20111101

IBMA Bluegrass Scholarship Prize Awarded to Ben Krakauer

...The deadline for next year’s scholarship prize will be June 1, 2012....
The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) has announced that Ben Krakauer is the first recipient of the IBMA Bluegrass Scholarship Prize for  his paper, “Globalization and the Emergence of Individualized Music Idiom: A Case Study of Andy Statman."

Inspired by Doc Watson and Pete Seeger recordings he heard at home in Williamsburg, Virginia, Ben Krakauer began playing the banjo at age 15. Soon he was making weekly trips to a Newport News music store for lessons from multi-instrumentalist Bill Gurley, who introduced him to bluegrass. While in high school Ben and his brother, Mark Krakauer played in a bluegrass band called Tidewater with Pete Frostic and Evan Morse.

Living in central Virginia, Ben gained enthusiasm for the hard-driving banjo styles of Terry Baucom and Sammy Shelor, as well as the jazz styling's of trumpeter, John D'Earth. In addition to playing the banjo, Ben is also a serious bluegrass guitarist. He majored in music with a focus in jazz at the University of Virginia, and he also played banjo with the band, Old School Freight Train. Krakauer is currently an Assistant Instructor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Submissions for the new IBMA Honor were evaluated on the basis of sound scholarship, clarity of writing and overall contribution to the understanding of bluegrass music.  The 2010-2011 committee members are Dr. Erika Brady (Western Kentucky University), Dr. Michelle Kisliuk (University of Virginia) and Dr. Kevin Kehrberg (Warren Wilson College).

The deadline for next year’s scholarship prize will be June 1, 2012. For more info, please email Brady at Erika.brady@wku.edu or contact her at the Department of Folklore and Anthropology, Western Kentucky University, 1`906 College Heights Blvd. #61029, Bowling Green, KY 42101-1029.

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