Community Music in Alberta: Some Good School House Stuff!

Explore Alberta’s astonishing musical heritage, from brass bands to Ukrainian folk music and symphonies, from native singers to Wilf Carter.

Join historian George Lyon on a fascinating journey through Alberta’s musical history and heritage, one that explores the variety, interplay, and evolution of musical tradition in the province.

Thoroughly researched and richly illustrated with archival photographs, Community Music in Alberta is a celebration of music played in community halls and schoolhouses, at picnics and in living rooms, of the evolving traditions and local musicians and their communities. Discover the roots of prairie music and Alberta’s astonishing musical heritage.

George W. Lyon has been researching Alberta vernacular culture since 1984. In 1991, he co-edited, with Sid Holt of Gleichen, Alberta, an anthology of Alberta folk and popular poetry, titled A Toast to Baldy Red. Lyon teaches English at Mount Royal College in Calgary and makes music on a variety of instruments.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

One of the First Orders of the Day

The Pekisko Kids

Tempting as it may be to assumer

Crowsnest Pass Preserved by Gushul

The Voices is the first instrument

Keeping the Traditions Alive

"Band" invariably meant "Brass Band"

Fiddle Contests and Fiddle Culture

Any account of music must consider dancing

Those who provided music for dances were not always paid

Some professional musicians from Alberta’s past

Musical Instruments in Portraiture

Alberta could not avoid the cultural influence

Making Music at Home (and Work)

Country Music Has a presence in Alberta

Music is Essential at Weddings (and Elsewhere)

Native people participate in mainstream culture

Bibliography

Index

Here is an examination of the roots of prarie music that is long overdue . . . music from everywhere on earth, melded and coupled to the vigerous pulse of the Alberta countryside.

—Sid Marty, author of Leaning on the Wind

George Lyon has done a remarkably thorough job of research and approaches his subject with much affection. This is a book many people will enjoy.

—Sharon Butala, author of Coyote’s Morning Cry

Table of Contents