Carus Sings The Blues!

By Ellen Whyte

This past month has been one of the most challenging, exciting, and rewarding lifetime experiences. There's so much to tell you about the artist in residence experience at Carus Elementary School in Oregon City.
 
Let's start from the beginning. Local blue guitarist, Dave Mullany and I kicked off the residency performing for the students at an assembly where we introduced the student body to blues music. We told stories of how the music originated from African roots, and landed here in the US southern regions on farmlands and plantations.  As these were elementary school students, we didn't want to get too deep into the history.
 
But we did want to convey the experience and the feeling in simple, straightforward ways. So we talked about the earliest expressions of blues: "field hollerers,"" work songs,"" chain gangs," and how Africans spirited this music from the soil to the church, and then finally to the stage. Dave gave the kids examples of the early styles of blues style finger picking on guitar.  Dave brought out his resonator guitar and then played the electric guitar demonstrating blues rock. The kids LOVED it!

 
From there, we played and sang some of the various blues styles: Piedmont, Delta, Chicago, Texas Blues. and Blues Rock, and introduced them to some of the masters who penned these blues styles. The last thing we did at the assembly was have all the students participate in writing a simple blues song on the spot--a little song about a dog named Bob, who rode the bus, and was heading home. Dave and I added the" filler" part with the lyrics and melody to make the song come to life.
 
The following week I was in the classroom with each of the K - 6th grades (13 total), explaining in more detail about the history and geography of blues, plus played the accordion and guitar. They had a chance to watch some videos of a variety of blues artists performing songs. Check out
Lonnie Mack singing in this cute little animated video called," cookie blues" on YouTube. This one was a huge hit with the kids!
 
Students learned that all the music they listen to today stems from blues--from rock to rap. I demonstrated some of that in my own songwriting, so they could see the connection more clearly.
 
For the majority of the students, this was  new territory for them exploring blues music.  These children live out in the country and listen to pop, country, and church music. This experience inspired them. It opened them up to see how blues has been an integral part of their musical experience all along.  
 
The next part of the project involved the students writing a song. This was quite the challenge to get them to think about the activities and experiences of their young lives as themes for songs. Talk about vivid imaginations! We only had one hour per class to get the ideas on paper.
 
Students came up with some fun ideas for their songs. Ideas ranged from writing about their friends, feeling lonely, pets, favorite foods, growing up and moving on. Following that exercise, John Mullin (my husband) and I took the song ideas they crafted and we organized them--adding a little extra seasoning to the songs. I added the music.
 
 
The kids were really excited to hear their ideas made into songs for the first time. Dave Mullany and I recorded all their songs on a CD so each class could hear the songs they wrote. This recording became their classroom rehearsal CD in preparation of the performance that was on January 29, 2010 at the Canby Fine Arts Center.
 
 We spent the next week rehearsing and staging the songs, complete with props and choreography.
There were a couple of teachers that worked tirelessly on this project along with me. They were responsible for organizing the time line of scheduling the allotted classroom time I had with each class, rehearsals in the school, scheduling and shuttling the students to and from the performing arts center the day of the show for one more dress rehearsal--this time with the band. They made sure every detail was covered. Talk about a Broadway production!!  These teachers rearranged their lives hiring substitute teachers so they could help take care of these important details, plus continue to keep up with lessons plans??!! I have a new found  respect for teachers! It was because of their attention to detail, that everything came together so seamlessly.
 
A huge crowd of about 950 folks showed up and it was standing room only. This event was not open to the public---only the families of the students.
 
The performance was sensational!  Local luminaries Janice Scroggins, Dave Mullany, Jim Miller and I backed up the students on each of their songs. The students were on fire---they nailed every song! They sang their hearts out while having a whole lot of fun on that great big stage! There were 2 students who were featured on a couple of songs too. One 4th grader, Ethan Brown, wrote and performed his very own original blues tune on keyboards and vocals called, "Hopeless Homework." Another student from the 6th grade named Derek Elmore (clearly a future blues bass player with THAT name!) played bass on his class song called "Movin On To Middle School Blues." The crowd LOVED it!
 
Everything came together--in roughly 12 school days.  It was a command performance and everyone was impressed and deeply proud of how hard these kids worked!  The children did such a wonderful job with their songs and gave everything they had to make this show a great success! . The audience didn't know what hit them! We got a standing ovation, people cheering wildly-almost deafening!
 
While working at Carus, the kids would greet me in the halls. They would come up and hug me or give me high fives, and told me their stories. They nicknamed me "Mrs. Blues." I heard stories ranging from eating hot dogs and chocolate milk for breakfast, to how many kittens their cat birthed. I felt honored to have been a part of their every day experience.
 
There will never be another experience quite like the Carus elementary school experience. The future of the blues looks promising as the legacy continues. The enthusiasm and interest for this music is being inspired in classrooms around the country keeping the blues alive for future budding artists.

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