MUSE has announced our collaboration with Dr. Tammy Kernodle of Miami University for the New Spirituals-style concert on November 17, 2018 at 2pm & 7pm at Memorial Hall! This concert will offer a musical narrative traced from the Post-Reconstruction Era to modern-day, with special emphasis on the woman's voice and musical contributions surrounding Civil Rights issues in America.
Dr. Kernodle’s scholarship and teaching stretches across many different aspects of African American and American music. She has worked closely with a number of educational programs including the The American Jazz Museum, National Museum of African American History and Culture, NPR, and the BBC. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, and anthologies. Kernodle is the author of biography Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams, served as Associate Editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of African American Musicand the Editorial team for the revision of the Grove Dictionary of American Music.
"Music has served as one of the primary promoters of political change. As a result, the central role women have held as the preservers and nurturers of that music within our respective communities has meant that they have served as the primary articulators of narratives of social change. This historical trajectory can be heard in the spirituals of black enslaved people, the message songs of Nina Simone, and even the Afro-futuristic funk of Janelle Monáe. I'm excited to partner with MUSE in celebrating this history and also continuing this work through this concert." - Dr. Tammy Kernodle
This concert will also feature new commissions and arrangements by African American women composers including Jacqueline Hairston, Lori Hicks, and Maria Thompson-Corley. Songs will include Nina Simone's daring protest song Mississippi Goddam, Ysaye Barnwell's Go Down Moses, Strange Fruit, made famous by renowned jazz singer Billie Holiday, and more. Plus, MUSE welcomes Siri Imani of TRIIIBE back to the stage.
"This concert will unapologetically address the truths, trials, and triumphs of the black experience in America through music, from Post-Reconstruction to today. I am indebted to Linda Tillery and Dr. Catherine Roma for having started such an amazing movement that has consistently given an outlet for new music to be commissioned specifically in the name of the black experience. While we strive to stay true to the legacy of the New Spirituals Project, MUSE also desires to remain connected to the injustices happening in today's society and this project. Dr. Kernodle's invaluable perspective and scholarship allows for us to do just that!" - Jillian Harrison-Jones, music director
