Living the Blues – Roots Music Immersion Curriculum

Bruce Conforth, Lecturer in American Culture, College of LSA
Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Music, School of Music, Theatre and Dance

This is a three-pronged course initiative to immerse students in American vernacular root music - as scholars, instrument builders, and performers – culminating in a two week faculty-supervised trip to New Orleans through the Mississippi Delta to engage the people and places critical to the American roots music tradition first hand. Heavily rooted in an interdisciplinary approach and focus, this course might also serve as the entrée to the creation of an American Roots Music minor.

The project involves the development of a 3-credit 400-level undergraduate course “American Roots Music from Sacred Harp to Contemporary Blues”, an Ensemble and a partnership with the Ark.