Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 150
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-4422-3602-8 • Hardback • December 2014 • $116.00 • (£89.00)
978-1-4422-3603-5 • eBook • December 2014 • $110.00 • (£85.00)
Victor V. Bobetsky is associate professor of music education and Director of the Teacher Education Program in Music at Hunter College of the City University of New York, as well as associate professor of urban education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research has appeared in the pages of Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, Choral Journal and the European Music Educators Association Journal and his choral arrangements for school age voices are widely published and performed. Professor Bobetsky is also the author of The Magic of Middle School Musicals: Inspire Your Students to Learn, Grow and Succeed, published by Rowman and Littlefield Education (2008).
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Complex Ancestry of “We Shall Overcome”
Victor V. Bobetsky
Chapter 2: A Folksong in Flight: Pete Seeger and the Genesis of “We Shall Overcome”
Sam A. Rosenthal
Chapter 3: The SNCC Freedom Singers: Ambassadors for Justice
Deanna F. Weber
Chapter 4: The Missing Blue Note: Transmutation and Appropriation from the Gospel Lineage of “We Shall Overcome”
Andrew Aprile
Chapter 5: Analysis and History of Major Choral Arrangements of “We Shall Overcome”
Christopher Flannery-McCoy
Chapter 6: “We Shall Overcome”: A Symposium
Victor V. Bobetsky
Chapter 7: “No More Auction Block for Me” and “We Shall Overcome”: Freedom Songs for the Middle School Music Classroom
Brooke Berry-Wolf
Chapter 8: Beyond “We Shall Overcome:” The Lasting Legacy of Freedom Songs
Patricia Woodard
Appendix I: Concert Program
Appendix II: Resources for Educators
The origins and legacy of the folk song 'We Shall Overcome' are complex and varied, which makes the study and teaching of this 'great American song' a difficult task. Bobetsky has collected eight essays (by librarians, teachers, and professors) that consider the creation of the famous tune and lyrics; touch on the larger context of music and civil rights; explain the fluid process of American folk practice; describe how the symposium on which this book is based came about; grapple with the choral and popular inheritances of the song; and provide clear lesson plans on how to deliver this information to a middle school classroom. Given the multiple aims of the book, it is impressive how well it succeeds. Directed mostly at music educators, the book is packed with history, analysis, and practical advice. In the end, this concise book illustrates the importance of culture, religion, labor, and interracial activism in civil rights America through case studies of a magnificent and ever-changing song. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates, teachers, and general readers.
— Choice Reviews
Victor V. Bobetsky has presented us with a valuable resource to be used not just in the music appreciation or general music classroom but in any class that seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the African-American civil rights movement and the song central to its conflict that has been used ‘to inspire people around the world who struggle for peace and justice.’…. [The] book is a valuable resource for teachers in performance, music appreciation, or general music classrooms. The volume’s many references and citations lead in a variety of directions that could provide a primary or secondary educator with substantial material to enrich their students’ education.
— Music Educators Journal