The Measure of Your Wealth

             

The Navajos believed that the measure of one's wealth was evident in the number of songs one possessed (or knew).

By that reasoning I would be VERY wealthy!

Have you ever really thought about how many songs you know?

For the sake of this blog just think of songs with words, not instrumental works.

Think about this:

~ The church hymnal has, say, 1000 songs in it. How many of those do you know? For me, I have to qualify this because while I can SING every song in the book (it is my job to be able to do that) I do not KNOW every song in the book.

~ Songs from childhood. Songs your parents, grandparents, etc sang to you. My momma sang "Roll the Gospel Chariot Along," "On Top of Old Smokey," and many more. Nursery rhyme songs. What about "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider?" 

~ Songs on the radio. How many songs there? Don't just limit yourself to what you listen to now. Think back to your youth. For me, it was WLS, the "World's Largest Station!" out of Chicago. My sister played it on the clock radio every night when we went to bed. "Billy Don't Be A Hero," "One Tin Soldier," and "Joy to the World" (the "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog" version, not "The Lord is Come" version) come to mind. [Yes, I know I'm dating myself with those songs!]

~ Songs from camp. For me, that would involve literally years of Bible camps and Girl Scout camps. "Walking down Heaven's Road," "Unto Thee, O Lord" and numerous other devotional songs. The "Billboards" song, "Barges" and "Hillbilly Will" from G.S. camp.

~ Songs from choral involvement. I can't even begin to count these. Let's see, I started choir in fifth grade. Yikes! Thirty-nine years of choir with, say, 45 songs per year. Hmmm...it's too late to do the math.

~ Folk Songs. These have been a part of my life from the time I was a child. My parents sang them to me. My teaching music following the Kodály method these last few years has introduced me to hundreds, if not thousands of these from the US and other countries.

~ Christmas Carols. 'Tis the season for singing after all. I can even remember when I first sang "O Come, All Ye Faithful."

~ What about those songs that you hear, then you find yourself singing and didn't even realize that you even knew the song.

Is it really even possible to tabulate the number of songs one knows?

My brain is tired just trying to account for the songs I've included here.

Regardless of the actual number and the fact that I will never get any real money for just knowing all my songs, I am truly blessed by the music - songs - that have been, are, and will be a part of my life.

Therein is my wealth.

Have you started counting yet?

Can you think of any I may not have listed here?

Something to think about...

Birdsong Lessons

                                     

During my walk the other morning I was delighted by the many bird songs.  Robins, blue jays, doves, wrens, crows, and many more.

At first I just noticed that the birds were happily singing. Then, as I continued to walk, I noticed the different sounds each bird was making. There were the happy chirps. Then the angry calls as a parent bird chased a black crow. The crow screeching as he flew away from the defending parent. The long coos of the doves were very subtle, but there they were in the cacophony of morning songs.

Normally I am not an outdoor person, but I do notice my surroundings especially if it is a musical setting - even nature's musical symphony of bird songs.

The musical connection I made from the morning's walk was as I realized I could distinguish between each bird's song I associated this distinction with the identification of musical motives within a musical work. 

Musical works, from simple children's songs to formal classical pieces, have patterns in them.  We, i.e. "musical sorts," call these patterns musical "form." In the elementary classroom form begins with same and different musical phrases. This progresses from the simple to complex throughout musical study until collegiate courses devoted to "form analysis" in general and studies of specific genres, time periods or composers, such as the course on Gustav Mahler's symphonies I took during my time at SIUE.

Back to the bird songs.

One bird can make many different sounds expressing different things - contentment, fear, alarm, hunger, anger, etc. These different sounds are distinguished, isolated, and identified. Then when they are repeated the listener can make associations and recognize a given sound.

Now to music.

One piece of music is made up of many different sounds.  In music we call these different sounds "motives." A motive is distinguishable, can be isolated, and identifiable. Just like the bird songs.  Within a piece of music composers tend to reuse these motives so that they are recognized when repeated.  This repetition (along with contrasting musical material) develops the piece's musical form.

As I continued my walk I began planning how I might used this bird song connection in my classroom. That's for another day.  I think I'll go take a walk...