Thursday, January
20, 2005
Blues in the schools
Program explores how music can help learningBy
John W. Barry
Poughkeepsie Journal
With the snap of a snare drum and
the howl of a harmonica, the Levon Helm Band became part of the curriculum
at the Wappingers high school in East Fishkill, where an assistant
principal is writing a doctoral dissertation titled, ''The Blues and
Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design.''
Smiling like an angler who
just landed a prize catfish, Helm, former drummer for The Band, kept
time by striking his drums like a rancher would hammer in a fence
post. Playing harmonica was Little Sammy Davis, who wore a pouch full
of harmonicas like a cummerbund, powder blue suit with pink tie and
matching pocket square and black derby with red feather.
''Oh man,
it was great,'' said Travis Hoh, a 16-year-old junior and sax player
in the school band, minutes after the program ended. ''It was amazing
that they came here.''
Supported by Fred Scribner on guitar and
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Darryl
Bautista/Journal
Musicians play for students and faculty at John Jay
High School in Wiccopee Wednesday. From left are Levon Helm, Little
Sammy Davis and Fred Scribner. |
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Students and faculty applaud
the Levon Helm Band at John Jay High School in East Fishkill Wednesday.
From left are Little Sammy Davis, Levon Helm, , Fred Scribner
and special guest Myles Mancuso
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Darryl
Bautista
Levon Helm was formerly with The Band. |
Andrew Shober on stand-up
bass, this acoustic ensemble kept about 150 students and a handful
of teachers tapping their toes, smiling and nodding in approval. The
40-minute, eight-song concert had the students in a musical trance,
shattered only once by a single shout of ''encore'' in the middle
of the set.
After the concert, Helm and Davis were interviewed in
the high school's television studio by senior Adam Rivera. In front
of cameras operated by students, Davis got Helm laughing from the
gut with tales of growing up in Mississippi, drawing a crowd as a
9-year-old playing harmonica on the sidewalk and hitching a ride at
10 in the back of a chicken truck.
The concert was part of curriculum
based on the blues. Teachers and students are exploring ways in which
the blues -- a musical genre indigenous to the United States -- can
be applied to different educational disciplines and aspects of everyday
life.
John Jay Assistant Principal Rochelle Pyne, a doctoral candidate
at Columbia University, contacted Davis and asked him to perform at
the school as part of the blues program. Davis, in turn, asked Helm
to join in.
This educational approach fits like interlocked fingers
with one mission of The Blues Foundation, a Memphis, Tenn.-based organization
that operates Blues in the Schools. Helm and Davis are two of many
musicians linked with the program, which provides educational resources
to teachers and blues performers for use in schools.
At John Jay,
Pyne said, ''Teachers wrote curricula for a subject area incorporating
the blues.''
According to Pyne, a former Bearsville resident who knew
Rick Danko, bass player for The Band, who died in 1999:
- History
classes at John Jay are examining how the blues emerged in American
culture, using pre-Civil War America and the Harlem Renaissance as
two of many touchstones.
- The business math class discussed the economics
of maintaining a blues band on the road during a tour -- travel, food
and lodging costs and how much to charge for a gig were among the
areas explored.
- The health class looked at why people get the blues
and tied that into discussions of teenage suicide.
Wednesday was everyone's
opportunity to hear the blues.
Understanding music
Pyne said another
goal of the blues curriculum was to link the blues with modern-day
music.
''This presented a very good hook for the students,'' she said.
''One of the reasons that the teachers were very excited about writing
these units of study was that they recognized that music is an integral
part of the daily life of many of their students. The blues has given
the teacher yet another strategy.''
Hoh had a different take on the
relationship between the blues and modern music.
''What an opportunity
to see what else is out there besides the music we listen to,'' he
said of the concert.
Jay Sieleman, director of administration for
The Blues Foundation, noted the direct links between the blues and
modern styles of song.
''Blues and hip-hop,'' he said, ''they're both
telling stories.''
With its links to the past and present, the blues
maintains a certain timelessness that on Wednesday was embodied by
Myles Mancuso, a 9-year-old musician from LaGrange who sat in on bass
with Helm's band. Mancuso's father Nick is a drummer who grew to know
Helm while touring years ago and the relationship has landed the younger
Mancuso in the spotlight.
But steering the ship Wednesday was Helm,
who hoped his performance had imparted some of what music has taught
him onto the crowd that had assembled before him.
''Music is food
for the soul, food for the heart,'' he said, never letting go of his
grin. ''You've got to have a happy heart. Without music, your soul
goes suffering.''
John W. Barry can be reached at jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com
On
the Web
- Blues Foundation and its Blues in the Schools'' program:http://www.blues.org/
- John Jay High School: www.wappingersschools.org/JohnJayHS/default.html
-
Levon Helm: http://www.levonhelm.com/
- Little Sammy Davis: www.wild-rose.com/blues/littlesammy/intro.htm
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