You never know what stories you’ll discover at Texas Living History Day, billed as “Another Way of Learning Using Stories and Songs.” The free event takes place September 25 at Schreiner University. Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
The 22nd annual Texas Heritage Living History Day will be presented on Friday, September 25 at the Robbins-Lewis Pavilion on Schreiner University campus in Kerrville from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by The Texas Heritage Music Foundation and Center for Innovative Learning at Schreiner University. Information is at (830) 792-1945, www.texasheritagemusic.org.

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Learning through stories & song

by Phil Houseal
Sept 16, 2009

All the world’s a stage for Kathleen Hudson, and everything upon it a story to be told.

The Schreiner University Professor of English has lined up an impressive array of talent who will be telling their stories in music and demonstrations at the Texas Heritage Living History Day on Friday, September 25 at the Robbins-Lewis Pavilion on Schreiner University campus in Kerrville.

“This event is another way of learning using stories and songs,” she said.

Texas Living History Day has continued in “one form or another” since 1987, when it began as a tribute to Jimmie Rodgers. Many of today’s residents may not realize that “The Singing Brakeman” who is considered the father of country music, moved his family to the Hill Country in 1929 as a treatment for his tuberculosis.

Around 1997 those involved were looking for someone to take over stewardship of the project. Dr. Hudson - who had founded and still serves as Executive Director of the Texas Heritage Foundation - eventually raised her hand and began shaping the event into its current image. Like everything in her life, it’s all about the stories.

“I had met some of the older people involved, and I was moved by their love for the music,” she said.

While the tribute to Rodgers is “still a part of it and still the heart of it,” Dr. Hudson has expanded Living History Day to speak to a wider audience. More than 50 performers and entertainers will set up on the campus at Schreiner University. They include Aztec dancers, chuck wagons and cowboy cooking demonstrations, teepees with Native American exhibits and stories, Texas heritage demonstrations, storytellers and oral historians, Texas singers and songwriters and more. This year she has added a tribute to Hispanic Heritage Month that features Joel Guzman and Sarah Fox. And the college professor has created an “educator’s packet” that teachers can take home for follow-up lessons in their classrooms.

“I’m not interested in just producing a festival or another Texas music show - this is at a much deeper level. When you stand in presence of someone telling you a story, you get at many levels. After all, we are story-telling creatures.”

Dr. Hudson, who is author of Women in Texas Music: Stories and Songs, also produces a series of coffeehouses on campus. Six times a year she brings in bands and songwriters, both recognized and new, to perform free for students and the community.

“We are trying to create opportunities to expose students to music and musicians who really make a difference, musicians who share their hearts,” she said. “We are creating a space for the music as well as the musician.”