Grace's Musical Journey of 2023

  Music & Family       Over spring break, I was able to interview my Mom on her music beliefs and taste! I had a great time coming up with different questions and finding out some information about my mom that I had never heard of before.    Some background information on my mom! Her name is  Jill McKinney and she grew up during the 1970s in the state of Michigan. In her young adult years, she moved all over the place such as Indiana, Arizona, Georgia, and then to the great state of South Carolina. Her parents also moved down to South Carolina, where they opened a restaurant on a lake. My mom worked at the family restaurant where she met my dad! My Dad was born and raised in the South, so he influenced her a little with country music.  Here is a cute picture of my mom and me!  Our interview took place one morning when we sat at the kitchen table and discussed everything about music and my mom. Starting out I just gave my mom an overv...

 American Roots Music Rock abilly   History of Rockabilly:       The music genre, Rockabilly dates back to the 1950s in the south of the United States and is known as the earlier stages of rock and roll music. Rockabilly is described as a nice blend of bluegrass country with rock rhythm and blues. Other music genres that influenced Rockabilly music were electric blues and big swing bands !            Country music once known as hillbilly music consisted of old-timey instruments like the banjo and artist voices who sounded the same. Starting in the 1920s , country and blues started to blend together and create music no one had heard of before. Artist Jimmie Rodgers showed his loud personality through his vocal style, and harmonic blues and rose to the name of "The father of country music".  Here is Jimmie Rodgers and one of the known first classic country songs:  Jimmie Rodgers's "Mule Skinner Blues" ...

  Growing up and still today, one of my dreams is to travel to a Australia because I find the cultures and the land so interesting. My Aunt lived in Australia for a few years and always tells me stories of how rich the culture is! So I started researching the topic Music and Gender and found a cool instrument from the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia; The Didgeridoo!  Here is a map of Arnhem Land :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnhem_Land The Aboriginal people are Australia's first people and have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years. The Didgeridoo is a wind instrument that is played with vibrating strings. The structure of the instrument is in the form of a straight wooden trumpet and is made from hollow tree branches. The sounds the Didgeridoo produce is a drone sound with percussive rhythms! Within the Aboriginal tribes, the Didgeridoo has huge significance as the instrument is used to play in ceremonies, dances, and just for fun! The Abori...