Discuss with the board the traditional and cultural music in your home community.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Katie Maurer]

I grew up in the midwest in a fairly conservative family. My mother always sang to and with me as I was growing up. Lots of traditional American children’s songs like “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” While not songs exactly, we also did a lot of rhythmic chanting of nursery rhymes like “Little Bo Beep” and “Jack Be Nimble.”

I was also surrounded by hymns and Christian children’s songs like “Jesus Loves Me,” “The B-I-B-L-E,” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Hymns are still a big part of my life and a type of music that I love to go back to when I’m looking for comfort and familiarity.

One of the biggest musical memories I have from childhood is of what we referred to in our house as the “Do Do” song. This was a hymn tune that my mother always sang to me as I was going to bed or sick or just out of sorts. It’s an actual hymn that has words, but she always sang it on the syllable ‘do.’ Even just thinking of the melody reminds me of the feelings of love and comfort I experienced when she sang it. I’ve even pulled out the ‘Do Do’ song to comfort an upset child I was babysitting.

[Caroline Gillott]

I grew up in a similar setting to Katie. My family sang the traditional nursery rhythm songs such as the ones she listed. As I got older and started taking piano/voice lessons broadway and disney became a mutual musical interest among my family members. Hymns too were also a big influence. My mom and I used to play together in church. Her on flute and me on the piano.

[Dany Orozco]

I’m in Mexico but the songs we have here are not too different than the ones in the US. We have a lot of songs that are the same but in spanish, like itsy bitsy spider and twinkle twinkle. Even the ones that don’t have a translation have the same goals as the ones in english, so when I was going through the video of the songs I could think of what songs I knew in spanish that would have those goals. I couldn’t think of any gathering songs that I learned when I was young, but I usually translate the ones I know in english or write new ones so it works out.

[Kate St. John]

I grew up in southern California where we always sang nursery rhymes and traditional children’s songs. My parents are still hippies, and they always had classic rock playing all the time so I grew up learning a lot of that too. Once I started singing in choir more seriously and taking voice lessons in high school, it was always musical theater and opera. The classical/operatic vocal training continued through college while I was doing my first music therapy degree.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I had the hippy parents too, Kate! The soundtrack to my childhood at home was Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Harry Chapin, etc. My mom was wonderful at singing traditional children’s songs with us and my parents exposed us to classical music growing up too. I grew up singing in the church choir and a community chorus. Through that I was lucky to sing some rich choral music that I carried into my college career at Westminster Choir College. What I love about my turn to music therapy is that it opened the doors to lots of different music in my life. Following client’s preferred music led me to hip hop, country, pop and other genres. Here at home with my family now we listen to many different types of music. My husband is Colombian so we listen to lots of Latin music but both my husband and I are big fans of all types of world music. Our city, Burlington, VT is one of the largest refugee resettlement locations. Therefore, we are lucky to have people from very diverse cultural backgrounds/homelands in our local community. My children have learned songs in many different languages in school, including Bosnian, French, Spanish and some African languages. I do try and integrate world music into my music group for little ones.

[Sarah jane Mason]

The traditional and cultural music in my hometown was definitely rooted in southern flavor. I say my hometown because I have moved quite a bit in life, but my roots are in NC. There are deep roots of old school country such as Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Kenny Rogers, and my first concert ever was Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters. Traditionally there was lots of hymn singing, but also a clear recognition for what was being heard across town in the gospel churches as well. While the music at my church was more reserved, the music at the gospel churches poured out into the streets on Sunday mornings. Since the discussion also shifted to what we listened to as children, I was raised on popular music like The Beatles (early, more innocent years), The Beach Boys, Peter Paul and Mary, Cat Stevens, lots of big band jazz, and classical. My favorite record growing up was a Strawberry Shortcake record I would play on my Fisher Price record player. It has Over the Rainbow on it and to this day it is still my favorite song.

[Nancy Bair]

I grew up in Upstate NY, I am the youngest in the family and my next closest sibling is 7 years older than me with my oldest sibling being 16 years older than me. I did learn a lot of the “preschool” songs, but I also have fond memories as a young child dancing to the Stray Cats with my older sisters. My Dad loved Frank Sinatra and we always had him playing as well as Tony Bennett and lots and lots of Sousa marching band music-especially stars and stripes.

My older sisters all played piano, some were better than others. My oldest sister played the organ and my Dad sang in the choir at church. We had a lot of great songs introduced at church, primary songs (religious and nonreligious), as well as hymns.

My grandmother lived with us for much of my childhood and she shared a room with me. SHe would sing to me everynight some old folk songs like You are My Sunshine, This Little Light of Mine, I’ve been working on the Railroad, She’ll be coming down the mountain, etc.

Big Rock Candy Mountain was a favorite cassette (gasp!) that we listened to on our LONG car trips every summer. I still have those songs in my head all these years later.

[Sarah jane Mason]

“You are my sunshine” always feels like a staple to me, but I realize it can be more of a regional tune from my experience traveling. I’m surprised when I come across clients that don’t know it. More specifically it happened quite a bit in Alaska when I lived there, but it is a song rooted in southern tradition so I guess those songs don’t always make it up north that far.

Since this topic is traditional and cultural music I wanted to add that, having lived in quite a few places across our continent, I am always amazed at the differences in music, storytelling, and traditional costumes where I go. It’s also unique to see the difference in instrumentation and what those instruments are made of traditionally. Living in Alaska their song and dance was ornamental with wood and furs, steeped in themes of hunting and living on the land, and in minor or various modes. When I lived in the Caribbean the songs were more about oppression, “don’t keep me down” vibe, were almost always in major keys, and brightly colored like their seas and surroundings. I am not FROM either place, but I just wanted to share the experience.

[Cassandra Mulcahy]

I grew up in Western Mass, and we too had the basic wheels-on-the-bus, old-mac-donald, eensie-weensie-spider repertoire. In elementary school we sang lots of americana tunes like she’ll be coming around the mountain, this land is your land, my country tis of thee etc. We lived a few towns over from where Woody Guthrie retired, so I believe this had an influence on the music our schools choose.
I currently live in southwestern CT, and there is a great deal of cultural and economic variety. I find that a great deal of the younger kiddos I work with do not know much children’s music,but are instead more familiar with pop tunes.

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