Finding the Singing Spruce: Musical Instrument Makers and Appalachia's Mountain Forests (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781959000006)

Environment, craft, and meaning in the work of Appalachian instrument makers.

How can the craft of musical instrument making help reconnect people to place and reenchant work in Appalachia? How does the sonic search for musical tone change relationships with trees and forests? Following three craftspeople in the mountain forests of Appalachia through their processes of making instruments, Finding the Singing Spruce considers the meanings of work, place, and creative expression in drawing music from wood.

Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth explores the complexities and contradictions of instrument-making labor, which is deeply rooted in mountain forests and expressive traditions but also engaged with global processes of production and consumption. Using historical narratives and sensory ethnography, among other approaches, he finds that the craft of lutherie speaks to the past, present, and future of the region's work and nature.

Author: Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth
ISBN-10: 1959000004
ISBN-13: 9781959000006
Publisher: West Virginia University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/01/2023
Pages: 248
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.60d