Last Updated on September 17, 2024 4:00 pm
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s High Country Humanities — with support from North Carolina Humanities — will present “Folk Music as an Expression of Culture: Talks with Acoustic Demonstrations” on Sunday, Sept. 22, from 2:45–4 p.m. at Valle Crucis Community Park’s Herrick Pavilion and Stage, located at 2892 Broadstone Road in Banner Elk. The event is free and open to the public.
Join App State Hayes School of Music faculty members for folk music demonstrations, and listen and learn to identify the defining characteristics of folk genres. Dr. Laurie Semmes will speak about the bandura, the national instrument of Ukraine, and Mark Freed will present on Appalachian folk music. Following these presentations, Dr. Jacob Kopcienski will lead an audience question-and-answer session.
About Dr. Laurie Semmes
Semmes is a professor of ethnomusicology in the Hayes School of Music. Her research interests include Ukrainian-American bandura education and performance, the relationship between music and propaganda, Cuban music and culture, and exoticism in the musical theatre. Semmes has presented papers at international conferences in Italy and Ukraine, as well as at national and regional conferences of the Society for Ethnomusicology.
About Mark Freed
Freed is an adjunct professor of Appalachian music in the Hayes School, a folklorist for the Watauga County Arts Council and the director of cultural resources for the Town of Boone. He also oversees the Watauga Arts Council’s Concerts on the Lawn series and hosts a weekly acoustic jam session at the Jones House Community and Cultural Center in downtown Boone. Freed worked with the North Carolina Folklife Institute to help create the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area’s Traditional Artist Directory. He performs with various local and regional traditional mountain music groups and teaches private lessons in a variety of folk music styles. He plays banjo, piano, guitar and mandolin.
About Dr. Jacob Kopcienski
Kopcienski is an assistant professor of musicology in the Hayes School. His research and teaching focus on community-engaged music. He is also an accomplished saxophonist and a staff writer for the website I Care If You Listen.
This marks the seventh event in High Country Humanities’ ongoing series “Connecting Local and Global Rural Cultures.” This series of talks, workshops, demonstrations and film screenings is supported by a grant from North Carolina Humanities. Each event is designed for general audiences and will help the campus and broader public learn about the stories, histories and traditions of rural communities from the state and around the world.
For more information, contact Dr. Darci Gardner, director of High Country Humanities, at GardnerDL1@appstate.edu or 828-262-2928.
