Shall We Dance?
If you’re like most Americans, you can hum the tune to many songs; some newer than others, probably all catchy in their own way and holding special meaning to the listener. Yet the tunes enjoyed by today’s youth often leave the delicate ears of their elders ringing in protest. Concurrently, those gentle wisps of music trailing through Grandma’s parlor probably result in the kids heading for the hills. It seems that there is a perennial generation gap when it comes to music appreciation.
I can recall blasting my latest Kiss album in my basement room only to hear moments later the order from my parents to “turn that garbage off!” Insulted at their lack of coolness, I’d comply but secretly wish them to eternal Perry Como Hades wherein they’d be buried in stacks of vintage LPs.
Fast forward 35 years and now it’s me plugging my ears as my son insists on turning up the bass and shaking my van’s rocker panels with the cacophony of whatever’s on his beloved Top-40 station.
And then it’s me retreating to the quiet of my living room, popping in a CD of Dean Martin and realizing many years later how cool my parents actually were!
It seems that the generations are destined to live outside each other’s sphere of musical influence. Gone are the days when a family would sit together by the radio listening to boogie-woogie tunes and laughing as Grandpa took a turn on the carpet, keeping time with the song. Nowadays, kids have their iTunes, instantly downloadable and mostly forgettable offerings from the studios, plugged in, oblivious to the sounds around them, their relentless boom-boom-boom emanating from the tiny ear bud speakers.
Yet, all is not lost. You only really need to go back about 150 years to find some songs that I’d be willing to bet that everybody in the family would enjoy and most likely end up tapping a toe or two!
How is this possible? Two words. Stephen Foster.
You may ask, “Who the heck is Stephen Foster?” While you may not necessarily recognize the name, you do know some of his work…
”Old Folks at Home” (“Swanee River”)
“Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair”
….see! I caught you humming to yourself! These old-time song still hold sway a century and a half after Stephen Foster created them.
And who exactly was Stephen Foster?
According to Wikipedia,
“Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the ‘father of American music’, was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century.”
He wrote these songs in what was known as the blackface minstrel show tradition” which folks enjoyed around that time.
The Father of American Folk Music
Yet was he a racist? Not at all! According to Wikipedia, he “sought, in his own words, to ‘build up taste…among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order.’ He instructed Caucasian performers of his songs not to mock slaves but to get their audiences to feel compassion for them.”
The interesting thing about Stephen Foster is that while many of his songs’ themes centered on the South, he actually never lived there and visited it only once.
He idealized essentially the down-home lifestyle of pre-Civil War America, and sought to bring this type of music to many different audiences.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “where can I hear this music now performed live?”
Well I have the answer, (at least for those living here in Illinois).
I recently had the joy of listening to these tunes at my local library when they hosted the string-wind ensemble, Century Air Minstrels. Headed up by Dr. Steven Smunt, a local St. Charles dentist and founded in 1999, according to their website,
“The band’s focus is antebellum and civil war era folk and minstrel music for dancing, entertaining, and educating. Wearing period attire, the group performs with a variety of wind and string instruments in a style typical of the mid-nineteenth century. Examples of the march, reel, jig, polka, waltz, schottische, hymn, and ballad are all part of their program.”
The Century Air Minstrels
I sat, mesmerized, watching Dr Smunt and his ensemble transport our small audience back to a time when there was no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, no air conditioning, no modern kitchen conveniences, no internet, multimedia, or, Heaven forbid, no iTunes. A time when gathering with others in the enjoyment of simple, cheerful, sometimes mournful, tunes would for at least a short time bring joy and a sense of community to an often-challenged group of folks.
They came to our Sandwich District Library to give us a taste of not only the tunes of Stephen Foster but also to introduce us to music played by fife and drum units as they would have performed for soldiers not only in the Civil War but the Revolutionary War.
According to Dr Smunt, music is a passion for him. He says,
“I started playing civil war period music on the clarinet about 1996, but I could not find any local musicians interested in forming a period band. Then I witnessed a fife & drum unit at a Revolutionary War reenactment, and decided to get into reenacting as a field musician. In 1997, I purchased both a folk and a military fife from the Sweetheart Flute Co….. I joined up and began diligently learning, practicing, and memorizing. I continued to meet new musicians at reenactments and living history programs, so we formed the Mississippi Valley Fife & Drum corps.”
Dr Smunt and his band not only entertain with folk or minstrel music but also they participate in various reenactment companies. As lead musician, Dr Smunt has, over the past almost 15 years provided not only simple ditties for audiences to enjoy, but more importantly, a learning experience for students young and old seeking to learn more about the early history of the United States.
According to their website,
“Popular Music of the American Civil War Era and mid-nineteenth century, 1835 – 1865, can be divided into three distinct genres: military fife and drum, brass band, and folk & minstrel.”
This tradition of fife & drum genre goes back hundreds of years, starting with the Swiss Army. The military music was brought to colonial America from Europe.
Dr. Smunt says, “During the early republic, fife & drum thrives with the growing popularity of pre-war militias, and continues its traditions within the regular army. During the Civil War, field music regulates the camp duties and fulfills its destiny in parade music, but fife & drum proves impractical as a means to communicate in battle due to the evolution of modern tactics and technologies. Field signals become increasingly performed by the bugle.”
After spending an evening listening to this lovely, fascinating, historical music, peppered throughout by historical anecdotes and illustration of various instruments used by the Century Air Minstrels, I was hooked.
I had to learn more. I soon discovered that the soldier playing in the field would then bring his music to campfires. Other musicians would share their craft in churches and minstrel shows. The most common instruments were violin, banjos, bass, fifes, flutes, drums, tambourines, spoons, jaw harps, harmonicas, concertinas, and accordions. Virtually any instrument available could be utilized to provide hours of entertainment for the soldiers or civilian audiences.
Dr Smunt and his ensemble have done other concerts since visiting my Fair City. They recently performed at Farnsworth House, a local historical site nearby for a Civil War Ball, and they also are scheduled to appear in two Fourth of July parades this year; in Hinsdale, IL at 9:30 a.m. and then at Downers Grove, IL at 1:30 p.m. They are also tentatively scheduled to appear at the Lakewood Forest Preserve Civil War Days in Wauconda, IL on July 10 for another Civil War Dance from 9:00-11:00 p.m., accompanied by John and Elaine Mesciale, Dancemasters. Contact Lake County Discovery Museum in Illinois
So the next time you’re wanting to explore something outside of Ryan Seacrest’s countdown with your kids, it’s well worth your while to check out the Century Air Minstrels.
By the way, I knew I had bridged the generation gap with my son, who accompanied me and my husband that evening to the Sandwich District Library to enjoy the Century Air Minstrels.
His toes were tapping.
Dawn is a budgeting queen!
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Lovely writing Dawn, and quite nostalgic.