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Tag Archives: Music
Slang to Sibelius
Connie Eble discusses her book, Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language College Students, an account of how college students talk and how their language reflects identity and social authority.
In the episode’s second interview [15:10], Robert Fradkin talks about his book, The Well-Tempered Announcer: A Pronunciation Guide to Classical Music, which according to Fradkin might be subtitled, How to Take the Foreignness out of Foreign Languages.
American Legend
Pete Seeger enjoys almost legendary status for millions of Americans. But he says that over the years the motives for his music and his activism have remained true to the local wellsprings of concern for children, care for the environment, and individual responsibility. He and Michael Honey, a recent scholar in residence at the National Humanities Center, spoke and sang about his (Seeger’s) life and artistry.
New Musics
A discussion of and performance of excerpts from the music of two important American composers, George Gershwin and William Grant Still, both of whom helped to shape contemporary ideas about highbrow and lowbrow artistry.
Warfield Stories
“William Warfield, the distinguished performer and teacher of music and one of the most important contributors to 20th-century African American culture, talks with music historian and critic Mark Tucker [NHC Fellow 1991-92] of Columbia University.” [Wayne Pond]
New Southerners Part 2
Larry Brown reads from and talks about his novels and short stories, including Joe, Dirty Work, Facing the Music, and Big Bad Love.
Disembodied Voices
A discussion of music and life in the convents of Renaissance Italy.
The Book of Love
Cathy Davidson discusses her new anthology, The Book of Love: Writers and Their Love Letters (Pocket Books, 1992). Acknowledgement: Music from The Best of Doo Wop Uptempo (Rhino Records).
West of Everything
Jane Tompkins discusses her new book, West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns (Oxford University Press). Acknowledgement: Bridge music from Land of Enchantment (Warner Bros. Records). Additional material from American Radio and Swearington Productions.
Early Ellington
Mark Turner discusses his biography of a legend in Amreican music, Ellington, The Early Years (University of Illinois Press, 1991). Acknowledgements: Hop Head and Creole Love Call appear on The Essential Duke Ellington (VJM Records) and East St. Louis Toodle-O appears on Duke Ellington: Brunswick-Vocalion Rarities MCA Records.
Killer Diller
Clyde Egerton discusses his new novel, Killer Diller (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill). Dusty and the Taildraggers (a.k.a. Clyde Edgerton and friends) also offer a musical excerpt from Killer Diller.
American Originals
Richard Hart discusses the Zuni Indian culture of the American Southwest. Richard A. Peterson discusses American country music, authenticity, and commercialization.
Medieval Melody
Janet Knapp discusses her forthcoming study, The Polyphonic Conductus, an examination of texts and performance of 12 and 13th century European music, with examples courtesy of students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from Vassar College.
Yemeni Music and Tradition
Philip Schuyler is an ethnomusicologist who has worked for many years in the Middle East. During a fellowship year at the National Humanities Center, he is at work on a study entitled The Politics of Tradition: Music and Musicians in the Yemen Arab Republic.
Music and Expression
According to Wendy Allanbrook, cultural historians have described the nature of musical expression in terms of two primary categories–as autonomous, formal, and numerable, but also as effective and imitative of the human and the mundane. Central to Professor Allanbrook’s forthcoming study of the nature of musical expression is the question: Is classic music a special moment in music history, or a model for other musics? By way of illustrating this issue, the examples on this edition of Soundings are from the work’s of Mozart, including The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, the Jupiter symphony, and the F major piano sonata.
Music from the Smithsonian Part 2
James Weaver concludes his discussion and presentation of selections from the collection of restored musical instruments at the Smithsonian Institution. Among the selections discussed and performed on this edition of Soundings are pieces by the 18th-century English composer John Stafford Smith (composer of The Star Spangled Banner ), the 19th century American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Antonin Dvorak, and George Frederick Handel.