Tagged: Alps
From the Alps
Doctoral student Andrea Lieberherr Douglass (Ethnomusicology) reports from Switzerland with her family where she is doing additional fieldwork for her dissertation.
I’m in Switzerland with my family for six weeks this summer to conduct additional field research. At the moment we are staying three weeks in the Appenzell area of Switzerland, in the same small town we lived in last year for seven months. Then we are staying for three weeks in the adjacent valley, the Toggenburg. The Appenzell and the Toggenburg comprise the Alpstein, the geographic area where the Streichmusik I’m studying is located. Mostly I am here conducting interviews with performers, politicians, cultural organizers and tourist bureaus. Through the Zentrum für Appenzellische Volksmusik (Center for Appenzeller Volksmusik) my husband and I are participating in some rehearsals and performances of Streichmusik. I’m also attending alpine festivals that include music and dance, performances in restaurants and concerts as well as musical and theatrical celebrations of the 500 year anniversary of Appenzell joining Switzerland.
