Music class was a bi-weekly event where all us kids filed out of the main school building and into the building that housed the gym, lunchroom, and dinky little stage. In the tiny backstage area, we would all sit on risers and "Mr. Key" (yes that was his actual name) would conduct our voices to sing in rounds and harmony. He was a very good teacher, and made singing together feel like a fun game. The songs he chose were usually folk songs, culturally significant in some way, or child-appropriate remixes of what we were hearing on the radio. Here are a few I remember particularly well (links lead to wikipedia articles):
I've Been Everywhere (North American Version)
Sweet Betsy from Pike - Song about pioneers. We were learning about the Oregon trail at the time so this was thematically relevant. Our child-friendly version contained no scandals, and ended with the couple settling in our hometown and starting up a cafe business.
This Little Light of Mine we learned about the connection of this song to the Civil Rights movement, which we were also learning about in class at the time.
Wavin' Flag This song became very popular after its use in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Don't Stop Believin' There were some lyric changes in this one for sure. No "a singer in a smokey room / the smell of wine and cheap perfume"!
Breakaway Lowkey a crazy emotional song about growing up for children to sing at an event where their parents could hear them.
Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow Popular for being featured in Glee. I don't know, I never watched it.
We are Young Another one with a lot of lyric changes, no getting high, no bar, I don't even remember if we kept "carry me home".
Each grade level would perform their own song at events such as "Multicultural Night", "The Fall Social" and "The Pancake and Latke Breakfast and Christmas Tree Sale". We also learned to play the recorder in this class but that's a different story.
I'm sure this class fostered a love of music in a lot of us kids, myself included. It was probably inspiring to the community too, with how often we sang about hope and freedom. I'll end this story with some lyrics from a Mr.Key original that isn't anywhere on the internet to my knowledge:
Person to person face to face / The greatest hope for the human race / Open our eyes and help us see / A world where peace begins with me