Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Little House Music Lives On

A Vanderbilt University music professor is in the process of producing 10 CDs which will contain recordings of all 126 songs mentioned in Laura Ingalls Wilder's LITTLE HOUSE books.

Among the musicians helping on the project are the Grammy-winning Western group Riders in the Sky.

As Wilder fans know, music is an integral part of the books. Pa's fiddle and later Mary's organ hold great significance in the stories. (That said, I'm not sure what the linked article refers to when it says that a young Laura accompanied Pa while he played the fiddle...that appears to be a factual error in the article.)

THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER SONGBOOK, first published in 1968, is one of the treasures on my Wilder shelf. I enjoyed playing songs like "Highland Mary" on my flute when I was younger. How wonderful that someone is making recordings of the music that everyone can enjoy.

2 Comments:

Blogger Irene said...

What a great thing for someone to do. My mother-in-law was born in 1893 in a sod house on the prairies of Nebraska. Her father also played the fiddle for his family like Pa did and we still have the violin.

Also, thank you for the link to Riders In The Sky. My all time favorite singing cowboys (I was thrilled when they performed Woody's Roundup in Toy Story 2).

9:04 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

What a great family story, Irene.

My maternal grandmother's family are from South Dakota, not far from DeSmet.

Glad I could provide that link!

Laura

10:00 PM  

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