“I am slave to your land, I will die by your hand, Elizabeth!”. I love this song. Every time the banjo starts playing, accompanied by the strong sustaining base notes, I get a goose pump, and I enjoy the atmosphere the instruments are creating for my voice to fly on top of that musical carpet. The song even fits better into the now dark room with only sparse lighting for us as performers, than in the bright afternoons when we rehearsed. Although I can hardly see the audience, I can sense the tension that grips them, much like it does me.”Can’t you hear me calling from beneath, with black and rotten teeth, white roses on the ground and covered on the…” The refrain sets in and soon we shift from a psychedelic into a slightly faster, more bluegrassy feel. Yes, the song “Elizabeth” by Katie Katier is not the most typical to represent the bluegrass genre, but that is one aspect why it fits so perfectly in the middle of our program tonight.
It is March, end of winter quarter and we, the musicians of the bluegrass group, present our work of the last weeks. The room is filled to the last inch – not a surprise since the tickets had been sold out nearly two weeks before the concert.
Bluegrass is certainly a new style of music for me, and like my previous experiences of learning North Indian Dance and Tabla playing for ten weeks each, I am grateful for the diverse range of classes available within my Jazz Degree, which allows me to explore and appreciate different genres at Lamont School of Music. In addition to selecting tunes as a group, arranging and playing them, we have also utilized our time to delve into historical and social topics within the Bluegrass genre. Performing and sharing this partly traditional, partly modern music now comes with special pride knowing about its rich background.
I really loved the experience! I was not only able to adapt my voice and learn some new ways of singing in a different style but also playeduitar, and spoons in some of the songs. And let me tell you—being on stage as a multi-instrumentalist is the most fun of all concerts. Plus, while I definitely did not become a bluegrass expert within 10 weeks, the style will definitely continue to influence my performing and composing.