Educational Programs with STEVE PARKS

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Whether you are studying American history and culture, American literature, the science of sound, or making homemade music for everyone, my concerts and workshops can help bring more depth to the subject. Plus, we have a great time! It is a flexible program- workshops can be done with small or large groups, and assembly/concert programs will fit all or part of a school. Everything is geared with the Virginia SOLs in mind for social studies and history for all grade levels from K-12. An assembly is also an excellent enrichment for high school American Literature classes. After studying and performing traditional American music for many years, I began working as a costumed historic interpreter at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia in nearby Staunton. There I demonstrated a variety of music from different cultures. The education department and I developed a program on homemade instruments and music for kids and teachers, which I have since expanded and take it to schools, teacher's workshops, camps, festivals and Boys & Girls Clubs. The workshops have the participants make their own instruments and music. Basically, music is so important to humans that they'll figure out a way to play it no matter what their situation. Early European settlers came over with little but the tools needed to scrape by- there were very few instruments in early America and on the frontier larger than a fiddle, and even those were a luxury. Folks had to make things out of what they could find. We follow suit, making things like: The kazoo- from the African mirliton- was bamboo or gourd with a spider-web membrane. Nowadays,using pvc pipe, a plastic grocery bag and a rubber band, we make some of the finest sounding kazoos around. Another African instrument, the banjo, was a gourd with a stick stuck through it, a skin across the top, and gut strings. The 21st century equivalent is to use a tin can- the modern equivalent of a gourd used for storage-, a stick, and fishing line. Frame drum bodhrans made from paper bags, thumb pianos from rake tines or popsicle sticks- these are not little toy rattles! You can play real music on 'em. And we do, together, to show the sense of community and adventure that music has given us over the centuries. The instrument(s) made are chosen with the age and abilities of the people involved. Did I mention that they learn a lot of tool use? Younger kids get plenty out of sawing a kazoo to length, drilling a hole and cutting a circle out of a bag, then playing a bunch of music on it. Older people- fifth grade to big old adults- work on layout, marking drilling, and hammering to make a banjo. There are plenty of ideas to fit any curriculum.   My assembly program "Homemade Music in America" focuses on traditional songs and music relating to the development of the United States. Some examples include; Cumberland Gap- sung by settlers on the Wilderness Road The Cuckoo- here I play a version from the 1500s on the dulcimer, then show how European instruments and music changed over time, being both isolated from the homeland and mixed with other cultures. It gradually becomes the quite different version still popular in the South. Peg an' Awl and John Henry- a couple of different views of industrialization and economics, from the viewpoint of a shoemaker sick of his craft and the classic battle between the steam engine and a steel driving man. Fiddle tunes- popular old dance tunes, with talk about social life on the farms. By combining workshops with an assembly, I can frequently goad the kids into playing their instruments along on a rousing number like Liza Jane! This brings home the idea of self-reliance and community so central to the American experience.   "Steve Parks has collaborated with the museum for a number of years on music performances, children's workshops and teacher training workshops. He is organized, thorough and fun to work with. His children's and adult workshops are prepared with specific age groups in mind, and Steve takes care to plan carefully for both participant skill and difficulty level. He is flexible in designing workshop themes, and offers good suggestions on how to build on programs offered previously. Steve is an "adjunct professor" of sorts at the museum, and we enjoy working with him. We plan to invite him back regularly to work with us on all sorts of workshops and musical events." > Lydia Volskis > Education Director

Feel free to contact me at: swparks@earthlink.net  (540) 867-0225 10001 Rooster Ridge Ln. Dayton, VA 22821

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