Blues for kids? 2004

Blues for kids?
Originally published 5/26/2004

I have tended to shy away from doing “blues in the schools” programs. Well, I did once do a weeklong residency with inner-city middle-school kids in Charleston. And I did a weekly harmonica class with adolescent offenders in Greenwood for awhile. And I taught a four-hour (!) – or was it six-hour? – children’s blues workshop one day at a museum. And I was one of a bunch of harmonica players who did a daylong teach-in in Glendora, Sonny Boy’s hometown, on his birthday a few years ago. And all those activities turned out fine, despite my trepidation beforehand. But recently I was asked to do a program in the auditorium of an elementary school, during National Music Week, for the whole school -- 400 kids!

I said yes. I don’t pass up work if I can help it. But I was anxious about this assignment. All the other children’s programs I’ve done have involved small groups of kids. And the key to success is, you get them doing something. Get them playing instruments, making instruments, anything physical. But on a stage in front of 400 kids, it’s not feasible to get them all doing something (I did ask Spoonman to come help, thinking we could pass out 400 pairs of plastic spoons, but he declined). I perform in front of 400 or more adults, no problem. But adults will sit and listen, and they’ll usually be polite even if they’re not enjoying themselves. With kids, I didn’t think they’d sit still for long listening to me talk and sing and play.

But anyway, it worked fine. For one thing, all the teachers were there, too, so I didn’t really have to maintain order. But the kids got into it right away. And they seemed to know quite a bit about music, and even about blues. They do have a full-time music teacher at the school – I was surprised, since I always read about arts cutbacks in public schools. I asked questions a lot during my talk, and they raised hands eagerly and usually knew the answers.

I talked about how and when blues started, how it’s related to other music genres, what its words are about. I demonstrated harmonica, guitar, metal guitar, and explained why they are used in blues.

And I played songs, and managed to pick songs from my repertoire that are appropriate for all ages. That’s one beef I have with the whole “blues in the schools” concept: 90 percent of blues songs are about love. And not love between parent and child, or love for all mankind or anything like that. You know, real love, sex, abandonment, hostility, sex, violence, sex, all that. And if you water it down, and try to write kids’ blues songs like “My dog ate my homework this morning,” you’re missing the point, and not really teaching the kids about blues.

But anyway, I managed to pick real blues songs, and some African-American folk songs, that don’t have any lyrics that would get me banned from school: “Polly Put Your Kettle On” (prefaced by talking about Sonny Boy Williamson, from this area), “Spike Driver Blues,” (by John Hurt, from a town very close to here), “Come On in My Kitchen” (Robert Johnson, who died here), “Shortnin’ Bread,” “Fishing Blues.”

I had the whole group clap along on most of the songs, and tried to get them all to sing on a few. On the final two songs, I brought volunteers up from the audience to play washboard, tambourine and shakers. They loved that of course.

The teachers enjoyed it too, and asked me to come back soon. I think I could do more of this kind of gig. Nice work, short hours, and it’s in the daytime!