Appalachian Music: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Cassidy Kidwell*

School of Music, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6111

Presentation Category: Oral-Human Engagement (Oral Presentation #14)

Student’s Major: Music Education

Within both the music community and society in general, there is a large misunderstanding in what defines Appalachian music. Appalachian music originates from the Appalachian region of the United States, which includes areas of states on the East Coast, ranging from the lower half of New York all the way down into the upper half of Alabama and Mississippi. The Appalachian Mountains run through this area giving it its name. Despite the stereotypes and misinformation about this region being a predominantly Caucasian area, uncivilized, and unprogressive, Appalachia has its roots within several different cultures and in many places is thriving and successful. My research, under the instruction of Dr. Travis D. Stimeling, aims to rewrite this misinformation. By helping Dr. Stimeling create a comprehensive and inclusive textbook that showcases the true tale of Appalachian music, this will help set the standards of teaching about Appalachian music. I assist him in this process by reviewing resources and collecting them into one, comprehensive Google Document. Along with the textbook, Dr. Stimeling has encouraged me to start my own project under his mentorship: creating zines about Appalachia. With these two projects, along with any others that come up along the way, our research will emphasize the breakaway from the tired, exclusionary narrative of Appalachians and showcase the area as it should be represented.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course