Exploring the old town school of folk music’s beck song reader ensemble: An interview with Nathaniel Braddock

This column presents an interview with Nathaniel Braddock, who created and teaches an ensemble devoted to Beck’s Song Reader at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Song Reader is a collection of 20 compositions published as sheet music for musicians to record and release, with over 17,000 versions currently posted on YouTube alone. An introduction explains the Song Reader project and discusses how several aspects of the ensemble may appeal to music educators. The interview covers Braddock’s pedagogic techniques and conceptual approaches, providing teachers with strategies for successfully pursuing the inclusion of Song Reader or similar projects. Copyright © 2013 National Association for Music Education.