# Whooooaaaaaa Listen To The Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457 "2019-06-13T02:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/21 "2019-06-14T01:27:22Z")
I grew up in the 70s in Texas, which meant in my public school music class we mostly covered religious and patriotic songs. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/22 "2019-06-14T02:54:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Wow your elementary school music class sounds exceptional, **DorkVader**! Looking back, I now know that it was. At the time, if I did think about it, I probably just figured every music teacher was like that. I wish I could thank that man for the positive influence he had on me, but I found out tonight talking about it with my parents that cancer took him in the mid 1980s ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/23 "2019-06-14T03:35:49Z")
In sixth grade choir I recall learning the theme to Laverne and Shirley. We won a couple of choir competitions with other schools with that. In seventh grade we took music appreciation for nine weeks, and the teacher spent at least two weeks parsing The Devil Went Down to Georgia (radio friendly version). Taught us quite a bit about the song’s structure both instrumentally and lyrically. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/24 "2019-06-14T04:16:47Z")
The pop songs I remember singing in elementary school music class are “Queen of Hearts”, “Fly Little White Dove Fly”, “Delta Dawn” and “One Tin Soldier”. Also, in Grade 3 we used to sing the Sister Janet Mead version of [The Lord’s Prayer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUg8B1VA0Bs) every morning. Our teacher (who had hair like Crystal Gayle) would play the guitar as accompaniment. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/25 "2019-06-14T05:02:32Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I still remember Sister Ann, our strict nun music teacher in 5th grade wearing her habit and pumping her fist while counting quarter beats to a vinyl recording of Cheap Trick’s _Way of the World_. This sounds very surrealistic, are you sure this “memory” was not part of an acid trip? Or perhaps a dream you had while dozing through a screening of **This is Spinal Tap**? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/26 "2019-06-14T12:26:52Z")
In my Catholic grammar school in 7th grade we had a nun who taught music class _without ever playing any music!_. It’s one thing to learn in detail about Richard Strauss’ _Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks_, but to learn it without ever hearing the music is just weird. That wasn’t the only piece she talked about, but it’s the only one I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/27 "2019-06-14T13:33:49Z")
Since I never spent more than 2 years in any one school, my music education was rather eclectic but forgettable. I remember singing “Feeling Groovy,” signing Barry Manilow’s “One Voice Singing in the Darkness” (or whatever the title is), learning various folk songs, songs and at least one scene from musicals, enough guitar to know my arms are way too short to play one, and obligatory band. I started on clarinet, switched to oboe, and the world rejoiced when we moved to a school district with no music curriculum. Marching band made high school bearable; I was a silk and my best friend was in the rifles. I sang in the choir in high school, college, and church, but had no ambitions to do anything else. But I married a music teacher, and we get paid to perform Celtic and Renaissance music together. I suspect every music teacher I ever had would die laughing. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/28 "2019-06-14T23:36:26Z")
If you were lucky enough to attend school in the [Langley School District](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Langley_Schools_Music_Project) in Canada in the late 70’s, you might have been able to cut an album, despite your music teacher having no background in musical education. From the wiki article: > [@Hans Fenger](#): > > I knew virtually nothing about conventional music education, and didn’t know how to teach singing. Above all, I knew nothing of what children’s music was supposed to be. But the kids had a grasp of what they liked: emotion, drama, and making music as a group. Whether the results were good, bad, in tune or out was no big deal – they had élan. This was not the way music was traditionally taught. But then I never liked conventional ‘children’s music,’ which is condescending and ignores the reality of children’s lives, which can be dark and scary. These children hated ‘cute.’ They cherished songs that evoked loneliness and sadness The albums were unknown for twenty five years, but most of the songs are now available on YouTube. A rousing and well arranged “[Help Me Rhonda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIMTkNDobU)” A haunting solo on “[Desperado](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9F-no5av-s)” ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/29 "2019-06-15T03:20:35Z")
In elementary, we learned the recorder (Au Clair De La Lune) and ukelele. My favourite song we sang was “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. In high school, we put on a musical, I auditioned (I did for every play and usually got a pretty big role). I thought due to my lack of singing experience I may miss out, but I did not. My character, a very Long Island accented woman named De-bor-rah, wore leopard pattern bodysuits, black minis and sang a jazzy dance tune about getting drunk. Super fun! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/30 "2019-06-15T15:41:13Z")
I still remember Mrs. Serafy, my music teacher at North Elementary. She loved music and she loved her kids. It was in her classroom that I first heard Handel’s _Water Music_, which I still listen to now and again, and danced the Hukilau, a Hawaiian dance. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/31 "2019-06-15T17:35:59Z")
I also was in elementary school in the 70’s and we had an awesome music program for K-6th grades. We mostly sang religious and folk songs (Baptist school). The number one thing I remember is learning to read music. We learned all the notes (whole, half, quarter, etc) and how many beats to hold each one for. We learned how to follow the choir director’s directions when she was conducting us with their hands (not sure if that’s the right phrase). Later we learned the staff, where all the notes are (on the line or in the spaces), treble and base clefs. We learned about sharps, flats, time signatures, etc. Just basically everything you would need to pick up a piece of sheet music and pretty much sing it. A lot of us also took piano lessons at the same time so knowing how to read music really came in handy. In all, it was pretty cool. I always enjoyed music class. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457/32 "2019-06-15T18:17:40Z")
I remember Mrs. Wolf (and she sort of looked like one) trying to teach me to play the flute in 4th grade. She didn’t play the flute herself and it was quite frustrating. But she was very, very good in getting the basics into us. Yes, our band teacher played us JCS as well. Finally…pedant alert! It’s “Carpenters,” not “The Carpenters.” Richard has made this very clear on several occasions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whooooaaaaaa-listen-to-the-music/835457.md?page=1)