Lou and the Girl Scouts
I have a memory of busloads of Girl Scouts all traveling somewhere together. We stop in some kind of a rest area. One of the girls from another troop on another bus was acquainted with one of the two of my special singing buddies. And I just have this memory of that one particular girl, just during this one really brief rest stop, teaching us a round that we had never heard before that we just loved. It's just a fragment of a memory, but I remember so clearly that yearning to acquire that new song. Of course, I can't remember now what it was!
My musical partner Lou has told me before that she is sure being a Girl Scout helped propel her toward a career in home made music. The above quote from Lou is part of an interview I conducted with her last week in the band rattletrap on the long day's drive home from somewhere east of Pittsburgh. It struck me as fabulous that the component of the incident Lou remembers most strongly -- even more than the song itself -- is the actual "yearning" to acquire new songs. There even developed an informal rivalry amongst her scouting friends for learning new music.
One of the things that drew us together was how much we loved singing, and we all loved getting new songs. Knowing all the words to songs was the mark of a little friendly competition.
I wondered where they found the songs. One source, which began around 1960 and continued for awhile, was an annual national Girl Scout assemblage.
I never went to the big girl scout (gathering) where a lot of the girls learned songs and brought them back. It was a national meeting called Roundup (laughs). As far as I could ever learn, singing was all they ever did.
Lou's Scouting friends would come back with songs learned at Roundup and also would bring songs back from local gatherings such as summer Girl Scout camps.
The camp counselors really kept the musical ball rolling and taught all the girls singing. That's where a lot of it came from. Girl Scouts grow up to become Girl Scout leaders, and in particular the college girls who were camp counselors at Chalk Hills (Girl Scout Camp in northern Wisconsin) and the other camps around the country. The campfire was the thing. That was what you did in the evenings. And some of the counselors had this trove of songs that they would teach to all the girls.
Lou became a Girl Scout camp counselor herself, and loved it.
It really was the oral tradition at campfires and camp-outs. My particular part -- the thing I liked to do -- was teaching at campfires. You know, I was a counselor for LITTLE girls when I was in high school and would stand up at the campfire and teach songs and lead the singing. My early experiences at performing were teaching singing at the campfires.
I wondered how songs came to be part of the Girl Scout repertoire.
I would collect all those little books with all the songs in them. You could buy those little camp songbooks, and they had the notation for the melody. So I would pick them out on the piano (enough to) sing with my friends. I think it's funny; I still put a lot of store in memorizing songs. I can't really perform (a song) without memorizing it. But I think probably being able to memorize it comes from being back in Girl Scouting.
I asked if she ever taught songs from her songbooks to the Girl Scouts.
Oh definitely. That was the way I learned new songs. The other girls learned them at camp and I learned them from the books, (and I would bring them) into the group.
Wondering about the actual teaching method, I asked Lou if she taught harmony around the campfires.
I wouldn't teach (the theory of) HOW to sing harmony, (but) I would teach THE harmony. Like I never taught the chords, because I didn't know what that meant. How I learned to sing harmony was in Girl Scouts of course, by learning the specific part that was what you call "THE HARMONY." And I think that must be how people learn harmony is just becoming accustomed to the sound of a third or a sixth. So you memorize that and you know that that sounds good, and you know dissonance is bad, and you learn to find that (good sound). Also, many, many of the songs (we sang) were rounds. Round singing was one of my first experiences with harmony singing; it helps in the acquisition of the ability to sing your OWN part against someone else's; to understand how important it is to have a pretty line in the harmony part, and of course getting to know the sound and feel of consonance versus dissonance.
I asked if anyone played instruments around the campfires.
No, all a capella (at first). Once in a while somebody'd have an autoharp but it wasn't until (a friend) got a baritone uke... Then later on we did learn to play instruments. I was one of the ones. (But generally) there were very few instruments. I learned to play guitar and ukulele and then ultimately banjo, but I don't believe I would take my banjo on camp-outs.
I reminded Lou that she had taught me many songs from her scouting years. As we bumped past Youngstown and lurched on through Ohio, Lou sang an old scouting favorite, starting with the chorus:
Barges, I would like to go with you
I would like to sail the ocean blue
Barges, is there treasure in your hold
Do you fight with pirates brave and boldOut of my window looking in the night
I can see those barges flickering light
Starboard shines green, port is glowing red
I can see them flickering far ahead
(Repeat chorus, I join in on melody, Lou sings harmony, with percussion by highway debris, windshield wipers, and teeth on trail mix).
That this big gangly organization (now with 8.5 million members in 144 countries) is able to instill a lifelong passion for the collecting and singing of songs in folks like Lou -- who has gone on to make a living at it for 25 years (and counting) -- is really pretty spectacular. And let's not forget S'mores.
Sources:
Lou Berryman (Thanks Lou)
Girl Scouts of the USA: Official Web Site www.girlscouts.org/
I couldn't find a copyright or author notice for Barges. Anyone?