Alex and I are currently trying to wrap up our study of the Vietnam Era and the Civil Rights Movement. Wow!!! The 1960s was such an amazing decade----so many important issues were brought to the table of discussion and so many changes took place in our society. There is just so much information to process. Alex really took an interest in the events of this turbulent time in our nation's history. We have read so many books and looked at so many websites and we still only barely scracthed the surface. I know we will re-visit the 1960s again when he is older.
Today, we discussed the music of the 60s and listened to many different artists who inspired an entire generation. We watched live performances (via YouTube) of The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smoky Robinson, The Jackson 5, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. I love that my son is willing to listen to nearly any genre of music, even if he doesn't like it after hearing it. Sometimes, we may find that we LOVE a particular sound that we didn't even know we liked simply because we had never heard it before. And, sometimes, like today, I am reminded of how much I enjoy the music of this bygone era.
One of the joys of homeschooling is that I don't have to follow a rigid set of rules---we can experiment and try new things simply because something sounds interesting and we want to. I suppose some folks may feel that 90 minutes of our day was wasted simply listening to music, but I don't!! Alex and I talked about what we liked about the various songs and artists we heard, we talked about what kind of life they lived during the height of their popularity and what changes they may have helped bring about, and we talked about how some of the musicians of the 1960s destroyed their lives by abusing drugs and alcohol. No subject is ever exclusive---any particular discussion can, and usually does, lead to even more discussion.
It is a beautiful thing to feel free to listen to or read anything that might help us to better understand a particular event or era or even "just because". On the other hand, we can also choose to pass up something that someone else tells us we should do or see or read because it doesn't appeal to us. History should never be dry and dull, but rather alive and exciting. When we, as both children and adults, can participate in and interact with the facts, they become so much more real to us and that enables us to find an affinity with certain individuals or movements, or, as was the case for Alex today, music! Music is such a great equalizer----it can help build bridges between the generations, the races, the religions, the political parties----bringing people together who didn't realize they had anything in common. I have yet to meet a single individual who doesn't like music. All music is "soul" music; it speaks to us in ways that nothing else can.
"After the silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." ~~~Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)~~~
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