The games, plays, dances, and riddles of black children culled by
folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes from the music of Bessie Jones, a
65-year-old black woman who remembers them from her "days coming
up" in Georgia. No guitars or glockenspiels are needed but hooting
and hollering, hand clapping (in three distinct pitch ranges -
bass, baritone, tenor), skipping and jumping, mime, shuffles,
struts and wiggles are all carefully described by Mrs. Hawes along
with dance steps you won't see on Sesame Street like Jump for Joy,
Snake-Hips, Zudie-O, Ranky Tank, Buzzard Lope, and Possum-La.
Affectionately annotated with historical scats on the transplanting
of the street-rhymes of medieval London and Edinburgh to the cotton
fields of Georgia and South Carolina: "One of the small wonders of
history - the stability and perseverance of the traditions of
childhood." Many were originally played and sung during such
down-home activities as peanut shelling, corn husking, quilting,
and taffy pulling, but they should flourish equally well in your
local nursery school or back yard if you follow Mrs. Hawes'
sensible instructions: "Don't be too solemn, or too organized.
These are for play." Ready or not, one, two, three, Ali Hid?
Musical scores. (Kirkus Reviews)
Growing up in the rural South, Bessie Jones sang her way through
long hours of field work and child tending, entertaining her young
companions with chants and riddles or joining them for a rousing
evening of ring dances and singing plays. These songs and games,
recorded in Step It Down by folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes, capture
the shape and color of the crowded, impoverished, life-demanding,
and life-loving days of the black family of sixty years ago,
revealing the strength and vitality of African and slave traditions
in black American life. The power of music and motion to transform
a world of scarcity and hardship into one of laughter and joy
echoes throughout Bessie Jones's words: "And the other childrens
and I would go in the bottom and have a frolic, instead of going to
bed. I was just up for that singing, and I remembered they used to
say . . . 'Come on, Lizzie!' and we'd go down a way and we'd have a
dance. Oh it was pretty. . . . You know, it was just as good as the
blues-better, better in a way. When the old folks would go to work
or go off or something, we'd put on them long dresses and, boy,
we'd have a time." Step It Down weaves together the lyrics, music,
and description of traditional Afro-American children's songs as
well as Jones's comments on their meaning and "feel." Whether
reciting "Tom, Tom, Greedy Gut" or demonstrating the more complex
steps of "Ranky Tank" and "Buzzard's Lope," Bessie Jones always
viewed the amusements of the young as preparation for adult roles
and relationships, and as a teacher, she developed her own
philosophy of how a black child is socialized into the larger
community. Grounded in the values of black society, her songs
taught children about cooperative interaction and mutual concern,
not about competition and individual achievement, showing them how
to create fun out of nothing more than their hands, feet, voices,
and imaginations.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
