Billiam:

I am listening to the great show by B.B. King from June of 1968 just posted.  The description of the show is right-on. ----edit----  I wonder if younger visitors to Wolfgang's understand the importance ----edit----

Hello from a high school teacher blessed to be employed in a progressive environment. Music and creative expression are still deemed important here. These excerpts from Billiam made me think of my students. Each week we devote a few hours to discussing the performing arts and music. Over the course of the last 10 years I've noticed a marked increase in young students deeply interested in the music and musicians from thie Woodstock Generation. I've always had students interested in The Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, but with increasing regularity students now wish to discuss Bob Dylan or Neil Young and groups like The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Traffic and many lesser knowns of that timeframe. A greater number of students are also becoming  interested in Jazz and Blues, which pleases me to no end.  My point is that many younger visitors to Wolfgang's Vault will understand the significance of the music if they are simply encouraged and exposed to it.

Speaking for my own students, what a marvelous resource Wolfgang's Vault has become. This past year we began choosing a few Concert Vault recordings to discuss each week. The diversity and quality make it a favorite weekly homework assignment and their choices often surprise me. They most often choose the older recordings and the insight and passion they display for music created during their parent's or grandparent's generations is genuine. Wolfgang's has become an effective teaching tool, not only for the recordings but for the synopses that accompany these old concerts. They are usually written with such passion and clarity that my students are comprehending this music on both a social and artistic level. Online information about concerts from this era that can be appreciated by scholars and students alike is essentially nonexistant. Your writers are the rare exception that have found that delicate balance. I wish to express gratitude on behalf of my students and myself.  Concert Vault is setting a wonderful example that helps them focus on the music and performance and they have become better listeners as a result. The educational synopses inspire lively student discussion, which I look forward to resuming when our new year soon begins. Via email, several of my previous students have even stayed in contact over thier sumer vacation!  Such is thier passion for learning about this era in music.

Sincerely,  
    Diane McDonald