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Throughout human history, music has been central to the fabric of society. Music is a powerful form of communication, it helps us relate to one another, make sense of the world, and commemorate moments together. Yet, music is often perceived as an extraneous element in a local economy (Markusen 2003), and the occupation “musician”—with the rare exceptions of those who achieve mainstream recognition—often conjures images of the starving artist or delinquent idler. What if the value of a local music scene could be made clear from an economic and cultural perspective? What is the value of a local music scene in establishing an identity of place? How can a city facilitate the conditions for a local music scene to exist and thrive? Although music plays a key role in a city’s creative and cultural life, a local music scene is too often overlooked as a driver for economic and community development. Through ethnographic research, this study uncovers the collective needs and vision for the future of the local music scene in Savannah, Georgia and proposes a framework for action.
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PROLOGUE
Twelve years ago, I made a decision that would forever change the course of my life. I was two years into my undergraduate studies in visual communication at the University of Kansas. I found myself spending my leisure time with a group of people that played music together. They were students my age, and they played guitars and banjos and mandolins and basses and drums and whatever else they could get their hands on. They seemed to have an intense connection with one another when they were in the moment of practicing their craft. They spoke a special language through their instruments and rhythms and vocal cords. Twelve years ago, I’d had enough of merely observing from the sidelines: I decided to be a fiddle player.
Music had always been a presence in my life. I started piano lessons at a young age; I learned the basic guitar chords before I was a teenager; and—like many young people—a major part of my identity, particularly in those formative teenage years, was always tied to my musical preferences. But by the time I decided to take on the fiddle, my motivations came from a deep desire to be a part of something more.
Despite having no experience with the fiddle or violin, I saved up a few hundred dollars, bought a fiddle from my local music store, and found someone willing to teach me some basics. I’d opened the first door, and each subsequent door opened up many new ones, to new worlds I never knew existed. Before long, I found myself at music festivals across the country. I found myself engaging with other people who shared my interest (or obsession, perhaps). Soon, I was on stage performing for audiences and even teaching others the skills that I had learned.
From 2003 – 2010, I worked as the Executive Director of the Folk School of St. Louis, a community music organization providing educational programs in traditional folk music. Through my work at the Folk School, I became a “connector” and key player in that local music community.
When I moved from St. Louis to Savannah, Georgia two-and-a-half years ago, I was struck by what seemed to be an absence of a music scene—or, at least, it wasn’t easy for me to find. I began to realize how crucial a local music scene was to my relationship with a place. It is a primary way that I meet peers and interact with them. It is part of the way I express my own identity and understand others’. The scene may be embodied in the form of the exchange of sweat and energy at a live rock concert, or a gathering of musicians that assemble themselves in a tight circle to “jam” together, or a new and unexpected pairing of performers at an open mic night. In a world that feels increasingly impersonal, anonymous, and intangible, the music scene is an enduring palpable expression of the character of a place and its people. I don’t want to live in a place without it. Surely, I thought, there are others like me, and perhaps music is more valuable to a city than is immediately apparent.
As the daughter of fervently urban-dwelling parents that work professionally in architecture and urban development, a fascination with understanding cities has always been a part of my psyche. Added to that, over the years, I’ve become keenly aware of the power of music to build a sense of community and—at the same time—the challenges that face musicians and the music industry. The intention of this study was to make a case that the richness of a city’s culture and its perception as a desirable place depends, in part, on its ability to facilitate the conditions for a thriving local music scene to exist. The inspiration for this work draws from the work of others in the areas of social sciences (Bourdieu, Wirth 1938), social activism (Moyer et al. 2001), ethnomusicology (Turino 2008, Bennett and Peterson 2004), and urban planning (Jacobs 1961) as well as from my years of experience both as a designer and as a performing musician, musical participant, music educator, and local music community leader.
INTRODUCTION
Music Scenes
The concept of “music scenes” was first a subject of academic research in 1991 by Will Straw in his essay, “Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music”. In academic discourse, music scenes refer to contexts in which clusters of musicians, fans, and other participants share their common musical tastes thereby collectively distinguishing themselves from others (Bennett and Peterson 2004, 1). Hence, scenes are often conceptualized in relation to a particular style of music, such as jazz, blues, country, hip-hop, folk, or a multitude of other genres or even more specific sub-genres. Sociologists Andy Bennett and Richard A. Peterson (2004) take a high-level view of scenes, defining three basic types of scenes: local, translocal, and virtual. A local scene is clustered in a specific geographic area. A translocal scene refers to geographically scattered local scenes that communicate amongst each other and are united through a distinct form or style of music and lifestyle. A virtual scene is one in which geography has no bearing; the sense of a scene is created via the Internet, fan zines, and other forms of global communication. This study focuses on music scenes at the local level and defines the ‘local music scene’ as the whole collection of various genre-based music scenes that exist within the physical constraints of a city’s metropolitan area.
Music and City
Throughout human history, music has been central to the social fabric of civilization. For those in the act of making music, dancing to music, or otherwise experiencing music with others, the experience can be a realization of an ideal world, where human-to-human connection gives a sense of merged selves—an experience “akin to what anthropologist Victor Turner (1969) calls communitas, a possible collective state achieved through rituals where all personal differences of class, status, age, gender, and other personal distinctions are stripped away allowing people to temporarily merge through their basic humanity” (Turino 2008). British sociomusicologist and rock critic Simon Frith explains that music “both articulates and offers the immediate experience of collective identity” (quoted in Florida 2002).
In Louis Wirth’s “Urbanism as a Way of Life” (1938), a city is defined as “a relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.” The heterogeneity and diversity natural to cities (Jacobs 1961) gives rise to a lack of communitas and collective identity, and an absence of “the bonds of solidarity that are relied upon to hold a folk society together” (Wirth 1938). If, indeed, music has the power to fuel a sense of collective identity, how might that power be harnessed to catalyze collective identity in a city?
The theme of Renewal in ethnographic praxis invites us to consider how looking at a place through a new lens may be the catalyst for change. Considering a local music scene’s significance in the economic and cultural nexus of a place, how might a local music scene be renewed and be a vehicle for renewal? This study uses ethnographic praxis and design thinking to reveal the often hidden value of music, and to identify the conditions conducive to growth of a place-based music scene.
Context: Savannah, Georgia
The city of Savannah, Georgia is the research site for this case study. Founded in 1733, Savannah, Georgia is the current county seat of Chatham County. Savannah is situated on the Georgia coast, just south of the South Carolina border. According to the 2010 U.S. Census statistics, the population in the city limits is approximately 137,000, with the metropolitan area population estimated at 356,000. The racial composition is approximately 55% black, 38% white, 4% Hispanic, and small percentages of other races. It is a city that has historically struggled with racial and economic divisions.
Savannah has a busy seaport—the second largest on the eastern seaboard measured by container weight. Major corporations in Savannah are heavily based in manufacturing, including jet maker Gulfstream, construction equipment manufacturer JCB, International Paper Company, and Dixie Crystals sugar products. The city is home to small and mid-sized colleges and universities, including the Savannah College of Art and Design, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah Technical College, and Savannah State University. With a historic downtown and riverfront and a close proximity to beaches, tourism is a major industry in Savannah.
Savannah’s music scene – Conversations with Savannah musicians and music supporters often express dissatisfaction with Savannah’s local music scene. In February 2012, Kayne Lanahan, CEO and founder of the Savannah Stopover Music Festival, wrote about Savannah’s music scene on The Creative Coast Blog. As a response to grievances expressed by the community, she outlined some findings she has made over the course of her work in the music industry. Cities that have a reputation for vibrant music scenes also have many other vibrant scenes—such as a restaurant scene—which cross-pollinate, and are responsible for not only attracting people to the city, but also for keeping them there, she says. These cities typically reflect openness to new ideas and new businesses. Her list of conditions for a vibrant local music scene to exist include: a connected community of musicians and promoters, a record label, a recording studio, a prominent festival, a great local radio station, a local music blog, a forward-thinking municipal government, and access to capital for emerging music businesses. The post sparked intense debate on the blog, further demonstrating the relevance and timeliness of this study.
Yet despite barriers, Savannah has some powerful musical assets in its corner. In its tenth year, the Savannah Music Festival brings international world-class performers to town for three weeks each year. The Savannah Stopover Festival—which just finished its second year—is working to put Savannah back on the map for up-and-coming touring acts. Several local bands have had successes in national and international markets in recent years, including bands CUSSES, Kylesa, and Baroness, and newer bands are cropping up. Other efforts are taking place: a bi-monthly local songwriter showcase, an urban arts festival, a brand new day-long festival featuring local bands, some developing grassroots informal venues, and various small open mic nights, to name a few. Bill Dawers (2012), columnist for Savannah Morning News and blogger says Savannah’s music scene is getting increasingly vibrant, but concedes that “we are far from our potential.”
In this loose association of people that make up the Savannah music scene (or “unscene” by some estimations), can a coalescence of organizations and efforts reveal an emergent scene with the potential to create a dramatic shift?