Songs From The Woods, Old Growth to Mouth Bows

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- Hi, Sanford Smith here with Penn State Extension.

Today we're going to be talking about teaching forestry and wildlife through music.

And I'm joined by Van Wagner who's a popular folk singer here in Pennsylvania.

And he is also an alum in our School of Forest Resources, which is now the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State.

What else are you involved with, Van?

- I've got a lot of pokers in the fire.

So when I'm not in the classroom, I'm very involved with my community of Danville, Pennsylvania.

We have a heritage festival every year that kind of celebrates natural history.

And I also like to just travel around Pennsylvania to festivals and state parks and where the public is.

- Yeah.

- And teach people about history and teach them about our forestry.

- [Sanford] Let's go through a few songs.

(lively guitar music)

♪ Old growth bows, old growth trees ♪ ♪ Old growth moss under my feet ♪ ♪ Ancient rocks, ancient stones ♪ ♪ Old growth growing in my bone ♪ Any others you wanna share with us?

- [Van] Yeah, you mentioned oak.

♪ If everybody burned oak ♪ (lively guitar music)

♪ We'd all be warm in our cabins and homes ♪ (lively guitar music continues)

♪ Sure, it gives a little smoke ♪ ♪ But it throws good heat all night long ♪ I like oak. (Sanford chuckles)

- [Sanford] Any last songs?

Any wildlife songs you can think of?

- [Van] Well, lemme get the mouth bow and I'll do you a fish song.

- [Sanford] Okay, great.

- Here's a pretty cool wood product.

This is a mouth bow, and the mouth bow is the oldest string instrument on the planet.

It's obviously a derivative of a hunter's bow, but I'm gonna do you a song on the mouth bow.

And this mentions some wildlife.

This is called "Catch a Fish on the Susquehanna." (mouth bow music)

♪ Now catch a fish on the Susquehanna ♪ ♪ Catch a fish on the Susquehanna ♪ ♪ Catch a fish on the Susquehanna ♪ ♪ Sit on the bank in the mud and the sand ♪ (mouth bow music)

So, the way you play the mouth is you hold it right up to your cheek, changing the shape of your mouth.

This has been found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

This was used by all peoples and you're living in one of the last places where people still play it, the Appalachian Mountain region.

So I like to have my students at Danville High School make one 'cause it shows them some basic woodworking skills and it shows them a forestry concept called tension wood and pressure wood, which is an important thing when learning about felling trees.

If it wasn't for this, we wouldn't have guitars, we wouldn't have violins.

This is the original concept of tension on a string making music.

- Yeah.

- And the history books have it all wrong.

I've seen them say like, a hunter discovered that you can make music.

And I'm convinced it was the hunter's kid.

I think a kid is the one that picked up the bow (mouth bow music)

and invented string instruments.

- Yeah, - I'm convinced.

- And this one has a steel string from a guitar, right?

- Yeah, this is my guitar string.

But you know, traditionally, whatever your bow string was, did the job.

- Yeah. - And it's just, you kinda hold it up there and manipulate it.

Now I'm not an expert player, but a real expert player can manipulate the tension on their leg.

You know, so as they're playing, they're tensioning the bow, adding a whole nother dynamic to it.

That's pretty difficult.

- Yeah, that's fascinating.

Well, Van, I wanna thank you so much for coming today and sharing your love of music and your interest in teaching others about forests, wildlife, natural resources, cultural history of those things, and really the history of Pennsylvania through your work.

(lively guitar music)

♪ Well, the war, it was over ♪ ♪ Mister Lincoln had won ♪ ♪ But I drew my navy wages and returned to my home ♪ ♪ To Sullivan County where my grandfather came ♪ ♪ The soil was rocky and the sky always rained ♪ ♪ I remember Grandpa's stories of when he was a kid ♪ ♪ A bison in the lowlands and elk on the ridge ♪ ♪ But now they're all gone and a new hunt has begun ♪ ♪ To find the (indistinct) and make the sawmills hum ♪ (lively guitar music continues)

♪ All I need is my crosscut saw ♪ ♪ My double-bit ax, 80 trees to fall ♪ ♪ The spring, it's coming. ♪ ♪ I can smell it all around ♪ ♪ My soul's being tempted by that high water sound ♪ (lively guitar music continues)