2012 Calendar of Events

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Ain't Superstitious

T. Wilson King, Vermillion's popular and energetic poet/songwriter, returns to center stage with his acoustic and bottle-neck guitars close at hand. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Hornucopia

The abundance and variety of horns in NMM's "hornucopia" will be the focus of an insightful presentation by Gary Reeves, USD Associate Professor of Music. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

The Autonomous Autoharpist

For nearly three decades, Bryan Bowers, autoharp master, singer/songwriter, and storyteller (Sedro Woolley, Washington), has been to the autoharp what Earl Scruggs was to the five-string banjo. He presents instrumental virtuosity combined with warmth, eloquence, expression and professionalism. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Grafted into the Army:
Music of the
American Civil War

On this date during the opening year of the Civil War--150 years ago--two different governments claimed the State of Kentucky, one for the Confederacy and one for the Union. Vocalist, Bruce C. Kelley (USD), will present an overview of the music written during those tumultuous years of national division and reunification. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Black Elk Sings

Michael Murphy (Omaha), folk singer and songwriter, guitarist and player of the Native American flute, will sing songs of social awareness, peace, and of those who have influenced his life. His music was featured in the 2008 movie, "The Battle for Whiteclay," and his CD, “Black Elk Sings,” was named “Traditional Native American CD of the Year” in 2009 by the Rural Roots Music Commission. A performance at the Smithsonian is scheduled for October. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Gamelan Workshop

Gamelan Workshop for Tatag (USD Gamelan Ensemble) with Joko Sutrisno, Music Director, Indonesian Performing Arts Association of Minnesota.  Funded by the USD Student Government Association and the USD Honors Program. Free.  Open to the public.

Evening Concert

Preserving the Sounds of Liberty: 
A Lecture Recital on the
Traditions of Military Field Music

The National Music Museum is pleased to present a special lecture-recital by eight members of the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps (Washington, DC) with its commander--South Dakota native CW4 Frederick Ellwein. Join us for this special opportunity to learn about the history of the instruments of the corps and in what capacity they are used today. The performance brings to life historical repertoire dating to the Revolutionary War era and modernizes versions of traditional tunes that have been adapted to the Corps' musical demands. The educational outreach chamber ensemble consists of members with various educational backgrounds from traditional fife and drum to classically trained musicians. This unique combination of talented musicians affords them the opportunity to share this important part our Nations' Heritage. 7:30 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Woody Music

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Robert (Doc) Woody, banjo, and Tuffy Epstein, clarinet, team up to play happy-go-lucky music, with a mix of tunes from the Gay 90's, Tin Pan Alley, the Roarin' 20's, New Orleans jazz, and present-day popular and country music. Whether an "old grump" or a "highbrow," no one is ever successful in avoiding the joy that is produced by their music. Before the end of the first song, there will be smiles and tapping toes.  Be forewarned, however--Woody Music is infectious and may even be habit forming! 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

A Touch of Brass

The Touch of Brass Quintet (Wakefield, Nebraska) will perform a varied program for your listening pleasure. Personnel include  Keith D. Krueger, trumpet; David Bohnert, trumpet; Gary Reeves, horn; Randall Neuharth, trombone; and Josh Calkin, tuba. 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Evening Lecture

Strings, Pipes, and Commerce:
The Historical Economics of
Musical Instrument Making

As recipient of the USD College of Fine Arts Knutson Distinguished Professor Award for 2010-2012, John Koster, NMM Conservator, will present an illustrated lecture about the economic contexts in which instrument makers of the past worked. It is often imagined that those who produced the lutes, violins, flutes, and harpsichords of the pre-industrial era were solitary artists crafting masterpieces one at a time. To the contrary, the best-known workshops were often highly efficient businesses in which musical instruments were mass produced by methods including the use of standard models, division of labor, and subcontracting. Raw and processed materials were obtained and finished products were distributed in a marketplace of global scope. Arne B. Larson Concert Hall at the National Music Museum. 7:30 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Duo Montagnard

Joseph Murphy, Professor of Saxophone at Mansfield University (Mansfield, Pennsylvania), and Matthew Slotkin, Director of the guitar programs at Mansfield University and Bloomsburg University (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania), are the Duo Montagnard. Formed in 2002, the duo has performed more than 140 concerts in 30 states, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Slovenia, Greece, and the United Kingdom. Recent performances have included tours of the midwestern and northeastern U.S.; a performance at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand; and, a tour of New Zealand and Australia. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

France and Germany:
Baroque Rivalry Heats Up

The acclaimed ensemble, Avla Harmoniae (New York City), will bring Baroque music to life on the traverso, harpsichord, and viola da gamba. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

USD Student Showcase

Join us for an exciting program featuring the talents of students in the USD Music Department. 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

April Fool!
Trumpets Now & Then:
A Humorous Look at
Trumpets Through the Ages

David Shaner, retired Professor of Trumpet, Colorado State University, offers an historical hysterical account of the development of the trumpet--from the conch shell to the modern orchestral trumpet--played on a variety of instruments from his own collection. No fooling! 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

"Wonderful, Sweet Music" on
The Musical Saw

Carrying on a family tradition, Janis Andol (Yale, South Dakota), plays both a "Stanley Handyman" and an ordinary saw, making "wonderful, sweet music" in the process! 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

A Musical Journey
Around The World

Soprano Yi-Lan (Elaine) Niu and classical guitarist Christopher Cramer (Beloit, Wisconsin) present a musical journey around the world. From classical masterworks of Germany and Austria to flamenco inspired Spain, from ancient China to the contemporary Americas, the duo takes the audience on a tour of exceptionally varied music from four continents. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Evening Open Dress Rehearsal

The Kyai Rengga Manis Everist Gamelan

The USD Honors Gamelan Class will join USD's Tatag Gamelan Ensemble for the dress rehearsal before their annual spring gamelan performance on April 27. 7:30 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

The Kyai Rengga Manis Everist Gamelan

The USD Honors Gamelan Class will join USD's Tatag Gamelan Ensemble for their annual spring gamelan performance. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Silver and Wood

Linda Chatterton and James Flegel, flute and classical guitar (Minneapolis), present folk music compositions from around the world. 12:05 p.m. Free. 

We revel in blowing our own breath through the clarinet.

We delight in moving our fingers.

We savor the sounds that are produced.

Discover more than 50 clarinets and related instruments in a special exhibition that explores the materials from which clarinets are made, the development of clarinet keys and fingerings, parallel types in non-Western cultures, accessories, and some distinctive clarinet curiosities.

Exhibition design and development by Deborah Check Reeves, Curator of
Education and Woodwinds, and Ana Sofia Silva, Graduate Assistant.

The NMM extends a special welcome to our guests from ClarinetFest 2012 and the International Clarinet Association!

Star Wars!

Summer Explorer Series for students entering 4th-6th grades

Monday-Wednesday 9:00-11:30 AM; Thursday 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Star Wars!

Summer Discovery Series for students entering 1st-3rd grades

Monday-Thursday 10:00-11:00 AM OR 1:00-2:00 PM

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Diablito Tango

Diablito Tango, an exciting new musical group from Valencia, Spain, will include a performance at the National Music Museum during their Fall 2012 tour of the Midwest. Members include Javier Cardénas, bandoneon (Argentina), Nesrine Belmohk, voice (France/Algeria), and Matthew Baker, double bass (Sioux City, Iowa). Although the origins of the tango date back to the end of the nineteenth century, the genre remains alive and vibrant today. Since the trio's inception in 2009, it has rapidly risen to prominence, recently selling out the closing night concert of the Serenatas Festival in Valencia and receiving a standing ovation from an audience of more than 800. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Boundless Lyrics of Love, Loss, and Redemption

Carolyn Cruso (Orcas, Washington), multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer, is equally at home on hammered dulcimer, flute, guitar, whistle, and vocals. She performs a diverse array of original tunes and songs inspired both by her strong connection to nature as well as her extensive travel experiences. Cruso's compositions fuse an eclectic melange of folk, jazz, and Celtic elements based on traditional material gleaned from her European sojourns. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Contemporary Traditional Music for Guitar

Guitarist Dorian Michael (San Luis Obispo, California) returns to Vermillion to perform the original acoustic music he likes to call “contemporary traditional”--an eclectic mix of acoustic guitar instrumentals and earthy blues vocals. “Some music makes you feel, some makes you think and some music is just for the fun of it," says Dorian. "I try to get to all those places in the space of a performance.” 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program and
Native American Day Celebration

Celebrating Life Through
Story and Song

Jerome Kills Small, traditional Oglala Sioux storyteller, oral historian, and drum maker (USD). Traditional, powwow, rabbit, and other songs will be presented along with explanations of their meanings and stories of their origins. Jerome is the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from South Dakota Humanities Council, the Reconciliation Award from former South Dakota Governor George Mickleson, The University of South Dakota Poet of the Year (1994), and numerous awards and certificates for speaking at the Red Road Retreat and the Building Bridges Conference. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Rock the Piano!

Vermillion native, Adam Nelson (Chicago), returns home to unleash his "inner rock star"! Like most typical children, Nelson struggled with traditional classical piano lessons. However, he persevered until he got to high school when he started focusing on playing horn (the "French" one), singing in the choir and marching in drum corps. Fortunately, the seeds of his real musical calling had been sewn many years earlier in those early piano lessons. On his own, he began to hone his ability to play by ear and taught himself countless songs by the Beatles, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Elton John and Ben Folds. Little did he know that this little side project would turn into a promising career. Join us to hear the amazing results! 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Klassic Klarinet Klezmer

Deborah Check Reeves, clarinet, The University of South Dakota, with John D. Check, piano, University of Central Missouri join forces to present a lively and engaging program of traditional Klezmer music. Although the genre has its origins in Eastern Europe, it became popular in the U.S. as Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe arrived at the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries and assimilated American jazz into their repetoire of dance tunes and instrumental solos. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

The Mignarda Lute Song Duo

Donna Stewart, mezzo soprano, and Ron Andrico, lute, present a rich sampling from the bounteous Tudor musical legacy with a program that covers the range of influences of this colorful, musically gifted clan that reigned in England for 118 years, including mesmerizing rondeaux from the time of Henry VII, lusty songs from Henry VIII's tempestuous court, serene devotionals of the devout "Bloody Mary," and the lush, familiar songs from Elizabeth's "Golden Age," including works by Ockeghem, Busnoys, Cornysh, Morales, and John Dowland. 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Bach's Goldberg Variations

Frédérick Haas (Flawinne, Belgium), professor of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels, will perform Bach's Goldberg Variations on instruments from the NMM's prestigious keyboard collection. 12:05 p.m. Free. 

Brown Bag Lunch Program

The Ambassador of Bluegrass

Dick Kimmel (New Ulm, Minnesota), vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, mandolin, and clawhammer banjo. For more than fifty years, Kimmel has been associated with traditional bluegrass and old-time country music as a performer, recording artist, workshop instructor, historian, and songwriter. A well-known and highly respected musician, Kimmel was inducted into America's Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2010. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Strumming Along  . . .  Singing a Song

Tom Peterson and Charley Smith (Sioux Falls) return to the NMM to perform an entertaining selection of Peterson's original compositions for guitar and mandolin. 12:05 p.m. Free.

Brown Bag Lunch Program

Holiday Brass

Join us at noon for some festive season music performed by the South Dakota Brass Quintet (USD)--Rolf Olson, trumpet; Clayton Lehman, trumpet; Gary Reeves, French horn; Jonathan Alvis, trombone; and Chuck Dibley, tuba. 12:05 p.m. Free.