Why This Place Matters: Setting the Stage for Music Education Research in the Adirondacks
- Jennifer Moore
- Apr 30, 2023
- 2 min read
"There is no evading the fact that we human beings have a profound need for "thereness," for visible and tangible things that persist and endure, and thereby serve to anchor our memories in something more substantial than our thoughts and emotions" (McClay & McAllister, 2014, p. 2).
McClay, M. & McAllister (Eds.). (2014). Why place matters: Geography, identity, and civic life in modern America. Encounter Books.
Early one summer evening, I was sent to bed before the sun set (like most seven-year-olds at that time). I remember resting my head on the windowsill so that I could close my eyes and feel the cool breeze blow over my damp hair in the muggy summer heat (we did not have air conditioners in the 1970s). It was the first time I realized that you could hear the “voice” of each tree as the breeze swept through the foliage. Did you know that the song of the maple is distinct from that of the pine, the poplar, and also the birch?
Sara Milonovich, violin
John Kirk, guitar
"The Wood Thrush" an Adirondack Folk Song
2019 Roots & Branches: Sharing Adirondack Music Traditions
Great Camp Sagamore
At dusk, the call of the whippoorwills and the wood thrush began to signal the end of the day from the wooded area near our house. If I was especially still, I could also hear the sounds of the violin students from Meadowmount practicing their music not too far up the road- depending on the direction of the breeze. While country or folk music might be more typically associated with rural settings, classical music was, for me, as much a part of the natural summer soundscape of the Adirondacks as the songs of the trees and the birds in their nests. The quality of my earliest deep listening experiences forever bonded me with this place and to the music I heard but did not yet understand. Regardless of wherever I may teach and live, I will forever be an Adirondack musician.
~ The photograph and video above were taken by me during the Roots & Branches session at Sagamore in 2019. The photograph below is a screenshot taken from a YouTube video produced by the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, N.Y., also in 2019.
Deurim Jung, violin
Bo-Kyung Park, piano
"Tzigane" by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Performed at the Meadowmount School of Music on July 7, 2019
"Know your own music first."
Adolphe, B. (1996). What to listen for in the world. Limelight.