Big Heavy World's Timeline of VT Music CD Project Underway
Starksboro Band. Photo courtesy Town of Starksboro, from the Bertha Hanson collection.
Excitement for the 2009 Quadricentennial is building at Big Heavy World, where an ambitious music project is being produced for the state commemoration. Called 'Thrufters & Through-Stones: The Music of Vermont's First Four Hundred Years,' it involves several organizations and dozens of Vermont musicians.
The project is a collaboration of the Vermont Music Library program of Big Heavy World, the Vermont Historical Society, and the Vermont Folklife Center. Each will be delving into their recording and printed music archives and working with Vermont musicians to re-create the music of Vermont's last four centuries, bringing examples from different eras together in a CD set for educators and the public.
The 'Quad' is a commemoration of Samuel de Champlain's 1609 visit to Lake Champlain, which gained it's name at the time. It's a state-led volunteer effort to bring awareness to Vermont's history and the changes our state has experienced in the centuries since - it puts the Champlain visit into a context of pre-contact culture and the four centuries that followed.
Big Heavy World staff have been serving on the Quadricentennial Commission's Marketing and Education & Interpretation committees during the planning process of the event. The grass roots organization respects the state's intention to not only bring attention to Vermont's unique history and culture, but also create an educational legacy during preparation for the Quad. 'Thrufters & Through-Stones,' endorsed by the Quadricentennial Commission as an official Vermont Quadricentennial project, is meant to shine a light on the arc of Vermont's history from a unique musical perspective. Everyone, including school children and travelers to the state, should be able to enjoy Vermont's history in song.
Big Heavy World is a volunteer-staffed nonprofit founded in 1996, dedicated to preserving and promoting music made by Vermonters. More information and music from the project can be found at vmls.org.