“What’s Your Name?”

Preface

Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of cultural groups - people who share a common identity through ethnicity, religion, occupation, or because they live in the same geographic community. Each group has musical traditions that uniquely express the group’s beliefs and artistic preferences: for instance, the lined-out hymn singing that is characteristically African American, or the haunting violin melodies perfected by the Hungarians who settled near Pittsburgh.

This study guide, created to be used with the accompanying recording, is designed to enhance your students’ understanding of these diverse experiences in Pennsylvania. For two years, we traveled around the state recording artists in their homes, backyards, churches, dance halls, and workplaces. What we found was remarkable, beautiful, inspiring and, in some cases, quite surprising.

All the musical traditions represented on the recording and in the study guide are traditions that serve a vital role in the social life of their communities today. Traditional music can serve as a focal point for community gatherings, drawing neighbors together, offering an opportunity for young people to meet, for elders to share and confirm stories and for children to learn cultural traditions in an informal setting. Traditional music accompanies dancing, singing, ritual celebrations and holiday festivities, as well as storytelling.

The abundance of traditional music in Pennsylvania reflects a diversity of cultural traditions created by migration and immigration patterns over time. Although migrants, immigrants and their descendants, have become integrated into society, many feel the need to retain a part of their cultural heritage and to pass it on to their children. Traditional music offers an opportunity to pass along and adapt the rhythms and melodies of their culture, thus maintaining a community's sense of aesthetics while preserving cultural cohesiveness and well-being. Through traditional music, the instruments become a physical link between generations, as well as between cultural communities.

The music and the music makers themselves evolve in response to social and cultural change in their communities. Many bands now include in their repertoires tunes from other local ethnic groups so as to be able to play requests when asked. Sometimes modernized instruments are used, or instruments borrowed from other ethnic traditions are added for certain numbers. Even when a band focuses on the music of a particular ethnic group, its members may be from different, though often related, ethnic backgrounds. This reflects the evolving experiences of Pennsylvania's many ethnic communities.

We hope these experiences, with all their nuances, are reflected in the 15 lesson plans in this study guide. The folklife education specialists who developed these lesson plans have provided a creative opportunity to explore what it means to live in a diverse society. While some lessons focus directly on the songs, others use these songs to address timely issues, history, literary concepts, musical fundamentals, and creativity. We hope the lessons here will prompt further exploration into the vital and dynamic art forms found in backyards, churches, schools, festivals, dances, and celebrations across the state.

Amy E. Skillman and Kate Modic

Institute for Cultural Partnerships

October 1999

© 2001 On Tour Productions