Reply to Stop singing these racist minstrel songs to your children.

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Reply to "Stop singing these racist minstrel songs to your children."

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a school music teacher, I would say there IS musical value to these songs (e.g. "Oh, Susanna," "I've been working on the railroad,"), which is why they have lasted.  I could go into the technical reasons such as the easy voice range, the step-wise melodies, and the appealing syncopations that encourage body movement and dance.  These are musical qualities that appeal to children and encourage them to sing.   The sentiments in all of them (as we sing them today) have nothing to do with race or demeaning anyone.  Most are about work or play or love and are easy for young children to sing, understand, memorize and perform for themselves or others.  In fact, I think the reason why the lyrics were changed was due to the musical value of the tunes. You will find outdated verses and lines in the great songs of Stephen Foster and others, but these are part of the songbook of American and influenced many composers that followed them.

YES. the history of the songs is worth knowing and researching,but that's something you teach at a developmentally appropriate time.   But I do not think it's worth expunging these songs from early childhood learning because of a misguided fear that a child will become racist.[/quote]

If a genre of music emerged during or following the holocaust that served as antisemitic entertainment, would it be sufficient to simply change the lyrics? Would we teach the songs to our children with cute new lyrics? Would we tell Jewish people to chill out and accept the antisemetic songs for their "other" values?[/quote]

With all of your defending a Islamic cultural center in the area of 9/11 where bodies fell, I think Jews have more to worry about than a song.[/quote]

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