Digital Commons Network^™

2016-January-12-Ethnomusicologist To Serve As Basler Chairholder, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

2016 Spring And Winter - Schedule Of Classes, Office Of The Registrar, East Tennessee State University

Registration Resources

No abstract provided.

Bill Monroe And Czech Bluegrassers: Imagination And The Production Of Place In Music, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Journal Summary: Bluegrass and Old Time Country Music: Buried Roots is a collection of articles by noted country music scholars Wayne Daniel, James Akenson, Gregory Hansen and Lee Bidgood. This is a special publication of the International Country Music Journal, an extension of the International Country Music Conference held annually at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

2015-12-18-Ethnomusicologist To Serve As Basler Chairholder In Spring 2016, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

Accent [newsletter]

No abstract provided.

Czech Bluegrass In Play, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Drawing from scholarship on play, ritual, and performance, I propose that Czech bluegrass thrives – as does my fieldwork – in a state of in-betweenness, in a territory that is between work, play, here and there, self and other. Being comfortable with this kind of in-between state is important for fieldwork, and for music-making – play, I find, is both a central activity and metaphor in both. The bluegrass play I discuss in this essay can become a response to the encroachment of Americanization in economic and cultural globalization, but also a way of being “Americanist” – and entirely Czech.

Review Of The Original Carolina Chocolate Drops: Giddons, Rhiannon. 2015. Tomorrow Is My Turn; Flemons, Dom. 2015. Prospect Hill; And Robinson, Justin. 2012. Bones For Tinder, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson met at the Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University in 2005. Inspired by this meeting in Appalachia, the trio worked to connect the legacy of Cumberland Plateau fiddler Howard Armstrong (of the 1920s band the Tennessee Chocolate Drops) with musical material they learned from their mentor, North Carolina Piedmont fiddler Joe Thompson. As the Carolina Chocolate Drops (CCD), these musicians explored a variety of black string band traditions.

“The Great Speckled Bird”- Early Country Music And The Popularization Of Non-Secular Song, Kris R. Truelsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perhaps no melody in the country music canon has been as widely recognized and borrowed from as that of the song “The Great Speckled Bird.” This significant song has become resonant and representative of both country music culture and religious culture of the Protestant South.

Through this historiographical study, I have traced the influences that helped shape “The Great Speckled Bird” and in so doing have illustrated distinct movements that led to popularizing the non-secular song through commercial country music. The composer’s use of sentimentality, neo- traditionalism, and religious ideas made it appealing to a rural southern culture struggling with …

Collaboration, Fieldwork, And Film, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: I never imagined that I would help produce a documentary film based on my ethnographic fieldwork. Meeting documentary filmmaker Shara Lange during new faculty orientation at the university where we were both newly hired eventually led to our film Banjo Romantika (2013)—a full-length feature based on my research on bluegrass music in the Czech Republic, in which I play a key role as writer, producer, and on-screen character. Taking part in this film project has led me to consider how film enriches relationships with field colleagues, providing new opportunities for teaching and learning. I find that collaborations like ours …

Book Review Of 'Exploring American Folk Music, Ethnic, Grassroots, And Regional Traditions In The U.S.’ By Kip Lornell, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Review of ‘Exploring American Folk Music, Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the U.S.’ by Kip Lornell

“That’S The Way I’Ve Always Learned”: The Transmission Of Traditional Music In Higher Education, Alexandra Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the establishment of degree programs in traditional music in institutions of higher education. It defines traditional music and discusses the history of traditional and folk music programs at universities and conservatories in the United States, Finland, Scotland, and England. The institutionalization of American traditional music is compared to the institutionalization of jazz music in the United States. This thesis focuses on the Bluegrass, Old- Time, and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State University and features original ethnographic interviews with lecturers from the program. Two similar programs in Tennessee and Kentucky are also discussed. Some of …

2014-February-25-Earth Song: Thoreau, World Of Sounds Focus Of Musician’S Study, Talk, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Finding Meaning In The Two-Finger Banjo Style., Jeffrey K. Elkins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The two-finger banjo style languishes as a small footnote in the lexicon of old time banjo music—very important to a passionate (and lucky!) few, but not known by too many others. This research is a starting point to understanding the meaning of two-finger banjo; through a review of primary literature, interviews, witnessing performances, and individual investigation of playing two-finger banjo, I have been able to document some understandings about the style.

These understandings informed further appreciation of old time music, the old time music (and banjo) communities, and the art of making music in this way—while describing the journey, I …

Czech Bluegrass Fiddlers And Their Negotiations Of Past And Present, Lee Bidgood

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: Proc ty housle? ("Why the fiddle?") - "Fiddlers are all bad here - Why not write about the banjo or something else that Czechs are good at?"These questions about my ethnographic fieldwork came from musician colleagues with whom I working in researching bluegrass music in the Czech Republic, during a jam circle around a table. While these colleagues were mainly banjo and guitar players, these critiques of Czech fiddling are common even among Czech fiddlers, who are in many cases not as accomplished (in technical skill or musicality) as are their banjo-playing and mandolin-picking compatriots.

Archives Of Appalachia Newsletter (Volume 10, Number 03, 1989), Archives Of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

Archives of Appalachia Newsletter

The Archives of Appalachia Newsletter, produced by the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University from 1979-1993.