NSHS

Over the years, America has gained a reputation as a melting pot of various cultures. However, nowadays many cultures are derailing from their origins because of globalization and commercialism. The main focus of our project was to preserve the genres of American music that have lost meaning or style. We asked student musical groups as well as teachers within the Newton South High School community to think about the roots of their genre and how it has evolved. Many diverse musicians then performed their own individual songs for us to record, either covering song in the original style or composing their own original new music. After the recording sessions, we interviewed these artists about what preserving their genre  means to them. In the interviews, students and teachers were able to reflect on what calling back the original elements of the genre means to them as musician and society as a whole.

 

Once we collected this powerful footage, we created a video incorporating both the soundtrack as well as the interviews to play at the conference. To promote the preservation of these original American genres, and the recordings from our community music, we released the songs on music-sharing platforms and distributed CDs to global participants at the conference. We also played the songs for our school during free time, reintroducing the history of their original sound to both our school and our global community. We hoped to provoke a resurgence of these original styles and preserve their importance in our society today. Whether it be bluegrass, rock and roll, or traditional island music, all genres are in danger of completely losing their original sound, culture and message. It is up to us to save these diverse music styles created in America.