:Author: John Powers :Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:44:57 PST Wow Ben there's a lot to you post. And as unusual what it prompts in my mind is a little off topic. On TV here in the US for many years--over 30--there was a children's program called `Mister Roger's Neighborhood`_. The show was intended for 4-6 year olds and was slow paced. As my mother might say, "about the right speed." But the quiet Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers, was viewed with suspicion by some adults. It was as though his television personality didn't conform to American masculine types. But Fred Rogers knew his audience was children and really did know how to talk to them; and kids understood. Rogers worked with some of the most renown experts on child development and was himself an expert. He also studied music in school and wrote over 200 songs for the show. His wife is a concert pianist. The show was produced here in Pittsburgh and I know quite a few people who worked on the show. What made me think about Mister Rogers and you was the music director for the show. `Johnny Costa`_ was an accomplished Jazz pianist. He was also a family guy, so after making a stab at his musical career in the mid-1950's and early sixties decided he really wanted to live without travel and the limelight. When he was approached for the Mister Roger's show he was pretty skeptical. Fred Rogers had given him the music he'd composed for the show's opening. On the set while stuff was being moved around Costa began improvising on the theme and Rogers told him to play it just like that. Fred Rogers never wanted to dumb down the music, he respected kids too much. So for hundreds of shows Costa and his trio performed the opening "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" live while Fred was singing, and never the same way. They also performed the music throughout the show and made the sound effects. I went to YouTube to see if I could find some examples. (Don't feel you need to link to any of these videos.) This first video is simply Mister Rogers saying `goodbye`_ after the final taping of the show. Here's the `opening`_ of one of the shows. Those videos give a flavor for the show. If you search Mister Rogers on YouTube, at least half are spoofs. There is something about him that brings out the kid and cloacal humor in people. This `mashup`_ of segments from shows with some records Mister Rogers made in the late 60's is quite creative and creepy. But Fred Rogers wasn't creepy and kids react very positively to the shows. Going through some of the segments uploaded to YouTube, basically looking for some examples of Johnny Costa's musical genius, what impressed me was how rich and varied the artistic offerings were, for example here's `Andre Watts`_. I really didn't find good examples to share about Costa's playing. It's embedded in the show, throughout. But something that shows the music had an impact are videos of people playing stuff from the show. Here's the `trolley`_ sound. And here's a guy `messing around`_ beginning with the trolley and then the intro to the beginning song. For an awful lot of Americans Mister Rogers' songs are embedded on their brain. But also is the idea that song are never exactly the same. Imagine, Johnny Costa thought of himself as a real Jazzer, and he certainly was, but spent most of his career making music for a children's show. He was inspired to make it as beautiful and right as could be. The very long-winded and off topic ramble is to make what point? Well first I think about the idea that music is the international language. I think that is true. But music is also one of the primary ways in which we as people differentiate ourselves, marking all sorts of boundaries. I found of something `Pete Seeger`_ said: "Songs are tricky things, they can cross borders." There is something in the example of Johnny Costa's music making crossing borders by being true to music and not playing to people's presumptions. If music is the international language, we have to let the music speak. But there are all sorts of cultural issues. `Daniel Bareboim`_ and La Scala performed in Ghana for the 50th Anniversary celebrations. Lots of wringing of hands about the $500,000.00 it cost to bring them all there. People asked whether there wasn't a better way to spend the money? The question rather bugged me. As Ben points out, talent is rare. I don't for a moment think that lack of talent should prevent people from making music! But I do think that great talent and accomplishment is something to be celebrated. would a half a million dollar donation for charity been a better way to honor Ghana? Perhaps, but I don't think necessarily so. There are so many great programs which make music and culture come alive in developing countries. I do hope that people will share stories and links here. There are a couple I'll offer tonight and then shut up. The first is the `Kampala Music School`_. By now you've probably gathered that I'm always full of ideas. The problem is I can never tell if the ideas are good ones or not. There are many reasons why American Jazz started in New Orleans, or maybe better to say there are many streams which fed the birth of Jazz. One thing that happened was the Spanish American War. It was a war built on the propaganda of yellow journalism. The American engagement in the Philippines is a long and sad story, but as far as the imperialism in the Spanish Caribbean the fanfare was over fairly fast as these things go. And as a result a shipload of army band instruments found their way into New Orleans schools. Riffing off that idea, and trying to think of ways that ordinary people could make a difference for good for not too much money I came up with an idea: Harmonicas for Africa. Workable harmonicas are $5 or less and I thought that thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people through small donations could flood the continent with harmonicas. Okay, so I know Harmonicas for Africa is not such a great idea. But it's through that idea that I became acquainted with the Kampala Music School. You see, that school came about through the more ambitious idea of Pianos for Africa. The idea of making instruments more available is basically a sound idea. `Samite`_ is an Ugandan musician in the USA. He's formed an organization called `Musicians for World Harmony`_. These grass roots organizations never are able to do really big things. But lots of small efforts do make something big. For me watching the video at the site and seeing children with instruments presented to them simply fills me with joy. There are many wonderful programs to show. But as promised, I'll shut up for now. .. _`Mister Roger's Neighborhood`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers'_Neighborhood .. _`Johnny Costa`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Costa .. _`goodbye`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvRMHz4mb4 .. _`opening`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmNQ5VgFAfc .. _`mashup`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3yZjb_O-M .. _`Andre Watts`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq_ea5RgvOI&feature=related .. _`trolley`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38phJHgBhA .. _`messing around`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmuc1s6TpA .. _`Pete Seeger`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger .. _`Daniel Bareboim`: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6592317.stm .. _`Kampala Music School`: http://www.kampalamusicschool.com/ .. _`Samite`: http://www.samite.com/ .. _`Musicians for World Harmony`: http://www.musiciansforworldharmony.org/