What is a “Keynote Concert?”
This Saturday, I am presenting a “Keynote Concert” - a hybrid of a keynote address and a concert. While a keynote address is mostly talk and a concert is mostly music, a “keynote concert” is somewhere around two-thirds talk and one-third music. It is a keynote address with two to five songs interspersed.
I will be presenting at the New Jersey State Convention of Woman Educators. The topic is “Remembering Pete Seeger and his Use of (Folk) Music as a Tool of Education.” I interjected the word “folk” into the title, myself. Explaining why “folk” music is an ideal style for teaching will be a major section of the address. I will draw ideas from my interview with nationally touring folk musician and Wisdom Catcher Jon Stotian. Several of my recent posts have covered parts of the interview.
A Good Idea
As we go through life, we pick up stories and pearls of wisdom along the way. If the time comes when we are called upon to share them, it’s probably a good idea to dig a little deeper to make sure you have the story right, and maybe learn a little more background.
This is why I say it takes several years, several months, and several hours to put together a presentation. In this case, it has taken forty years in the trenches, playing music – especially the past twenty years since I met Pete – plus three or four months since being assigned the task to mull the topic over in my head – plus somewhere between twenty and forty hours to organize, plan, research and refine the presentation.
A Discovery
Here’s something interesting I learned as I was digging deeper:
As I already knew, Pete’s father, Charles, was an “ethnomusicologist.” That’s a fancy word for someone who academically studies the music of various ethnic groups. He designed the first musicology curriculum in America at UC Berkeley in 1913. What I learned today is that he was forced to resign in 1918 because of his outspoken pacifism during World War I. Even though this took place before Pete was born, I would bet this was a formative event in his life.
It reminds me of a formative event in my life. In 1933, when my mom was two, her mother died of cancer. Six days later, her father died of a broken heart. Six days after that, her oldest sister married at age 19 and legally adopted her.
My mom grew up in poverty with a poverty consciousness and yet was spoiled with food. She worked hard her whole life but always settled for far less than she was worth. She got pushed around and knocked down and blamed herself. These traits were present in her parenting of me and my siblings. She taught us to work hard and never expect to get anywhere as a result. This and other reverberations of her parents’ early deaths have become life-long challenges in my life.
86 Years Later
Reading about Charles Seeger’s pacifism and his losing his job in 1918 reminded me of a surprising conversation I had with Pete in Andover, Massachusetts in 2004. And I wonder how much the 1918 event influenced Pete’s viewpoint 86 years later.
I showed Pete a song I was working on called “War is Not the Answer.” Pete immediately suggested changing the title to “War is Not the Answer Anymore.” I was shocked. I had assumed Pete must be a pacifist – especially considering his opposition to the recent U.S. invasion of Iraq. But in subsequent conversations throughout the weekend, Pete shared his belief that war is not always – or, at least, wasn’t always – unjustifiable. We talked about the Neanderthal, tribes of primitive peoples warring over limited food supplies, and armies defending their homeland against invaders.
After years of reflection, I agree with much of what Pete shared. Today, for instance, in my humble opinion, I consider Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unjustifiable, but I would argue Ukraine has a right to defend itself militarily – within the law, of course, and with careful consideration of how their actions today will affect innocent civilians and future generations.
Not a Pacifist
Shortly after our weekend in Andover, I learned Pete’s song “Bring Them Home.” I was pleasantly surprised to hear, within a specifically anti-Vietnam War song, the lines:
There’s one thing I must confess
I am not a paci-fest
If some army invaded this land of mine
You’d find me on the firing line.
As years passed, I witnessed more cases of Pete not being a fan of absolutism. I wrote a verse for his song, “God’s Countin’ on Me, God’s Countin’ on You.” The line was:
When push comes to shove, the only remedy is love
It took Pete only seconds to respond: “I wouldn’t say it’s the only remedy.” He later shared in a postcard the suggestion “May-be the remedy is love.” And the few times he sang the line, he sang “Perhaps, the remedy is love.”
Deeper and Deeper We Go
I found this week’s earthquake here in New Jersey - the seismic shift in White House (the epicenter) - quite exhilarating; the solar eclipse wonder-inspiring; and this little discovery about Pete’s father, unearthed while digging further into the depths of American folk music history, fascinating. Thanks for joining me as I continue Looking for America.
- Keep the Flame Alive!
Excellent💗