Hey, we have a theme, let’s keep it going!
I woke up a few days ago with the song “School Days” running around in my head. If you’re not familiar, it was written in 1907, and it’s a pretty simple tune. I probably hadn’t heard it for, conservatively, 50 years. I had to look up the lyrics, and I had most of them correct—I wasn’t sure about the verse with “You were my Something something calico, I was your something something (that rhymed with calico)…”, but other than that I did remember it. I thought that was pretty good for… my age…
The picture I had in my head when I sang it was a Music Man-looking guy with a straw hat and striped jacket, and a lady with a … beehive hairdo, maybe? They had a routine they went through in each episode when they sang the song—it was one of the few times I ever saw a “slate” like they used to use in school. And they were on a kid’s show, and I easily remembered what it was called; it was the Uncle Al Show. Here’s a picture:
A little research shows that I wasn’t alone. The Uncle Al Show was one of the longest-running local television programs ever, broadcast from a Cincinnati television station. The man I remembered was, of course, Uncle Al himself, famous for the accordion he’s wearing. The woman was his wife Wanda (called “Captain Windy” on the show). Looking at the picture, I totally forgot about the Lucky the Clown, but nobody’s perfect.
Here’s the point: Would I have remembered the show without the song? Probably not, and certainly not in such vivid detail. Music helps us remember things we otherwise wouldn’t, and can solidify information for us.
Some schools have figured this out. The classical education model includes (along with many other inventive tools) lots of music to help children remember things. My kids were just in a classical school for a couple of years, but they can still tell you about (for instance) the Water Cycle, because they remember the song (It was set to the tune of “Oh My Darling Clementine”—I still remember it too)!
Elderly people, when they’ve forgotten everything and everyone else, are known to still be able to sing along with a song they knew long ago.
And if you still don’t believe me, I’ll reveal to you what song Uncle Al closed with: a few verses of a little ditty called, “It’s a Small World.” Let me tell you, if you’ve ever been on the Disney ride of the same name, you know something about the power of music.
Because you’ll never get that song out of your head!
Rock on.
