He was born into slavery, described as a fiddler when he tried to escape, and was emancipated in his mid-20s. Sawney Freeman’s Musician’s Pocket Companion may be the earliest published music by a Black composer in the United States.
Sawney Freeman, Black Composer & Fiddler Read More »
Political chaos impacts us all. How will we respond? When it comes to government arts support, the new administration in Washington has a clear agenda: to zero out funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We’re just days past the inauguration, and the returning president has again called government arts funding “a waste.” The argument over paying for the arts has long been a sideshow in the culture wars.
Playing Politics with Art Read More »
At an early EMA board meeting, Thomas Forrest Kelly recalls ‘serious discussion of whether we wanted to be the American Dairy Council (lobbying association for the professional field), or the Rah-Rah Association of Enthusiasts (focused on amateurs). EMA, after 40 years, has still perhaps not quite figured that out, and creative discussions continue.’
EMA at 40: Musings on Our Beginnings Read More »
Restoration means bringing an instrument back to a playable condition. Conservation is about preserving an instrument in its current state and ensuring its survival. Is “restorative conservation” the solution, or just the latest trend?
State of Being: Restoration or Conservation? Read More »
How we educate future early musicians is among the most essential challenges facing the field. In historical performance, perhaps no two institutions represent the extremes of the scholarship vs performance continuum more than Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve and New York’s Juilliard School.
Different Bow Strokes, Different Folks Read More »
