Sachem Public Library was one of fifty sites nationwide selected to receive a $2,500 grant to host a six-week series featuring documentary film screenings and scholar-led discussions of 20th century American popular music. Starting Friday, September 20, the Library will host “America’s Music: A Film History of Our Popular Music from Blues to Bluegrass to Broadway” to enlighten audiences about uniquely American musical genres including blues and gospel, Broadway, jazz, bluegrass and country, rock & roll, mambo, and hip hop. “America’s Music” is a project by the Tribeca Film Institute in collaboration with the American Library Association, Tribeca Flashpoint, and the Society for American Music. “America’s Music” has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
“America’s Music,” designed for a general audience, will introduce genres of 20th century American popular music that are deeply connected to the history, culture, and geography of the United States. Older and younger Americans alike will have the chance to recognize how the cultural landscape that they take for granted today has been influenced by the development of the popular musical forms discussed in this series.
The onset of the 20th century brought pervasive changes to American society. During the early part of the century, these social changes combined with new technologies to create a mass market for popular music that evolved over the next 100 years. Each screening and discussion session will examine an important American musical genre in the context of key social and historical developments, with events in American music history acting as a catalyst for that examination.
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The screenings will take place on Friday evenings from September 20 to November 1. The discussions will be led by Peter Winkler, Professor of Music at Stony Brook University, a composer and music scholar who has done research in and taught college-level courses in American popular music for over 40 years. On the Sunday afternoons following the Friday night film and discussion, the Library will present a concert of the featured musical genre.
The schedule for the film screenings and discussions is as follows:
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Blues & Gospel:
Friday, September 20, 7:00 p.m.
Broadway & Tin Pan Alley
Friday, September 27, 7:00 p.m.
Swing Jazz
Friday, October 4, 7:00 p.m.
Country & Bluegrass
Friday, October 18, 7:00 p.m.
Rock & Roll
Friday, October 25, 7:00 p.m.
From Mambo to Hip Hop
Friday, November 1, 7:00 p.m.
All are welcome at this free film and discussion series. Register here or call the Welcome Desk at 631-588-5024.
