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One Room Country Schools
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Subject: One Room Country Schools From: GUEST,Chex29 Date: 03 Feb 00 - 04:40 PM Having gone to a one room country school. I am interested if anyone knows associated songs. We had a teacher who played piano for Wait for the Wagon(My favorite ) and had us dance to the Virginia Reel. Any additions? This is pure nostalgia and Americana!! |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: kendall Date: 03 Feb 00 - 04:56 PM I also went to a one room school. We had a rhythm band, mostly sticks...we danced to "Parade of the wooden soldiers" we sang, "You're a grand old flag" I even remember when we changed the salute to the flag from the outstretched arm to the over the heart position. We didnt want to be mistaken for Nazis. We didnt have to study history in those days 'cause there wasn't any.. sorry, couldn't stick to the truth too long. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: KathWestra Date: 03 Feb 00 - 05:57 PM Don't know any, but am interested to see what gets contributed to this thread! I work for the Rural School and Community Trust, a network of 700+ small rural schools, some of them one-room (my favorite is in Marble, Colo.). We have a one-room school as a symbol on our logo. So I'll eagerly await other folks' reminiscences. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Tony Burns Date: 03 Feb 00 - 06:16 PM I went to a one room school for grades 1 through 6. Strangely I have no memory of any music making. I remember a travelling music teacher and that we were taught to recongnize a scale, the staff, clef signs, etc. The teacher came once a week but I can't remember sining or playing anything. I'm sure we must have but the memories are gone. I remember my parents and their friends singing during the same time period. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Dale Rose Date: 03 Feb 00 - 06:46 PM Here is a link to The Fall 1973 issue of Bittersweet a periodical started by the students of Lebanon, Missouri, in 1973, and continuing through 1983. This first issue focused on the one room schools of Southwest Missouri, the last of which had been closed after the 1972-1973 school year. While it does not necessarily talk much about music in the schools, it does give a picture of the way it was in these one room schools. There are many nice pictures (slow loading, though!) to go along with the articles. I am sure it will be of interest to Kath, and likely to others as well. It is a part of a site that has such a vast amount of material about the folklore and music of the Ozarks, that I have delayed putting up a link to the site until I can do it proper justice. I found this particular issue interesting and informative, that is for sure. One of the schools profiled was called Dry and Dusty, which is the name of a well known Ozark fiddle tune. I have wondered what the connection might have been. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: katlaughing Date: 03 Feb 00 - 07:02 PM Chex29, I will ask my dad, as he went to one on Garfield "Crick" in Colorado and he has been making music all of his life. Kath! I grew up going to Marble, CO to visit all of the time, and have a piece of marble from there that weighs about 150lbs, which my ex pulled out of the river for me. We plan to use it for my mom's grave marker this year. It was one of her favourite places and it seems fitting to place it there in New Castle. I have a wonderful picture of her mom, my grandma, on her horse, bundled up against the Colorado winter, outside the one room schoolhouse she taught in. I will go through her memoir and see what she had to say about music while teaching,for she wrote quite a bit about those days and music was very important to her. This is going to be a fun and very interesting thread. Thank you, Chex29. katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: GUEST,Bruce O. Date: 03 Feb 00 - 09:15 PM I went to a one room school, but it was a parochial school, and all we got besides the 3 R's were hymns and sermons. The 3 R's were interesting, but the rest I've tried to forget, and have succeeded reasonably well. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: canoer Date: 04 Feb 00 - 02:28 AM I'm with Tony, I went to a 1 room school in Wisconsin for grades 1-6 and the only music I recall is when a sub teacher would bring in one phonograph record, hits of the 20s or something, and play it over and over. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: alison Date: 04 Feb 00 - 02:57 AM My great-granda went to one in Ireland... they used to take a piece of turf with them for the fire... to keep the classroom warm..... slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Rick Fielding Date: 04 Feb 00 - 03:09 AM Sadly it almost seems to me that all I ever attended were "one room" schools...and that one room was the detention hall. That's why I'm a folksinger today. My dad grew up in the tiny town of Coboconk (not makin' it up folks) Ontario, and the one room school that he attended was still there the last time I visited. (about 6 years ago) Seemed to have been boarded up for quite a long time, so being the nosy sort I am, I asked a few people if anyone still lived in town who'd attended it. I spoke later that afternoon to a very elderly man who had gone there in the late twenties. He knew (of) my dad, and said that my grandfather had been a wonderful pharmacist. "Fred Fielding would deliver prescriptions to folks every night when he closed the drugstore. People here loved him." Hooo boy! That made my day. Almost cried. Rick |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: GUEST,flattop Date: 04 Feb 00 - 08:31 AM I went to a one room school, near Orangedale in Cape Breton, for a bit - until they closed it. I don't remember any singing, the teacher was strict and religious. I dropped in to see her a few years ago. She was in her eighties and pleased that I dropped in. She asked me what I remembered about her teaching, probably hoping to hear that she'd inspired me or straightened out my life. I told her that I remembered that she was the only teacher who gave me a strapping. My brother told me a one room school story that presents one of those 'Only in Canada?' moments. He was at a dance therapy workshop. (Trippy eh?) To start, everyone told a bit about themself. One guy, who was there with his wife, told about when he younger and attending a one room school. One day a new, attactive girl arrived at the school. He waited until she went to the outhouse which had boys and girls cubicles. He went into the boys, stuck his head down the hole, only to see her looking back at him through the girls hole. They laughed, became friends and later married. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Amos Date: 04 Feb 00 - 10:32 AM Great story! That's a real crackup! (Sorry). A |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Willie-O Date: 04 Feb 00 - 11:19 AM Sorry chex29, "pure Americana" is not possible when Canadians (not to mention Irishers) are around...cause we're the nostalgic type. My mom, as a young woman in New Brunswick, in the late 30's or early 40's, taught in a little red one-room schoolhouse which was later moved to Saint John and set up as a historical exhibit. Where I live in Lanark County Ontario, there's still an identifiable building in or near every hamlet that is or was a "ORSH" (acronymism creeps in). They were all closed about 1970 when the current area school, which my son attends, was opened. (It's now considered quite small and backwoods as public schools go). There is exactly one that I know of that is still publicly owned, which was converted into the township municipal office and meeting hall when the school closed. Two years ago that township ceased to exist, the new, bigger municipality was literally going to sell the building to buy a parking lot in town. A bunch of artsy crafty music types including myself said hey wait a minute, we can use this building as a community arts centre, and so we are! We've imaginatively renamed it The Schoolhouse and its a going concern. We have concerts there sometimes (great natural acoustics I think are typical of these little high-ceiling rooms) and a host of other activities. Rick, I know Coboconk--that's a hell of a stretch of bad road on the way to Gooderham! Willie-O |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: DougR Date: 04 Feb 00 - 07:48 PM I attended a small town school but it wasn't one room, so perhaps I shouldn't comment, but my family attended a country dance in a one room school house in Mulecreek, New Mexico in the early 1950s, and it was a blast. Mulecreek was (is?) a ranching community and once or twice a year they had a dance. Some of the cowboys had been out riding the range for months so it was quite a treat for them to be able to come to the dance and "let loose." There was a small band composed of some students and the music teacher played piano. No booze in the school house, but lots of folks took trips out at band breaks to their cars or trucks where they kept the bottle. We had great old fashioned time. DougR
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Ebbie Date: 05 Feb 00 - 02:28 PM I went through first grade in a one room school. The song I've never forgotten was about a despot- though I didn't realize it at the time (this was 1941)- and it went: Once a Giant came a-wandering... It was great fun for a kid to sing. Memory says that the teacher taught it to me but I suspect that she taught it to the older children and I and Tommy, the other first grader, learned it at the same time. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Ma-K Date: 05 Feb 00 - 04:35 PM The first one room school I went was Carbon Black school was in Lance Creek Wyo. Later that year I went to the Continetal School a few miles away. It had two rooms, one for 1st to 6th. The little room in back was for 7th and 8th. We did alot of singing. Old MacDonald was one of my favorites. We had two outhouses and one bucket with one dipper. One time a water line broke and sprayed water all over the sage brush. We had a beautiful ice castle to play in. There were alot of bump heads until it melted. The highschool kids were taken into Lusk Wyo to school |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Crowhugger Date: 15 Feb 00 - 02:20 AM refresh, hoping for something from k/k's family history. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Sandy Paton Date: 15 Feb 00 - 03:15 AM Our older son started school in a two-room (four grades to a room) school in Vermont. The teacher was superb! He got as much, or more, from hearing the lessons given to the older grades as he did during the time the teacher could spend with his group. He was inspired to read many books that would have been considered beyond his age level. Then, to my great dismay, the wonderful, creative, energetic, lovable teacher turned seventy and was forced, by some stupid law, to retire. Her replacement was a total disaster. Hadn't read a book or had an original idea in forty years. A real dud. When our second son was starting school, we realized that he would be stuck with the dud for those critical early years of his education. He attended the school for one year, learning nothing other than to hate it. We gave up, sold our home and moved away. There are arguments for both sides of the one-room debate, but the secret of a successful education, it seems to me, lies with the abilities and the concern of the individual offering it. Hey, Kath and Kat -- I've been to Marble, too. Gathered pieces of the pure white slabs from the edges of the creek. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Metchosin Date: 15 Feb 00 - 03:37 AM Maybe I shouldn't comment either, because I went to a "three room school" and it was Canadian, but there was music. Every Friday afternoon, if I'm not getting the days mixed up, there was a broadcast over the PA, of a Canadian music programme for children, where we had little boooklets, I think possibly put out by Edith Fowke and had to sing. A line or two that I remember:
Ahoy, Ahoy the balls whistle free Sure got a not of sniggers from us little numbnuts. Anybody recognize this song? Gee, I also just remembered, that's where I made my "Solo Debut" on piano with Alleghaney Moon and boy I sure liked dancing to Oh Johnny Oh. Thanks for jogging the memory banks! |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Metchosin Date: 15 Feb 00 - 03:49 AM BTW we also danced the Virginia Reel too, so we truly got a mixed bag as far as culture went. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: GUEST,Diana Willoughby Date: 15 Feb 00 - 03:58 AM I went to a four room school, three grades to a room. However, since I was only in one room at a time, I figure I qualify to respond to the music recollections anyway. Aside from the patriotic songs, including "Dixie" (Mississippi School) we had singing periods every day. Some that come to mind immediately Turkey in the Straw, Old Dan Tucker, 16 miles on the Erie Canal, Sleep My Child and Peace Attend Thee All though the night, The Preacher and the Bear, and It Ain't Gonna Rain no More. We did all the traditional christmas carols, as well. Let's see, the fourth grade was known for singing Kuckaburro Up in the Old Gum Tree, Clementine, Blow the Man Down. Second graders were allowed to sing "Had a little Monkey, Sent him too the Country, Fed him on Ginger Bread, Along came a choo-choo, knocked him kookoo, now my little monkey's dead. And we worry about violence in the songs today??? Hope these memories help. Diana |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Feb 00 - 04:40 AM You might like to hear The Schoolhouse on the Hill from this week's Spud Mountain RFD radio program, at: http://www.teleport.com/~martini/radio/show.phtml or |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Feb 00 - 04:54 AM PS-- they don't archive that show, the episode with that song will only be on a few days longer |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: katlaughing Date: 15 Feb 00 - 10:32 AM Thanks for the nudge, Crowhugger:-) I just got off the phone wiht my dad. He said they had music everyday, in the afternoon. When he was in the 3rd & 4th grades, he was the only child, with a teacher who was about 19 yrs old and very musically trained. She was so busy teaching him to read music that they didn't have much time for what were considered children's songs. Off the top of his head, he could remember Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, Spanish Cavalier, and the usual partiotic ones. I am sure I will get a call back, after he's had time to think on it. He said those grades, before he was the only student, they had a couple of older boys who were packed off to reform school, much to his and his teacher's delight. The last day those boys were there, he and the teacher wound up behind the wood/coal stove throwing chunks of coal at them to keep them from beating them up! I asked if he remembered the teacher's name and where she came from or wound up. She married the fellow my grandad rented his lower ranch out to and became "Rose Young". Lived there for many years. I am working on a new personal website. If i get time today, I will post a picture there of the schoolhouse he went to and put a link in here. I will also get out my grandma's (other side of the family)memoirs of teachng in Boulder and see what she had to say about music. Thanks, kat Sheesh, Sandy, you and Caroline sure did get around!**BG** |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Sandy Paton Date: 15 Feb 00 - 03:59 PM Yeah, Kat. Caroline and I hit Marble while slinking down the hill from Aspen. Marble's folksier! Sandy |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: GUEST,Emily Date: 13 Mar 05 - 05:24 PM Does anyone remember the lyrics to the song "Once a giant came a wandering..."?? My mother can only remember three stanzas and doesn't know if there are anymore. If anyone knows the words could you please let me know? Thank you
-Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Louie Roy Date: 13 Mar 05 - 07:15 PM I went to a 1 room school in Idaho on Fords Creek Ridge and there were 30 students ranging in age from 5 to 18 and the grades went from 1 through the 10th.There was only one teacher and she could crack a bull whip better than most mule skinners.She played the organ and we sang many songs every day.Another thing we got out of school on the 10th of April and got a far better education than the students in town and they didn't get out until about 20th of May.I also graduated from grade school in 7 years.Oh by the way I started school in 1930.The story that guest flattop wrote was the same story my Dad told us kids is how he met my mother in 1905.Louie Roy |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: Ron Davies Date: 14 Mar 05 - 10:40 PM In case Metchosin (15 Feb 2000 3:37 AM) is still, 5 years later, interested in that song he quoted, it sure sounds like excerpts from "We Sail The Ocean Blue" from Pinafore. We sail the ocean blue And our saucy ship's a beauty We're sober men and true And attentive to our duty When the balls whistle free o'er the bright blue sea We stand to our guns all day...... A great song in a show full of gems. I used to sing lots of songs from Pinafore (among many other sources) while mowing lawns when I was 14 and 15. Sure made the time pass a lot quicker. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: open mike Date: 15 Mar 05 - 02:54 AM there was a special documentary from Nebraska public t.v. about one room school houses. Several were still used daily when it was produced a few years back. My mom went to Burr Oak school and my grandmother taught in schools in that area in 1907...i still have her certificate! http://gpn.unl.edu/static_catalog/203_045.html The historical society in my area recently re-located the building which was the one room school house in the area, and it is being re-furbished as a museum, and community center. |
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Subject: RE: One Room Country Schools From: LadyJean Date: 16 Mar 05 - 01:40 AM My cousin Ruby Caldwell was county nurse for Boone County Kentucky, and told the tale of a two room country school in a community that was largely Baptist, and very strict Baptist, with a serious down on dancing. One of the teachers discovered English country dancing, and decided to teach the children. Of course he couldn't call it dancing. So he called it Round Games. He taught the 8th graders and had them open the graduation exercises playing "round games". The parents rose as one and demanded that their children also learn to play "round games". So, they all learned. They loved the dances. The favorite was "Flowers of Edinburgh" done at double speed. They called it the Blue Racer. Knowing how hard it is to get most boys to dance, I'm amazed at this. But apparently it's true. |
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