“Beyond the Pale” is a musical group that visited our local library and due to the generosity of local sponsors, we attended their concert for free.  Their music is Celtic in nature, and they do many original Irish folk songs, but our interest in them had to do with American music.  As noted in the Kentucky post, the Appalachian region was settled by Irish-Scottish immigrants who brought their music with them.  A combination of their heritage, along with American influences, produced Appalachia which we enjoyed hearing in several selections by “Beyond the Pale.”

The musicians were versatile and played a variety of instruments, the enthusiasm was wonderful for a concert.  I noted, however, that the vast majority were grey headed in the audience.  What a shame that younger people aren’t interested in our musical roots, neither do they desire to reproduce themselves what our heritage has handed to us. 

This group has been a standard at the annual Irish Festival in Dallas, held near St. Pat’s Day each year.  This year several Canadian groups were just leaving their performance halls at the Olympics to come to Dallas to join in the festival.  We had too many things going on to go down and check out the festival, but the Irish in me says that some year we will.   (I am Scotch-Irish-British.)

Mandolin and guitar along with some great singing from this gentleman.

The enthusiastic one in the group.  Loves to sing.  She can also, play, sing, and jig at the same time!

The accordian in Celtic and Appalachia is NOT used like in German folk music.  No polkas here.  I found it interesting that she could keep up with the woodwind on the melodies with her right hand.  Or she would immitate the bag pipes in right hand chordal progressions.  But the left hand?  I only noted one song where it was used, and that is when a section of the song was Tex-Mex.  She obviously had no problem with the left hand technique; it’s just that there is no oom-pah in the Celtic genre. 

This guy plays all the flutes and whistles and bass flutes and what-not.  He’s been playing at the Irish Festival since the 80s.  Very talented.  He also played other instruments that were new to me.  But not to Karen.  She basically explained the whole concert to me.  What a joy to have a daughter who has learned farther than myself.  I find this a delight almost daily as she explains centuries of music to me from a larger perspective than just classical music.

Here is a video of the band playing since we are not able to post our own videos at this time.

Treasures come in all forms.  Especially those things we treasure in our hearts.

Many days I miss my mother, who died when I was in first grade.  It seems I miss her more now than I did in earlier years.  I own only a few photographs of hers, and nothing else that belonged to her and my childhood.  That does not stop me from remembering.  I have treasures stored up in my heart.

One of those treasures is that my mommy sung to me.  All kinds of funny, silly songs.  Country western songs.  Popular songs.  Hymns.  Christmas.  Even Elvis Presley!  All kinds of music.  The songs I remember the most are “On the Good Ship Lollipop” and “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?”   I sang these songs to Karen and Kathy when they were young.  Karen figured out how to take childhood songs and record them on the electronic piano with some fantastic settings and create accompaniments. 

I did not know that Karen and Kathy have been singing certain songs to Kimmy.  It was to my delight that this week I discovered Kimmy singing her own version, with headphones, pretending to play the accompaniment.  My mommy would have loved this if she were here today with her grandchildren.  For Kimmy’s version, click good-ship-lollipop

We ding-a-lings here at the Spangler house love music and we’ve been trying to raise the level of our chime playing.   Although my college training is in all levels of music in the choral-bell-piano arena, one thing I lack is how to age integrate on bell training.  I performed at an advanced level for four years with a Schulmerick handbell group that toured the New England and the Mid-Atlantic States and I also taught bells in age segregated environments in public and private schools.   Having to take this knowledge and skill and adapt it to my children’s seven levels of musical reading and understanding has been a struggle for me.  We had a visit from Christa Blanchard and asked her if she would like to try our our chimes.  She sightread well and picked up technique quickly, so this gave me the extra player I needed to figure out how to teach this in an age integrated way.  Now I need to go back to the drawing board when I find some time (when?) and design the teaching materials a little differently.   Karen is missing from these pictures because she was taking the pictures but she was playing with us too.  We had been trying to put together a new piece for some time and with Christa taking some bells, and me directing and playing one bell, we were able to pull it off.  One of the things I appreciate about Christa is that she has one of those “can we….?” attitudes.  Can we try these chimes?  Can we try some part singing?  Can we figure out a way to do flute?  Can we ….?    I use to be so much more “can we” before I came into this season of life when there is sooooooo much housework, schooling, laundry, church, shopping, etc.   Because Christa’s “can we” attitude rubbed off on me, I met with James last night in a musical visionary meeting and had lots of “can we” items to talk about.   I also resolve to not listen to those “we can’t” people.

By the way, chimes are basically huge tuning forks.  They are not handbells.   I would like to get to the point where we can have some other families join us to play.

Perhaps my favorite part of home education is when I read poetry to my children.  This is a regular, daily event in our house.  Poetry brings the highest level of language to the eye and ear.  It places the loftiest thoughts in their minds and it stirs the emotional spirit of my family.    The beauty of nature is revered in verse, and the sufferings of man are explored.  I have found no better way to engage the mind toward religious contemplation than through poetry.  The fundamental questions of life are asked.  There are so many ways to bring poetry into everyday home education:  singing or reciting a hymn, reading from anthologies of great verse, turning to the whirlwind in Job, dramatizing a sonnet, or rhyming an original verse.    Whether it is the siting-at-the-edge-of-your-seat “Casey at Bat” or the fantastical “Jabberwocky” (no I’m not sure of the pronounciation of the words in that one, but who cares?) or  the questioning “Who Has Seen the Wind?” — the mind is lured to think sharply and follow complicated linguistic patterns.

This is not to say that the comic poems are passed over.  No, not at all.  Every child in my house can recite “Ooey Gooey was a worm, a mighty worm was he.  He stepped upon the railroad tracks, the train he did not see! OOOOOOeeeeeyyyyy GOOOOOeeeeeeyyyyyyy.”  And then there is “Celery raw, develops the jaw, But celery, stewed, Is more quietly chewed.” (Ogden Nash).  There are also large quantities of limericks frequently enjoyed in our home. 

Recently I introduced my children to Frostiana — Seven Country Songs, a musical composition by Randall Thompson, which takes the poetry of Robert Frost and pairs it with the language of music.  The results of this work are superb and I have both sung these in formal choir settings and directed choirs in these pieces.  It would not have been as satisfying and enriching of an experience if my children would have initially met up with Frostiana with an actual recording or performance, so over the past few weeks we have studied Robert Frost’s life and poetry ahead of listening to Thompson’s rendition.  I labored over this with great anticipation of finally playing the musical rendition of the poetry, and was at war with the temptation to just go ahead and play it ahead of savoring the poetry on its own.   I don’t know how I did it, but I did wait until the right time to play the recording. 

Finally the day came when our family took a country drive around Lake Lavon and James and I smiled at each other as we slipped the CD into the player.  As much as I love Frostiana, even more so I delighted in the expressions on my children’s faces as each piece climaxed and then fell in action and resolved.  There were giggles at the end of “The Telephone” as we all had a good laugh at Frost’s way of inviting himself to a friend’s house (was the flower on the sill a daffodil with its trumpet-like petals?  and just how did Frost on the other end find the exact flower in the field that was ringing?), but it was “Choose Something Like a Star” that left the children breathless and deeply satisfied.  I knew this would be the case.  This was the piece I conducted in college as my final exam in choral conducting.  I had to write a complete term paper on the musical expertise of this piece.   This also is the piece I sung for competition in high school choir.  This was the piece that I rendered the piano accompaniment to the East Texas choir that won district competition.  Yes, I am too familiar with the satisfaction of great poetry and great music when they join so well as they do with Frost/Thompson.   And perhaps this is why Robert Frost himself at the premiere performance of all of the Frostiana pieces stood up right in the middle of the concert at the conclusion of “Choose Something Like a Star” and said, “Sing it again!”  And so they did. 

One of the things that I appreciate about composers of the past 150 years is that the techniques penned by great literary authors are now a part of musical composition.  Onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, alliteration, understatement, hyperbole, cliche, oxymoron, imagery, simile, personification, metaphor, foreshadowing, symbolism.  Yes, some of this is in Mozart.  But it is the more recent compositions that have expressed these so well.  And Frostiana is a prime example. 

There are times that I believe that the reward of education and teaching is when another person experiences the homogenization of language, fact, nature, human experience, and spiritual understanding.  To see the light bulb go on in the brain, the smile sweep across the face in “I got it!” and the soul reach new heights in emotion and understanding, well, it is all a teacher could desire.

On the Thompson recording was something not part of Frostiana.  Thompson’s “Alleluia” is, in the opinion of my musical husband and me, the greatest choral piece ever written.  We were able to explain how the music follows the path that great literature walks upon …. setting & character, rising action with a conflict, climax, denouement, and finally resolution.  For those of our children who have the gift of literacy and have examined literature with us in this way, the musical “Alleluia” was just the cream of the crop.  I know the music of heaven will go well beyond this piece, but on this side of heaven it is heavenly. 

Although Frost is known best for “The Road Less Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”  and “The Road Not Taken,”  I leave with you “The Telephone” and “Choose Something Like a Star” for your enjoyment.  The first is quite easy to figure out, but the latter if you get stuck, send me an email and I’ll give you some clues on taciturn and Keat’s eremite and what possibly the star means.  And even more, what man’s great dilemma is and how his response is so often wrong.  Enjoy.

5. Frostiana: The Telephone ‘When I was just as far as I could walk
From here to-day,
There was an hour
All still
When leaning with my head against a flower
I heard you talk.
Don’t say I didn’t, for I heard you say–
You spoke from that flower on the window sill-
Do you remember what it was you said?’

‘First tell me what it was you thought you heard.’

‘Having found the flower and driven a bee away,
I leaned my head
And holding by the stalk,
I listened and I thought I caught the word–
What was it? Did you call me by my name?
Or did you say–
Someone said “Come” — I heard it as I bowed.’

‘I may have thought as much, but not aloud.’

“Well, so I came.’

8. Frostiana: Choose Something Like A Star O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud –
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.

Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says “I burn.”
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.

It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats’ Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.

February 15, 2007 

In our home we delight in the wonderful gift of music that God has given to us. Throughout the Psalms we are instructed to sing praises to the Lord and to play skillfully on instruments. (Psalm 33:3) In the New Testament we are exhorted to make melody in our hearts to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19) These are the scriptural goals of music and it has been a joy over the years to do many musical things throughout our day. In our home, there have been three areas we have applied music … a well-trained mind, a well-trained heart and well-trained hands.

In training the mind we have found that the most important activity in our home is establishing family worship on a daily basis. We read the Bible cover to cover, again and again, realizing that it is the final authority on all things and it is through knowing the scriptures that we can impart godly principles of music to our children. We sing from the hymnal daily and teach the good heritage of music that has been passed down from the saints of previous generations. Our hymnals are close at hand on our living room bookshelves ready for use. A well-trained mind will identify moral, principled music and approach musical choices with the Lordship of Christ in mind.

A well-trained heart flows forth from establishing strong family bonds and eliminating competing influences from the world. Over the years we have learned how to choose good, melodic music with the intent to train the appetite of each family member. As we have learned to eliminate music that is not godly and mature, as a mother I have found that all forms of art in the home either support a godly appetite or work contrary to this. Picture books can be beautifully and realistically illustrated or they can be abstract, silly, or even worldly. Videos and DVDs can be lovely to watch and listen to or they can be foolish and immature and time wasters. Books can nourish our minds and increase our love for beautiful language or they can detract from these things. Even in evaluating school curriculum, I review materials by not only considering the content and methodology, but in evaluating the beauty of the language and pictures.

In order to train the appetite musically, we have invested in a good musical listening library (music from the Baroque and Neo-classic periods, also traditional sacred music) along with eliminating extra noise, disturbing sounds, and dissonance in the home such as those found in computer games. Sometimes we are asked if this is too limiting, but as trained musicians and composers, my husband and I see great value in narrowing the listening field to music that is high in content and rich in theoretical techniques and devices. We also consider the effect of outside influences on our children when choosing restaurants, stores, and public activities as we are aware of both the passive and active effects music has on us. I have also found it extremely important to use music appreciatively or in praise to God and not as an energy source or as a dependent crutch to stimulate emotions which are unbiblical uses.

Well-trained hands are the actual physical skills needed to produce music. As a home schooling mother, I consider our home to be the major vehicle for musical training (not any type of classroom training) and it begins with having singing as a non-negotiable daily activity in our home. We sing each morning from the hymnal along with other family favorites such as old folk tunes and part singing …even before we eat breakfast! Because we believe that singing is the foundation for all musical training, we incorporate singing into many parts of our day, family worship, and bedtime lullabies. I have found it helpful to keep a hymnal by the baby’s changing table and use our frequent trips there to sing hymns to my infant. We sing at bath time. With the younger children we also use rhythm instruments and sing songs with hand motions. Sometimes I will even read hymn texts to toddlers. They enjoy the meter of the rhyme and the beautiful, expressive words more than typical nursery rhymes.

With older children I have found it important to be alert to competing influences and to continue to train the appetite of my children toward melodic music. During the 6-10 year bracket, I teach the beginnings of the history of sacred music to my children (using the “Mr. Pipes” series and hymn story books) along with the study of the orchestra (The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Ganeri). I have found it helpful to first teach my children to fluently read aloud the text of a hymn followed by just humming the tune. When these two parts are well learned independently of each other, the hymn comes together naturally. It is soon after these skills are grasped that singing rounds and simple part singing are enjoyed by our family. Folk instruments are fun to learn at this age, especially the recorder which is inexpensive and can be self-taught with the Sweet Pipes Series. When reading and singing are fluent, this is the time to begin more formal training on classical instruments. I advise parents to be careful in the selection of private music teachers and to carefully choose a teacher that works from a godly framework instead of one that works contrary to the goals that parents have set from scripture. Another consideration is whether the musical skills that are learned will be directed only to performance and the concert stage, or if those skills are directed toward the glory of God and enabling the church to better worship our great God.

Later on our young adults have pursued music theory, music history, and more advanced instrument study but we still return each day to vocal song. We keep singing, and singing, and singing! God gave us an instrument that we carry with us at all times!

Many, many times my husband and I have been asked, “Isn’t this just for musical people? I don’t have a music degree like you. In fact, I may be tone deaf!” Our answer has been: sing anyway. If you enjoy singing, your children will too. If you are not musical, your children will benefit from a cheerful spirit and preparation to sing corporately in church. If they are musical then they will sing in pitch and help you along! If you are not musical, then put a plan in place to purchase a good musical audio library. Good recordings for hymn singing are 20 A Cappella Hymns Vol. 1 & 2 produced by Provident Music Distribution. The harmonies have been altered from standard arrangements but they are good for melody singing. Do not be discouraged if hymn singing seems too high in pitch. Singing takes consistent practice and in time the voice becomes stronger. Elementary children have a range from Middle C to upper C, but it expands as they grow older.

We have found in our home that the goal is not to stoop down to our children, but to lift them up to godly adult living. What a great opportunity we have to raise our children with purity of heart and spirit and with well-trained minds, hearts, and hands. May all of us use music to the glory of our wonderful Lord!

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20.