Folklorist David Brose in Sewanee for Three Events

John C. Campbell Folk School folklorist David Brose will make three presentations while in Sewanee on Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 9–10. 

Brose will perform at the EQB Club on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at St. Mary’s Sewanee; the public is invited at 12:30 p.m. He will talk at the Monteagle Sewanee Rotary meeting, 8 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 10, at the Sewanee Inn. His final presentation will be at the Academy of Lifelong Learning at noon, Thursday, Sept. 10, at St. Mary’s Sewanee. (Academy dues are $12 per year or $1 per meeting.) 

Although all three presentations will be different, at each event Brose will talk about the origin of the John C. Campbell Folk School and its current offerings, perform musical numbers and entertain the audiences with stories. 

Brose holds a bachelor’s degree in folklore from Ohio State University and a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from Indiana University. During his folkloric fieldwork, he collected musical selections of elder masters of the banjo spanning the 1970s to today, as well as traditional music in the American West and South.

He was the state folklorist in Colorado and Iowa and has done research for the Smithsonian Institution. Brose has played banjo since 1963; has produced many videos and radio documentaries, including radio programs for NPR; and has been folklorist at the Folk School since 1991. 

The John C. Campbell Folk School provides experiences in noncompetitive learning and community life that are joyful and enlivening. It is located in Brasstown, N.C., about a three-hour drive from Sewanee. 

“The first folk school classes concentrated on subjects such as geography and sociology, things you would learn in a more traditional school—along with native folk art, music, dance and crafts,” Brose said. “Today, the school no longer does the geography and sociology classes, but it still teaches in the folk school tradition. Folk schools place emphasis on the oral tradition. Almost all classes are taught word-of-mouth. It’s a circular, cyclical kind of learning. In discussions, everyone has something to add.” 

The school offers year-round week-long and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography and writing.