American Music Legacy

American Music Legacy is a multi-cultural concert performance of traditional early American rural and urban music played on guitar, banjo and fiddle. This show gives students a sampling of the regional cultural heritage that they may be missing through their school curriculum or popular music; this includes demonstrations of Blues, Ragtime, Cajun, French Canadian, Celtic, New England and Old Time Appalachian styles.

It also shows how popular modern music like Rock, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Swing, Country, and Bluegrass have developed from these traditional roots.

The concert is about 50 to 60 minutes long. Mark Tamsula performs all of the instruments, beginning with a demonstration of Rock guitar, and following the style back through time to the earlier electric and traditional blues, then moving on to Appalachian styles of banjo and fiddle, covering other contributions from Celtic and French sources as well. Click here for a print ready description of the show.

Mark wants the students to find that playing music is not just for listening to, but that it’s even more fun to do, it’s been an important part of the lives of many people past and present, and everyone should give it a try.

Would you like to have this program at your school? At present, we are booking in the southwestern Pennsylvania region (within 2 hours from Pittsburgh) for a fee of $350. Additional expenses would be required to travel outside of that area, or to include other activities like workshops. A discount is available for booking two nearby schools on the same day. This concert would be best suited for middle school and high school groups, ages 11 – 18. For grade schools, see the program Rhythmic Cultures

View a letter introducing the American Music Legacy program to your school.

View four articles of background information on Appalachian Music

For booking information, write to appalachianmusic@hotmail.com or call 412-422-4081