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Re: 42 Songs we should be Singing

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: 42 Songs we should be Singing
From: "J.Alexander" <J.Alexander@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 11:27:42 +1000
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

David Richoux said:

>(I apologize in advance for all non-USA people on the list for this slightly
>chauvinistic article)

No need to apologise - a discussion of what songs we should be singing is
relevant to all countries/cultures.

The concept that there is a core group of songs that all Americans (or
Australians or English or...) should be singing is questionable, if not
dangerous in terms of social engineering.

My daughter did elementary music theory exams last year, and had to study a
book of traditional songs which the music educators believed that every
Australian should be singing.  Her music teacher lamented tat these songs
were being forgotten.   Trouble was, most of the songs were either old
English/Irish/Scottish folk songs, or ballads about life in 19th century
Australia.  My daughter (and I) couldn't understand why she had to study
these old songs when there were so many more recent good ones which would
have done just as well.   The teacher's response was "Oh, everybody knows
these songs, and if they don't, they should."

Now there is nothing wrong with old songs and no reason to stop encouraging
people to sing them, but they are totally irrelevant to today's culture,
and it is ridiculous to think that there is something so special about them
that our civilization will collapse if people stop singing them ("vital to
heritage", as the article puts it).

How foolish it is becomes clear when you look at some of the "vital" songs
on the  American list.

>Do-Re-Mi, >Green, Green Grass of Home, >He's  Got the Whole World in His
>Hands, If I Had a Hammer, Puff the Magic Dragon, Yesterday were either
>written in or became popular during the second half of the century.   (Oh!
>What a Beautiful Morning and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah nearly sneak in here).
>"Yesterday" was written by a couple of Englishmen.  Hardly "heritage"
>material.

The point is that what people think of as "heritage" is what was around and
popular when they were young.  The true "heritage" songs are those
associated with important events or long established traditions.  Maybe
some of the more recent songs will eventually become true heritage items,
but it won't be because children are forced to sing them at school.

It would be interesting to know the ethnic and geographic mix of the
educators who contributed to the list.   If there were a few more of say
Greek or Italian extraction, maybe "Zorba the Greek" or "Come Back to
Sorrento" would have made the list.

And where are the songs which are strongly associated with the south: "Old
folks at home", "Swannee River", "Dixie" - or are these politically
incorrect nowadays.

Maybe some of this is wrong because I'm looking at American traditions from
an Australian perspective, but I can hear the same discussion occurring
here (probably with some of the same songs), and I don't like the idea of
some group setting themselves up as judges of what constitutes our
heritage.


Jack Alexander
Baritone Horn
Waverley Bondi Beach Band
Sydney, Australia.

E-mail: J.Alexander@xxxxxxxxxxx


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