Hired Out
I recollect how Miss Sarah Anne hired out a bunch of her slaves to de railroad dat dey was buildin‘ thew de woods. Dey hires slaves in one place an’ use dem to cut down de timber and saw it up into ties. Den dey hire hunreds of ’em in de next place. Well, when de railroad come to Pamplin, dey hired all de slaves, an’ Miss Sarah Anne’s too. An’ chile, you orter hear dem slaves singin’ when dey go to work in de mornin’. Dey all start a-comin’ from all d’rections wid dey ax on dey shoulder, an’ de mist an’ foy be hangin’ over the pines, an’ de sun jus’ breakin’ cross de fields. Den slaves start to sing:
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A Col’ frosty mo’nin’
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De nÐ Ð Ð Ð Ð Ðfeelin’ good
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Take yo’ ax upon you’ shoulder
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NÐ Ð Ð Ð Ð Ð, talk to de wood.
An’ de woods jus’ a-ringin’ wid dis song. Hundeds of dem jus’ a singin’ to beat de ban’. Dey be paired up to a tree, an’ dey mark de blows by song. Fus’ one chop, den his partner, an’ when dey sing TALK dey chop togedder; an’ purty soon dey git de tree ready for to fall an’ dey yell “Hi” an’ de slaves all scramble out de way quick ’cause you can’t tell what way a pine tree gonna fall. An’ sometime dey sing it like dis:
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Dis time tomorrer night
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Where will I be?
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I’ll be gone, gone, gone
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Down to Tennessee
De slaves sing dis sorrowful, ’cause some of ’em know dey gonna be beat or whipped, or sol’ away. ’Course Miss Sarah Anne ain’t sol’ none, but ole man Derby what had hundreds wud sell some of his’n ev’y time ole slave trader come ’round. No matter what a slave’s hire bring, ole slave trader could beat de price.(1)
Play for the class either a recording or if you can play piano two spirituals “Go Tell it on the Mountain”, and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”. Have students break up into groups and have them go up to the piano. Using the (Sharp and Flats keys [the Black Notes] have students pick out the melodies for both songs.(2)
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Day two: “TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LEARN ABOUT THE GRAND STAFF, THE BASS CLEF AND THE TREBLE CLEF”
In the music staff on the board there have been two symbols that have been added to the system. (those students that have studied music might know what the treble and bass clef are and what they do, so, ask the students to identify and explain their function in musical terms). Tell the class that the treble and bass clefs can also be used as metaphors. “On the ship of Middle passage what group of people are represented the treble clef? Conversely, who are the people represented by the Bass Clef?” Another exercise is to have the class break up into groups of different types of sounds such as low sounds, middle ranged sounds, and high pitched sounds. Show the class the grand staff by:
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playing notes from the range of the piano. Have each group find their ranges on the board and have them place a quarter note next to the correct range on the staff. Explain to the class that the grand staff can be used as two smaller staffs which have just the treble clef or the bass clef.
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Day Three: “TODAY, WE ARE GOING TO LEARN AN AFRICAN BELL PATTERN AND SYNCOPATION OF THE BEAT.
HAVE THE STUDENTS FIND A PARTNER.
Tell the class after they have found a partner to work with to march in place. (the teacher can either play a march or use a recording of a march for this exercise). Ask the class if both steps are equal in stress. Ask the students to tell you which beat is “the Strong Beat” and “the Weak Beat”. The teacher then can show students on the board an example of 4,4 time and the strong and weak beats. Remind the class of what a steady beat is and how quarter notes relate to eight notes.
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Show the class the bell drawing on the board or on this section and have the class count one, two, three, then stop. Have the partner clap on the beat while the other person is counting one, two, three. Then have partners switch. Next, have one partner clap eight notes to the other person’s count of one, two, three; (that means there should be two claps two every count). Just like the picture of the bell Pattern on the board have one person clap (the half of the bell pattern that is on the beat with the exception of the last part which occurs and the “and” of three) while the partner is clapping eight notes. Explain to the class that the second half of the bell beat is really off the beat and that part of the beat is also called a syncopated rhythm. Have one person in the group count four, five, six while the other claps eights notes. Next have one person count Four and five and six and one while the partner claps on the off beat or the “ands”. NEXT have both people in the group count one and, two and, three and, four and, five and, six and. [Person A] WILL ONLY CLAP EIGHT NOTES WHILE COUNTING, [person B] WILL CLAP OUT THE BELL PATTERN WHILE COUNTING. Have them switch.
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Day Four: Today we are going to learn about “Lining” and the “Blue Notes”.
Ask the Class if they have heard the theme song for the T.V. show The Jefferson’s (Movin on Up)? Using the pentatonic Scale, find the melody on the blacks keys of the piano. The teacher might find a recording or TV clip with the song to play for the class after finding the notes on the piano. Have the class listen for the “Call” and the repeats of the call, which lines the leader or is the “Response”. See figure below.
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Ask the class what purpose or role does singing what the lead singer part have?
Have the class identify the part of the phrase that is on the beat and the part of that is syncopated.
Introduce the Western Concept of the Major Scale and Major and Minor chords. By lowering the note “E” (where the word Up is) by a half step to “E flat”, the song becomes a minor version in European terms. In the Blues, a singer might sing the word “up” somewhere in between {E natural and E flat} producing a Blue note. See diagram below.
(figure available in print form)
