Westward Ho! Songs of the American West

A Musical Celebration of America's Westward Expansion-There's gold in them thar hills! Gold has been discovered in the hills of California. Land is being given away to settlers willing to make a fresh start in the newly explored regions of the American West. Cowpokes andminers farmers and trappers gamblers and adventurers of all kinds are making their way west to chase the promise of the American Dream. They come by way of wagon train horseback stream boat and rail. Go West combines music history and drama to explore important facts about the westward expansion of early United States and discovers that real gold is not always the kind made into ingots and baubles. Real gold is discovered in the ideas andinspiration derived from new lands fresh starts and attainable dreams abundant in the promises of the land of the free. Perfect for upper elementary and middle school performers this historic and entertaining 35-minute musicalfeatures 7 original songs connecting script John Jacobson's choreography and a helpful production guide. The Teacher Edition includes full script accompanied songs Production Guide and choreography suggestions. Available:Teacher Edition Singer Edition 5-Pak Preview CD (with vocals only) Performance/Accompaniment CD Performance Kit/CD (Teacher 20 Singer books P/A CD). Performance Time: Approx. 35 minutes. For Grades 4-8.

A Musical Celebration of America's Westward Expansion-There's gold in them thar hills! Gold has been discovered in the hills of California. Land is being given away to settlers willing to make a fresh start in the newly explored regions of the American West. Cowpokes andminers farmers and trappers gamblers and adventurers of all kinds are making their way west to chase the promise of the American Dream. They come by way of wagon train horseback stream boat and rail. Go West combines music history and drama to explore important facts about the westward expansion of early United States and discovers that real gold is not always the kind made into ingots and baubles. Real gold is discovered in the ideas andinspiration derived from new lands fresh starts and attainable dreams abundant in the promises of the land of the free. Perfect for upper elementary and middle school performers this historic and entertaining 35-minute musicalfeatures 7 original songs connecting script John Jacobson's choreography and a helpful production guide. The Teacher Edition includes full script accompanied songs Production Guide and choreography suggestions. Available:Teacher Edition Singer Edition 5-Pak Preview CD (with vocals only) Performance/Accompaniment CD Performance Kit/CD (Teacher 20 Singer books P/A CD). Performance Time: Approx. 35 minutes. For Grades 4-8.

'Yankee Doodle' with variations is the most concise way to describe the piece commissioned by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra to commemorate Conneticut's participation in The United States Bicentennial. 'Yankee Doodle' a tune dating back to the Middle Ages in Holland and England (and used by the British as early as 1755 to poke fun at untrained American troops in the French and Indian war) is interwoven with other folk and national melodies to stitch a patchwork or a musical collage. It is a personal view of American history.'To explain my approach to They All Sang Yankee Doodle I must explain my own background because the piece is made up ofmusical memories imprinted from early childhood.My earliest musical memories are a juxtaposition of sounds - hymns and Bach chorales from the church next door where my mother was choir director; early twenties jazz from my oldest brother's dance band; classical piano from my middle brother and my mother's piano studio; and cowboy songs and turn-of-the-century ballads that I have always identified with my father. Concord California where I was born was once part of a land grant from the Mexican government and the Spanish-Mexican influence remained strong even as the town expanded from a sleepy settlement into an American microcosmos with a wide variety of ethnic groups. Over fifty years ago most of us who sang 'Yankee Doodle' in Concord could not trace our ancestry to the founding fathers. Those of us with Anglo-Saxon names were at the end of the Westward push our forefathers having left behind the Eastern cities a few generations before settling for a time mid-continent then restlessly pushing further West. Little is known of my paternal grandfather for instance except that he had come to California from Indiana walking across Nevada desert to become one of the first settlers in Mordoc Indian territory.Of course the native American the Indian was there to greet each new migration and it is his