American Music Celebration Kicks Off at OBU Oct. 27

October 13, 2003

Dr. Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky, will visit the OBU campus on October 27-28, 2003. Dr. Pen will deliver a lecture entitled "Toward an Audeography of Hallowe'en" as part of the Oklahoma Baptist University Division of Music's American Music Month celebration. The lecture is Monday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m., in Raley Chapel Room 203.

In addition, he will lead a session of Sacred Harp singing on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at noon in RC 203.

Pen serves as Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Kentucky, and directs the newly-formed Niles Center. The John Jacob Niles Center for American Music is named for Kentucky musician John Jacob Niles. It seeks to provide a comprehensive focus for the research and performance of American music, embracing both vernacular and cultivated aspects of the field, from the early Colonial period through the present, with special emphasis on the indigenous culture of the southern United States. The Center's mission is both archival and programmatic. It serves as a repository for primary and secondary research materials and it actively supports the dissemination of scholarly research in American Music.

Pen is the current vice-president of the Society for American Music, serves as an editor for its journal American Music, and has published articles and reviews in a wide variety of venues. He is an avid fiddler and Appalachian dulcimer player.

"Ron Pen is an engaging and humorous speaker, and his lecture promises to be both intellectually stimulating and fun. This is an outstanding way to kick off our American Music Month celebration," said Dr. Kristen Todd, assistant professor of music history at OBU.

For more information, contact the OBU Division of Music at 405-878-2306, or music@okbu.edu