Bruce Burnside's "Unsung Stories of the Civil War"

Musician/musicologist Bruce Burnside has a lifelong affinity for the Civil War which began in his childhood , thanks to encouragement from his father: "..My dad introduced me to the Civil War when I was 5 or 6...Our house was FULL of trapdoor Springfields, cartridges and various pieces of military stuff...Being able to put coins in my pocket that existed during the Civil War, hold guns, ammunition, swords and knives from the period made it seem real..." The strongest connection between Bruce and the War Between The States is the fact that he is descended from Union General Ambrose Burnside (The General cast a long shadow in Rhode Island, as evidenced by the number of streets named after him as well as his statue - but that's another story).


Bruce Burnside decided to transform his love of Civil War history into a series of musical vignettes called "Unsung Heroes of the Civil War" , to make history come to life in an educational setting. The National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of Burnside's work, has recently awarded him a Challenging America Grant to orchestrate the songs and do two local performances with a 24 piece chamber orchestra. BSSR caught up with Bruce recently to find out more about the project and the grant.


BSSR:
How is the work structured?


BURNSIDE:
The stage presentation has three actors.. who have a script memorized. They deliver their lines and sing songs. They play guitar, fiddle,banjo and penny whistle in different combinations while the sing. For this project, the chamber orchestra plays as well.


BSSR:
Do you see any parallels between the Civil War era and today?


BURNSIDE:
What I teach fifth graders in my school residencies is the similarity of peoples' behavior then and now. WWII veterans said exactly what Civil War vets said. Getting to the sources allows us to see the parallels in political behavior, the economic exploitation, the poor, young soldiers escaping their dead end opportunities, etc. "A rich man's fight and a poor man's war."


BSSR:
What message do you want to convey?


BURNSIDE:
What I want to convey is that people have the potential to use their energy to achieve great things. War takes away the energy and changes the person into a less positive individual.... Walking the battlefields gives me the perspective of the massive forces, but I look at it one face at a time. I guess I want to remind us that we've already tried this and it isn't a solution.


For more information on "Unsung Heroes" plus Bruce's music, performance schedule and insight, just Google his name.