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Description
I wrote "I Want To Know" in 1991 as part of an Artist-In-Residence program at a high school back when I as a Wisconsin Artist and president of the Wisconsin Drama Association children's theatre division. I recently was asked to remaster the tracks to sell to schools in New Zealand. I'd forgotten how fun the music and lyrics were. I decided to share them all here.
It is, more or less, a history of the western world in comic book form. The students and I researched history in various categories and compressed it into lyrics. The style of performance was ensemble-based, improvisationally-conceived, low-budget theatrical. Lots of partial costume pieces, people playing multiple roles, open staging chaos. Very fun to perform (and, if you were part of the process, edify on several levels, hopefully).
Part of the residency was setting up a music lab in which I arranged and recorded the backing music. (Part of the grant.) I taught the students how to use the equipment as we arranged the music with various keyboards. I recall there being an M1, a Casio something, and an early Mac running Performer.
I've uploaded the tracks in reverse order so that they'll appear on my song list in the correct order. Here is a complete list. The tracks run about 40 minutes if you listen in one sitting. (The show also has spoken scenes with no music.)
1. I Want to Know - opening
2. The History of Science
3. The History of Medicine
4. The History of Transportation
5. The Industrial Revolution
6. I Want to Know - closing
This is scene highlights some of the people and discoveries in the History of Medicine. It naturally flows out the the same music and ear that started the previous scene: the History of Science. The entire ensemble participates.
It is, more or less, a history of the western world in comic book form. The students and I researched history in various categories and compressed it into lyrics. The style of performance was ensemble-based, improvisationally-conceived, low-budget theatrical. Lots of partial costume pieces, people playing multiple roles, open staging chaos. Very fun to perform (and, if you were part of the process, edify on several levels, hopefully).
Part of the residency was setting up a music lab in which I arranged and recorded the backing music. (Part of the grant.) I taught the students how to use the equipment as we arranged the music with various keyboards. I recall there being an M1, a Casio something, and an early Mac running Performer.
I've uploaded the tracks in reverse order so that they'll appear on my song list in the correct order. Here is a complete list. The tracks run about 40 minutes if you listen in one sitting. (The show also has spoken scenes with no music.)
1. I Want to Know - opening
2. The History of Science
3. The History of Medicine
4. The History of Transportation
5. The Industrial Revolution
6. I Want to Know - closing
This is scene highlights some of the people and discoveries in the History of Medicine. It naturally flows out the the same music and ear that started the previous scene: the History of Science. The entire ensemble participates.
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Lyrics
More than any other field, the history of medicine begins in the jungles and tropical rain forests of the equatorial regions. Thirty per cent of all medicines come from there.
Imagine what it must have been like for the first inhabitants of those forests: Some one in your village is ill. The Shaman, or medicine man, leaves the circle of huts to go out into the forest and find the only remedy that will save that person's life.
It is a quest humankind may never finish. There always seems to be one more illness for which there is no cure. Like the forest Shaman, we continue to search to find the answers. And as long as we are inspired by the preciousness of each life, each human person, the search for answers will continue.
In every person there's a will,
An inner strength, the power to heal.
But it is knowledge that reveals
The skills and tools to make it real.
Yet, there is so much to learn;
So many people in pain.
Where do we turn?
The Roman Galen made a start
Discovering organs, like the heart.
Then William Harvey took the lead:
As Father of Physiology.
Then began charts of veins and bones;
But, still, the germ remained unknown.
For what brought death there was no cure
Until the time of Louis Pasteur.
Pasteur brought vaccinations,
Sterilizations and cures,
Healing the world!
In every person there's a will,
An inner strength, the power to heal.
But it is knowledge that reveals
The skills and tools to make it real.
Imagine what it must have been like for the first inhabitants of those forests: Some one in your village is ill. The Shaman, or medicine man, leaves the circle of huts to go out into the forest and find the only remedy that will save that person's life.
It is a quest humankind may never finish. There always seems to be one more illness for which there is no cure. Like the forest Shaman, we continue to search to find the answers. And as long as we are inspired by the preciousness of each life, each human person, the search for answers will continue.
In every person there's a will,
An inner strength, the power to heal.
But it is knowledge that reveals
The skills and tools to make it real.
Yet, there is so much to learn;
So many people in pain.
Where do we turn?
The Roman Galen made a start
Discovering organs, like the heart.
Then William Harvey took the lead:
As Father of Physiology.
Then began charts of veins and bones;
But, still, the germ remained unknown.
For what brought death there was no cure
Until the time of Louis Pasteur.
Pasteur brought vaccinations,
Sterilizations and cures,
Healing the world!
In every person there's a will,
An inner strength, the power to heal.
But it is knowledge that reveals
The skills and tools to make it real.
abzwork
Wonderous...mystical..so warm and inspiring..your skill has me speechless, a good thing..lol..:):):)peace