Local music is music of a larger genre – opera, singer-songwriter works, Greek dance music, string quartets, hula, choirs, punk, solo instrumentalists, powwow drumming, symphonies, gamelan – that happens to have a local manifestation. “Local” includes the Pacific Northwest, but should be restricted to mainly the I5 corridor between Vancouver, B.C. and Eugene, Oregon, going as far east as Idaho. This project includes several steps

Your job, once you have received the assigned genre from your faculty, is to go straight to the library. Look at in-print library resources like the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music to find out something general about the genre. Some of these genres have books written about them. Take some basic notes about what it’s like.

Second, go online and find out about where you might discover or hear or play this music locally. Take notes about this as well. Third, listen to recorded examples of it. We might have it in our campus library, or there might be examples online. Try describing it in writing. Lastly, find out who performs this music locally and see if any festivals or performances are coming up in spring.

Write up just one page of notes with the information you have discovered: a basic description of the genre, two print resources, three links to online information, and the name of at least one recording or youtube clip where one can listen to it. Be sure to include your name on that sheet of paper.

On Thursday afternoon of week 3 (January 24), you are expected to spend about two minutes discussing what you have discovered. You won’t be able to play any examples in class, but this is a way of sharing good information with your colleagues in class. Your presentation needs the following information.

–       the name of the genre and a short description (don’t assume we know what it sounds like)

–       who plays it (basic demographic information)

–       where you might be able to hear it in the Pacific Northwest

–       a good resource for information about it

At the end of the presentation, turn in your write-up. It is possible that someone will be interested in doing further research on this subject, so your write-up should have the right information on it. If someone approaches you with questions about it, be a good collaborative scholar and help the person out with more information.

Good luck! Welcome to what you might do in graduate school!