New Perspectives on Classical Music Through the Work of Mark Oâ
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2005 Crossing Over in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Classical Music Through the Work of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck Louanne Marie Iannaccone University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Iannaccone, Louanne Marie, "Crossing Over in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Classical Music Through the Work of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2005. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/2014 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Louanne Marie Iannaccone entitled "Crossing Over in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Classical Music Through the Work of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Music, with a major in Music. Dr. Leslie C. Gay, Jr., Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Dr. Wesley Baldwin, Dr. Rachel Golden Carlson Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Louanne Marie Iannaccone entitled “Crossing Over in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Classical Music through the Work of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music, with a major in Music. Dr. Leslie C. Gay, Jr. ________________________________ Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Dr. Wesley Baldwin ______________________________ Dr. Rachel Golden Carlson ______________________________ Accepted for the Council: Anne Mayhew ______________________________ Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student record) Crossing Over in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Classical Music through the Work of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer and Béla Fleck A thesis presented for the Master of Music degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Louanne Marie Iannaccone August 2005 ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who helped me complete my Master of Music Degree in Musicology. I would like to those who participated in my fieldwork, especially Mark O’Connor and the members of his ensembles, the administrators at the Nashville Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Santa Fe Symphony, and those expert instrumentalists in the Knoxville community, all of whom took time to speak with me about my research. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Leslie Gay, and my other committee members, Dr. Rachel Golden Carlson and Dr. Wesley Baldwin, for their unending efforts in advising and revising. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their boundless encouragement and counsel, without which, this project would have been impossible. iii Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect that the crossover music of Mark O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck has on current societal perceptions of classical music. In the past, society has seen classical music as a highbrow cultural activity, inaccessible to the majority of American people. In the course of this research, I explore the music of these artists from several perspectives. Through a technocultural examination of the violin, fiddle, double bass, and banjo, I determine that these instruments are used prominently in many styles of music and therefore facilitate crossover. I identify how different musical domains come together as crossover in the music and recordings of these performers. I discover that the music of O’Connor, Meyer, and Fleck draws from classical music, as well as musical domains specific to the United States, including jazz, bluegrass, and old-time country. In addition, I attended concerts and conducted interviews with audience members. I also spoke with administrators at several symphony orchestras in the United States. After Clifford Geertz, I developed a “thick description” of a particular Mark O’Connor concert, in which I analyzed the audience behavior and relationship to the musicians (1973). In interviews with audience members, I asked them about the concert experience and explored reasons for attendance at the performance. I asked symphony administrators about their reasons for including these crossover artists in their concert season, as well as their views on changing trends in classical audiences. This research led me to apply Holt’s interpretation of Bourdieu’s theory of taste to the formation of crossover audiences. iv My application of Bourdieu’s theory to crossover audiences reveals the broad base of audience participation for these composer/performers and demonstrates the potency of American musical styles for contemporary American audiences. Finally, I conclude that O’Connor, Meyer, and Fleck combine classical music and musical idioms of the United States to create a newly accessible crossover music that extends the boundaries of classical music consumption. v Table of Contents 1. ASPECTS OF GENRE, STYLE AND DOMAIN: PAST AND PRESENT .........................................1 THE STATE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC ...............................................................................................................1 THE CONCEPT OF CROSSING OVER............................................................................................................10 METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................................................................22 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...........................................................................................................................28 2. A TECHNOCULTURAL APPROACH TO CROSSOVER ...............................................................36 INSTRUMENTS, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE............................................................................................36 THE VIOLIN/FIDDLE ..................................................................................................................................39 THE DOUBLE BASS....................................................................................................................................52 THE BANJO................................................................................................................................................59 TECHNOCULTURE IN CROSSOVER..............................................................................................................65 3. CROSSOVER ARTISTS AND THEIR MUSIC ..................................................................................67 MARK O’CONNOR (B. 1961) .....................................................................................................................67 EDGAR MEYER (B. 1960) ..........................................................................................................................81 BÉLA FLECK (B. 1958) ..............................................................................................................................93 4. CHALLENGING DISTINCTIONS AMONG TASTE CULTURES ...............................................102 THEORIES OF TASTE ................................................................................................................................103 DETERMINING TASTE IN CLASSICAL MUSIC............................................................................................108 THE CONCERT .........................................................................................................................................111 RECEPTION AMONG AUDIENCES .............................................................................................................119 5. CROSSOVER MUSIC AND CHANGE..............................................................................................127 SUMMARY ...............................................................................................................................................127 THE STATE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC: REVISITED ........................................................................................133 FURTHER RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES .....................................................................................................134 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................136 PRINTED SOURCES ............................................................................................................................137 RECORDED SOURCES (DISCOGRAPHY)........................................................................................151 ARTIST WEBSITES..............................................................................................................................152