EVDOL 36 - African-American Music History

Damien Sneed
The course will examine a variety of musical genres beginning with the music of West Africa and moving to Plantations songs (spirituals, work songs), Ethiopian Minstrelsy, music of the Mississippi Delta, Blues, Ragtime, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and Art Music. Such figures as Master Juba, Francis Johnson, Richard Allen, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Thomas A. Dorsey, Marian Anderson, William Grant Still, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Jay-Z and others will be discussed. All of these individuals helped to shape and define music of the African-American Diaspora. This course will also explore the global impact and rich diversity of African-American musical expression. By taking a thematic approach, students will see how African-American music has both shaped and been shaped by the social contexts in which it is created and performed. Readings and discussions will encompass African American music from spirituals and work songs to bebop and hip hop, from Duke Ellington to N.W.A., from Bessie Smith to Stevie Wonder, from James Reese Europe to Bob Marley, all of which will help us explore the rich set of meanings black music has held in the Americas for over four hundred years.

Biography: As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, which he is featured on Norman’s final recording, Bound For The Promised Land on Albany Records. He also worked with Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Brandie Inez Sutton and many others. Sneed has served as music director for Grammy Award-winning gospel artists The Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Kim Burrell, among others. Sneed is a 2020 Dove Award winner and 2021 NAACP Image Award winner for his work as a featured producer and writer on the Clark Sisters’ newest project, “The Return”, released on March 13, 2020. damiensneed.com

8 weeks

Tuesdays 6–7:30pm ET

February 4–April 8

Online Only

$408