be found, how to prospect for it, and how to stake a claim. Find an article on the recent discovery in Maine of the nation's second largest amethyst deposit (Journal Tribune, July 17, 1993). Compare and contrast the methods of prospecting for gold and gemstones. Research and plan an expedition in your local area.
b. Read Doodlebugging: The Treasure Hunt for Oil by Elaine Scott. The search may take doodlebuggers to the frozen Arctic or to the arid Sahara. Conditions may be as harsh as they were for gold miners. Write a modern version about the possible fate of a wildcatter's life.
5. "Clementine" and "On Top of Old Smoky" are songs about personal tragedies. Are they sad songs? Why or why not? The musical arrangements advise you to "try to sing without laughing" and to "try to be serious." Read Tom Glazer's version of Old Smoky, called "On Top of Spaghetti," in Tom Glazer's Treasury of Songs for Children. Melodrama is a literary form that pokes fun at tragedy by using improbable events and exaggerated actions. Parody is a literary form that mimics a serious work in a silly way. Classify each of the two songs. Can you find other examples of each?
6. Using "Casey Jones," "The Frozen Logger" and "John Henry," analyze the difference between legitimate folk heroes and tall tales. Can one be the forerunner of the other? Read the chapters about these legends in Hear the Wind Blow: American Folk Songs Retold by Scott R. Sanders. Write your own prose version of one of these songs or another of your choice.
7. Read The Erie Canal by Peter Spier. The detailed illustrations and the historical information at the back of the book really bring this song to life. Imagine that you are Sal's owner or a member of the family. Write some diary entries describing one of your trips.
8. Train songs: There's something about a train that is fascinating to both children and adults. There are seven train songs in this book (see the index of song types). Read about trains in the Eyewitness book Train or in Tracks Across America: The Story of the American Railroad 1825 - 1900 by Leonard Everett Fisher. Brainstorm some innovations for future train models. Contact a travel agency for information. Research and "plan" train trips between two points in the continental United States in a Pullman car of the 1800's, an Amtrak car of the 1990's or a supertrain of the 2100's. Write one-act plays. Use the songs to turn them into musicals!
9. "Go Tell Aunt Rhody," "Mama Don't Allow," and "The Mockingbird Song" are three songs that invite you to make up your own verses. Check out the following books and try your hand at drawing your own picture book for one of these songs or another of your choice: Go Tell Aunt Rhody by Robert Quackenbush, Hush Little Baby by Margot Zemach and Mama Don't Allow by Thacher Hurd.
Resources:
Ardley, Nell; Music: An Eyewitness Book, Alfred A. Knopf, 1989
Blumberg, Rhoda; The Great American Gold Rush, Bradbury Press, 1989.
Colley, John; Train: An Eyewitness Book, Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Fisher, Leonard Everett; Tracks Across America: The Story of the American Railroad 1825-1900, Holiday House, 1992.
Gibbons, Gail; Trains, Holiday House, 1987.
Glazer, Tom; Tom Glazer's Treasury of Songs for Children, Doubleday, 1988.
Hayes, Phyllis; Musical Instruments You Can Make, Franklin Watts, 1981.
Hurd, Thacher; Mama Don't Allow, Harper & Row, 1984.
Journal Tribune. July 17, 1993, "Miner's Dreams Crystallize," p. A6.
Quackenbush, Robert; Clementine, Lippincott, 1974.
Quackenbush, Robert; Go Tell Aunt Rhody, Lippincott, 1973.
Settler, Helen Roney; Train Whistles: A Language-e in Code, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1977.
Sanders, Scott; Hear the Wind Blow: American Folk Songs Retold, Bradbury Press, 1985.
Scott, Elaine; Doodlebugging: The Treasure Hunt for Oil; Frederick Warne, 1982.
Spier, Peter; The Erie Canal. Doubleday & Company, 1970.
Zemach, Margot; Hush Little Baby, Dutton, 1976.
Prepared by Margaret McNamee, Scarborough Public Library,
Nathan and Henry B. Cleaves Law Library.
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