Absolutely Aaron

Aaron Copland's music is heard everywhere, from the olympics and beef commercials. But what makes it so quintessentially American? Today, a look at how folk songs inspired America's best-known composer with Judith Tick, a music historian and a panelist at this year's Bard Music Festival, which is focusing on Copland, and is taking place through this weekend. We then turn our attention to the lesser known works of Copland. We all know "Fanfare for the Common Man," but what about the Piano Variations or "Quiet City?" Author and composer Danny Felsenfeld gives us a primer. Rounding out the show, a banjo player Cynthia Sayer offers preview of the convention of the Fretted Instrument Guild of America, a gathering of banjo, mandolin, guitar, ukulele players from across the country.