6:00 PM in the Music Department

RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/hearthepeople

Hear the People Sing is a four-part deep dive into the history of American Folk Music! Music educator Olivia Johnson will guide attendees through group discussion and musical analysis, and will provide examples on the autoharp. If you can't join us for all four sessions, feel free to come for just one!

Session #1 will introduce the earliest forms of American folk music including Appalachian ballads, Shaker hymns, Spirituals, and Work songs. We will discuss the context and social function of each of these forms and listen to examples, finding the commonalities between each. By the end of the session you will have an understanding of the roots of folk music in America and you will help co-create a definition for “folk music”!

Presenter Bio

Born and raised in South Carolina, Olivia Johnson is a musician, educator, and organizer based in Philadelphia. She is a classically trained Soprano and a self-taught autoharpist with a passion for keeping old music alive. Olivia’s dedication to justice and social change has led them to work with a variety of organizations including the Urban Leaders Fellowship, the Strother School of Radical Attention, Leadership for Educational Equity, and Spiral Q. They are also the founder of Raise Every Voice, a non-auditioned community singing group with a repertoire of folk and protest music.