music

music

A brief history of Gennett Records

A brief history of Gennett Records

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The empty tower that looms over Whitewater Gorge in Richmond, Indiana is the last vestige of what was once a highly influential American recording label.  While never very profitable, Gennett Records holds a number of distinctions important to the development of American music.  It was here, in Richmond, that some of the first jazz recordings were made, and a series of other important performers, from Wilbur Sweatman to Guy Lombardo to Gene Autry, waxed their music in the cramped, overheated studio built just off the railroad tracks. Gennett Records was founded in 1917 and named after Henry Gennett, then the president of the Starr Piano Company.  In 1915, Starr Piano started building phonograph machines to compete with models such as … Continued
Women in Protest Music

Women in Protest Music

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Women have played an integral role in American protest for the last 100 years, from raising their voices for equality to securing rights for themselves and others.  While the earliest women’s protest songs were written primarily by men, women have taken over as songwriters and have produced some of the most important protest music in American recorded history. Here is a profile of six of these remarkable performers, who come from a variety of backgrounds, religions and regions of the country.  United Mine Songwriters: Florence Reece and Aunt Molly Jackson Mining has always been dangerous work, made even more so by a lack of safety controls and, more importantly, dismal pay (sometimes not in cash but scrip, which undercut miners’ … Continued
Early American protest music

Early American protest music

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What’s a protest song? According to musicologist David King Dunaway, a protest song functions more as a mode for a message, rather than a distinct art form itself.  “It is not popular music… it is not per se folk music…the field of political music includes everything from an electoral song of the 1730s to a punk-rock protest of the 1980s,” he observed in 1987. That means there are a lot of different songs that qualify as protest songs, and we’ll take a brief look at some of the very earliest American protest songs ever written. Yankee Doodle Written around 1755 by a British doctor, Richard Schuckburgh, “Yankee Doodle” has a rather interesting and perhaps unintentionally hilarious history. Although an author … Continued
A Pride Worthy Archives Update

A Pride Worthy Archives Update

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IU East LGBTQ+ Archive Just in time for Pride Month, we added several new items to the IU East LGBTQ+ Collection. Current Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, Dr. Nathan Froebe, recently premiered his new song cycle titled “In Paths Untrodden” on Facebook Live. This song cycle consists of ten poems by Walt Whitman and depicts the navigation of an LGBTQ+ relationship in the messy aftermath of romantic separation. Dr. Froebe composed this music over the last eight years, pulling from his own personal experience, and wrote the voice parts for two ungendered voices. The IU East Archives now has the performance, the performance program, the musical score, and Dr. Froebe’s interview on how and why he created this song cycle … Continued
Celebrating Pride and African American Music Appreciation Month

Celebrating Pride and African American Music Appreciation Month

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June celebrations are myriad and interesting, with lots of opportunities for discovery and learning.  This month, we celebrate both African American Music Appreciation Month and LGBTQ Pride Month.  African American LGBTQ musicians have contributed some of the most recognizable songs in American history, as well as serving as examples of successful artists who in many cases lived their truths openly.  Here, we profile a handful of artists spanning over 100 years of recorded music. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey Ma Rainey was born in 1886 with the full name of Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett, likely in Columbus, Georgia.  Her potent version of the blues was confrontational and influential, and she worked with some of the most famous artists of her (and any … Continued