{"id":65975,"date":"2023-01-17T13:22:20","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T18:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?p=65975"},"modified":"2023-01-17T13:31:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T18:31:32","slug":"pickin-and-a-teachin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/pickin-and-a-teachin\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickin\u2019 and A-Teachin\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steve Holt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Margo picked up his first guitar at age 12 and proceeded on a journey <\/span>deep<\/span><\/i> into some of the oldest and most niche stringed instruments on the planet: the classical guitar, baroque and renaissance lute, the mandola, and the mandolin, to name a few. The professor of economics now primarily plays the mandolin, best known in America for creating bluegrass music\u2019s \u201c<\/span>high, lonesome sound<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Margo mostly plays in the classical style, however, performing regularly with the <\/span>Providence (Rhode Island) Mandolin Orchestra<\/span><\/a>, the <\/span>New American Mandolin Ensemble<\/span><\/a>, and the<\/span> Hampton Trio<\/span><\/a>, but he also arranges pop tunes on the mandolin by the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan.<\/span><\/p>\n

At CAS, Margo is an economic historian who has researched and taught about the evolution of racial inequality, the evolution of labor markets, and most recently, the historical roots of automation. A research associate of the <\/span>National Bureau of Economic Research<\/span><\/a>, Margo is the author or co-author of six books and 170 articles, book chapters, and book reviews. Beloved in the classroom, he<\/span> was awarded the 2018 Provost\u2019s Scholar\u2013Teacher of the Year Award<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Margo spoke with <\/span>arts&sciences<\/span><\/i> about his musical evolution, passion for early stringed instruments, and the similarities he draws between economics and playing the mandolin.<\/span><\/p>\n

arts&sciences<\/i><\/b>: Why did you pick up your first instrument?<\/b><\/p>\n

Robert Margo<\/b>: I don\u2019t come from a family of musicians, but my parents started me on music lessons when I was young. I was fortunate to have a very good teacher. When I was in college, I played jazz guitar. I went to the University of Michigan, where I never really had an intention to become a professional musician\u2014that wasn\u2019t on my radar screen. But I did it enthusiastically on the side. I played in the University of Michigan big band ensemble as the guitarist, and then played around Ann Arbor in clubs and things like that with small groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

arts&sciences<\/i><\/b>: You picked up classical guitar after graduate school but eventually moved on from the guitar. Why?<\/b><\/p>\n

Margo<\/b>: Well, I still play classical guitar from time to time, but I reached a point where I basically felt limited by the instrument, because it\u2019s mostly a culture of soloists. I like playing solo, and I do it a lot\u2014even now. But I really like the camaraderie and the community when I play with other people. I discovered the mandolin when I was in Nashville [teaching at Vanderbilt University]. The mandolin actually has a very long history as a classical instrument going back to the 18th century. I realized pretty quickly it had this side that I wanted, which was playing in groups and playing with other people, and it had one other: it was very niche. It\u2019s my hobby, but I have ambitions, and I want to play at a high level. If you\u2019re an amateur, classical guitar is not something that you can participate in at a truly professional level. The lute, it\u2019s the same thing. But the mandolin is not quite like that, and it\u2019s still open to people like me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite style of music that you arrange or play on the mandolin?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty eclectic. I like to play what you might call traditional classical mandolin repertoire\u2014things like Vivaldi, going back to the 18th century. Then, there\u2019s a lot of 20th century repertoire that I play, but I also like to arrange music that\u2019s written for other instruments for the mandolin or the other instruments that I play, and often that\u2019s pop music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I did an arrangement recently that is up on my<\/span> YouTube Channel<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s a suite called \u201cProtest Songs,\u201d and there are songs from American songwriters that were important in that respect. So that has, for example, music by<\/span> Stephen Stills<\/span><\/a>, by<\/span> Bob Dylan<\/span><\/a>, and then the last movement of that suite is a song from the 1930s\u2014a very famous labor organizing song [by Florence Reece] called, \u201c<\/span>Which side are you on?<\/span><\/a>\u201d It\u2019s a very important song that was influential to Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the folk music movement of the 1950s. So, I look for things like that with pop music.<\/span><\/p>\n