The Art of American Roots Music
MUS1-10-Fri2
Taylor Ackley. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes at Brandeis and at University of Massachusetts, Boston are collaborating on this course.
In person on the former campus of Mt. Ida College in Newton, 100 Carlson Ave, Newton, Massachusetts, 02459. Ample, convenient parking will be provided. Once enrolled in this course, you will receive detailed directions.
March 7 - May 2
(No Class March 21 or April 18)
**Please note this class will run for 8 weeks from 10am - noon and will take place at the former campus of Mt. Ida College in Newton.** Though this class meets for 8 weeks, it will count as a 10 week course in the lottery.
In The Art of American Roots Music, we will work to understand folk, country, and bluegrass as art which represents the struggles, triumphs, concerns, and creativity of poor and working-class folks in the United States. Building upon his previous courses for BOLLI, in this class Taylor Ackley will present his original research, crafting parallel histories of American folk and popular music through family and community history, scholarship on popular music, and musical analysis. Each week will cover a different topic, most of which are drawn from Ackley’s upcoming book Hearing Class.
Weekly topics will include “Hillbillies and Cowpokes: Representing the Rural Working Class”, “The Music of Montana: Songs of a Changing Place”, “Where Can Grass Grow?: American Roots Music in Boston” and “Flying Above the Page: Roots Music in Classical Spaces”.
If all this sounds a little technical, don’t worry! A central goal of this course is to present original scholarly research to broader audiences. Through readings, assigned listening, lectures, discussions, and performances we will learn about this music together in ways that are inviting without shying away from the nuance the music deserves. Participants from Ackley’s previous courses will find this course an appropriate culmination of their studies in American roots music, but there is no prerequisite for registration.
Other – A mix of lecture, discussion and musical performance.
Readings will be drawn from scholarly literature, popular press and artist biographies and will be provided in PDF format or as links to digital content. Listening will be provided in the form of a YouTube Playlist.
Approximately 30 pages of reading per week with about half an hour of assigned listening.
Taylor Ackley is first and foremost a folk musician. Born into a working-class family with a remarkable musical heritage, his work was influenced by generations of pickers, singers, songwriters and fiddlers across his family. He holds a Master’s Degree and PhD in Composition and a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology from Stony Brook University. Taylor is a professor at Brandeis University. His work examines American folk and popular music through analysis, composition, historical research, performance and ethnography.