Explore a New Hobby - Music

Connie Robinette

February 10, 2025

As a hobby, music can involve listening to, creating, or making music. Collecting your favorite music also figures in there as well! Visit American Masters for an overview of great American music over time. Music is a means of relaxing, giving rise to creativity, and I should mention here that singing is included here too. Vocal music is the earliest form of music, requiring only one instrument, that of your voice! You can also consider dance as a companion to music. These related art forms work together, as music determines the rhythm, and the dancers provide energy and emotion. Find out more about dance in the Side Notes.

Learning something new is good for the brain and you can take this hobby wherever you want to go with it. Whether you pursue music as a major in college, play in local ensembles, or just have fun jamming out with your friends, learning to play a musical instrument requires dedication, practice, and perseverance. Playing with others will not only improve your playing but will foster social skills and teamwork as well as build your confidence. Music allows us to expand our cultural appreciation, develop self-discipline, and time management. Learning to play music will challenge you.

Sometimes people pick up a particular style of music that is deeply tied into their family history, like joining a pipe and drum band, or picking up a concertina that your grandmother gave to you. If you are interested in Irish and Scottish music, while NPR's Thistle and Shamrock is no longer live, you can still access the Celtic music in their archives. Celtic Dreams takes you on a quest in Ireland to learn more about the history and music. ETV's Shamrock Tenors from Belfast offers a musical journey through beloved Irish songs. Irish Dance: Steps of Freedom will show the evolution of dance in Ireland.

Blue Grass

The Caverns Sessions Show, formerly known as Blue Grass Underground. Learn more about Blue Grass and listen to music located in Digital Traditions on ETV's educational web site, Knowitall. For the 50th anniversary of SC Public Radio, watch the Steep Canyon Rangers special. Tut Underwood of SC Public Radio presents Blue Grass Music Is a South Carolina Tradition presenting the local Blue Grass scene.

Blues

PBS's Sound Field explores where blues music came from and its influence on other music genres. Watch Christone "Kingfish" Ingram perform his song "Before I'm Old."

Classical

What do you know about classical music? SC Radio is making classical music fun. Sonatas and Soundscapes explores the diverse and colorful range of classical (and not-so-classical) music. Every weekday radio host Bradley Fuller programs instrumental music from history’s repertoire—everything from baroque to experimentalism. For those who love chamber works, we offer Red Eyes and Blue Skies. From the tape vault ETV Classics, listen to Spoleto Festival USA: A Little Day Music.

For a variety of music, visit PBS Great Performances where a world of classical performing art is brought into your living room.

For fans of opera, lean in and listen to Pavarotti and the Italian tenor. This jewel shows Pavarotti performing a duet with his father, also a renown tenor in his own right. Other finds in the vault include a Gullah version of Porgy, Gian Carlo Menotti's Vanessa, and Carlisle Floyd's Susannah.

Country Music

Listen to Walter Edgar's Journal Podcast Country Music and tune into Ken Burns series Country Music, available to PBS Passport subscribers. Have a listen to a group of "New Traditionalists" musicians who participated in the Ken Burns documentary who helped country music stay true to its roots. The Avett Brothers represent a version of "alt country."

Folk

According to a minute with Miles, for at least six hundred years, composers have been borrowing the melodies of folk songs and incorporating them into their compositions because they are good melodies that have stood the test of time. Listen to folksinger Judy Collins: Wildflowers in Concert, Buffy Sainte Marie Carry It On, and take a PBS journey through Folk Music on This Land Is Your Land.

Hip Hop

2023 marked the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and we find that hip-hop is engaging students in South Carolina classrooms. The music and culture surrounding hip-hop have grown, creating employment opportunities. Hip-hop recording artist FatRat Da Czar said students can look for creative work in expanding related businesses, like talent management, public relations, fashion, and more.

In 2018, Austin City Limits presented a groundbreaking hour of hip-hop as powerhouse rap duo Run the Jewels and Chuck D of Public Enemy explores Hip Hop’s political awakening over the last 50 years and how it changed the world. With a host of rap stars and cultural commentators he tracks Hip Hop’s socially conscious roots.

Wu-Tang Clan, backed by the Colorado Symphony, attempted a unique experiment in live entertainment in 2021. By night’s end, 10,000 fans witnessed the most extraordinary concert in the history of hip-hop music. Welcome to “A Wu-Tang Experience.”

Jazz

For the listeners, SC ETV, SC Public Radio, and PBS offer many options for the music lover! Who What When celebrates music in all its genres. For Jazz aficionados check out Eartha Kitt, Marian McPartland and PBS's Ken Burns Documentary Jazz. To learn more about the passionate musicians who shaped Jazz, see another PBS offering Explore the Wonderful World of Jazz.

Old-Time Music

Old-Time music is considered a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dance, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, in string bands centering on a combination of banjo, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin. Here is a sample of Old Time Music from West TN PBS. Song of the Mountains (PBS) presents roots based music and you can find more at the Best of Sutton Ole Time Music Hour.

Rock and Roll

Live at the Charleston Music Hall (Passport) presents a variety of modern rock music and more. The lineup for Austin City Limits also top talent across the genres, including rock. On a more local note, did you know that a number of famous musicians got their start in Spartanburg, South Carolina? For a blast from the past, visit The First Edition - Tell It All (1972) or the PBS Charlotte Reviews The Seven Ages of Elvis.

Singing

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Gospel (PBS) digs deep into the origin story of Black spirituality through sermon and song. South Carolina ETV (SCETV), present Lift Every Voice in the Loop, celebrating the debut of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s documentary Gospel and the new PBS KIDS' animated series Lyla in the Loop.

Behind every great choir there is a great choral director. Learn more about Robert Shaw, A Man of Many Voices (PBS). It is at Christmas that the great choirs truly shine. To hear great choral music, visit Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir (Passport).

An endangered singing tradition begun in Colonial America which flourished in the South in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries is still carried on in South Carolina. Shape note singing - also known as fa-sol-la, Jubilee or sacred harp singing was a method developed to teach music to people who couldn’t read music, the notes on the page use shapes such as round, square, and triangular to represent the various pitches.

Southern Regional Music

"Southern regional music" includes a wide range of styles from across the South, including blues, bluegrass, gospel, country, Cajun, Zydeco, ragtime, rock and roll and even some forms of jazz, while "old time music" is a more specific style primarily associated with the Appalachian region. Old time music is heavily focused on dance tunes, with the primary goal being to provide music for dancing, whereas Southern regional music may include a wider variety of song styles, including ballads and narrative songs. South Carolina ETV's series Southern Songwriters with Patrick Davis showcases unique musical journey across South Carolina. Pop in on South Carolina's own Ranky Tank, a group bringing Gullah influenced music alive. Have a listen as distinguished musicians play the Southern Sound Series in York, SC.

Beach music is also a regional genre of music, stemming from R&B, rock, and pop music. It originated in the coastal Carolinas after World War II and South Carolina's state dance, the shag, is danced to beach music.

Side Notes:

How Music Resonates in the Brain
Bill’s Picking Parlor – Blue Grass Music - Columbia, SC
Armed Services Veterans Band - Armed Services Veterans Band of the Congaree New Horizons Band Program
Congaree New Horizons Band Program - Email Amanda Schlegel at ASCHLEGEL@mozart.sc.edu.
Eventbrite - Live Music Events in Columbia, SC
Old-Time Jam Session (Facebook)
Palmetto Mastersingers - All Male Choir
USC Music Events - concerts
USC School of Music
Private Lessons and Group Lessons at Carolina Studios

String Project
Center for Piano Studies
Swannanoa Gathering Music Camp - North Carolina.
Augusta Heritage - West Virginia.
A Luthier Answers the Web's Most Asked Instrument Repair Questions.
The Band - The Last Waltz.
Swing Your Partner, The Basics of Square Dancing.
What is Contra Dancing?
Ballroom dance | Styles, Steps & History.
Technique Talks for Lindy Hop and Swing Dance.
Southern Living - This is How to Shag and Why You Should Learn.
Learn About the History of Clogging.
Blue Grass Roots Clogging Documentary.

Explore a New Hobby!
Life can get busy and stressful! Are you looking for a creative escape, want to revisit an old passion, or pick-up a new skills. This blog series will introduce different types of hobbies.
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