Coventry Evening Telegraph 13th November 2007
Article by Pete Chambers                                  CLICK PIC TO EXPAND >>

THERE must be thousands of people who recall the pains of having to learn Latin at school.
A dead language they say, but it's the basis of all European languages, your tutors would reply.
We are not here at Backbeat to talk about Latin even though it has featured in songs by Steeleye Span, David Essex and Roxy Music.

No, the subject today is the blues, and the inspiring news that it is now being taught in Coventry schools.
Like Latin, the blues may be considered somewhat archaic these days, but it does form the basis of most popular musical forms that have developed over the past 90 years.
Unlike Latin however, there has been no complaints by the students who are learning about this seminal music-form.

Tim James and John Alderson are blues musicians turned teachers; they go back a long way. John played in Wandering John, Snake, and the Travelling Riverside Blues Band and with Tim in The Last Fair Deal.
Tim began his blues odyssey in the Boll Weevils, then Soul Sect, 3 AM, Ra Ho Tep, The Band With No Name and The Last Fair Deal plus lots of solo stuff. Who better then to teach seven to eight-year-olds about the blues?

So I asked Tim how it came about.
"I was asked by teacher Steve Thomas, who was in the Travelling Riverside Blues Band if I would do some blues tracks for A-Level students.
The kids loved the tracks and all got great grades.
Then he asked if I would fancy teaching the blues to Coventry school kids and I said yes.
When we started I didn't think it would be primary kids. "It began in September, and we do four 45-minute sessions a day, two schools in the morning and two in the afternoon."

The 45-minute Story of the Blues sessions trace the blues back to its origins in the slave trade, when chained workers would sing crude 'field hollows' backed with stomp and claps or more often by the fall of a hammer or axe.
Through music, slide shows and plenty of interesting narrative, the children are taken on a musical journey punctuated with just the right amount of information on each time-line in the birth of this most real of all musical forms.

They are encouraged to join in, and by all accounts are willing to take part.

They get to hear about bottleneck guitars, Resonators (as played by John Alderson), harmonica or blues harps (as played by Tim James), mojos, delta, 12-bar blues and the effect this musical form has had on other music that would follow it.

As a blues fan it was a delight to hear versions of On the Road again, Cross Roads and Mustang Sally.

I asked those involved, Tim and John, Darren Sheldon and head of service Owen Dutton what surprised them the most about this course: "What surprised me," said John, "Is what genuine interest we get from these young people. They love it; I was amazed at just what response and questions we get from them.
I was telling them about the 'bottle' I used to play the guitar; I mentioned that nowadays they tend to use a metal slide. It was wonderful to hear a child ask if he could hear the guitar being played with a metal one to hear the difference".

"We talk about guitars being made from wood," reveals Darren, "Then up pops John with a metal guitar, and straightaway, they are asking what a metal guitar would sound like as most of them have never seen one before."

"We are also involved in the history of rock, and rock school," said Owen. "Most of the children have heard of Elvis and The Beatles, and it's tremendously encouraging to think we are planting the seed for the enjoyment of music. I just wish we had this when I was at school."

You know what Owen, so do I!
I think most of us were subjected to classical music at school, I know I was.
I have since learned to love classical music, but in my own way, I got to see the fun side of it. Teaching music like this is all about fun. Okay, so some blues purists may say: "How can you teach the history of the blues in just 45 minutes?"

I know the blues, and I can assure you that what we heard was all the basics a young child needs to know. It's wildly interactive, educational, musical, historic and fun. Every school in the city should be involved in this, many already are.

Also encouraging is the news that 2-Tone is being taught in some schools, and my 2-Tone trail book is being used in the lesson.

Pete Chambers
13.11.07

last fair deal website by Tim James