Scott Ainslie
SCOTT AINSLIE'S NEWS & PROGRAM OFFERINGS
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
SCOTT AINSLIE'S WEBSITE
NEW! CD, "The Last Shot Got Him", Best Recording of the Year, Tammie Award, Best Recording of the Month!
Scott Ainslie released a new recording Fall, 2014, entitled "The Last Shot Got Him" from a Mississippi John Hurt tune of the same name. Including early blues from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, and David Honeyboy Edwards, Ainslie is letting the little 1934 archtop Gibson 'choose' the songs - recording tracks that suit the guitar and/or would have been around when the guitar was young. Check out the music!
Scott Ainslie offers a new arts integration workshop for teachers involving Science and Sound. See a video demo at the Videos button or Teacher Workshop Demo
Before Rock N Roll educational concert for elementary students and families
NEW! The Land Where the Blues Began:
Images and Music of the Mississippi Delta/Scott Ainslie
Scott Ainslie has combed the Library of Congress photo archives and combined archival photos with his own images of the Mississippi Delta for a concert tour that explores this formative region of the American South. Musically and visually entertaining, Ainslie's "Land Where the Blues Began" sketches out the African retentions and the regional history of the music and features songs from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Lonnie Johnson. Images are projected on a full screen during the concert to give the audience a feel for the land, the people and the history of this music. Ainslie's Delta Pilgrimage gallery show of 25 original photographs may be presented for up to two months before or after the concert. VIDEO
Scott Ainslie now offers his photo exhibit, Delta Blues Pilgrimage, with concerts. Give your audience a visual experience of Blues history with Scott's moving original prints. The exhibit includes 25 matted images taken in April 2010 as he walked some of the very same Mississippi Delta ground on which the original Bluesmen stood and played: the railroad tracks where W.C. Handy, 'the Father of the Blues,’ first heard a slide guitarist in 1902, the full moon over the black river town of Friars Point in Blues legend Robert Johnson’s Travelin’ Riverside Blues; Johnson's gravestone, the towns of his birth and death...and much more. PREVIEW DELTA BLUES PILGRIMAGE
One Hundred Years at the Crossroads, Dedicated to the Work of Robert Johnson In this special solo show, singer and multi-instrumentalist Scott Ainslie explores the first Blues music and the times that gave birth to it, with soaring acoustic performances of the songs that electrified Robert Johnson's contemporaries and went on to make music history. Robert Johnson scholar and author of a groundbreaking book on the legendary Bluesman, Ainslie celebrates Johnson's influence on 20th and 21st century music as he takes the audience along Johnson's own path in history and song. Born in Mississippi in 1911 and making his first recordings in 1936, Robert Johnson's music eventually had a huge impact decades after his untimely death - through the work of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and legendary rockers and guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Johnson’s 29-recorded songs would ultimately change the course of rock and roll history. Pre-concert talks and presentations, some with slide images, are an option frequently taken by presenters who want a separate pre-concert talk/illustrative tour of the history and musical territory in advance of a scheduled concert, whether a teaching concert or a regular performance.
A GUITAR, A CELLO AND THE DAY THAT CHANGED MUSIC For this special feature, NPR turned to one of the authorities on Blues history, Scott Ainslie, for background on a certain day: November 23, 1936. It was a good day for recorded music. Two men – an ocean apart – sat before microphones and began to play. One was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain; the other simply played guitar and was a regular in the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta. SCOTT AINSLIE ON NPR
Teaching Performance Programs Peppered with humor and stories, Ainslie's teaching concerts help students and teachers learn to listen for the musical building blocks that continue to influence the music they hear all around them today - contemporary Rock, Bluegrass, Country, Gospel, Metal, R & B, and Hip-Hop. Question and answer periods are welcome at the end of each performance, as time allows. All teaching programs are graduated to suit the experience and educational reach of the students, often in consultation with local administrators and teachers.
Call & Response: African and American Musical Traditions In a program of spoken words and live musical performances, diverse audiences of all ages will sing and clap with Scott Ainslie through a survey of the hidden history and the dynamic interplay of more than a century of American and African musical traditions. This interactive presentation encourages students and teachers to find African retentions in whatever form of pop music they most enjoy and provides a strong object lesson in the cross-cultural exchanges that have come to define the leadership role of American music and culture. Students, teachers and staff will enjoy the stories and history behind the songs and tunes and will learn to identify specific retentions and understand the importance music plays in our daily lives. All students will be exposed to the traditional music and cultures, instruments, and musicians that gave it form. Ainslie will showcase the musical elements found in these forms such as call and response and rhythmic and lyrical patterns while providing the geographic and historic context for the music, as well as the larger cross-cultural context that defines the vitality of American music.
Across the Color Line: The African South In this varied program featuring the calabash gourd banjo, diddley bow, and guitar, Ainslie tours the music of the American South where European and African musical traditions cross-pollinated to make the powerful hybrids that have long dominated popular music in our nation and, subsequently, the world. After learning old-time music first hand from such legendary players as North Carolina’s Tommy Jarrell, and from the Hammons family in the high country of West Virginia, Ainslie spent fifteen years as an old-time fiddler and banjo player, touring and recording with the award-winning Fly By Night String Band and working on Broadway in the early 1980s. Picking up the old-time banjo again – an instrument he laid down to concentrate on Blues twenty-five years ago – Scott Ainslie brings his broad musical and scholarly expertise forward in a program that profiles the broad impact of African musical and cultural traditions found in Old-time mountain music, Blues and Gospel music in the South. Suitable for all ages, this is a tour-de-force in Southern musical traditions that exposes their roots from the Scots-Irish fiddle tunes of the Appalachians to the musical traditions of West Africa.
Before Rock ‘n’ Roll Where did our music of today come from? This program will help teachers and students explore the music that came before today's Rock 'n' Roll. With interactive call & response singing and syncopated hand-clapping, Ainslie leads a fast-moving tour of early spirituals, work songs, East Coast Ragtime, and Delta Blues. Playing fretless gourd banjo, one-string diddley bow, acoustic and slide guitars, he encourages guided, appropriate participation and makes the learning fun. Ainslie's "Blues Roots Teacher's Study Guide," features five days of related classroom activities, background, and history of the music and it's African roots, as well as a list of resources for the classroom.
Elementary School Programs: Elementary audiences are often split by age into audiences for two performances, suitable to the age groups (K-2; 3-6). The length of the programs is flexible and can be adjusted to the age group, special or scheduling needs, and time of day for the students. Audience participation and humor are hallmarks of Ainslie’s elementary presentations.
Middle School Programs: With wider experience, questing social and cultural curiosity, Middle School students are beginning to envision themselves outside the comfort and confines of their family-based identities. They are trying on different ways of being while being keenly aware of the judgments of their peers. Middle school programs take this into account while presenting music, ideas, and history in a straightforward and engaging way. Respect is given to the students and the authority and expertise of the performer/presenter always successfully brings the audience along. Mindful of their peers, often the most interesting question and answer period happens almost privately, hurriedly, at the foot of the stage after the students are dismissed.
High School & College Programs: High School and Community College level students have a wider listening/cultural experience and historical knowledge that allows for more complicated historical and socio-cultural elements to be introduced in the context of the musical elements and retentions. Information about the integration and movement of musical/cultural contributions – both physically across different regions of the South and socially-economically across different classes – can be presented to these students as a part of our shared history, something to be acknowledged and examined. The richness of musical, social and historical detail typically provides a great deal of ground for reflection and discussion.
Graduate School, Adult and Elder Hostel Programs: Custom programs in American music are developed to suit the focus of particular classes and settings in consultation with the presenting institution. In the past, teaching concert programs have been presented on Immigration and the Mill cultures of New England which included songs, historical stories and sociological information from a wide variety of sources ending with new songs addressing the issues and history surrounding contemporary migrants from south of the Border in Latin America. Any number of African-American studies as reflected in the body of work already described can be readily accommodated and focused to suit the thrust of a particular class.
Scott Ainslie offers a wide range of workshop for teachers, students and master classes for guitar players of all levels. Contact Loyd Artists for more information and workshops choices.
Threads in American Music: Workshops African Retentions in American Music [4th Grade - High School and Up] Where did the term “having the Blues” come from? How did it come to be applied to music? And in our most classic expression of the great benefits to be gained by sharing our cultures, what are the African parts of this African-American art form? Blues and other African-American art forms often show their deep African roots in what are known as African Retentions---parts of African traditions that we still find embedded in American and African-American music, art and culture.
CONTACT US
NEW! CD, "The Last Shot Got Him", Best Recording of the Year, Tammie Award, Best Recording of the Month!
Scott Ainslie released a new recording Fall, 2014, entitled "The Last Shot Got Him" from a Mississippi John Hurt tune of the same name. Including early blues from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, and David Honeyboy Edwards, Ainslie is letting the little 1934 archtop Gibson 'choose' the songs - recording tracks that suit the guitar and/or would have been around when the guitar was young. Check out the music!
Scott Ainslie offers a new arts integration workshop for teachers involving Science and Sound. See a video demo at the Videos button or Teacher Workshop Demo
Before Rock N Roll educational concert for elementary students and families
NEW! The Land Where the Blues Began:
Images and Music of the Mississippi Delta/Scott Ainslie
Scott Ainslie has combed the Library of Congress photo archives and combined archival photos with his own images of the Mississippi Delta for a concert tour that explores this formative region of the American South. Musically and visually entertaining, Ainslie's "Land Where the Blues Began" sketches out the African retentions and the regional history of the music and features songs from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Lonnie Johnson. Images are projected on a full screen during the concert to give the audience a feel for the land, the people and the history of this music. Ainslie's Delta Pilgrimage gallery show of 25 original photographs may be presented for up to two months before or after the concert. VIDEO
Scott Ainslie now offers his photo exhibit, Delta Blues Pilgrimage, with concerts. Give your audience a visual experience of Blues history with Scott's moving original prints. The exhibit includes 25 matted images taken in April 2010 as he walked some of the very same Mississippi Delta ground on which the original Bluesmen stood and played: the railroad tracks where W.C. Handy, 'the Father of the Blues,’ first heard a slide guitarist in 1902, the full moon over the black river town of Friars Point in Blues legend Robert Johnson’s Travelin’ Riverside Blues; Johnson's gravestone, the towns of his birth and death...and much more. PREVIEW DELTA BLUES PILGRIMAGE
One Hundred Years at the Crossroads, Dedicated to the Work of Robert Johnson In this special solo show, singer and multi-instrumentalist Scott Ainslie explores the first Blues music and the times that gave birth to it, with soaring acoustic performances of the songs that electrified Robert Johnson's contemporaries and went on to make music history. Robert Johnson scholar and author of a groundbreaking book on the legendary Bluesman, Ainslie celebrates Johnson's influence on 20th and 21st century music as he takes the audience along Johnson's own path in history and song. Born in Mississippi in 1911 and making his first recordings in 1936, Robert Johnson's music eventually had a huge impact decades after his untimely death - through the work of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and legendary rockers and guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Johnson’s 29-recorded songs would ultimately change the course of rock and roll history. Pre-concert talks and presentations, some with slide images, are an option frequently taken by presenters who want a separate pre-concert talk/illustrative tour of the history and musical territory in advance of a scheduled concert, whether a teaching concert or a regular performance.
A GUITAR, A CELLO AND THE DAY THAT CHANGED MUSIC For this special feature, NPR turned to one of the authorities on Blues history, Scott Ainslie, for background on a certain day: November 23, 1936. It was a good day for recorded music. Two men – an ocean apart – sat before microphones and began to play. One was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain; the other simply played guitar and was a regular in the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta. SCOTT AINSLIE ON NPR
Teaching Performance Programs Peppered with humor and stories, Ainslie's teaching concerts help students and teachers learn to listen for the musical building blocks that continue to influence the music they hear all around them today - contemporary Rock, Bluegrass, Country, Gospel, Metal, R & B, and Hip-Hop. Question and answer periods are welcome at the end of each performance, as time allows. All teaching programs are graduated to suit the experience and educational reach of the students, often in consultation with local administrators and teachers.
Call & Response: African and American Musical Traditions In a program of spoken words and live musical performances, diverse audiences of all ages will sing and clap with Scott Ainslie through a survey of the hidden history and the dynamic interplay of more than a century of American and African musical traditions. This interactive presentation encourages students and teachers to find African retentions in whatever form of pop music they most enjoy and provides a strong object lesson in the cross-cultural exchanges that have come to define the leadership role of American music and culture. Students, teachers and staff will enjoy the stories and history behind the songs and tunes and will learn to identify specific retentions and understand the importance music plays in our daily lives. All students will be exposed to the traditional music and cultures, instruments, and musicians that gave it form. Ainslie will showcase the musical elements found in these forms such as call and response and rhythmic and lyrical patterns while providing the geographic and historic context for the music, as well as the larger cross-cultural context that defines the vitality of American music.
Across the Color Line: The African South In this varied program featuring the calabash gourd banjo, diddley bow, and guitar, Ainslie tours the music of the American South where European and African musical traditions cross-pollinated to make the powerful hybrids that have long dominated popular music in our nation and, subsequently, the world. After learning old-time music first hand from such legendary players as North Carolina’s Tommy Jarrell, and from the Hammons family in the high country of West Virginia, Ainslie spent fifteen years as an old-time fiddler and banjo player, touring and recording with the award-winning Fly By Night String Band and working on Broadway in the early 1980s. Picking up the old-time banjo again – an instrument he laid down to concentrate on Blues twenty-five years ago – Scott Ainslie brings his broad musical and scholarly expertise forward in a program that profiles the broad impact of African musical and cultural traditions found in Old-time mountain music, Blues and Gospel music in the South. Suitable for all ages, this is a tour-de-force in Southern musical traditions that exposes their roots from the Scots-Irish fiddle tunes of the Appalachians to the musical traditions of West Africa.
Before Rock ‘n’ Roll Where did our music of today come from? This program will help teachers and students explore the music that came before today's Rock 'n' Roll. With interactive call & response singing and syncopated hand-clapping, Ainslie leads a fast-moving tour of early spirituals, work songs, East Coast Ragtime, and Delta Blues. Playing fretless gourd banjo, one-string diddley bow, acoustic and slide guitars, he encourages guided, appropriate participation and makes the learning fun. Ainslie's "Blues Roots Teacher's Study Guide," features five days of related classroom activities, background, and history of the music and it's African roots, as well as a list of resources for the classroom.
Elementary School Programs: Elementary audiences are often split by age into audiences for two performances, suitable to the age groups (K-2; 3-6). The length of the programs is flexible and can be adjusted to the age group, special or scheduling needs, and time of day for the students. Audience participation and humor are hallmarks of Ainslie’s elementary presentations.
Middle School Programs: With wider experience, questing social and cultural curiosity, Middle School students are beginning to envision themselves outside the comfort and confines of their family-based identities. They are trying on different ways of being while being keenly aware of the judgments of their peers. Middle school programs take this into account while presenting music, ideas, and history in a straightforward and engaging way. Respect is given to the students and the authority and expertise of the performer/presenter always successfully brings the audience along. Mindful of their peers, often the most interesting question and answer period happens almost privately, hurriedly, at the foot of the stage after the students are dismissed.
High School & College Programs: High School and Community College level students have a wider listening/cultural experience and historical knowledge that allows for more complicated historical and socio-cultural elements to be introduced in the context of the musical elements and retentions. Information about the integration and movement of musical/cultural contributions – both physically across different regions of the South and socially-economically across different classes – can be presented to these students as a part of our shared history, something to be acknowledged and examined. The richness of musical, social and historical detail typically provides a great deal of ground for reflection and discussion.
Graduate School, Adult and Elder Hostel Programs: Custom programs in American music are developed to suit the focus of particular classes and settings in consultation with the presenting institution. In the past, teaching concert programs have been presented on Immigration and the Mill cultures of New England which included songs, historical stories and sociological information from a wide variety of sources ending with new songs addressing the issues and history surrounding contemporary migrants from south of the Border in Latin America. Any number of African-American studies as reflected in the body of work already described can be readily accommodated and focused to suit the thrust of a particular class.
Scott Ainslie offers a wide range of workshop for teachers, students and master classes for guitar players of all levels. Contact Loyd Artists for more information and workshops choices.
Threads in American Music: Workshops African Retentions in American Music [4th Grade - High School and Up] Where did the term “having the Blues” come from? How did it come to be applied to music? And in our most classic expression of the great benefits to be gained by sharing our cultures, what are the African parts of this African-American art form? Blues and other African-American art forms often show their deep African roots in what are known as African Retentions---parts of African traditions that we still find embedded in American and African-American music, art and culture.
CONTACT US