欧美视频

In this photo from the State Historial Society of Missouri Louise B. Trigg Photograph Collection, Warrensburg music icon John W. "Blind" Boone is shown with his wife, Eugenia Lange, whom he married in 1889. 

WARRENSBURG, MO 鈥� The 欧美视频 is collaborating with two other Missouri universities and the Missouri Humanities Council to bring the history of one of Warrensburg鈥檚 iconic figures to life Saturday, Oct. 1. The three-day John W. 鈥淏lind鈥� Boone Symposium Sept. 30鈥揙ct. 2 has as its hub the UCM campus and neighboring downtown Warrensburg.

The public is invited to attend any or all events on the tour, which begins in Columbia on Friday morning and travels by van to Warrensburg to spend the night, the next day and Saturday night. A Friday evening concert at the University of Missouri鈥檚 Whitmore Hall will be livestreamed, as will a repeat concert and four new events in UCM鈥檚 Hart Recital Hall on Saturday. The symposium鈥檚 final day of events takes place at Lincoln University in Jefferson City before returning to Columbia on Sunday afternoon. 

John William Boone鈥檚 mother, Rachel, was born into slavery in Kentucky. She was working in Miami, Missouri, as a cook in a Union Army camp when she met Boone鈥檚 father, the company bugler. Boone was born in 1864 toward the end of the Civil War, and Rachel moved with her infant son to Warrensburg. He became blind around the age of 6 months as the result of treatment for cerebral meningitis. 

From an early age Boone鈥檚 musical aptitude was undeniable. He started a band as a young child, playing the tin whistle, mouth harp and harmonica at gatherings around town. With the help of Johnson County officials and former Missouri Senator Francis Cockrell, the community pooled money to send the 9-year-old Boone to the Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis, where he could develop his talents.

鈥淚 think the Warrensburg community is still proud of that effort because, at the time, to have prominent white families support a young Black man was not typical,鈥� said UCM Musicology Professor Allison Robbins, noting that Boone moved away just one year after the 欧美视频 was founded in 1871.

Robbins teaches a course titled 鈥淢usic of the Common Practice Era,鈥� exploring music history from the 17th century through the early 20th century. This semester her students researched digital newspaper archives for stories about Blind Boone, a local music icon.

鈥淎 lot of times music history has been taught about European composers, and we don鈥檛 really get into the music that happens near and dear to home, which actually overlaps with all of that other music history,鈥� Robbins said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that our students know who Boone is. Even if they鈥檙e not from central Missouri, they鈥檙e coming to a place where he was a really prominent and influential musician.鈥� 

Everett Wimberly is a sophomore majoring in Music Technology with an emphasis in percussion. He had not heard of Boone before taking Robbins鈥� course but grew up playing jazz and ragtime pieces on the piano. He said researching Boone gave him a better perspective on local and regional music history.
鈥淚 think it was great for people who did get discriminated against, like Boone, to have a musical voice in this time period,鈥� Wimberly said. 鈥淏oone鈥檚 motto, 鈥楳erit, not sympathy, wins鈥� is a great rallying cry in all of this. 鈥� I hope that I can use this project to make sure everyone is valued and included in the work that I do in music.鈥� 

Boone鈥檚 piano compositions blend his classical training with melodies from plantation songs and spirituals. He was a pioneer of the ragtime genre emerging in the 1890s from musicians such as Scott Joplin, who was living in Sedalia at the time. One of Boone鈥檚 best-known songs, 鈥淪outhern Rag Medley No. 2,鈥� is subtitled 鈥淪trains from Flat Branch鈥� after the historical area of downtown Columbia where he moved in 1880 when founding the Blind Boone Touring Company with John Lange Jr., a former slave who moved to the city after the Civil War and became his lifelong business partner and friend.

The Blind Boone Home on North Fourth Street is one of the symposium鈥檚 first stops in Columbia on Sept. 30. The day ends with a 7 p.m. concert of Boone鈥檚 music in MU鈥檚 Whitmore Hall featuring pianist Reginald Robinson and vocalist Jolie Rocke, an adjunct professor at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas. The concert will be repeated in UCM鈥檚 Hart Recital Hall at 7 p.m. Oct. 1. Both concerts will be livestreamed on the respective MU School of Music and UCM Music YouTube channels. Livestreaming capability in Hart Recital Hall was made possible by a donor-funded UCM Alumni Foundation Opportunity Grant.

Other events in Warrensburg on Oct. 1 include panel discussions in the morning and a 2 p.m. guided tour with UCM History Professor Jon Taylor, who has developed with his students a Historic Missouri and app funded by a grant from the Missouri Humanities Council. Tour stops include Blind Boone Park, downtown venues where he performed and the Johnson County Historical Society, which houses a collection of related news clippings and artifacts. A 4:30 p.m. reception in Hart Recital Hall with food and live music will celebrate the newly endowed John William 鈥淏lind鈥� Boone Annual Scholarship in Music. Available through the UCM Alumni Foundation, the scholarship provides financial support for a UCM Music student, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.  

Conner Craig, a pianist majoring in Instrumental Music Education at UCM, will play ragtime music at the reception. Unlike many students, he knew about Boone prior to being asked to participate in the symposium, as ragtime is his favorite musical style.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 a kind of music that makes your foot tap without realizing it, a kind of music that has the power to make you laugh completely unwarranted,鈥� Craig said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the kind of music that makes you feel child-like.鈥�

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