U of I’s Sousa Archives offer a musical trip through time
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Nowadays, music comes through earbuds and is more convenient to listen to. Inside the Sousa Archives and the Center for American Music on the University of Illinois campus, you can see and hear instruments from across the ages.
Director Scott Schwartz said getting to play an instrument or even just learning its history can help you appreciate it more.
“To understand why a composer wrote a piece a particular way, sometimes you have to look at the historic instruments that were available to them at that time to begin to understand why they wrote in a certain way,” he said.
The oldest instrument in the Sousa Archives is a harp dating back to the 1600s. They also keep a record of original composer manuscripts, guitars, and even the evolution of the flutes and clarinets. They have over 70% of John Sousa’s original music but also have newer technologies, like one of the earliest synthesizers.
“We have the harmonic tone generator. It was created by James Beauchamp. This would be in the sixties as part of his doctoral work. It is the beginning of synthesized sound additive synthesis.”
Although the original isn’t functional anymore, Schwartz along with a past student, developed a second.
“Mark and I built the harmonic tone generator to it, which gives people a much better understanding of how the harmonic tone generator and additive synthesis function,” he explained.
Instead of having old instruments on display and never to be played, Schwartz makes sure the old traditions can be passed down to those who appreciate them. The Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp allows middle schoolers from Central Illinois to play instruments from the 19th and early 20th Century.
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The Sousa Archives are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can make an appointment to tour or just look around at the centuries of music history.
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