Memphis means music. That relationship was solidified in 1909 when W. C. Handy wrote the song �Mr. Crump� and later published it as the �Memphis Blues.� As Handy�s songs were sung and played in streets and music halls, a spotlight began to shine on a new mecca for innovation in music�Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Music: Before the Blues surveys the people, music, and events that contributed to the rich musical life that emerged against the backdrop of the Civil War and yellow fever in the 19...

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) was formed in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 24, 1959, by 35 choral directors from around the United States. They aimed to create an organization that would meet the professional needs of all choir directors. To achieve this goal, they made the promotion of excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching their central purpose. In addition, ACDA strives through arts advocacy to elevate choral m...

Nashville is a name synonymous with music. Years before the first radio broadcast of country music from Nashville�s Grand Ole Opry, music and publishing were central to Nashville�s self-identity. Thousands of songs flooded into the Cumberland and Tennessee River valleys from Southern Appalachia, sung by folk performers. These songs became the foundation for the folk-hymn traditions that grew throughout Tennessee. Into this stream flowed a body of African American spirituals, gospel, and mi...

We all know we can do more together than we can alone. But collaboration is hard, takes time, and can go against human nature. Collaboration is also at the heart of musicianship. In this dynamic and inspiring book, Tim Sharp guides us with a practical, step-by-step vision for improving the collaborative spirit of any ensemble or organization. The potential results can be dramatic. Sharp provides insights into how to develop sustainable collaboration and work towards a common vision that wi...

Innovation in the Ensemble Arts caps a trilogy of volumes that delves into the building blocks necessary for a vibrant, growing music organization. In the first volume—Mentoring in the Ensemble Arts: Helping Others Find Their Voice—author Tim Sharp examines the mentor/prote´ge´ dynamic and its critical impact on the lives of ensembles and their conductors. In the second volume—Collaboration in the Ensemble Arts: Working and Playing Well with Others—he challenges us to think beyond our trad...

Since colonial times, generations of families from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England have settled in Knoxville and East Tennessee. Early on, they arrived with ballads, stories, instruments, and folk music from their former homes. "Songcatchers," including Francis James Child, Olive Dame Campbell, Maud Pauline Karpeles, Cecil J. Sharp, William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, Charles Pickard Ware, and George Pullen Jackson, journeyed deep into the remotest areas of East Tennessee to ...

Relevance in the Choral Art is a collection of essays from leading practitioners in the choral field that challenges musicians to reflect on the role choral music plays in today's culture and what can be done to keep it relevant. Now more than ever we must face the challenge of the relevancy of choral music in our culture, for artistic directors and their role within choral organizations, for members of choral organizations, and for the community that choral music education and performance...

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - December 2021The Truth As We Know It: Celia's child, Theo, is continually bullied at school and his new step-father tries to "make a man" out of him.For Your Safety: Zoe is visited by the government for having sexual relations without first filing an "Intimate Partnership Agreement."The Growing And Weeding Of Dandelions: A space arc arrives a...

The life of blues legend Robert Johnson becomes the centerpiece for this innovative look at what many consider to be America's deepest and most influential music genre. Pivotal are the questions surrounding why Johnson was ignored by the core black audience of his time yet now celebrated as the greatest figure in blues history.Trying to separate myth from reality, biographer Elijah Wald studies the blues from the inside -- not only examining recordings but also the recollections of...

Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits) and "a meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed contrarian" (New York Times Book Review), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture. It is not an easy thing to pin down. As Howlin' Wolf once described it, "When you ain't got no money and can't pay your house rent and can't buy you no food, you've damn sure...

If not for a stint in reform school, young Louis Armstrong might never have become a musician. It was a teacher at the Colored Waifs Home who gave him a cornet, promoted him to band leader, and saw talent in the tough kid from the even tougher New Orleans neighborhood called Storyville. But it was Louis Armstrong's own passion and genius that pushed jazz into new and exciting realms with his amazing, improvisational trumpet playing. His seventy-year life spanned a critical time in American...

Celebrating the dark origins of our most American music, Country reveals a wild shadowland of history that encompasses blackface minstrels and yodeling cowboys; honky-tonk hell and rockabilly heaven; medieval myth and musical miscegenation; sex, drugs, murder; and rays of fierce illumination on Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others, famous and forgotten, whose demonology is America's own. Profusely and superbly illustrated, Country stands as one of the most brilliant explora...