The New 76ers - Poster

The New 76ers

The New 76ers are an acoustic folk band from Tallahassee, Florida. Their sound comes from a collective respect for acoustic and electric music. They rely on instincts to meld the vocals into harmonies and let them take the spotlight. They believe that music is a force to compel change, and strive to let their music speak for itself.

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Interesting Facts:

About The New 76ers Education Performance

The New 76ers are coming to your school for a special performance through Opening Nights in Class. The trio will share the rich history of Folk Music and its different genres including Appalachian, Blues, Bluegrass and Rock-n-Rock. The group will also discuss the birth of “protest songs” to help your students create a better cultural understanding of our nation’s past.

Pre-Concert Information for Teachers The term American Roots Music, or folk music, includes a broad category of music including blues, bluegrass, gospel, old time, jug band, Cajun, and Native American. It is considered traditional American music either because it was native to America, or because people who emigrated from other places like Europe or Africa invented it here. It is called “Roots” music because it was the foundation of later American musical styles like Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, and Jazz.

In the 1900s, researchers began traveling around the country collecting songs. These researchers started recording songs that were normally passed from generation to generation. They used the term “folk music” to describe the music of rural Southern Whites and Blacks. This music was a window into the lives and cultures of these groups. As the century progressed, music from other groups was added under the “folk music” umbrella (Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Cajuns). The songs could be sung anywhere - church, front porches, work, fields, parties, or at bedtime. Most often this music was performed acoustic, and especially with the blues style, it was played alone or in very intimate performances.

What Are Protest Songs?

A protest song is connected to a movement for social change.

The song’s purpose is to create a sense of unity in a movement.

Protest songs in America date all the way back to the Colonial period and the Revolutionary War. Protest song themes are a way for artists to describe how they feel about what’s going on in their world. Many of the songs are about equality, freedom, justice or injustice, empowering people to change. Some musicians who are famous for writing and singing protest songs are, Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bob Marley, Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, 2Pac, and Lauryn Hill.

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Vocabulary Terms An acoustic guitar produces sound that is not amplified.

Amplify means to make louder.

A banjo is a musical instrument with a drum-like body, a long neck, and usually four or five strings.

Bluegrass music is a kind of country music influenced by jazz and blues, traditionally played on unamplified stringed instruments such as a banjo, fiddle, or guitar.

Blues music is of black American folk origin developed in the Southeastern United States toward the end of the 19th century.

Folk music is the traditional music of the people in a country or region such as the Southeastern United States.

Jazz music is of black American origin emerging at the beginning of the 20th century. Brass and woodwind instruments as well as piano are associated with this type of music.

Lyric is the words of a song.

A melody is a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying.

A theme is a prominent melody or group of notes in a musical composition.

The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) is a multidisciplinary research center at Florida State University. FCRR explores all aspects of reading research— basic research into literacy-related skills for typically developing readers and those who struggle, studies of effective prevention and intervention, and psychometric work on formative assessment.