"Muses"
by
Judyth
Vary
Baker

-----
MAN OF PEACE:
A TRIBUTE TO
SOUTHSIDE JR. HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHER
DAVID WILCOX
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
I CAN FIND NO MENTION OF DAVID WILCOX, GLEE CLUB AND MUSIC TEACHER AT SOUTHSIDE JR. HIGH SCHOOL, ON THE INTERNET. THE VERY SCHOOL IN WHICH HE TAUGHT RECENTLY CLOSED ITS DOORS, SUPPOSEDLY FOREVER.
I can find no pictures of Mr. Wilcox, either, but surely someone has a Bulldog Yearbook with his picture in it. I think he had a son, Robert.
This apparently now obscure man had a tremendous influence on his classes. First of all, I recall that our Glee Club had at least sixty members. Then there were the music classes he taught, as well as the school’s marching band. How did he find the time and energy to always look crisp, fresh and professional? I can describe him as having average height and build, a pleasantly-featured face, with the hairline of a middle-aged man. He sometimes wore a vest, and he seemed to always carry a music book or a wand in one hand. There was nothing particularly remarkable or interesting as to his physical appearance.
But wait.
When he lined us up in Glee Club, a single finger lifted to his lips was enough to gain our respect and attention.
For we loved to sing for this man. When we were good, he reverberated with joy. He glowed with happiness and satisfaction. When we were not-so-good, he picked the poorest singers among us and asked them to sing alone to get more confidence. He took the time to hear each of us sing solos after school. He arranged us according to our abilities and our desire to please, which means that we all felt as if we were important and had special talents. For those whose voices were weak, he praised the ability to keep the beat, to memorize the lyrics. For those whose voices were superb – well, we never quite knew who was NOT superb! We all felt as if our best was what we just had to give to this man. He had our hearts in the palm of his hand.
Of all the teachers I ever had –and I had some magnificent teachers –this man taught me more than all the others together. He taught me that respect and patience and hard work go together. He taught me how to have more self-confidence. Above all, he taught me to yearn for peace and brotherhood in the world.


The songs Mr. Wilcox chose for us to sing had an impact on us that would last throughout our lives. Where other Glee Clubs might have been singing popular pop, in OUR Glee Club, we sang songs derived from classical music, we sang religious music, and – most important of all –we sang music about love, peace and non-prejudice.
Today, some of these songs might have been termed politically incorrect, for we sang Negro work songs, Slavic (yes! Communist!) songs, Gregorian chants, hillbilly songs, songs from the wild west, songs from chain gangs – and songs based on famous operas or adapted from the works of the world’s most famous composers.
How was it possible that we learned at least 200 songs that year and a half that I was in Glee Club? In today’s schools, he tragedy of “Mr. Holland’s Opus” is played out constantly. We are told we cannot afford such "luxuries" as physical education, art classes, and music classes. Thus, thousands of physical education classes, art classes and music classes are going by the wayside –those very classes where the heart and mind together develop their greatest human aspects.

In art, we learn to express ourselves without written words. In physical education, we learn the true value of teamwork and individual effort. But in music classes, we learn all the above, and more.

We learn, through international music, that people everywhere have the same dreams, yearnings and desires. That brotherhood should include respect for all the various cultures, all the various religions, all the various skin colors and races.

In David Wilcox’ music classes, we learned it all.

His explanations of what each song meant stuck with us and translated into fierce emotions and subtle resonances as we sang. We suffered with the slaves.
We toiled with the communist workers in their communes.
We charged up the hill with the British Grenadiers.
We sailed the China seas and penetrated the depths of the Congo.
We discovered the Magic Flute and the Swallows of Sorrento.

We discovered ourselves in all these scenarios.

For young teens, faced with the Cold War, the fear that a nuclear bomb could be dropped on our heads (yes, we had to go through those drills where we scrambled under our desks and covered our heads in anticipation of an atomic bomb’s being dropped on our city!)—through all of our painful and exciting adolescent days spent at Southside Jr. High, under Mr. Wilcox’ serene gaze and firm discipline, we felt confident, empowered, and safe.

Below, I have posted just a few of the hundreds of songs that remained living within my heart for the rest of my life – all of them learned in Mr. Wilcox’ music and Glee Club classes. I sing one or two of them every day. Those songs shaped me into a more caring and loving person, more willing to forgive others, more desirous of peace, more human and humane than I’d have been otherwise. The only tribute I can give to Mr. Wilcox, by now long dead, is to say, “Thank you for what you gave me and to so many others. Your gift will never be forgotten!”


A SMATTERING OF SOME OF THE SONGS (WITH LYRICS)
MR. WILCOX TAUGHT US:

EVERY SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM SHOULD HAVE THIS (now rare) SONG IN ITS REPERTOIRE:

O BROTHER MAN
O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother;
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer…

Follow with reverent steps the great example
Of Him Whose holy work was doing good;
So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple,
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.

Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangor
Of wild war music o’er the earth shall cease;
Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger,
And in its ashes plant the tree of peace.

LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRMENT OF THY PEACE
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Saint Francis of Assisi

THE FLAGS OF ALL AMERICAThe only present reference on the Internet to “The Flags of All America” is in a graduation program from 1956. Why has this song faded from American memory?
The Flags of All America”.....................................................Dykema
Ref: http://www.classof1956.org/images/gradex1.pdf
I’ve reproduced the lyrics we learned here:

The Flags of All America

The Flags of all America,
‘neath freedom’s shining sun --
From northern pines to southern palms
Shall ever fly as one…
Their clustered banners flying
So bravely and on high,
Bright emblems of our faith and hope,
A rainbow in the skies!
Reach out! Reach out! And clasp your neighbor’s hand!
March on! March on! A great united band!
For youth, triumphant,
The clustered banners rise,
The symbol of our unity,
A rainbow in the skies—
A rainbow in the skies!



"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill!" is an American folk song. The Internet tells us it was first published in 1888, with Thomas Casey’s lyrics later placed to music by Charles Connolly.
There are several versions of this folk song –one for the railroad, the other for those working in quarries and mines, which I think is closer to the original setting. I like the version, of course, that I learned, best:

"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill!"Early in the morning, the boss comes ‘round
To chase his men to the quarry ground,
For Hard Rock Johnny is a drivin’ lad,
And if you don’t hustle, you’ll get in bad—
So it’s drill, ye tarriers, drill!
(chorus)
Drill, ye tarriers, drill!
Drill, ye tarriers, drill!
Will ye work all day
No sugar in your tay,
Eight hour stretches, and six hours pay?
Then drill, ye tarriers, drill!

One day the blast went off too soon
‘and blew Dan Dougan nearly up to the moon!
Said Dan when he landed, the ride was Okay,
But it happened that I wasn’t goin’ that way!
So, drill, ye tarriers, drill!
(chorus)
When payday came, Dan gave a loud snort,
What’s this? He cried, I’m a dollar short!
Said Hard Rock Johnny, never battin’ an eye.
You were docked for the time you spent
Up in the sky!
So drill, ye tarriers, drill!
(chorus)

We dared learn a Russian folk song, too, at the height of the Cold War –The Song of the Volga Boatmen—and it sparked my interest in Russian music, Russian literature, and the Russian language. Later, I’d take a course in Russian to help me try to translate cancer research reports written in Russian (I never mastered Russian, unlike Lee H. Oswald, who became proficient in the language, but I knew enough in 1963 to speak to him in Russian. I understood much more than I could actually speak, so I was able to enjoy poetry that he read to me in that language).


Volga Boat Song

Yo heave ho! Yo heave ho!
Once more, once more, Yo heave ho!
Pull the barge 'gainst the river's tide,
CHORUS:
Volga River stretching far and wide.
Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da,
Pull the barge 'gainst the river's tide,
Yo heave ho! Yo heave ho!

Yo heave ho! Yo heave ho!
As the barges float along,
To the sun we sing our song...

Yo heave ho! Yo heave ho!
Volga, Volga our pride,
Mighty stream so deep and wide...

Eyy, ookh-nyem! (eyy as in "play", but sung ei-yoohkhnyem) Eyy, ookh-nyem!
Ye-shcho raz ee, ye-eshcho-da raz! (ye as in yes)

Ra-zo-vyom miy ber-yo-zoo, (mi, the "i" being short but with an almost
silent y at the end as in "miue"
Raz-o-vyom miy koo-drya-voo, Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Ra-zo-vyom
miy koo-drya-voo.

Chorus

Miy po byer-yezh-koo i-dyom, Pye-snyu sol-nish-koo poy-yom... (sol as is
"soul")
Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Pye-snyu sol-nish-koo poy-yom... Chorus

Ekh, tiy, Vol-ga, ma-tryeka, Shee-ro-ka ee gloo-bo-ka...
Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da, Shee-ro-ka ee gloo-boka...

(all r's pronounced with a roll - rrrrrr!)

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho raz!
Razovyom mi beryozoo,

CHORUS:
Razovyom mi koodriavoo,
Ai da da, ai da, ai da da, ai da,
Razovyom mi koodriavoo,
Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!
Mi po berezhkoo idyom,
Pyesniu solnishkoo poyom...

Ei, ookhnyem! Ei, ookhnyem!
Ekh, ti, Volga, matreka,
Shiroka i glooboka...
Ref: for the lyrics
http://www.google.com/#q=volga+boat+song&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADSA_enSE339&prmd=v&ei=71gnTLi2OJaWOJWO-dcH&start=10&sa=N&fp=c0cfdbfb1e48170b


Panis Angelicus
Internet sources tell us that “Panis angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi.” We learned all the lyrics in Latin, then in English. My classmates were largely Baptists who were wary of Catholicism (I was Catholic).

Panis angelicus
fit panis hominum;
Dat Panis caelicus
figuris terminum
O res mirabilis!
manducat Dominum
Pauper, Pauper
servus et humilis
Pauper, Pauper
servus, servus et humilis

---there was an all-instrumental interlude--then, in English:

O Lord most Holy, O Lord most Holy
O loving Father, Thee, would we be praising always!
Help us to know Thee, know Thee and love Thee!
Father, Father, grant us Thy truth and grace;
Father, Father, guide and defend us.
(musical interlude)

Rule Thou our willful hearts,
Keep Thee our wand’ring thoughts
In all our sorrows let us find our rest in Thee
And in temptation’s hour, Save through Thy mighty pow’r
Thine aid O send us; Hear us in mercy
Show us Thy favor -- So shall we live
and sing praise to Thee
The actual translation from Latin is this:
The angelic bread
becomes the bread of men;
The heavenly bread
ends all prefigurations:
What wonder!
It consumes the Lord
[now] a poor and humble servant.
Triune God,
We beg of you,
that you visit us,
as we worship you.
By your ways,
lead us who seek
the light in which you dwell.
Amen.


This Czech folk song made us laugh! There are numerous verses besides these:

Stodily Pumpa

Walking at night, along the meadow way.
Home from the dance, beside my maiden gay.
Walking at night, along the meadow way.
Home from the dance, beside my maiden gay, HEY!

CHORUS: (sounds like “STOWED-leh POOM-pa!”)

Stodily, stodily, stodily pumpa.
Stodily pumpa, stodily pumpa.
Stodily, stodily, stodily pumpa.
Stodily pumpa, pum-pum-pump!

Nearing the woods, we heard the nightingale.
Sweetly she helped me tell my begging tale.
Nearing the woods, we heard the nightingale.
Sweetly she helped me tell my begging tale, HEY!

CHORUS

Many the stars, that light the summer skies,.
But none so bright as her two shining eyes,
Many the stars, that light the summer skies,.
But none so bright as her two shining eyes! HEY!
CHORUS

We learned several Negro spirituals, such as “The Old Ark’s a-Moverin’” -- and many Stephen Foster songs such as “Old Black Joe” and “Suwannee River.”

It is impossible to list all the songs we learned.
My hope is that someone reading this will eventually be able to contact David Wilcox’s family.
They need to know that David Wilcox was more than a great teacher. He exemplified exactly why music should be taught across the world –not just local music, but the music of the nations. Brotherhood, peace, equality, human rights – all these concepts rest in the knowledge that people everywhere have the same fundamental dreams and are basically the same, under the skin. By learning each other's songs, we learn about each other.

No religious teaching should ever include harming another human being in any way. No political system should use violence.
Skinheads and hate groups arise due to the neglect of their parents and the violence to which they are exposed. We know that evil poeople --people without a conscience -- do exist in the world, but the vast majority of us should also realize that if nobody follows evil people or obeys their orders, they can do much less harm in the world. Millions of Jews were not killed by Hitler. They were killed by those who obeyed Hitler's suborns.
Music can communicate where words cannot.
An educational system should never deprive a child of a nation's musical heritage. Nor should any chkld be deprived of the music of the nations.

In the mid-twentieth century, a mixture of all kinds of music was available for everyone, via radio and TV. I recall when "Your Hit Parade" carried many different kinds of music in its top hits.

Below is a list of the top hits for 1955. I have placed some of these songs in BOLD FACE to demonstrate how different they are from each other:

Johnny Ace - Pledging My Love - 03-55 - Duke
The Ames Brothers - My Bonnie Lassie - 10-55 - RCA
Les Baxter & His Orchestra - Unchained Melody - 04-55 - Capitol
Les Baxter & His Orchestra - Watch The Town And Tell The People - 08-55 - Capitol
Boyd Bennett & His Rockets - Seventeen - 08-55 - King
Chuck Berry - Maybelline - 08-55 - Chess Archie Bleyer - The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane - 01-55 - Cadence
Pat Boone - Two Hearts - 05-55 - Dot
Pat Boone - Ain't That A Shame - 07-55 - Dot
Pat Boone - At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama) - 11-55 -Dot
David Carroll - Melody Of Love - 02-55
The Cheers - Black Denim Trousers - 10-55 - Capitol
Don Cherry - Band Of Gold - 12-55 - Columbia
Nat 'King' Cole - Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup - 03-55 - Capitol
Nat 'King' Cole - A Blossom Fell/If I May - 05-55 - Capitol
Nat 'King' Cole - Forgive My Heart - 11-55 - Capitol
Perry Como - Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) - 02-55 - RCA
Perry Como - Tina Marie - 09-55 - RCA
Don Cornell - The Bible Tells Me So - 09-55 - Coral
The Cowboy Church Sunday School - Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In) - 02-55 - Decca
The Crew-Cuts - Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) - 02-55 - Mercury
The Crew-Cuts - Earth Angel - 02-55 - Mercury
The Crew-Cuts - Don't Be Angry - 05-55 - Mercury
The Crew-Cuts - A Story Untold - 07-55 - Mercury
The Crew -Cuts - Gum Drop - 09-55 - Mercury
Alan Dale - Sweet And Gentle - 07-55 - Coral
Sammy Davis Jr. - Love Me Or Leave Me - 06-55 - Decca
Sammy Davis Jr. - Something's Gotta Give - 06-55 - Decca
Doris Day - I'll Never Stop Loving You - 08-55 - Columbia
The DeJohn Sisters - (My Baby Don't Love Me) No More - 01-55 - Epic
Johnny Desmond - Play Me Hearts And Flowers (I Wanna Cry) - 04-55 - Coral
Johnny Desmond - The Yellow Rose Of Texas - 08-55 - Coral
Rusty Draper - The Shifting, Whispering Sands - 10-55 - Mercury
The Dream Weavers - It's Almost Tomorrow - 11-55 - Decca
Eddie Fisher - Heart - 06-55 - RCA
Eddie Fisher - Song Of The Dreamer - 09-55 - RCA
The Fontane Sisters - Seventeen - 09-55 - Dot
The Fontane Sisters - Daddy-O - 12-55 - Dot
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 - Capitol
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons - 11-55 - Capitol The Four Aces - Melody Of Love - 02-55 - Decca
The Four Aces - Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing - 09-55 -Decca
The Four Lads - Moments To Remember - 09-55 - Columbia
Georgia Gibbs - Tweedle Dee - 02-55 - Mercury
Georgia Gibbs - Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower) - 04-55 - Mercury Barry Gordon - Nuttin' For Christmas - 12-55 - MGM
Gogi Grant - Suddenly There's A Valley - 10-55 - Era
Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock - 05-55 - Decca Roy Hamilton - Unchained Melody - 05-55 - Epic
Bill Hayes - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 - Cadence
Al Hibbler - Unchained Melody - 04-55 - Decca
Al Hibbler - He - 10-55 - Decca
The Hilltoppers - Only You (And You Alone) - 12-55 - Dot
Joni James - How Important Can It Be? - 03-55 - MGM
Julius LaRosa - Domani (Tomorrow) - 08-55 - Cadence
Giselle Mackenzie - Hard To Get - 07-55 - X
Johnny Maddox - The Crazy Otto (Medley) - 02-55 - Dot
Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This - 12-55 - Capitol
The McGuire Sisters - Sincerely - 01-55 - Coral
The McGuire Sisters - Something's Gotta Give - 06-55 - Coral
The McGuire Sisters - He - 11-55 - Coral
Chuck Miller - The House Of Blue Lights - 07-55 - Mercury
Mitch Miller & His Orchestra - The Yellow Rose Of Texas - 08-55 - Columbia
Art Mooney & His Orchestra - Honey-Babe - 05-55 - MGM
Jaye P. Morgan - The Longest Walk - 09-55 - RCA
Fess Parker - Ballad Of Davy Crockett - 03-55 - Columbia
Les Paul & Mary Ford - Hummingbird - 07-55 - Capitol
The Penguins - Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) - 01-55 - Dootone
The Platters - Only You - 10-55 - Mercury The Platters - The Great Pretender - 12-55 - Mercury
Perez Prado - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White - 03-55 - RCA
Frank Sinatra - Learnin' The Blues - 06-55 - Capitol
Frank Sinatra - Love And Marriage - 11-55 - Capitol
Somethin' Smith & The Redheads - It's A Sin To Tell A Lie - 06-55 - Epic
Gale Storm - I Hear You Knocking - 10-55 - Dot
Caterina Valente - The Breeze And I - 04-55 - Decca
Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants - 05-55 - Mercury
Billy Vaughn - Melody Of Love - 01-55 - Dot
Billy Vaughn - The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Pts- 1 & 2) - 10-55 - Dot
Roger Williams - Autumn Leaves - 09-55 - Kapp

Ref: "The Greatest Hits of 1955" http://www.severing.nu/music/1955.html

WHAT A WIDE VARIETY OF SONGS ON THE 1955 HIT PARADE!

But that would soon change.

By the late 1960’s, music became compartmentalized in the extreme. Rock and roll and hard rock had their own hits. Classical music had its own followers. Country music stations, rock stations, pop stations, classical music stations – rare, indeed were stations covering a wide range. And ‘folk music' became localized to remote areas found in Tennessee, Cajun Country, or mid-Texas.
Traditional music -- old ballads and hymns especially --had nowhere left to go: only at Christmas were some traditional songs pulled from old albums and recycled.
The great mixture of music that existed a half century ago is now missing. Kids are growing up exposed largely to small sectors of music: pop, rap, hip-hop, or rock , with a smattering of classical style music largely acquired through motion pictures and the rare TV special. Only old, Classic movies render any idea of the rich variety of orchestral music that was once available on radio sations across the world.

As youth are isolated culturally, because they listen to only a few types of music, they may react to music from other races, nations or religions as being weird, strange, alien, or unacceptably foreign. It then becomes more difficult for them to understand that we are all really the same, under the skin. We who are older know that people do get corrupted by clever, evil leaders and authority figures, who bend youth to blindly follow their teachings and propaganda, but without exposure to the world's music, it becomes more difficult for our youth to resist evil teachings.
Does anyone believe that Skinheads would attack Roma in Czechoslavakia if they had grown up listening to Roma music and had Roma for friends? Isolating people from each other only entrenches prejudices. When Christians were persecuted, they went into the catacombs, as a once-dear friend reminded me. here they became more powerful than ever.
This is why sanctions against Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe or the former nation of Burma don't work. Ordinary people suffer, not their leaders, as their leaders cling harder than ever to their evil principles. Economic sanctions do not allow communication. It was through the opening of communications with China that china began to change into a country with more freedoms for its peoples. What influence would we have on China to moderate its economic policies if China had been isolated from the rest of the world?

In countries living under sanctions, change rarely occurs. only when sanctions are lifted do changes take place: the people see what others have and demand changes, even as new, fresh blood enters into those once-forbidden domains. With communication, change for good can take place.

I need provide only a single recent example to make my point. The following excerpt is from The New York Times

North Koreans Welcome Symphonic DiplomacyBy DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: February 27, 2008
PYONGYANG, North Korea — As the New York Philharmonic played the opening notes of “Arirang,” a beloved Korean folk song, a murmur rippled through the audience. Many in the audience perched forward in their seats.

The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience, row upon row of men in dark suits, women in colorful high-waisted dresses called hanbok and all of them wearing pins with the likeness of Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder.

And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans ended the historic concert in this isolated nation on Tuesday in triumph.

...The audience applauded for more than five minutes, and orchestra members, some of them crying, waved. People in the seats cheered and waved back, reluctant to let the visitors leave.

“Was that an emotional experience!” said Jon Deak, a bass player, backstage moments after the concert had ended. “It’s an incredible joy and sadness and connection like I’ve never seen. They really opened their hearts to us.”

The “Arirang” rendition...was part of a program carefully constructed to showcase the orchestra and its tradition. A State Department official who accompanied Zarin Mehta, the orchestra’s president, on a planning trip to Pyongyang, the North’s capital, last year suggested that “Arirang” be played, Mr. Mehta said.

---Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/world/asia/27symphony.html

Music is the world's language, along with the visual arts, crossing all national barriers. Music is the language that can reach all people, changing their thinking. Music allows us to understand each other over decades and ages and centuries. Thus, music is one of the major keys to promoting peace.

It behooves us to support music programs in our schools; it is wise to support music programs that focus on the music of all nations and cultures. It is just a little step toward a more peaceful world for all of us, but every step in the right direction is a step away from war and suffering.

It is my hope that the wise, eclectic and generous spirit that guided Mr. Wilcox in his broad selection of songs and melodies that crossed all ages, peoples and cultures will provide a vibrant example of what music can do to promote peace in our times.

JVB