I have been blessed in my life with wonderful parents and many wonderful teachers, some by
design, some by effect. When I saw the bulletin on the news last night about the passing of Pete Seeger, it marked the passing of one of my greatest teachers, and a spiritual parent. And while I do feel sadness at his passing, I also feel a tremendous wave of thanksgiving that he came into my life when he did. So much of who I have become in my life I owe to Pete.
I believe I was 11 or 12 when I checked out a copy of one of the LPs in the “American Favorite Ballads” series from my local library. The recording changed me. The audio quality of the recording was horribly primitive, and the songs were old, but the electricity of Pete’s voice, 12-string guitar and banjo lit me up. I checked out songbooks, and made the folksongs he sang part of my own learning process as I struggled to learn the guitar. I didn’t worry that I felt I couldn’t sing very well; part of Pete’s message was that singing was something you just do, not great art that only a few should create.
When I was 14 I bought a banjo, largely because Pete had one. I bought his “How To Play The 5-string Banjo”. The book became my text, but not just for the banjo. It was a philosophy of life, and of music, and in the book the two were inseparable. It also helped me learn the instrument.
Over the years I read his “Hard Hitting Songs for a Hard-Hit People”, which is a powerful book about people during the dust bowl migration and the depression, told in part through songs. I read his collection of writings “The Incompleat Folksinger”, and again found music and life bound together in his unadorned, deeply humanist philosophy.
Pete’s influence on my life has been so complete that I rarely think about it; it is just part of my spiritual furniture, and I believe it has served me well. I believe it has made me a better person, teacher and musician.
What did Pete teach me?
- Music is not an art. It is a life force that is part of all of us. Yes, there is a subset that is art music, but music is the birthright of all of us, and it is something we should do together. We are all musicians.
- We need each other, and we need to take care of each other. It’s no surprise that this resonated with the Christian teachings that were part of my upbringing.
- It’s more important that you try, than that you be assured of success. Peace on earth, caring for the planet, racial and gender equality, eliminating want and poverty, all were worthy of our attention even if we knew that the odds were stacked against us.
- Those in power can try to shut you down, but it’s hard for them to stop you from singing, even if it is with one person at a time.
- Singing with someone is a more powerful thing than singing for someone.
- Singing something is more powerful than saying something.
I realize as I write this list that it could continue on and on. Things Pete helped instill in me are a large part of my personal foundation.
My wife and I got to eat lunch with Pete years ago at a folk music gathering. He was sitting alone at a table and we scraped up our courage and sat down. I sputtered out an attempted introduction, hoping to tell him everything he meant to us, but it all came out as unrelated consonants. He quickly put us at ease, and before we knew it, he had steered the conversation to the importance of children, and encouraging us to keep doing what we loved. He made us feel important, and was as wonderfully warm to us as strangers as he would have been if we were old friends. We felt we were.
It’s important that Pete was a great light, but it’s more important that he lit millions of candles. I count myself as one. I hope that those of us who have taken on the flame will do Pete proud, and sing it on to millions more. If you’re curious as to why I am the way I am, learn more about Pete Seeger. You won’t hear him sing live anymore, but you can hear him sing on recordings or on film. When you do so, close your eyes. Put yourself in the room, and allow yourself to sing along. Get hold of his songbooks, or pick up a copy of “Rise Up Singing”, which is a great place to start a group sing. Read his prose. And sing: with your friends, with strangers, while doing the laundry, and most importantly, for children. Let them know that music is theirs; it’s not just something that comes out of electronic boxes, or a sacred domain reserved for a priesthood of artists. It belongs to all of us.
Thank you, Pete. You made the world a better place, and you helped make all of us whose lives you touched better people.