My elementary school music teacher was Mrs. Scott.  (Anita Scott died last August, age 87.  She taught music in our Western Pennsylvania schools for 32 years.)  Once a week or so, Mrs. Scott would amble into our class, beckon us with her distinctive alto sing-song voice to open our music books to page-whatever, and half of the class (the girls) would dutifully sing while the other half (we croaky boys) would do everything in our power to blend in with our desks, the floor tiles or the lights, anything but open our mouths and reveal ourselves.

Here are a few of the songs in our music book that we were asked to sing in 1963:

•  “U.S. Field Artillery Song” (i.e., the “Caisson Song”).  From 1918.

•  “Old Black Joe” by Stephen Foster.  From 1853.

•  “The Deaf Woman’s Courtship (Old Woman)” from 1729 or so.  This was the one song guaranteed to make sixth-grade boys mute when they were forced to recite, “Old woman, old woman, will you kiss me dearly?”

I think Mrs. Scott meant well, but really.  Hard for me to imagine that a music educator would be unaware of the discomfort factor involved in making sixth-grade boys sing about romance.  That said, I had worse school experiences (subject of another blog).

I wonder what elementary music education is like in 2013.  I surely hope that there are no more rosy-cheeked boys belting out “the caissons keep rolling along” while having no clue what a caisson is.  I also hope sixth-grade boys and girls are no longer being asked to play 18th-century gender roles.  But what exactly are they doing in music class now?  Do they sing “Hey Jude” or “Material Girl” or “Put a Ring on It”?

Maybe no one sings at all.  Maybe they never replaced Mrs. Scott.  I’d like to know.