The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 artists. Founded by Folk musicians Frank Hamilton

Frank Hamilton

Frank Hamilton may refer to:*Frank Hastings Hamilton , U.S. surgeon*Frank Fletcher Hamilton , Canadian Progressive Conservative MP...

 and Win Stracke

Win Stracke

Winfred “Win” J. Stracke was an American Folk Musician and Co-Founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Stracke was a Chicago fixture in music, theater, and television in the 1940s and was known for his booming bass voice...

, the School opened in the Old Town

Old Town, Chicago

Old Town is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, bounded by the Ogden Ave. right-of-way on the northwest, Larrabee Street on the west, Clybourn Avenue on the southwest and Division Street on the south and Clark Street on the east and northeast. It spans across eastern parts of the community areas...

 neighborhood of Chicago in 1957 at 333 West North Avenue (the original location has since been demolished & replaced by a non-descript strip mall with the same address), offering guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 lessons in a communal teaching style and hosting performances by well-known folk musicians. Currently the school is led by executive director Bau Graves

Bau Graves

James "Bau" Graves is an American musician, musicologist, and arts activist. He is the current executive director of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. In 2005 his book on folk arts and community, Cultural Democracy: The Arts, Community, and the Public Purpose, was published.-References:...

 and has an enrollment of about 6,000 students per week, 2,700 of them children.

Founding

The Old Town School was originally founded by musicians Win Stracke and Frank Hamilton and opened December 1, 1957. Win was a classically trained singer and Frank was a young multi-instrumentalist and teacher of folk music; Frank had previously studied under Bess Lomax Hawes

Bess Lomax Hawes

Bess Lomax Hawes was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax.-Early life and education:...

, daughter of folklorist John Lomax

John Lomax

John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs...

. Win and Frank met at the Gate of Horn

Gate of Horn

For writings, including the Greek myth involving a "Gate of horn", see Gates of horn and ivory.The Gate of Horn was a 100-seatfolk music club, located in the basement of the Rice Hotel on the southeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Dearborn Street, on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the...

 nightclub in Chicago where they were both performing. Together Frank and Win developed a classroom technique based upon traditional oral and folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 teaching methods: listening, watching, trial and error, and playing by ear. Where other music schools taught sight reading and performance, Win and Frank wanted the Old Town School "method" to retain its emphasis on participation and development of aural skills. Early Classes were held in a dining room at the home of co-founder Dawn Greening
Several of the early faculty at the Old Town School were past members of Win Stracke's the "I Come For to Sing

I Come for to Sing

I Come For to Sing was a folk music review performed by Chicago musicians and singers, Win Stracke, Big Bill Broonzy and Larry Lane. The program was narrated by Studs Terkel. I Come For to Sing ran successfully for more than ten years, touring colleges and clubs throughout the United States, with...

" review. A folk review performed by a rotating group of artists, the program was a variety show in which each program revolved around a particular topic, the songs and readings presented would all deal with that topic. Win Stracke

Win Stracke

Winfred “Win” J. Stracke was an American Folk Musician and Co-Founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Stracke was a Chicago fixture in music, theater, and television in the 1940s and was known for his booming bass voice...

, Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel

Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...

, Big Bill Broonzy

Big Bill Broonzy

Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...

, and Fleming Brown

Fleming Brown

Fleming Brown, 1926–1984, born in Marshall, Missouri. He was a banjo player and one of the early teachers at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. As an artist, Brown specialized in traditional songs of the Southern Appalachians. He was influenced by old-time banjo players such as Uncle Dave...

 were all members of "I Come For to Sing" at different times. The school would also publish a folk magazine by the same name from 1975-1987.

Songbook

The initial version of the Old Town School Songbook was an unbound stack of pages to be added to a three ring binder. A collection of 94 songs mostly North American in origin, but selections from Israel, Ireland, England, Chile were added. In keeping with the teaching philosophy of the school it favored lots of songs which were suitable for group involvement. On each page was a short history of the song, the chord progression, rhythm indicators, a transcription of the melody and lyrics for the verses. Chord fingering charts were provided for guitar and banjo.

1960s and early 1970s

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

, Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...

, Jimmy Driftwood

Jimmy Driftwood

James Corbitt Morris , known professionally as Jimmy Driftwood or Jimmie Driftwood, was a prolific American folk music songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud"...

, Big Bill Broonzy

Big Bill Broonzy

Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...

, and Josh White

Josh White

Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....

 all performed at the Old Town School in its early years. Early teachers at the school included Chicago blues guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, and banjo players Fleming Brown

Fleming Brown

Fleming Brown, 1926–1984, born in Marshall, Missouri. He was a banjo player and one of the early teachers at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. As an artist, Brown specialized in traditional songs of the Southern Appalachians. He was influenced by old-time banjo players such as Uncle Dave...

 and Stu Ramsey as well as the Brazilian singer-guitarist Valucha deCastro

Valucha deCastro

Valucha deCastro was a Brazilian-born singer, songwriter and artist. Born in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, she grew up in Rio de Janeiro. she was one of the first students of Chicago, Illinois's Old Town School of Folk Music and later a teacher of Brazilian folk music there...

 (a.k.a. Valucha Buffington). The formation and growth of the School coincided with the folk music boom of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Throughout its existence the School has focused on offering both instruction and performance with many performing musicians also acting as teachers and mentors. The School also proved a rich ground for collaboration. The late 1960s were a peak of success as several musicians associated with the School rose to national prominence, including Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn

James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

 of The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

, Fred Holstein‎, John Prine

John Prine

John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...

, Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

, Bonnie Koloc

Bonnie Koloc

Bonnie Koloc is an American folk music singer-songwriter, actress, and artist who was considered one of the three main Illinois-based folk singers in the 1970s, along with Steve Goodman and John Prine forming the "trinity of the Chicago folk scene."...

, and Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson (musician)

Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the 12-string guitar. He introduced a then largely unknown Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade...

. The school moved into its first home at 909 West Armitage Ave.

1970s & 1980s: decline & renewal

Enrollment peaked in 1975 with about 650 students per-week, but as the folk revival declined in the mid-1970s so did the fortunes of the School; although it continued to provide music lessons to hundreds of students the School suffered financial difficulties and was on the brink of bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 in 1981. It was discussed at this time to move the school from its aging facilities on Armitage Ave. to the Suburbs. A new group of directors took over shortly afterwards, increased fund raising efforts and slowly brought the School back into profitability. They also expanded the school's curriculum to include ethnic and traditional world music. This was highlighted in February of 1989 by a performance from Jesus "Chucho" Rodriguez & Henry Hernandez with their Indian Harp and The Inca Peruvian Highland Wind Ensemble.

1990s

After occupying a building at 909 West Armitage Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood since 1968, the Old Town School in 1998 expanded into a new and larger main branch in the former Hild Library at 4544 North Lincoln Avenue

Lincoln Avenue (Chicago)

Lincoln Avenue is a major diagonal thoroughfare of the north side of city of Chicago. It runs from Clark Street on the western border of Lincoln Park largely to the northwest, ending in Morton Grove, Illinois...

, with a 400-seat concert hall. The move allowed the school room to expand its music education program significantly.

Today

As of late 2003, Old Town School has occasionally held or sponsored concerts in the 1525-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance

Harris Theater (Chicago)

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1,525-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US...

 located mostly underground in the downtown Millennium Park

Millennium Park

Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, USA and originally intended to celebrate the millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously...

.

Today, the Old Town School continues to offer music, dance, art and theater classes and performances for adults and children at both locations and children's classes in some suburban branch locations. Students from all over the Chicago area attend weekly classes taught by dedicated professionals. Students can also take ensemble classes, working with others on the music of groups like The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, The Grateful Dead, Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, and many others. Most classes perform at the end of the eight-week term in the "Big Gig" or at local venues. The current enrollment is about 6,600 students per week.

Many well-known folk, world

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

, bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 and country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 musicians from all over the world perform at the Lincoln Avenue location.

There are two music stores called the Different Strummer and the Different Strummer Armitage that sell musical instruments for children and adults, books, CDs, accessories and more. Students of the school may also rent instruments.

Each summer the Old Town School hosts the Chicago Folk & Roots festival in nearby Welles Park.

On December 1, 2007, Old Town School celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a concert at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre featuring Jeff Tweedy, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, David Bromberg, Lonnie Brooks with Wayne Baker Brooks and Nicholas Tremulis and Luna Negra Dance Theater.

In July 2010, the school announced the planned $18 million expansion of their facility to include new classroom & theatre space across the street from their current location (on an empty lot purchased in 2005).

External links

• The Old Town School of Folk Music
• Companion to the Old Town School Songbook
• Old Town School History
• Chicago Tribune The songbook remains the same at Old Town. Article by Greg Kot on the 50th Anniversary of the school.