Bluegrass performance - Essay Example

Sur Bluegrass performance Introduction Music as a form of art includes performance and significance which varies with the culture of its originators and the society it is performed in. different cultures consider certain music with greater importance than others because they have ties to the music. Blue grass music is treasured by people of the American culture, especially those from Appalachia (Cantwell, 2002). The essay discusses Blue grass music and the performance events as a cultural product America through the instruments used, vocals and the themes of performances.

Discussion Blue grass music as a form of country music traces its roots to America, having traces of English, Scottish and Irish customary music. The music has long been influenced through jazz by the African-Americans and other migrants (Nemerov, 2009). Traditional acoustic stringed instruments are used to play bluegrass music. Instrumentations such as mandolin and five-string banjo accompanied by harmonica and Dobro (resonator) were used in the ancient traditional dance bands and influenced the current bluegrass bands.

The currently flat picking style of playing the guitar evolved from the ancient thumb and finger picking (Cantwell, 2002). This was introduced by Earl Scruggs who influenced the three-finger pick. Despite the recent introduction of new grass due to electronic versions and new instruments such as harmonica, traditional instruments are still used and culture maintained. The theme of bluegrass music revolves around narratives about the people who first developed the music. The vocals in the music are a representative of the hardships that people of Appalachia in the ancient days and other rural areas went through living with limited financial resources.

However, the currently evolving music includes interpersonal tensions, resistance to changes like the mountaintop coal mining and laments on love that was lost are part of the theme. The Appalachia railing of roads is also an integrated theme as performed by ballads like Nine pound hammer, form John Henry legend and Wreck of the Old 97. The vocal harmony, apart from instrumentation displays Bluegrass music as a cultural product. The high lonesome sound style represents the hardships that the ancient Appalachia people used to go through living with less financial resources.

The style includes dissonant sound on the highest produced by two to four parts (Olson, 2006) . The baritone voice in the stack played in the 1950s by the Stanley brothers is still played and some parts added to the traditional parts. Currently, museums are developed by the current generation artists to preserve the culture and teach it to the coming generations. IBMM (International Bluegrass Music Museum) has live instruments and demonstrations with costumes and exhibits that host the bluegrass music culture.

The museum has a 21,000 cm2 feet international Music Hall of Fame for performances. Others like Bill Monroe Museum Rosine and The Bluegrass Bus Museum also preserve culture (Nemerov, 2009).Conclusion Bluegrass music has its roots in America from the cultural Appalachia region in the eastern part of United States. Although it has been influenced with new cultures of migrants and the electronic world, the music still preserves the traditionalism of Appalachia people through instruments, used to play it, the orderliness of vocals and themes communicated in the music.

Current generations are also playing a role in preserving the culture through museums and performances. Work citedRobert Cantwell, (2002). Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound (University of Illinois Press. pgs 65-66.Ted Olson, (2006). "Music — Introduction". Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press. pp. 1109—1120.Nemerov, Bruce (2009). “Field Recordings of Southern Black Music”. A Tennessee folklore sampler: selections from the Tennessee folklore society. Univ. of Tennessee Press. pp. 323–324.