[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and a music director.
[00:04.99]MALE STUDENT: Ms. Harper?
[00:05.85]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Yes, can I help you?
[00:07.16]MALE STUDENT: Hi, my name's Eric Patterson. [00:09.30]I'm a journalism student. [00:10.92]Uh, I wanted to ask you about the orchestra…
[00:13.05]FEMALE DIRECTOR: I'm sorry Eric, but the orchestra is only open to music majors.
[00:16.67]MALE STUDENT: Really? Well, see—
[00:18.75]FEMALE DIRECTOR: But the policy's changing next year. [00:21.00]After that, if you've taken three music courses, you will be able to audition.
[00:25.91]MALE STUDENT: Well, uh, I have taken some music courses, and I do play the double bass, [00:30.43]so maybe that’s something to think about. [00:32.70]But actually, I was here about something else.
[00:35.68]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Oh, sorry! It's just I-I get that question all the time, so…
[00:39.10]MALE STUDENT: That's OK. Thing is, I work for Magna—the school paper—and I'm reporting on last week’s concert.[00:45.92]Now, I went to it, and I really enjoyed it, but now I’m looking for some background knowledge.
[00:50.89]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Well, I can refer you to some of the students in the orchestra, if you’d like a young musician’s point of view…
[00:56.16]MALE STUDENT: Uh, I-I guess that might be helpful… [00:58.49]But um, I’m really looking for a little bit of scholarly perspective. [01:02.88]Some history of the music that was performed that evening. Where it originated, how it’s developed over time…
[01:08.57]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Well, some of our musicians kind of specialize in Appalachian music; [01:12.75]in fact, that's part of the reason we performed it. [01:15.13] So you really should talk to them, too. [01:17.37]um, OK, so we were playing Appalachian music… from communities in the Appalachian mountain regions of the United States.
[01:25.25]MALE STUDENT: All right…
[01:26.05]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Uh… do you really think you can keep this all in your head?
[01:29.37]MALE STUDENT: Oh. Don't worry. All I need are a few key facts. [01:33.07]I'm sure I can keep them straight until I get back to my dorm.
[01:35.90]FEMALE DIRECTOR: So. The music is generally based on folk ballads and instrumental dance tunes.[01:41.43] Um, it started with Scottish and Irish immigrants who brought over their styles of music. [01:46.81]It's called Anglo-Celtic.
[01:49.03]MALE STUDENT: So, people brought their musical traditions with them.
[01:52.04]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Well, this Anglo-Celtic music was considered an important link to the past for these people, which you can see in the way that Appalachian singers sing ballads; [02:00.48]they have sort of a nasal quality to them, like in Celtic ballads. [02:04.53]In their new land, some of the lyrics were updated, you know, to refer to the new locations, and the occupations that settlers had in America. [02:12.36]But at the same time, lots of ballads were still about castles, and royalty… lords and ladies… stuff like that. Which is what they were about originally.
[02:21.30]MALE STUDENT: OK, and was that some sort of banjo I saw onstage during the performance。
[02:25.95]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Yes, we're lucky that one of our students, Stewart Telford, has a nineteenth-century banjo—a real antique. [02:32.42]He’s able to play in most of the traditional styles. [02:35.45]Did you know that banjos are of African American origin, and that settlers in Appalachia adopted banjos for their folk music? [02:43.25]They became very common in traditional Appalachian music, along with guitars and violins, of course…. [02:47.99]But if you want to learn about that banjo, talk to Stewart.
[02:51.13]MALE STUDENT: That's great, Ms. Harper. Thanks a lot. [02:53.64]Now, can you recommend any sources where I could look up more about this?
[02:57.46]FEMALE DIRECTOR: Sure, I have a great book. [02:59.09]A student has it today, but you can borrow it tomorrow if you'd like.