On the list: A multi-disciplinary study of the open mic night

One of the most significant contributions to the global culture that the United States has made in the last century has been its musical traditions. American vernacular musics such as rock & roll, blues, hip-hop, jazz, and country can be found almost anywhere in the world that commercially recorded music has travelled. Traditional conceptions of audience-performer identity have been challenged in this music through community-based, participatory events known as open mic nights. During these events, the artistic output of the participants in the community is developed and consumed. Additionally, the physical and cognitive space in which the community ritual of the musical open mic is adapted to better suit the needs of the community. In a national artistic environment in which the traditional boundaries between artistic producers and consumers are changing, it is of utmost importance that academics and both formally trained and amateur musicians gain an understanding of the musical open mic night as a vehicle for American musical community. This paper argues that analysis of musicological, spatial, and ethnographic forces reveals that open mic nights embody the constructed cultural priorities of their participants. Using data-gathering methods from the disciplines of ethnology, anthropology, musicology, and historiography, this paper provides observation and analysis of the dynamics at work within one participatory arts community in Denton, Texas. By doing so, this paper aims to offer a contribution to the academic and professional literature on American vernacular music and provide suggestions for ways they can be used within a wider analytical framework for observing creative communities.