Sunday, June 27, 2010

"Muses" by Judyth Vary BakerMAN OF PEACE: A TRIBUTE TO DAVID WILCOX

SOUTHSIDE JR. HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHER 1955ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

I CAN FIND NO MENTION OF DAVID WILCOX, GLEE CLUB AND MUSIC TEACHER AT SOUTHSIDE JR. HIGH SCHOOL ON THE INTERNET. THE VERY SCHOOL IN WHICH HE TAUGHT IN THE 1950’S RECENTLY CLOSED ITS DOORS, SUPPOSEDLY FOREVER. IRONICALLY, WHEN REPORTING THAT EVENT, IT WAS THE SCHOOL’S MUSIC TEACHER WHO WAS GIVEN ACCOLADES. READING ABOUT “MR. T” WAS A BITTERSWEET EXPERIENCE. I WAS AS IF THE YEARS ROLLED BACK AND I WAS READING ALL ABOUT DAVID WILCOX. ST. PETERSBURG Ref: www.tampabay.com/.../k12/article1003740.ece

Outside the Palladium Theater, a light rain patters out a beat. Beneath the stage, Chris

Touchton unleashes a storm. "Okay," says Touchton, the band director at Southside

Fundamental Middle School, "you got 30 seconds to warm up."

All at once, 185 students let loose thousands of clashing notes. Trombones honk.

Clarinets flutter. A baritone croaks.

Touchton blows a whistle to restore order. Things have been crazy around Southside,

he tells his kids, but you poured your hearts into the music.

"We're never going to let the music die," he says. "It's not going to die tonight. And

guess what? After tonight, it's still not going to die, is it?"

The kids all shout no. And they mean it.

But it's still not easy to believe.

• • •

In January, Pinellas school officials announced they would close Southside after 82

years. Declining enrollment, an old building, budget cuts. Something had to go. Seven

other Pinellas schools are going too.

Southside's principal, Mike Miller, says his dying school is going through the classic

stages of grief. Many parents and teachers are closing in on acceptance. Some are still

eyes-blazing angry. How can Pinellas shut down its best middle school? How can it

bulldoze eight decades of history? Sure, the building is held together by duct tape and

bubble gum. But who's complaining? Now a proven teaching corps is going to be

splintered? Now most of the black kids at Southside are going to one school and most

of the white kids are going to another?

The band kids are especially upset. They're nearly a third of the school. They're not a

clique. They're the clique. And forget the stereotypes, there's a swagger to 'em. "Band

geek" is boldly highlighted on black T-shirts that say, "Without Music, Life Would B

Flat." Year after year, Southside's band is acknowledged as one of the best in the

state. In the band room, with its peeling paint and droning air conditioners, a dusty

trophy shelf might collapse with the proof.

Mr. T is why they strut.

Bald and stocky, Chris Touchton, 34 — the kids call him Mr. T — looks more like a

fullback than a band teacher. But put a conductor's baton in his hand and his

movements become smooth and decisive. He is stern one second, jovial the next, then

a combination of both.

"How do you miss me and my tempo?" he says one day, when the kids don't keep time

with his baton. "I'm shiny on top. Round in the middle."

For smart-alecky sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — in-between creatures who need

boundaries but are hard-wired to ram them — Mr. T is perfect.

Every year, he organizes a spring concert, the big to-do for the band kids and their

parents. Mr. T and the students always put a lot of care into the show. This year there's

some anger in there, too.

They want people to hear the most amazing middle school band they've ever heard

and think:

The school board voted to kill this?

The article ends with the very last “Mr. Holland’s Opus” performance at Southside:

For two hours, with Mr. T as MC, six Southside bands take 660 family members on a

trip through time and space. They do disco. They do classical. They do marches. They

zip from Hollywood to the Big Apple (New York, New York), from Mexico (Magnificent

Seven) to Europe (The Sound of Music). They rock Edvard Grieg, the Norwegian

composer who wrote the spooky In the Hall of the Mountain King. Then they rock The

Trammps, who wrote Disco Inferno.

Mostly, they have fun. They snap their fingers like the dancing gangsters in West Side

Story. They do the hand jive like the kids in Grease. For Y.M.C.A., the whole audience

joins in.

Somehow, they manage all night to keep the bitterness at bay. But it's there the whole

time, simmering beneath the surface. When the music finally stops, it flares.

The audience gives the band a standing ovation. The kids give Mr. T a new iPod. And

then, it's over. All of it.

"With that," Mr. T tells the crowd, "we say, 'Southside's finished.' Good night. That's the

end."

The words land with a clunk. The audience isn't sure how to respond.

A chorus of No's fades into awkward murmurs…

• • •

Ron Matus wrote the article, with contributions from staff writer Donna

Winchester and researcher Carolyn Edds .

Southside Jr. High School/Middle School

I can find no pictures of Mr. Wilcox, but surely someone has a Bulldog Yearbook with his picture in it. I think he had a son, Robert.

This apparently now obscure man had a tremendous influence on his classes. First of all, I recall that our Glee Club had at least sixty members. Then there were the music classes he taught, as well as the school’s marching band. How did he find the time and energy to always look crisp, fresh and professional? I can describe him as a man of average height and build, pleasantly-featured, with the hairline of a middle-aged man. He sometimes wore a vest, he often wore a white shirt, and he seemed to always carry a music book or a wand in one hand. There was nothing particularly remarkable or interesting as to his physical appearance.But wait.When he lined us up in Glee Club, a single finger lifted to his lips was enough to gain our respect and attention.For we loved to sing for this man. When we were good, he reverberated with joy. He glowed with happiness and satisfaction. When we were not-so-good, he picked the poorest singers among us and asked them to sing alone to get more confidence. He took the time to hear each of us sing solos after school. He arranged us according to our abilities and our desire to please, which means that we all felt as if we were important and had special talents. For those whose voices were weak, he praised the ability to keep the beat, to memorize the lyrics. For those whose voices were superb – well, we never quite knew who was NOT superb! We all felt as if our best was what we just had to give to this man. He had our hearts in the palm of his hand.Of all the teachers I ever had –and I had some magnificent teachers –this man taught me more than all the others together. He taught me that respect and patience and hard work go together. He taught me how to have more self-confidence. Above all, he taught me to yearn for peace and brotherhood in the world.

The songs Mr. Wilcox chose for us to sing had an impact on us that would last throughout our lives. Where other Glee Clubs might have been singing popular pop, in OUR Glee Club, we sang songs derived from classical music, we sang religious music, and – most important of all –we sang music about love, peace and non-prejudice.Today, some of these songs might have been termed politically incorrect, for we sang Negro work songs, Slavic (yes! Communist!) songs, Gregorian chants, hillbilly songs, songs from the wild west, songs from chain gangs – and songs based on famous operas or adapted from the works of the world’s most famous composers.

How was it possible that we learned at least 200 songs that year and a half that I was in Glee Club? In today’s schools, he tragedy of “Mr. Holland’s Opus” is played out constantly. We are told we cannot afford such "luxuries" as physical education, art classes, and music classes. Thus, thousands of physical education classes, art classes and music classes are going by the wayside –those very classes where the heart and mind together develop their greatest human aspects.

In art, we learn to express ourselves without written words. In physical education, we learn the true value of teamwork and individual effort. But in music classes, we learn all the above, and more.

We learn, through international music, that people everywhere have the same dreams, yearnings and desires. That brotherhood should include respect for all the various cultures, all the various religions, all the various skin colors and races.

In David Wilcox’ music classes, we learned it all.

His explanations of what each song meant stuck with us and translated into fierce emotions and subtle resonances as we sang. We suffered with the slaves. We toiled with the communist workers in their communes. We charged up the hill with the British Grenadiers. We sailed the China seas and penetrated the depths of the Congo. We discovered the Magic Flute and the Swallows of Sorrento.

We discovered ourselves in all these scenarios.

For young teens, faced with the Cold War, the fear that a nuclear bomb could be dropped on our heads (yes, we had to go through those drills where we scrambled under our desks and covered our heads in anticipation of an atomic bomb’s being dropped on our city!)—through all of our painful and exciting adolescent days spent at Southside Jr. High, under Mr. Wilcox’ serene gaze and firm discipline, we felt confident, empowered, and safe.

Below, I have posted just a few of the hundreds of songs that remained living within my heart for the rest of my life – all of them learned in Mr. Wilcox’ music and Glee Club classes. I sing one or two of them every day. Those songs shaped me into a more caring and loving person, more willing to forgive others, more desirous of peace, more human and humane than I’d have been otherwise. The only tribute I can give to Mr. Wilcox, by now long dead, is to say, “Thank you for what you gave me and to so many others. Your gift will never be forgotten!”

A SMATTERING OF SOME OF THE SONGS (WITH LYRICS) MR. WILCOX TAUGHT US:

EVERY SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM SHOULD HAVE THIS (now rare) SONG IN ITS REPERTOIRE:

O BROTHER MANO brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother;Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;To worship rightly is to love each other,Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer…

Follow with reverent steps the great exampleOf Him Whose holy work was doing good;So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple,Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.

Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangorOf wild war music o’er the earth shall cease;Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger,And in its ashes plant the tree of peace.

LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRMENT OF THY PEACE“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Saint Francis of Assisi

THE FLAGS OF ALL AMERICA

The only present reference on the Internet to “The Flags of All America” is in a graduation program from 1956. Why has this song faded from American memory?The Flags of All America”.....................................................Dykema

(Ref: http://www.classof1956.org/images/gradex1.pdf)

I’ve reproduced the lyrics as we learned them:

The Flags of All America

The Flags of all America,‘neath freedom’s shining sun --From northern pines to southern palmsShall ever fly as one…Their clustered banners flyingSo bravely and on high,Bright emblems of our faith and hope,A rainbow in the skies!

Reach out! Reach out! And clasp your neighbor’s hand!March on! March on! A great united band!For youth, triumphant,The clustered banners rise,The symbol of our unity,A rainbow in the skies—A-rainbow-in-the-skies!

An adaptation of “The Walloping Window Blind” by Carryl gave us much fun:

THE WALLOPING WINDOW BLIND

The Walloping Window Blind

A capital ship for an ocean tripWas the Walloping Window Blind.No wind that blew dismayed her crew,Or troubled the captain's mind.

The man at the wheel was made to feelContempt for the wildest blow-ow-owTho' it often appeared when the gale had cleared,That he'd been in his bunk below.

Chorus --Then blow, ye winds, Heigh-ho! A-roving I will go!I'll stay no more on England's shore,So let the music play-ay-ay!I'm off on the morning train!I'll cross the raging main!I'm off to my love with a boxing glove,Ten thousand miles away!

The bo' swain's mate was very sedateYet fond of amusement too;He played hopscotch with the starboard watchWhile the captain tickled the crew. And the gunner we had was apparently mad,For he sat on the afterrai-ai-ail,And fired salutes With the captain's boots,In the teeth of the bloomin’ gale!

Chorus – Then blow, ye winds…

All nautical pride we laid aside,And we ran the vessel ashoreOn the Gulliby Isles where the poo-poo smiles,And the rubbly updugs roar.

And we set on the edge of a sandy ledgeAnd shot at the whistling bee-ee-ee;And the cinnamon bats wore waterproof hatsAs they dipped in the shining sea.

Chorus –Then blow, ye winds…

On rugbug bark from morn till dark,We dined till we all had grownUncommonly shrunk when a Chinese junk

Came up from the Torribly Zone. She was chubby and square, but we didn't much careSo we cheerily put out to sea-ea-ea;And we left all the crew of the junk to chewOn the bark of the rugbug tree. Chorus --Then blow, ye winds…

"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill!" is an American folk song. The Internet tells us it was first published in 1888, with Thomas Casey’s lyrics later placed to music by Charles Connolly. There are several versions of this folk song –one for the railroad, the other for those working in quarries and mines, which I think is closer to the original setting. I like the version, of course, that I learned, best:

"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill!"Early in the morning, the boss comes ‘roundTo chase his men to the quarry ground,For Hard Rock Johnny is a drivin’ lad,And if you don’t hustle, you’ll get in bad—So it’s drill, ye tarriers, drill!(chorus)Drill, ye tarriers, drill!Drill, ye tarriers, drill!Will ye work all dayNo sugar in your tay,Eight hour stretches, and six hours pay?Then drill, ye tarriers, drill!

One day the blast went off too soon‘and blew Dan Dougan nearly up to the moon!Said Dan when he landed, the ride was Okay,But it happened that I wasn’t goin’ that way!So, drill, ye tarriers, drill!

(chorus)When payday came, Dan gave a loud snort,What’s this? He cried, I’m a dollar short!Said Hard Rock Johnny, never battin’ an eye.You were docked for the time you spent

Up in the sky!So drill, ye tarriers, drill!(chorus)

We dared to sing Russian folk songs, too, at the height of the Cold War, and it sparked my interest in Russian music, Russian literature, and the Russian language. Later, I’d take a course in Russian to help me try to translate cancer research reports written in Russian (I never mastered Russian, unlike Lee H. Oswald, who became proficient in the language, but I knew enough in 1963 to speak to him in Russian. I understood much more than I could actually speak, so I was able to enjoy poetry that he read to me in that language).

Volga Boat Song

Yo-ho heave ho! Yo-ho heave ho!Once more, once more, Yo-ho heave ho!Pull the barge 'gainst the river's tide,CHORUS:Volga River stretching far and wide.Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da,Pull the barge 'gainst the river's tide,Yo-ho heave ho! Yo-ho heave ho!

Yo-o heave ho! Yo-o heave ho!As the barges float along,To the sun we sing our song...

Yo-o heave ho! Yo-o heave ho!Volga, Volga our pride,Mighty stream so deep and wide...

Eyy, ookh-nyem! (eyy as in "play", but sung ei-yoohkhnyem) Eyy, ookh-nyem!Ye-shcho raz ee, ye-eshcho-da raz! (ye as in yes)

Ra-zo-vyom miy ber-yo-zoo, (mi, the "i" being short but with an almostsilent y at the end as in "miue"Raz-o-vyom miy koo-drya-voo, Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Ra-zo-vyommiy koo-drya-voo.

Chorus

Miy po byer-yezh-koo i-dyom, Pye-snyu sol-nish-koo poy-yom... (sol as is"soul")Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Pye-snyu sol-nish-koo poy-yom... Chorus

Ekh, tiy, Vol-ga, ma-tryeka, Shee-ro-ka ee gloo-bo-ka...Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Shee-ro-ka ee gloo-boka...

(all r's pronounced with a roll - rrrrrr!)

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!Yeshcho razik, yeshcho raz!Razovyom mi beryozoo,

ChorusRazovyom mi koodriavoo,Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da,Razovyom mi koodriavoo,Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!Mi po berezhkoo idyom,Pyesniu solnishkoo poyom...

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!Ekh, ti, Volga, matreka,Shiroka i glooboka...

Ref: for the lyricshttp://www.google.com/#q=volga+boat+song&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADSA_enSE339&prmd=v&ei=71gnTLi2OJaWOJWO-dcH&start=10&sa=N&fp=c0cfdbfb1e48170b

Panis Angelicus Internet sources tell us that “Panis angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi.” Mr. Wilcox taught us the lyrics in Latin, then an English version. My classmates were largely Baptists who were wary of Catholicism (I was Catholic).

Panis angelicusfit panis hominum;Dat Panis caelicusfiguris terminumO res mirabilis!manducat DominumPauper, Pauper

servus et humilisPauper, Pauperservus, servus et humilis

---there was an all-instrumental interlude--then, in English, we sang

O Lord most Holy, O Lord most Holy!O loving Father, Thee would we be praising always!Help us to know Thee, know Thee and love Thee!Father, Father, grant us Thy truth and grace;Father, Father, guide and protect us.

(musical interlude)

Rule Thou our willful hearts,Keep Thee our wand’ring thoughtsIn all our sorrows let us find our rest in TheeAnd in temptation’s hour, Save through Thy mighty pow’rThine aid O send us; Hear us --in mercyShow us Thy favor -- So shall we live and sing praise to Thee1

The actual translation from Latin is this:

The angelic bread /becomes the bread of men; The heavenly bread /ends all prefigurations: What wonder! /It consumes the Lord [now] a poor and humble servant./Triune God, We beg of you, /that you visit us, as we worship you. By your ways, /lead us who seek the light in which you dwell. Amen.

This Czech folk song also made us laugh. There are numerous verses besides these:

Stodily Pumpa (sounds like “stowed-la poom-pa”)

Walking at night, along the meadow way.Home from the dance, beside my maiden gay.Walking at night, along the meadow way.

Home from the dance, beside my maiden gay, HEY!

CHORUS: (very, very fast!)Stodily, stodily, stodily pumpa.Stodily pumpa, stodily pumpa.Stodily, stodily, stodily pumpa.Stodily-pum pum-pum-pum-pump!

Nearing the woods, we heard the nightingale.Sweetly she helped me tell my begging tale.Nearing the woods, we heard the nightingale.Sweetly she helped me tell my begging tale, HEY!

CHORUS

Many the stars, that light the summer skies,.But none so bright as her two shining eyes,Many the stars, that light the summer skies,.But none so bright as her two shining eyes! HEY!

CHORUS

We learned several Negro spirituals, such as “The Old Ark’s a-Moverin’” -- and many Stephen Foster songs such as “Old Black Joe,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” and “Suwannee River.”

It is impossible to list all the songs we learned.

My hope is that someone reading this will eventually be able to contact David Wilcox’s family. They need to know that David Wilcox was more than a great teacher. He exemplified exactly why music should be taught across the world –not just local music, but the music of the nations. Brotherhood, peace, equality, human rights – all these concepts rest in the knowledge that people everywhere have the same fundamental dreams and are basically the same, under the skin. By learning each other's songs, we learn about each other.

No religious teaching should ever include harming another human being in any way. No political system should use violence.Skinheads and hate groups arise due to the neglect of their parents and the violence to which they are exposed. We know that evil people --people without a conscience -- do exist in the world, but the vast majority of us should also realize that if nobody follows evil people or obeys their orders, they can do much less harm in the world. Millions of Jews were not killed by Hitler. They were killed by those who obeyed Hitler's suborns.Music can communicate where words cannot. An educational system should never deprive a child of a nation's musical

heritage. Nor should any child be deprived of the music of the nations.

In the mid-twentieth century, a mixture of all kinds of music was available for everyone, via radio and TV. I recall when "Your Hit Parade" carried many different kinds of music in its top hits.

Below is a list of the top hits for 1955. I have placed some of these songs in BOLD FACE to demonstrate how they differ from each other:

Johnny Ace - Pledging My Love - 03-55 - Duke The Ames Brothers - My Bonnie Lassie - 10-55 - RCA Les Baxter & His Orchestra - Unchained Melody - 04-55 - Capitol Les Baxter & His Orchestra - Watch The Town And Tell The People - 08-55 - Capitol Boyd Bennett & His Rockets - Seventeen - 08-55 - King Chuck Berry - Maybelline - 08-55 - Chess Archie Bleyer - The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane - 01-55 - Cadence Pat Boone - Two Hearts - 05-55 - Dot Pat Boone - Ain't That A Shame - 07-55 - Dot Pat Boone - At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama) - 11-55 -Dot David Carroll - Melody Of Love - 02-55 The Cheers - Black Denim Trousers - 10-55 - Capitol Don Cherry - Band Of Gold - 12-55 - Columbia Nat 'King' Cole - Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup - 03-55 - Capitol Nat 'King' Cole - A Blossom Fell/If I May - 05-55 - Capitol Nat 'King' Cole - Forgive My Heart - 11-55 - Capitol Perry Como - Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) - 02-55 - RCA Perry Como - Tina Marie - 09-55 - RCA Don Cornell - The Bible Tells Me So - 09-55 - Coral The Cowboy Church Sunday School - Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In) - 02-55 - Decca The Crew-Cuts - Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) - 02-55 - Mercury The Crew-Cuts - Earth Angel - 02-55 - Mercury The Crew-Cuts - Don't Be Angry - 05-55 - Mercury The Crew-Cuts - A Story Untold - 07-55 - Mercury The Crew -Cuts - Gum Drop - 09-55 - Mercury Alan Dale - Sweet And Gentle - 07-55 - Coral Sammy Davis Jr. - Love Me Or Leave Me - 06-55 - Decca Sammy Davis Jr. - Something's Gotta Give - 06-55 - Decca Doris Day - I'll Never Stop Loving You - 08-55 - Columbia The DeJohn Sisters - (My Baby Don't Love Me) No More - 01-55 - Epic Johnny Desmond - Play Me Hearts And Flowers (I Wanna Cry) - 04-55 - Coral Johnny Desmond - The Yellow Rose Of Texas - 08-55 - Coral Rusty Draper - The Shifting, Whispering Sands - 10-55 - Mercury The Dream Weavers - It's Almost Tomorrow - 11-55 - Decca Eddie Fisher - Heart - 06-55 - RCA

Eddie Fisher - Song Of The Dreamer - 09-55 - RCA The Fontane Sisters - Seventeen - 09-55 - Dot The Fontane Sisters - Daddy-O - 12-55 - Dot Tennessee Ernie Ford - Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 - Capitol Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons - 11-55 - Capitol The Four Aces - Melody Of Love - 02-55 - Decca The Four Aces - Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing - 09-55 -Decca The Four Lads - Moments To Remember - 09-55 - Columbia Georgia Gibbs - Tweedle Dee - 02-55 - Mercury Georgia Gibbs - Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower) - 04-55 - Mercury Barry Gordon - Nuttin' For Christmas - 12-55 - MGM Gogi Grant - Suddenly There's A Valley - 10-55 - Era Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock - 05-55 - Decca Roy Hamilton - Unchained Melody - 05-55 - Epic Bill Hayes - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 - Cadence Al Hibbler - Unchained Melody - 04-55 - Decca Al Hibbler - He - 10-55 - Decca The Hilltoppers - Only You (And You Alone) - 12-55 - Dot Joni James - How Important Can It Be? - 03-55 - MGM Julius LaRosa - Domani (Tomorrow) - 08-55 - Cadence Giselle Mackenzie - Hard To Get - 07-55 - X Johnny Maddox - The Crazy Otto (Medley) - 02-55 - Dot Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This - 12-55 - Capitol The McGuire Sisters - Sincerely - 01-55 - Coral The McGuire Sisters - Something's Gotta Give - 06-55 - Coral The McGuire Sisters - He - 11-55 - Coral Chuck Miller - The House Of Blue Lights - 07-55 - Mercury Mitch Miller & His Orchestra - The Yellow Rose Of Texas - 08-55 - Columbia

Art Mooney & His Orchestra - Honey-Babe - 05-55 - MGM Jaye P. Morgan - The Longest Walk - 09-55 - RCA Fess Parker - Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 – Columbia

Les Paul & Mary Ford - Hummingbird - 07-55 - Capitol The Penguins - Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) - 01-55 - Dootone The Platters - Only You - 10-55 - Mercury The Platters - The Great Pretender - 12-55 - Mercury Perez Prado - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White - 03-55 - RCA Frank Sinatra - Learnin' The Blues - 06-55 - Capitol Frank Sinatra - Love And Marriage - 11-55 - Capitol Somethin' Smith & The Redheads - It's A Sin To Tell A Lie - 06-55 - Epic Gale Storm - I Hear You Knocking - 10-55 - Dot

Caterina Valente - The Breeze And I - 04-55 - Decca Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants - 05-55 - Mercury Billy Vaughn - Melody Of Love - 01-55 - Dot Billy Vaughn - The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Pts- 1 & 2) - 10-55 - Dot Roger Williams - Autumn Leaves - 09-55 - Kapp

Ref: "The Greatest Hits of 1955" http://www.severing.nu/music/1955.html

WHAT A WIDE VARIETY OF SONGS ON THE 1955 HIT PARADE!

But that would soon change.

By the late 1960’s, music became compartmentalized in the extreme. Rock and roll and hard rock had their own hits. Classical music had its own followers. Country music stations, rock stations, pop stations, classical music stations – rare, indeed were stations covering a wide range. And ‘folk music' became localized to remote areas found in Tennessee, Cajun Country, or mid-Texas.Traditional music -- old ballads and hymns especially --had nowhere left to go: only at Christmas were some traditional songs pulled from old albums and recycled.The great mixture of music that existed a half century ago is now missing. Kids are growing up exposed largely to small sectors of music: pop, rap, hip-hop, or rock , with a smattering of classical style music largely acquired through motion pictures and the rare TV special. Only old, Classic movies render any idea of the rich variety of orchestral music that was once available on radio stations across the world.

As youth are isolated culturally, because they listen to only a few types of music, they may react to music from other races, nations or religions as being weird, strange, alien, or unacceptably foreign. It then becomes more difficult for them to understand that we are all really the same, under the skin.

We who are older know that people do get corrupted by clever, evil leaders and authority figures, who bend youth to blindly follow their teachings and propaganda, but without exposure to the world's music, it becomes more difficult for our youth to resist evil teachings. Does anyone believe that Skinheads would attack the Roma in the Czech Republic if they had grown up listening to Roma music and had Roma singing beside them in school? Isolating people from each other only entrenches prejudices.

When Christians were persecuted in ancient Rome, they went into the catacombs, as a once-dear friend reminded me. There they became more powerful than ever. This phenomenon, which is the result of of isolation ---simply strengthening the resolve not to change, or give up -- is why sanctions against Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe or the former nation of Burma don't work. Ordinary people suffer, not their leaders, as their leaders cling harder than ever to their evil principles. Economic sanctions do not allow communication. It was through the opening of communications with China that china began to change into a country with more freedoms for its peoples. What influence would we have on China to moderate its economic policies if China had been isolated from the rest of the world?

In countries struggling under sanctions, change rarely occurs. Generally, only when sanctions are relaxed do changes begin to take place: the people see what others have and demand changes, even as new, fresh blood enters into those once-forbidden domains. With communication, change for good can take place.

I need provide only a single recent example to make my point. The following excerpt is from The New York Times

North Koreans Welcome Symphonic DiplomacyBy DANIEL J. WAKIN

Published: February 27, 2008 PYONGYANG, North Korea — As the New York Philharmonic played the opening notes of “Arirang,” a beloved Korean folk song, a murmur rippled through the audience. Many in the audience perched forward in their

seats.

The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience, row upon row of men in dark suits, women in colorful high-waisted dresses called hanbok and all of them wearing pins with the likeness of Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder.

And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans ended the historic concert in this isolated nation on Tuesday in triumph.

...The audience applauded for more than five minutes, and orchestra members, some of them crying, waved. People in the seats cheered and waved back, reluctant to let the visitors leave.

“Was that an emotional experience!” said Jon Deak, a bass player, backstage moments after the concert had ended. “It’s an incredible joy

and sadness and connection like I’ve never seen. They really opened their hearts to us.”

The “Arirang” rendition...was part of a program carefully constructed to showcase the orchestra and its tradition. A State Department official who accompanied Zarin Mehta, the orchestra’s president, on a planning trip to Pyongyang, the North’s capital, last year suggested that “Arirang” be played, Mr. Mehta said.

---Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/world/asia/27symphony.html

Music is the world's language, along with the visual arts, crossing all national barriers. Music is the language that can reach all people, changing their thinking. Music allows us to understand each other over decades and ages and centuries. Thus, music is one of the major keys to promoting peace.

It behooves us to support music programs in our schools; it is wise to support music programs that focus on the music of all nations and cultures. It is just a little step toward a more peaceful world for all of us, but every step in the right direction is a step away from war and suffering.

It is my hope that the wise, eclectic and generous spirit that guided Mr. Wilcox in his broad selection of songs and melodies that crossed all ages, peoples and cultures will provide a vibrant example of what music can do to promote peace in our times. JVB