Appalachian Music & Cultural History with Ron Pen

Ron Pen will be teaching a folklore class in Appalachian Music & Cultural History during Week 5, August 2-9, 2015. This class is part of our 5-week folklore series this summer. Pen will also give a public lecture one evening during the week. We have craft & folklore classes scheduled each week this summer. Week 5 is also Old-Time Week, Vocal Week, and American Vernacular Dance Week.

Appalachia is the song of a people bound to place through the history and culture of the mountains that embrace them. During the week, amble through the narrative context of Appalachian music, pausing to appreciate square dances, balladry, Afrilachian expression, mining songs, lined out psalmody of Old Regular Baptist churches, hollering and old-time fiddling. Through presentations, videos, guest appearances and engaged conversation, students will come to know the traditional music of these mountains.

Ron Pen is a professor of music at the University of Kentucky where he also serves as Director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music. His research is focused on traditional Appalachian culture with recent publications including I Wonder As I Wander: The Life of John Jacob Niles and “Preservation and Presentation of the Folk: Forging an American Identity” in Music, American Made. Ron is also a performer, playing fiddle and singing with the Red State Ramblers. He is a founding member of the Appalachian Association of Sacred Harp Singers with whom he sang on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio program. He has served on the staff of Swannanoa Gathering’s Old-Time Music Week, Augusta Heritage Center’s Old-Time and Vocal Weeks, Berea College’s Christmas Country Dance School, and Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week.

Register today to reserve your space, visit http://augustaheritagecenter.org/, click “REGISTER,” and select craft & folklore for the week of your class. More information is available at https://augustaheritagecenter.org/augusta-schedule/craft/.