ELKINS, W.Va. - The sound of traditional Appalachian music with a folksy string sound accompanied by traditional old world varied dance stylings filled the halls throughout the Madden Student Center on the Davis & Elkins College campus.
Adam Harris, executive producer of Mountain Stage, "the home of live music on public radio," introduced D&E's Appalachian Ensemble performing music and dance on Oct. 14. The performance introduced the audience to the traditional Appalachian sounds represented throughout the Mountain Music Trail, running the length of Route 219 through five counties from Tucker County to Monroe County.
The ensemble is made up of 14 students from all over the country, along with one Canadian, who were specifically recruited by D&E to be a part of this dance and music ensemble due to each performer's unique talents in this very folksy and traditional form of art.
"The hope is that it is kind of bridging the gap between Augusta and D&E College and representing Appalachian music and dance, but also in different forms of traditional American vernacular dance," Becky Hill, the dance director, said of Appalachian Ensemble.
Following the performance was a presentation of a very brief teaser clip of a soon-to-be-released compilation of several videos that Mountain Stage, a radio program based out of Charleston and carried on 150 stations nationwide, in collaboration with the West Virginia Division of Tourism filmed throughout the spring and summer in several different locations along the Mountain Music Trail.
Vasilia Scouras, the associate producer of Mountain Stage, spearheaded the project, taking two videographers from the public television studio in Morgantown, spending at least three days in every county along the trail. These counties include Tucker, Randolph, Pocahontas, Greenbrier and Monroe counties. They shot various events and locations of interest emphasizing music with the purpose of compiling the multitude of video into a digital map representative of all five counties.
Harris said the digital map will include "sound clips of artists in each region, also camp sites, hotels, restaurants and the different attractions along the trail. So if they are looking to plan a visit they can go right there and browse through.
"Basically, they can plan a trip with inputs of that map," Harris said, explaining the purpose is to help the Mountain Music Trail develop more tools to promote itself.
Mountain Stage is presenting the premier events in all five counties, culminating with the Governor's Conference on Tourism scheduled for Oct. 25-28, before unveiling the map and all five county's videos to the public on the website www.mountainmusictrail.com.