Hundreds of Student Sing Songs of War
On April 8, the Lakewood Middle School library was ringing with the sounds of war in America. Each hour's eighth grade history classes joined me to "Sing A Song of War." From the Revolutionary War in the 1770s through the more-than-two centuries that followed, Americans have made music that rang out over the clamor of battles, marching soldiers and those waiting and worrying at home. Yankee Doodle began as a song to mock the American settlers, but the settlers loved it, sang it, and turned it into a celebration of the new United States. Students discussed the moods of each song, from brash and heroic to worried, sad and grim, the songs express the many moods of a nation at war. With the lyrics on PowerPoint, students joined in with "The Battle of New Orleans," "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home," its root song: "Johnnie I Hardly Knew Ye," the wistful "Keep the Home Fires Burning," WWII's "Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer," and the Viet Nam pop song, "The Ballad of the Green Beret." To end on a hopeful note, we sang, "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream," with the hope that someday, there will be an end to war. This program was sponsored by the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission's "Arts Infusion" program in the public schools. Even the history teachers learned some new tidbits, they told me over lunch. Two hundred thirty-three years in fifty minutes six times in a row just about reached my limit - but the kids were cooperative, and we all had a bit of fun.