Calicanto Associates' New Website
Calicanto: Bringing History Alive through Music
Welcome to Calicanto Associate’s new website, which is long overdue. Although Calicanto Associates has been in business a very long time, our products are as important and timely as they have ever been. We are very pleased with the look and feel of this updated website, designed by our talented webmaster, Conrad Seto.
The purpose of our publications is to link the exciting and multicultural history of California with authentic songs of each period. Historians consider such songs Primary Source documents as they are told in the words of the people, who lived through the times. Song adds an emotional component to history that makes it more compelling and immediate.
In our blog, we will print a monthly post on a variety of subjects and we invite you to make comments and provide feedback.
In the 1980’s the concept of Calicanto started as a series of workshops under the auspices of NCAKE, the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators. One important aspect of Kodály is the emphasis on traditional song material. The project, “California History Through Folk Song,” involved the research of songs from various eras of California’s history leading to subsequent presentations in Northern and Southern California. We also had guest presenters for in depth workshops on specific subjects, e.g. Joan Yasui Emerson presented a session on Japanese music in California. At that time, Eleanor G. (Toni) Locke, a folk song specialist and Kodály Program faculty member at Holy Names University was a key component of the group. She was involved in the early stages of Calicanto and was responsible for finding a number of the songs included in our first publication.
The core of this initial project consisted of five music teachers specialized in the Kodály approach to music education; Karen Arlen, Margaret Batt, Mary Ann Benson, Nancie Kester and Toni Locke. Our love of folk music led to a fascination to continue to discover even more authentic songs of California. Because California is a multi-cultural state, we have sought out materials from people who came to California from various lands as well as those who lived here from the beginning.
Eventually, we gathered our materials to put into book form, resulting in the completion of They Came Singing: Songs from California’s History in 1995. This collection of 100 traditional songs features nine eras of California history. In 1999, we compiled another collection entitled, Days of Gold! Songs of the California Gold Rush. We decided to self-publish and in so doing, we formed a partnership: Calicanto Associates. We launched a marketing campaign of our publications and achieved the status of legal compliance with the California State Department of Education’s guidelines for social and musical content of instructional material. Fortunately, our efforts led to the wide dissemination of our books to schools, libraries and homes throughout the state.
Our two books have companion CDs performed by the Calicanto Singers and invited friends. They are accompanied with appropriate folk instrumentation. Singers include adults and children, men and women. Some songs were performed by children from our music classes. It is fun to listen (and perhaps sing along with) the songs while leafing through the books. The songbooks are organized into historic periods, complete with maps, illustrations, primary quotations, and a description of the times. There are also brief notes on each song and we include melody line and suggested chords. All have a child’s vocal range in mind but they are not limited to the classroom. Historians and bookstores also love them.
We proceeded to write and publish five musical plays, each one featuring different era of California’s history. All musical plays have all been performed to great acclaim and they are perfect for the classroom and for school or on-site historical presentations.
We also gave frequent workshops at state educational and music conferences and offered school in-services. Our singing group, the Calicanto Singers performed extensively at historical venues, including the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley and the Oakland Museum.
In 2001 Mary Ann Benson and Margaret Batt retired from the partnership and Nancie Kester and Karen Arlen continued the business. We revamped and printed new editions of our two major books, reformatted our plays and created over fifty beautiful choral arrangements of an assortment of songs found in our publications. Our choral series includes both simple and complex arrangements. Some are a cappella and many have piano accompaniments and feature additional instruments.
Our interest in researching history through song continues to this day. Although our songbooks end with the California gold rush, we have collected materials extending way beyond that period. At one point, we considered publishing another book featuring songs from the Transcontinental Railway up to World War II.
Nancie and Karen continue to give workshops at state and national music conferences and to other educational groups. We are currently gathering song material from Oregon to present a session at the upcoming conference of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
Calicanto would love to begin a dialogue with those interested in California history through song. Visit our contact page. It would be a pleasure to hear from you.
Karen Woodward Arlen and Nancie Kester