Oh I got plenty o nuthin
Nuthing plenty fo me
I got no job, got no mule...
And why is this American musical masterpiece stuck in my head?
Why, as the teacher who had a rep last year for playing Jay-Z and Biggie, have I switched to a black "folk opera" from the 1930s that was written by a white man?
Great question.
It's one I'm struggling with right now.
I guess this is what happens when you make up a class from scratch about a subject that - on the surface - appears to have exactly zilch to do with your students' lives: Musical Theater History.
Let's look at it again: Musical. Theater. History.
Yes, in Brownsville. Yes, at a transfer "second chance" high school.
It's only our second full week of class and yet I've bombarded them with facts about a legacy whose authentic relevance (to them) I have doubts about: vaudeville, minstrel shows, black face, Al Jolson, Ragtime, Jazz....
As I've literally been making this shit (eg curriculum) up, I've decided to jump onto the thread of oppression. We've asked if music is really "raceless" and unpacked some assumptions about just who listens to (and makes) rock, jazz, rap, and classical. But I'm still not sure where and how this class is going to end up. I said when I thought up this thing that it would relate to them, but so far, has it? Another question: does everything have to? As a teacher who likes to claim a sense of uber student-centeredness, is there room for a class where struggling students learn thing that are completely out of their life experience? Isn't that itself an argument for teaching THEATER in the first place?!! Hmmmm.....
What the hell. Summertime is a haunting piece of musical poetry and I need to to catch the 3 train.
Biggie will have to hold off. For today.
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