Woodstock
Times - July 28, 2010
Folk songs and Catskill’s history
The new show opening at the
Historical Society of Woodstock’s
Eames House, on Comeau Drive, with a reception this Saturday afternoon,
July 31, serves as something of the missing link between the Woodstock
of arts and crafts pioneers at Byrdcliffe and Hervey White’s mavericks
of all media, and the rebirth of the town as a folk and then rock music
Mecca from the 1960s until its more recent incarnation as a prime
Hudson Valley real estate market and shopping magnet.
Told
through film, music, artifacts, images and archives culled from private
collections, the Norman Studer Papers at SUNY Albany, and the
Historical Society itself, “Folk Songs of the Catskills — the Spirit of
Camp Woodland” stretches beyond the town’s borders to reveal rich
chapters in Woodstock’s history still reverberating in the town of today
Witness
how 15-year-old camper John Herald listened to counselor Pete Seeger
sing, and promptly decided to become a musician. Or how Seeger learned
the Cuban song, “Guantanamera,” from another counselor, and at another
time wrote three verses based on a Russian folk tune and left it with
counselor Joe Hickerson, who worked out the subsequent hit, “Where Have
All the Flowers Gone,” with a group of campers over several evenings.
Camp
Woodland (1939–1962) was founded in 1939 by Norman Studer, a former
Ph.D. student of John Dewey’s and later founder of Greenwich Village’s
Little Red School House, at the head of Woodland Valley Road outside
Phoenicia. The idea was simple: to bring America’s democratic roots
alive by embracing cultural diversity and a multidisciplinary approach
to this nation’s root culture. City kids were brought up to the country
and put in touch with old-time Catskill Mountain folks and other
imports from throughout the Appalachians to preserve old songs, old
ways, lasting cultures.
“Using the camp as a base, campers
went
on frequent trips into the Catskill mountain communities to collect
folk songs, stories and history. Many of these Catskill residents were
born between 1870 and 1900 and had grown to adulthood during the
transition from the age of homespun to industrialization,” noted former
camper Bill Horne in his written memories of what Camp Woodland meant
to him and others throughout the area, and entire nation, during its
time. “They were the last generation brought up to handle a flail,
shape a wooden spoon, skim milk by hand from a flat pan. They had
learned a way of life from parents who had been adults during the Civil
War and from grandparents who had been alive in the 1840s when the age
of homespun had reached its apogee in small-town New York…Their
deep-lying roots in their culture gave these people an unmistakable
dignity and serenity, even in the face of aging, sickness, and for
some, long-inured poverty and despite their recognition that life had
already passed them by and progress had rendered obsolete what they
were familiar with. They retained a natural self-esteem of those whose
American identity developed in an era when men and woman relied on
themselves for many of the necessaries of daily life; and who, in the
age of homespun, found opportunities to exercise their creative
potential.”
Folksongs of the Catskills – the
Spirit of
Camp Woodland’s opening reception 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 31 will
include plenty of former campers on hand, along with music and
refreshments. The show will then stay up through Sunday, September 12.
Upcoming
special events associated with the exhibition will include an ‘On the
Porch Series’ presentation by former campers Pat Lamanna and Sue
Rosenberg, with music by Hickerson himself, from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. on
Saturday, August 14.
“Campers appreciated the importance
of
these songs and stories to their Catskill neighbors. In the process of
collecting them, these neighbors responded warmly to the eagerness and
respect of the campers who came to learn from them,” Horne continued
about those gentler days now wrapped in memory. “They sang and told
stories cheerfully and graciously for their new found friends and
appreciated the tribute of having their songs honored and enjoyed, and
learned and sung back to them by a new generation.”
Talk about a time lost to us, almost,
in our present day…++
The Historical Society of Woodstock’s Eames
House museum is open 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For more info call
679-8111 or visit www.campwoodland.org.
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Daily Freeman (dailyfreeman.com), Serving the Hudson Valley
since 1871
Life
Celebrating Camp
Woodland
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
By Rochelle Riservato
Correspondent
Remember the song “Where have all the Flowers Gone?” Or perhaps
you are familiar with “Kum Ba Yah”?
Believe it or not – these songs grew from the seeds sown in the Catskills at a
place called Camp Woodland just outside of Phoenicia
in Woodland Valley
and 20 miles from Woodstock.
Camp Woodland, in existence from 1939 to
1962, was cultivated from the New Deal economic programs passed by Congress
during the first term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from 1933 to 1938 to provide
work for artists and inspired by a progressive movement in education. Although
there were hundreds of camps in the area for urban children to attend, Camp Woodland
was different. It was a folk music nurturer that focused on collecting folk
songs, folk lore and the history of the Catskill Mountains.
Much like the Hudson River School of Painting that immortalized the sweeping
landscapes, majestic views of the Hudson River’s banks and bucolic beauty of
the Catskill area in artwork—Camp
Woodland created auditory
images with lyrics and melodies about the lives and tales of the region’s early
settlers.
One of the alumni of this Camp was Joe “The Songfinder” Hickerson, whose
multi-faceted career ranged from folklorist, ethnomusicologist and folk music
archivist. His official title, from 1963 to 1998 was Librarian and Director of
the Archive of Folk Song/Culture at the Library of Congress.
But even with such an important occupation, Hickerson always had a back-burner
avocation to be a folksinger. Now retired, he’s fabricated a new title for
himself: “Vintage Paleo-Acoustic Pre-Plugged Folksinger.”
According to Hickerson, he came up with the “paleo-acoustic” phrase when the
term acoustic began to replace “folk”, which then led to “new acoustic”.
Said Hickerson, “It occurred to me that having learned guitar in the early
1950s I was old acoustic, and since, as a kid, I was intrigued with dinosaurs I
should be paleo-acoustic.”
His “pre-plugged” part of his title came to him when he saw folk
performers who began as unplugged subsequently plugged in and then later
unplugged—such as Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen.
“I never plugged in,” he said.
Born in 1935, Hickerson’s home life was abundant with musical motivation. His
mother played piano and sang and his brother played piano. His maternal
grandfather was John R. Sweney, a famous 19th-century musician, songleader, and
composer of hymn tunes.
“My parents had folksong albums by Burl Ives, Carl Sandburg and Paul Robeson,
and folksong books we’d sing from around the piano,” he said.
He started playing ukulele in 1949 at age 14 and guitar the year after. He said
he fancied himself a folksinger and his interest heightened at Oberlin College where he helped found and was
first president of the Oberlin Folk Song Club. He then studied folklore and
ethnomusicology at Indiana
University from 1957 to
1963 where he served as folklore archivist and first president of the Indiana
University Folk Song Club. He also hosted folk music radio and television shows
at both universities and was campus representative for several folk music
record companies.
Folk legend Pete Seeger, who lives in Beacon, has called Hickerson a great
“songleader.”
Hickerson feels humbled and appreciative of Seeger’s accolades but said he
learned the craft from Seeger starting with his 1948 Progressive Party rally in
New Haven and Seeger’s appearances at Oberlin College in 1954.
Learning of Camp Woodland from a member of his band, The Folksmiths, they
visited Woodland in the summer of 1957 and the band introduced songs such as
“Kum Ba Yah” and “Oh Lord I’ve Got Some Singing to do.”
“I was a counselor there from 1959 to 1960—by no means a founding member—but I
loved the campers, the staff, the music, the Catskills, and their desire to
expose the campers to the folklore and music and people of the Catskill
region,” he said.
Camp Woodland had a Catskill Folk Festival
every August, which Seeger visited annually. The Festival featured square dance
callers, storytellers, dancers, artisans, and musicians from the region for
campers and visitors to celebrate the heritage of the Catskills.
Now what most people will certainly remember is that Seeger wrote “Where have
all the Flowers Gone?” However he did so in 1955 as a three-verse song that was
actually a paraphrase of an old Ukrainian ballad.
“Pete wrote the first three verses in October 1955 on a plane on his way to do
a concert that evening at Oberlin
College,” Hickerson said,
adding that he organized the concert when Seeger performed the song for the first
time.
But in 1960, at Camp
Woodland, Hickerson wrote
the fourth and fifth verses and repeated Seeger’s first verse at the end,
making it a 6-verse circular song. He explained a circular song ends the same
way it starts.
“I figured the kids at Camp
Woodland would like it as
a song of singable length, and they certainly did. It was in the top five of
their favorites during the summer of 1960,” Hickerson said.
He cited that it was not until August of 1960 that Seeger first heard the
six-verse version during his annual visit to Camp Woodland.
Hickerson said that everyone has their own interpretation of what the song is
about— “I’ll leave the meaning of the song to others – I just felt it was a
song to sing with people.”
In Seeger’s 1993 book, titled “Where have all the Flowers Gone?” he devoted
four pages to the song’s development. Hickerson stated there is also an
hour-long documentary about this famous song that was produced by Japanese
public television.
Hudson Valley resident and President of Heritage Folk Music, Inc., Bob Lusk
said, “The folk revival of the 60s would not have taken the course that it did
had it not been for Camp Woodland—there was a lot of song collecting.”
Lusk said the three notables in the camp’s creation were the late composer,
Herbert Haufrecht, educator, Norman Studer, and musicologist, Norman Cazden.
“What made Camp Woodland so important among the
thousands of other camps is that they came out to the people and invited
people. They connected the campers, who were mostly city kids, to the region’s
heritage,” Lusk said.
At the camp, the kids would go on field trips designed to collect ballads of
the area. They would visit local folks that were known to have tunes from times
of yore and the campers would transcribe each verse. They’d bring these ballads
back to the camp and that’s how many Catskill folk ballads were
“collected”.
“There are archives of these songs,” said Lusk, “Haufrecht and Cazden
collaborated and published a book, Folk Songs of the Catskills, well-known in folk
circles.”
“Folk Songs of the Catskills” was actually a two-volume set with a collection
of 178 songs—a monumental anthology collected by Camp Woodland’s
campers.
“Camp Woodland had such a huge effect on the
folk music of the 60s; I remember the song, ‘Putting on the Style’ that was
released on Hootenanny albums—and this and many other songs were collected by
the camp song-catchers.” Lusk also mentioned that Janice Ian, who at age
13 wrote “Society’s Child,” was also a member of Camp Woodland.
Joe Hickerson is looking forward to an upcoming weekend that’ll be a type of
homecoming for him.
He said, “Come bring your voices and camaraderie to Woodstock and Saugerties to share and sing
along. After all, as my father used to say: “Why should two sing alone when one
can sing together.”
On Aug. 14 from 2 to 4 p.m. a reunion called “Folksongs of the Catskills—The
Spirit of Camp Woodland” sponsored by the Historical Society of Woodstock and
Heritage Folk Music will take place. The event is free and open to the public
and features a power-point presentation and plenty of rousing sing-a-longs of
many old favorites. Joining Hickerson will be former Woodland
campers Mickey Vandow, Pat Lamanna, Sue Rosenberg and others so one can look
forward to awe-inspiring sing-alongs of many old favorites. The event will take
place at the Woodstock Historical Society at the Eames House, 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock.
On Aug. 15 from 3 to 5 pm, Hickerson will perform his music, speak about the
ballads and conduct a question-and-answer session. This event is co-sponsored
by the Saugerties Historical Society and Heritage Folk Music and takes place at
the Kiersted House on Main Street
in Saugerties. Tickets are $8.
For more information about these events email Bob Lusk at heritagefolkmusic@gmail.com,
call (845) 594-4412, or visit heritageconcerts.blogspot.com.
For more about Joe Hickerson go online to www.joehickerson.com
Other upcoming events:
Aug. 8: Pete Seeger’s Book “Where have all the flowers gone?” Release Party at
The Bearsville Theatre.
Editor's note: This story has been amended to eliminate a mistaken reference to
the origins of lyrics to the song "Guantanamera."
URL:
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/08/01/life/doc4c54e04338dc7369639010.prt
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