by DOMINICK CROSS
LAFAYETTE, LA — When Tommy Comeaux died tragically in November 1997, the music community rallied around the fallen musician and pathologist and sought a way to honor his life.
While it resulted in the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, funds were needed to make it so.
And, as tradition has it here, the effort to raise funds was centered around music, which was done with annual Medicine Shows. It was the right thing to do for many reasons, but especially because Comeaux, a renowned multi-instrumentalist, had played with BeauSoleil, Basin Brothers, Coteau, the Clickin’ Chickens and others.
Come Friday, April 22, 2022, 7 p.m., the 16th in a series of these evenings is set for Angelle Hall, St. Mary Boulevard and McKinley Street, on the UL campus.
Opening the show will student bands, the Angelle Aces (Cajun), Ragin’ Steppers (zydeco), Saint Street Songsters (string band), Ragin’ & Blues Band (R&B), and Vermilion Express (bluegrass).
Instructors, including Chad Huval, Blake Miller, Megan Constantin, Chas Justus, Gina Forsyth, and Lee Allen Zeno, with special guest Jimmy Breaux on drums, will also be on hand.
General admission to Medicine Show 2022 is $10.00 (free with UL I.D.); and $25.00, which includes admission to a post-show reception honoring the performers, as well as Mark DeWitt, Professor of Music, who was chosen for the inaugural position a dozen years ago and who is retiring this year. Advance tickets available here.
“I did the best I could to move slowly, at first, to get the lay of the land and to see where the demand was and where the low hanging fruit were in terms of what students wanted and what resources we had in the community which turns out we had a lot,” said DeWitt, who relocated from California to Louisiana for the position.
“We were going to do more than Cajun and Creole music all along. Although I feel strongly that that needs to be the core of the program.”
Mark DeWitt, Professor of Music,
Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music
The community resources were abundant and skilled and anxious to get to work and they all figured out the course together.
“The amount of musicians in the community who are so good at what they do and also interested in working in a university environment even if they had never done so before,” he said. “Some of them who hadn’t even gone to college themselves. It was cool.
“We kind of learned as we went. We learned things like teaching fiddle and accordion at one of those summer camps, which is like a one-week camp — as opposed to doing it for 15 weeks — it’s a whole different thing.
“There’s just more time to teach things. You can do it in a different order and do it in a different way,” he said. “So we learned some of that stuff together.”
The first course was Cajun music, something DeWitt was familiar with.
“So I started with Cajun music because that was my interest when I came here, and it also seemed like an obvious thing to start with,” said DeWitt. “And then we also found out there’s also student interest in other types of music too.”
“So we we added bluegrass and that was real popular for a while,” he said. “One of the things I also learned was that the students like something that’s new. So they go for the new thing and then it’s not so new anymore and then you have to do a little more persuading.
After Cajun music came bluegrass “and then we added zydeco band and then some blues and it just kind of grew over time. And now it’s all I can keep up with, it’s about as much a one person can do,” said DeWitt. “So I feel like it’s a good time to hand it over to the next person, whoever that turns out to be. I’ll do my best to share with them tips or secrets or things to remember.”
“We were going to do more than Cajun and Creole music all along,” he said. “Although I feel strongly that that needs to be the core of the program.”
While it was a new program at UL, DeWitt knew it was no secret how the area’s traditional music had kept going all these years and he responded accordingly.
“I knew pretty well we weren’t going to lead with music theory,” he said. “People learn music by ear, right? They learn by hanging out with other people and jam sessions are a relatively recent thing in Cajun music, but it’s still a way for folks to get some reps and get the music in their ear which is really important.
“I knew that going in that music theory was something to teach second, not first,” he said, adding, “or second or third.”
“We have a few traditional music majors, but it hasn’t been as popular a major as I would’ve liked. But then there’s always hope for the future on that,” said DeWitt. “Nonetheless, we’ve had a few and I had taught them a music theory class that was kind of tailored toward traditional music as part of their major.
“And they also got to learn how to read music a little bit in the same classes that the music business majors take, keyboard musicianship classes and so they get exposed to it, but it’s not like a prerequisite coming in. It’s not like they’re getting a sight reading test and they’re auditioning.”
DeWitt returns to California in June and he’s grateful for the opportunity the Comeaux Chair afforded him and all that came with living in South Louisiana.
“I certainly got to meet a lot of great musicians and work with them. Some of those were students, too,” DeWitt said. “But, certainly, the faculty we had and just the chance to actually live here in the middle of all this great music and kind of experience how it all fits together.”
DeWitt, an ethnomusicologist, paused, then continued.
“I’m not sure I can put it into words, even, how the cultural environment that nurtures the whole musical scene here is really interesting to be a part of and try to understand,” he said. “I’m still not sure I could really explain it, but I’m a lot closer than if I never lived here.”