Appalachian after-school music programmes as cultural intervention

Abstract

In the Southern Appalachians, five after-school programmes of varying sizes – Junior Appalachian Musicians, Young Appalachian Musicians, Georgia Pick and Bow, Hindman Pick and Bow and Appalshop’s Passing the Pick and Bow – offer education in regional music traditions to school-aged children. These programmes fulfil a valuable mission, for they often serve students who have no other opportunities to pursue a music education. As many of the names suggest, these programmes provide training in the instruments, practices and repertoire associated with old-time and bluegrass music, and they typically advertise a preservationist mission. This article considers the cultural intervention work of Appalachian after-school music programmes, positioning them as the latest in a series of interventionist projects that have shaped Appalachian music in an effort to preserve it. Through careful consideration of the styles, instruments and repertoire being taught, we address the ways in which after-school programmes ‘edit’ Appalachian musical heritage for a new generation of participants, and we consider the implications of the programmes’ pedagogical practices.