When I was in school we had a twice monthly class called "Music Appreciation". Every school should have a class like that. For an hour we would listen to and discuss music of all kinds. They started us with the classical material. In time we moved on through traditional jazz (or do you prefer the term "dixieland"?), bits of the blues, and finally "folk music" (such as it was defined in the late 1950's and early 1960's).

    To a bunch of fourth-graders, whose only exposure to the folk material up to that point had been a few Stephen Foster tunes,"Polly Wolly Doodle", and "Put Your Finger in the Air" (which many of us in the back of the room insisted upon sining as "Put Your Finger Up Your Nose"), hearing the album "The Kingston Trio -- At Large" was one heck of an eye opener. After the first hearing we would not let a month go by without insisting the the teacher, Mr. Duffney, play at least one cut from it. I've no doubt that, after a time, Mr. Duffney felt somewhat less like Pygmallion and somewhat more like Dr, Frankenstein.
Over time we, collectively, managed to commit that entire album to memory. In the best possible sense, it warped us all for life.

Stephen Lee