Lakeville Elementary students got a musical lesson in diversity last week when Robert Jones and Matt Watroba paid a visit to the school in honor of Black History Month.
Jones, a black blues musician, and Watroba, a white folk musician, put on a program tracing the diverse roots of American music and the people who formed it over the last 200 years.
Watroba told students to think of American music as a tree with many branches such as spirituals, blues, country and rock ‘n? roll.
But at the tree’s ‘roots,? there are ‘no categories? like those, Watroba said. At the root level, ‘it depends more on who’s making the music than what kind it is,? he said.
Jones said American music came from ‘folk music,? which is ‘the kind of music everyday folks used to make? with instruments like guitars, banjos, fiddles, jaw harps, harmonicas and homemade creations.
With no CDs, Music Television or pop stars around, early Americans had to rely on themselves to create music.
‘We find most of the American music we know today came from two places ? Europe and West Africa,? Watroba said.
While the Europeans came over as settlers from places like England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy, the West Africans came over on slave ships to work the plantations of the south.
‘But when that European music met that African music it became American music,? Jones said.
Jones and Watroba performed a variety of American songs showing how they’re all related and can be traced back to those African and European roots.
‘When you study music closer there’s a lot more that’s similiar than different,? Watroba said. ‘Just like the people who made that music have a lot more in common than different.?