Class Dispatch to David

We learned that sea shanties are work songs normally sung up on the deck of the ship. They helped the crew to keep in time with each other for rhythmic tasks (like pumping or pulling rope) and to keep their focus and motivation when tasks were monotonous and/or very physically tasking. These songs were typically in unison until African crewmates joined and began to add harmony. We will be playing with moments of unison and harmony in our songs.

The ballads are songs typically sung below deck in the crew’s free time; they are slow, full of longing, and often accompanied by instruments (any instrument that were small enough to fit in their lockers and could be found on the ports: like flutes, tambourines, ukuleles, etc). While these songs were often filled with their life stories or their desires (particularly, many verses about a desire for women), we will be focusing on verses that will work more as longing laments for land and those who are lost. For example, we will sing a ballad as the woman and child are falling into the depths of the ocean.

Before each song, Tracy would give us more context and history on the boat that we will be singing the songs from. I have forgotten some specifics so I will comment more once I receive the PowerPoint again.

• Den Gamla Briggen: the first song we sang together was led by Claire Guthrie after she led us in a vocal warm up. After practicing it, we put it into our bodies as we pumped water out of the boat in a pushing and pulling motion. Claire, the supervisor of this moment, helped keep us on task and at the right tempo by setting everything up with the call; then we would use the response to communicate back and keep the rhythm and focus.
• Leave Her, Johnny: this song was led by Rachel Weintraub. This song was used to help us pull a rope that was attached to a pulley system that aided us in getting the (very heavy, we decided each person would be carrying 120 pounds of it) mast where it needed to be. This song helped us keep in rhythm for when to move our hands down the rope and when to pull.
• A Home on the Mountain Wave: this song was led from the crow’s nest by Kaitlyn Fields. The crewmate in the crow’s nest was usually a young person typically in their teens with extensive knowledge of weather and boats to warn the rest of the ship whatever was ahead (enemy ship! Bad weather! Friendly ship! Etc.). In our version, it was to warn the crews that we are entering a storm. Each of the three verses got faster and faster as the storm got more tumultuous.
• Blow, Boy, Blow: This song was led by Nick Hollenbeck as a lament for the women who fell overboard. He began it below deck as all of us were doing our free time tasks, such as card playing and drinking. He was able to play part of the song on the piano as well to show us that the chords had a very minor feel, so we will likely be adding this in with harmony and accompaniment.
• The final song we learned was a very beautiful Norse song? I have forgotten the specifics and will remember from the PowerPoint. It was the song that we will sing a verse from after Odin speaks about the creation of humans. We watched a video of what it sounded like and then we sang it practicing dynamics and learning the translation (where applicable as many of the words do not translate).

That was our day! See you soon!

Additional Note from Tracy:

I’ve been thinking some more about hauling up that heavy sail. Maybe someone can chime in about the physics of this? Imagine the sail furled on the deck or a spar: as the crew hoists it upward, would the effort increase because the total weight aloft increases? Or would it get incrementally easier as the wind catches and carries the sail? As the canvas unfurls would the sailors on the ropes need to fight with the wind to keep the sail from billowing? As the sail is hoisted, would the ship’s direction change, and if so how would that effect the sail’s behavior and the crew’s exertion?

Who can we ask about this physical effort? Does anyone know someone who has served on a tall ship? Please report back!