GRMUS P655 — Cultural Equity and Performance Practice

2 credits
Spring
Curtis Stewart

Open to individuals, duos, trios, and quartets of string players, Cultural Equity and Performance Practice delves into the performance of notated music influenced by the Blues and African American art music. The course explores recording comparisons of Fritz Kreisler and Don Shirley; Pablo Casals and Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Ginete Neveu and Stuff Smith; and Janine Jansen and James Brown, among others, in order to illuminate similarities, context, and gradation in several elements of performance practice. Students will explore the concept of cultural equity through performance practice, programming, and connecting a burgeoning understanding of history with stylistic fluency. The class will meet weekly over the semester, with three additional individual meetings planned for every player/group to develop a final performance project, and culminates in a performance in a community of color and a digital/social media presentation.