The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have been teaching a short lesson about old music and phonographs at a nearby school. All of the second grade classes at the school are receiving the same lesson. As part of the lesson, I played several records (includes explaining how a record relates to a CD) and explained how the Victrola runs. The classical tune "Humoresque" was played first. The Victor Record entitled "In a Clock Store" was fun to play along with some dance music and a Harry Lauder record entitled "It's A Fine Thing to Sing" where the class joins in with the chorus. I also read a short passage from a music appreciation book published by the Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1920. The 1916 VV-VI performed well.

Update: I appreciate the replies and will add "Whistler and His Dog" to my plans for a short lesson with 3rd Graders on Monday.

Don

That is such a great idea to offer classes or presentations like this to Elementary School kids. They seem to be interested, so you must have done a good job capturing their attention. Well done!

Andreas

Good job!! I am sure these children were fascinated. Could inspire a future hobbiest or two. You are an inspiration in the giving of your time! Steve

How nice! I see you have your 2-55 with you also. How did the kids like the presentation? I hope a kid or two come out of that lesson with an interest in phonographs.

Play Whistler and his Dog for them!

I think this is fantastic! Great machine to use and your program sounds excellent (although I do second BigShot's suggestion of Whistler and his Dog. I use the electric batwing version of that for demos often mostly because of the great sound quality)

This reminds me-- I have recently been pondering that the MP3 generation must think it very curious that early music players once came with an oil can. Try squirting that into your ear buds.

Nice job!

Steve

I've been thinking about doing demonstrations at my local town's museum and maybe school. I've been asked to put stuff into their museum but I simply can't do that lol. If you don't mind I have a few questions about how you went about the demonstration and how long it took etc. did you start off with a short history description and go from there?

I did a few presentations with both my portable and my VV-IV in high school, and more than a few people were intrigued by how it worked. And then I took my portable to college and when we had a power outage, I has a pretty good sized group sitting around listening to big band. If I even got one person to gain any interest in this old technology, I call it a success.

The students enjoyed the lesson. It was presented several times. A student made this "card" to thank me for my efforts.