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Timmy

High School
Program Description

Timmy Abell

     Since folk music is derived from such a broad spectrum of musical, cultural and literary sources, there are many opportunities for the high school curriculum to be enlivened by a program with a specific focus.

     For instance, Timmy has presented concerts for literature classes detailing the ballad and storytelling traditions of the Appalachian region. The songs and stories presented are selected for entertainment value as well as for their relevance to issues and subject matter current to the teen-age audience. "Lady Margaret" is an English ballad, actually a ghost story, which brings up unrequited love and suicide in a way which high-schoolers find quite compelling. "The Devil and the Farmer's Wife" gives a sense of the type of humor enjoyed for hundreds of years before anyone heard of the Comedy Channel. Some of the old Jack Tales appeal to teen-agers' mischievious side while confronting various moral issues.

     For inspiration in a creative writing class, students might hear Carl Sandburg's "The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy", told with Timmy's dramatic interpretation. Or the physics students might enjoy "Why Paddy's Not At Work Today", a song detailing the mechanics of a rope, pully, pile of bricks and the unfortunate Paddy who didn't quite get it.

     Timmy's programs are always rounded out with instrumental music and a good measure of humor and audience participation. Students whose musical tastes generally run with Rap, Rock and Country are often surprised by the richness of a tradition which is growing farther and farther from the main stream.


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