Chattanooga Symposium
on the History of Music Education
June 1-5, 2011
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Papers, Panels, Performances
Featured Performers
Chattanooga Boys Choir
Founded in 1954, the Chattanooga Boys Choir remains the oldest boys choir in the Southeastern United States. Now comprised of over 140 boys in five different ensembles, the Choir has performed in 38 states and in 20 countries on five continents. From masterwork performances in European cathedrals to appearances at the White House and major American performing venues, the Choir presents repertoire of varied styles, genres, and historical periods. The Choir appears regularly with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and has developed a unique educational program that includes a computer music theory lab, musicianship curriculum, and student internship program. For more information, visit www.chattanoogaboyschoir.org.
Sacred Harp Singers of Sand Mountain, Alabama
Sacred Harp singing, sometimes called "fasola" singing, is sacred a capella music with a heritage dating back to colonial America. This uniquely American music is a product of the singing school movement that started in 18th century New England. The "fasola" shaped-note method is a simplified approach for musical instruction in which four musical syllables, fa, sol, la, and mi, are designated by shapes whose position on the musical staff indicate their pitch. Three of the shapes are repeated to complete the scale
(fa, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa). The Sand Mountain Sacred Harp Singers from the Henagar, Alabama area have preserved the traditional art of Sacred Harp singing for more than 100 years. These singers recorded two songs that were included in the "Cold Mountain" movie and soundtrack. Symposium participants will be invited to join in the singing.
Eighth Regiment Band, Rome, Georgia
Using authentic period instruments and music, the fifteen-member Eighth Regiment Band of Rome Georgia, has performed all over the United States, in Civil War re-enactments, concerts, and parades. It has worn both the blue and the gray and has been booked under the names American Town Band, Eighth New York, and the Eighth Georgia. The group has played for balls, weddings, and a made-for-TV movie. They have performed concerts with symphony orchestras, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” on National Public Radio, and their sound is a permanent part of the multi-media show at Chicamauga National Military Park. Members are students and faculty from Rome area high schools and colleges. The founder and director of the Eighth, John Carruth, was conductor of the Rome Symphony Orchestra for twenty years. John has received numerous state and local awards for his work in music and in history.
Charles R. Wilson, University of Mississippi, Speaker
Charles Reagan Wilson is the Kelly Gene Cook, Sr. Chair of History and Professor of Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, where he has taught since 1981. He has worked extensively with graduate students and served as Director of the Southern Studies academic program from 1991 to 1998. Wilson received a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso and earned his PhD in history from the University of Texas at Austin. He taught at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Texas Tech University before going to Mississippi. Wilson is the author of Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920 (1980), a study of the memory of the Confederacy in the post-Civil War South, and Judgment and Grace in Dixie: Southern Faiths from Faulkner to Elvis (1995), which studies popular religion as a part of the culture of the modern South. He is also coeditor (with Bill Ferris) of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), which received the Dartmouth Prize from the American Library Association as best reference book of the year. He is editor or coeditor of Religion and the American Civil War (1998), The New Regionalism (1996), and Religion in the South (1985).
