The Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXV, no. 1 (Spring 1999)
American Music Week in Bluegrass
This year, for the first time, the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University
of Kentucky sponsored a celebration of American Music Week, 1-8 November 1998. By chance or by
design, several groups on campus held events during the week in observance of the wide diversity
of American Musics in Kentucky. The celebration opened with a performance by the UK Percussion
Ensemble featuring Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro performing his own Concerto for Vibraphone and
Percussion on Sunday afternoon. The following Wednesday, UK's Alpha Gamma Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha
Sinfonia, a fraternity dedicated to championing American Music, sponsored a "step-sing" on campus.
The bad weather forced the Sinfonians to relocate to UK's Fine Arts Building, where they serenaded
students and faculty between classes with songs by, among others, founding member George W. Chadwick.
Things really began to heat up on Friday afternoon. First, pianists in the School of Music held
"Pianothon," billed as "120 minutes of uninterrupted, commercial-free American piano music." We
had everything from Lowell Mason hymns to original, improvised jazz tunes, to rags, to
Gershwin and Glass piano works. Several students came by to brown-gav it and sit and listen.
At the same time, down the hall, banjo player Lee Sexton performed for the Appalachian Music class
(but the audience consisted of many more than just the students enrolled in the class).
The jewel in the crown of this inaugural Bluegrass American Music Week was a shaped-note sing
featuring nineteenth-century singing master Ananais Davisson. Singing master Davisson modeled our
sing on those from his era, choosing tunes and teaching rudiments to the assembled students.
The weekend's events included a viola recital featuring the world premiere of a work by composer
Jason Hoogerhyde and the annual "Band Spectacular" with UK's Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensembles, Steel Band,
and the University of Kentucky Wildcat Marching Band as they prepared for their trip to the Outback
Bowl in Florida. Be sure to check out the Niles Center web site at www.uky.edu/Libraries/NilesCenter
for details, pictures, and reactions by American Music Week participants. In the end, a
good time was had by all, and we're already making plans for next year!
--Kristen K. Stauffer
University of Kentucky