Collaborative Music-Writing/Collecting Project Suggestions for Musicians

[Guest guest]

I'd actually like to discuss this issue on this list (and on other veggie

type lists).

 

Raffi is reputedly a vegan. Also, Raffi has reputedly shifted his career

from entertaining younger children to

 

Children's TV celebrity Mr. Rogers (Fred Rogers) is also reputedly a

vegetarian.

(He is also, among other things, a Presbyterian minister, did you know?)

 

While I don't hear Raffi doing " vegetarian advocacy " songs,

I do hear him singing older songs about " Apples and Bananas " ,

and there are surely resources for helping young children

learn to appreciate the fruits and vegetables for what they are,

from a hands on perspective.

 

The most complete MUSIC " suite " is probably the 5-A-Day

children's " opera " about the fruits and vegetables,

available to parents and teachers free on audiocassettes.

 

www.dole5aday.com

 

In addition, there " ought to be " (I think) some kind of

group collecting the " music of the vegetarian movement " ,

from " the beginning " through the present.

 

There are classical musicians who were vegetarians,

and lots of vegetarians ARE musicians, and vice versa.

 

My old Wheaton College chum, Kate Pearson of the B-52's,

is reputedly a vegan and does AR fundraisers, I'm told,

although I have only seen her a few years ago at the

Washington DC " March for the Animals " ,

and she was not looking too " mainstream " , as I recall,

and I'm conservative enough to feel a little " iffy " about

" movement radicals " who want to commandeer an

entire vegetarian idea in service of everything else,

and shortchange us and our minds on the vegetarian side.

 

Historically, if we don't mind looking that far back to find it,

some of the great Christian hymns were written by vegetarians,

notably the Wesleys, founders of Methodism.

 

So, in my opinion, any scholarly treatise on the topic

ought to include such contributors, even if there would

be a considerable amount of " cognitive dissonance " today.

 

 

At 02:32 PM 7/29/00 -0400, JanPierce wrote:

>Hey, I like that -- and if I knew of veg and env kid-oriented songs and where

>they could be purchased on CD preferably, I'd get them to use in my

>classroom. Does Raffi have a lot of this type? I'm not overly familiar with

>his music. Jan Pierce, Texas

 

 

and again

 

At 02:27 PM 7/29/00 -0400, Vester Scott wrote:

>Maynard,

>

>Sounds like a musical production to me. Seriously.

>

>Move over, " Cats. "

>

>No. Wait. An opera.

>

>Vester

 

How about something we could sing, not as an anthem,

but as one singable song among others, to be used

along with others in a songbook.

 

I have little interest in seeing any one person

however brilliant musically, become memorialized

in the vegetarian movement as the movement's one songwriter.

 

Maynard

 

At 01:46 PM 7/29/00 -0400, Don Mossman wrote:

>I like the idea and I agree. I just returned from NAVS summerfest and a

>woman named Sharon Cordarro previewed a song that could well be an anthem

>for the cause. I believe it was called 'I'm a vegetarian', or something like

>that. I did not get a copy, but it was very well received at summerfest,

 

How great could it have been if few attendees wanted a copy of it?

 

>and NAVS could tell you where to get a copy.

>I believe Ms. Cordarro is affilited with a veg group on the west coast.

 

I'm glad that at least SOME effort is being made to get vegetarians

to sing together.

 

Years ago, at a Natural Hygiene Convention, a similar idea was tried

when some vegan songwriter practicing the natural hygiene diet

tried to compose an anthem called " Oh, Hygieia " , about a mythical

" goddess of natural hygiene " who was to be praised in anthems

for the anatomical human facts that the body heals itself under

ideal conditions, and that medical intervention was the lesser way

to go about seeking healing and wholeness.

 

The songwriter had captured one of the central ideas of " natural hygiene " ,

that the body acts to heal itself.

 

To my knowledge, the song had been sung enthusiastically one summer

and was promptly forgotten. I found one of my copies of the sheet music

recently while cleaning up a burned out apartment.

Such archives should not be lost, but more important is to move forward with

good and even great ideas - ideas which are seldom if ever fully embodied

in any one artistic work, despite the efforts of the artists involved.

 

However, songwriters could busy themselves in creating this kind of music.

Whether there would be some social incentives, I don't know.

Who would fund them? Your guesses are as good as mine, and perhaps better.

But there must be motivation to move this on its way towards fuller

realization.

 

Does anyone have some resources for " talking this up " among musicians

who are vegetarians?

 

We're definitely talking " popular vegetarian culture " here,

not " high art " , although the acknowledgement and acceptance

of " high art " and the contributions of vegetarians to " high art "

is definitely worthy of note and notation.

 

Maynard

 

>Vegetarian Resource Center wrote:

>>One crying need that I think I see in the vegetarian community

>>(and vegetarian movement) is its lack of a " musical culture "

>>which binds us all together.

>>

>>Many vegetarians are NOT old enough to remember the

>>various social and political movements of " the Sixties " ,

>>although many people DO try to RECREATE the vegetarian

>>communities and movements in its image.

>>

>>That cannot be done, I believe, unless we have MUSIC

>>to " bind us together " .

>>

>>Here's my argument.

>>

>>Every social and political movement that has EVER

>>succeeded has enjoyed a musical culture which

>>served its visions and values to the supporters and

>>to the world at large, like a large abundant bowl of

>>nectar poured generously - to overflowing -

>>into the basin of thirsty culture.

>>

>>Religion has, to a large extent, I believe, survived

>>because the arts have served the visions it communicates.

>>

>>The anti-war protests of " the Sixties " grew because

>>there were protest lyrics.

>>

>>In addition, we have something different here in the

>>vegetarian movement.

>>

>>I believe that the attempt to make the vegetarian movement

>>a protest movement are wrong-headed UNTIL the basic

>>vision has been communicated successfully. That vision

>>includes the desirability of plant-based diets, perhaps

>>WITHOUT using the words 'vegetarian' or 'vegan'.

>>

>>While historically there ARE musicians who have been

>>vegetarian, most 'historical studies' merely show pop entertainers,

>>a far cry from the classical composer or the great mind who,

>>like Beethoven, could craft a symphony in his deafness.

>>

>>Yet popular music, it is, that the vegetarian communities

>>need, and I suggest that we begin with the work of

>>vegetarian popular musicians like

>>

>>Raffi (environmental and children's entertainer,

>> reputed to be vegan)

>>

>>The 5-A-Day collection used widely in public schools

>>

>>Jennifer Schwirzer - all health-conscious sons, like

>> " Fiber, Come Back " (we want something to chew)

>> " Look at that Cow in the Barnyard "

>> " Coffee's Not My Cup of Tea "

>> " Ballad of a Vegetarian "

>> etc.

>>

>>And see whether or not we COULD develop a

>>real SONGBOOK for use in homeschooling,

>>vegetarian societies, rallies, conferences, gatherings, etc.

>>and in private use (hey - what do I sing while I'm working)

>>and in small groups, or while traveling?

>>

>>Can you imaging a group of vegetarians driving along

>> bursting out into song, singing "

>>

>>Look at that cow in the barnyard,

>>The big hulky cow eating hay.

>>Well, if all she eats

>>Is grass hay and wheats,

>>How does she grow that way?

>>

>>They say I need meat to be healthy,

>>But I think they told me a lie.

>>Just look at that cow in the barnyard.

>>...etc...

>>

>>Remember the ape in the jungle...

>>...

>>They say I need meat to be healthy,

>>But I think they told me a lie.

>>Remember the ape in the jungle...

>>...fifty times stronger than I

>>

>>Mrs. Giraffe has a secret for living in simplicity.

>>McDonald's is NOT where she takes her tots.

>>She just takes them out to the tree.

>>

>>{You see, understanding MUST be communicated in song.}

>>

>>Maynard S. Clark