Bob Dylan in our Concert Repertoire

My name is Tanya Maas, and I am the choir director at Longhorn High School here in Longhorn, Massachusetts.  As many of the community members know, we will be performing our Fall Concert this November 22^nd, in our auditorium at 7pm.  On our repertoire list is a set of Bob Dylan pieces from his album Freewheelin’.  I have received many complaints from community members about this set being part of our concert, and I would like to explain my reasons for why we will still be performing them despite this.

I have been using this set to teach many different ideas to my students.  First and foremost, this music is viewed as folk music.  As the students have been learning, Kip Lornell quotes six conditions for determining American Folk Music:

1.      It is regional music

2.      It is a cultural and community influenced product

3.      It is composed with a culmination of ideas through a group, not an individual

4.      It is taught and learned by the people of the community; it is part of every day activity and passed on through cultural reference

5.      It is performed by non-professional musicians and created where there are no professionals

6.      It is built around short, predictable forms and patterns, and aims for this for individual expressions

When you compare Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album to this criteria, it does not necessarily fit the bill; yet his music is revered as folk music.  The students have been researching this and working on finding how this can be, so they can better understand the music they are singing.

            Bob Dylan’s music was very much influenced by the community he lived in.  Born in Minnesota, he began to be immersed into the folk culture while still going to college at University of Minnesota.  He dropped out to move to New York, where his greatest idol, Woody Guthrie, was in a hospital.  While in New York visiting Guthrie, Dylan began going to folk clubs and meeting other folk musicians.  It was while playing in one of these clubs that a good review was written about him, which led to his getting signed to Columbia Records.  On his first album, all but two of his songs were folk music.  The community around him had shaped the music he played.

            On his next album, Freewheelin’, all but one song was an original song.  However, as the students have found through this set of music, it is still called folk music.  It is taught and learned by the community, as number four of Lornell’s list insists.  Everybody could learn the songs off this album, because they consisted of short, predictable forms and patterns, as number six states.  When Dylan performed his music, the audience sang along with him, because it was music that everybody knew and everybody learned.  He is one of the most covered artists of all time.  Peter, Paul and Mary, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Adele, and countless other artists have sang one or more of his songs.  Many of his songs are actually more famous by other artists who covered it.  His music is universal, and because of this will continue to be popular for a long time.  It is because of these reasons that it is considered folk music, and is being sung at our concert.

            Another topic that I have been using this set to teach my students is protest music.  Although Bob Dylan claims his music was not written as protest music, the fact of the matter is, that’s exactly what it was used for during our country’s civil rights fights in the 1960s.  The country was in turmoil during this time.  Many activist groups, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), were coming into being and demanding equal rights for everybody.  Throughout the protests, marches, and sit-ins, Bob Dylan and his music, particularly from this album, were highly present.  He performed at the March on Washington D.C. in August 1963.  Many of his songs, like “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “When the Ship Comes In”, and “Only a Pawn in their Game” were used as nonviolent protest music at these gatherings, many times with himself performing them.  As the Civil Rights Movement is an extremely important part of our country’s history, it is important to use this music as a way of teaching about the movement to my students.

            In the end, I hope that the members of this community can see why singing a set from Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album is both appropriate and acceptable for our Fall Concert.  Music can be used to teach many subjects, and that is exactly what I am using this music for.  Folk music is an extremely large genre of music that all students should be taught.  This music was also an important part of a huge chunk of our history.  Our students should learn about it in a variety of ways, including the music used during that time.  Throughout the preparation for this concert, my students have learned a great deal, and can’t wait to show you this at our Fall Concert on November 22^nd in our auditorium at 7pm.  I hope to see many community members there. Thank you.