DAY 36 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

Good Morning, Class of '64

Children Singing and Praying - Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller

Words make you think.
Music makes you feel.
A song makes you feel a thought.
Yip Harburg

1950's Songbook

In sixth grade we had an older, small of stature music teacher with short-cropped red hair. She might have come to our classroom once a week. We also had a hardback songbook. 

In that book we learned about Stephen Foster and the Camptown Races - even if we didn't know what a bob tailed nag was, or a bay. We enjoyed the music and got a sense of his time and place.

We learned many patriotic songs that instilled in us a pride of country. We might have wondered about those alabaster cities in America the Beautiful and calling a feather "macaroni" in Yankee Doodle, but the tunes we loved, and our singing was heartfelt.

We learned our history, too, with Erie Canal, Home on the Range and I've Been Working on the Railroad. But, why, oh, why, was that man working so hard on that railroad just to pass the time away?

We sang fun songs like Skip to My Lou and Polly-Wolly Doodle. Did you know that Skip to My Lou was a pioneer square dance? And all the while we thought it was a song for skipping down the street.

1949 Songbook

Some Songs We Sang

Erie Canal

Star Spangled Banner

America the Beautiful

My Country 'Tis of Thee

Battle Hymn of the Republic 

Yankee Doodle

Home on the Range

The Marines Hymn

Oh! Susannah

Polly-Wolly Doodle

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Camptown Races 

Clementine

Skip to My Lou

1959 Songbook

Songs Our Teachers Taught Us
A Nostalgic Look At The Music We Sang in School

http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2004-9/thismonth/feature.php

Camptown Races
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camptown_Races
http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/DoDahHistory.htm 

America the Beautiful
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful
Nine Facts You Didn't Know
About America the Beautiful
http://www.chicagonow.com/tween-us/2013/07/america-the-beautiful-lyrics-and-9-facts-about-the-patriotic-song/#image/1

 
America - My Country 'Tis of Thee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000012/default.html
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/art-music-and-film/resources/my-country-%E2%80%99tis-thee
  

Yankee Doodle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle
http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/YankeeDoodle.htm
http://www.earlyamerica.com/music/yankee-doodle.htm
Yankee Doodle Dandy' Explained
and Other Revolutionary Facts
http://abcnews.go.com/US/yankee-doodle-dandy-explained-revolutionary-facts/story?id=24314207


Erie Canal - Low Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal
http://www.eriecanal.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Bridge_%28song%29
 
America's Heritage
The Erie Canal

Polly-Wolly Doodle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Wolly_Doodle 

Skip to My Lou
Traditional Square Dance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_to_My_Lou 

Skip to My Lou

Meet Me In St.Louis

And oh I want so much to sing, 

I tell myself no. 

But it is so hard to keep from singing.
  Donna Jo Napoli
 

Those who wish to sing 

always find a song.
Swedish Proverb

 

The best advice is what the 

skylark gives by singing.
  Marty Rubin
 

 The woods would be quiet if no bird 

sang but the one that sang best.
  Henry van Dyke
 

 Some days there won't be a song in your heart. 

Sing anyway.
Emory Austin

Children Singing - Michael Ancher