Symposium on Historic American Music

John H. McWhorter, Keynote Speaker

John H. McWhorter is an associate professor in the Slavic Department at Columbia University. He earned his B.A. from Rutgers, his M.A. from New York University, and his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford. Professor McWhorter is an author of more than twenty books, including The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. In 2016, he published Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still (Like, Literally), while in 2021 he published Nine Nasty Words and Woke Racism. He also writes a weekly column for The New York Times and hosts the language podcast Lexicon Valley. Students might be particularly interested in his article on how immigrants change languages in The Atlantic and an essay on policing the “N-word” in Time.

Edward Berlin

American musicologist and author Edward A. Berlin, Ph.D., is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on ragtime and composer Scott Joplin. Berlin’s 1980 book Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History is the most widely cited study of the subject. His monograph Reflections and Research on Ragtime (1988) won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, and his King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era (1994; second edition 2016) is acclaimed as the definitive biography of the composer.

Berlin has taught at Hunter College and was visiting professor and acting director of the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College.

Dom Flemons

Dr. Dom Flemons “The American Songster” received an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Arizona University and he’s a GRAMMY Award Winner with four GRAMMY nominations, Two-Time EMMY Nominee, International Acoustic Music Award Grand Prize Winner, and was a United States Artists Fellow. He is a musician based in the Chicago area and he is famously known as “The American Songster®” since his repertoire covers over one hundred years of American roots music; including country, folk, bluegrass, Americana, and the blues. Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, historian, actor, narrator, host, slam poet, record collector, podcaster, and the creator, host, and producer of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, TN. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones. He is the co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the founder of American Songster Productions.

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra (PRO) is the world’s only year-round professional ensemble dedicated to re-creating “America’s Original Music” — the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema and vintage dance. The orchestra was founded after Rick Benjamin discovered thousands of early 20th-century orchestra scores belonging to Victrola recording star Arthur Pryor in 1985.

Susquehanna University Symphonic Band

The Susquehanna University Symphonic Band brings together talented student musicians from across campus, offering an opportunity for in-depth musical study. Performing a diverse repertoire for winds and percussion, the ensemble explores works from composers of various backgrounds and traditions.

The 8th Green Machine Regiment Band

The 8th Green Machine Regiment Band performs 19th-century brass band music using authentic 19th-century instruments and mouthpieces. Many of the band’s instruments feature an over-the-shoulder (OTS) bell design, which allowed bands to march in front of soldiers while ensuring the music reached the troops.

The band wears uniforms inspired by those of the 1st and 2nd United States Sharpshooters (Berdan’s) during the Civil War. Their performances honor historical and social traditions while presenting the vibrant sounds of 19th-century America in a way that resonates with modern audiences.

The Roof Garden Jass Band

The Roof Garden Jass Band performs for jazz societies nationwide, including events such as the Tribute to Bix Beiderbecke Festival in Wisconsin, the Orange County Classic Jazz Festival in California and Dick Hyman’s Jazz in July Festival at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The band is also a regular feature at the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival in Essex, Connecticut.

Their repertoire includes music by the Original Memphis Five, the Louisiana Five, the Frisco Jazz Band, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, the Georgians and other “rag-a-jazz” bands that predate King Oliver’s historic 1923 recordings. The Roof Garden Jass Band is the only group exclusively dedicated to preserving and performing this early era of jazz.

More information about Colin Hancock is available at dailyillini.com.