America250/Cultural Conservation

America250/Cultural Conservation

 

 

To all hosts, producers, editors of radio and television programs, podcasts, print publications and speaking venues: consider inviting Dr. Mark Evans to join in celebration of America/250.

• Dr. Mark Evans is a composer, pianist, author, and ‘cultural conservationist’ who shows audiences how to rescue America’s language, music, and memory in time for the 250^th.
• Author of ten books including “Mark! My Words” and “Our Musical Heritage,”
• Studied under legendary composers Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Roy Harris and wrote the definitive book on film music history, “Soundtrack: The Music of the Movies.”
• An articulate expert on the genres of music that make up America’s musical history, concert music, jazz, musical theater, and motion picture scores.

If we had a Mark Evans on every station, we would have some cultural stirrings.  Norman Corwin – “The Poet-Laureate of Radio”

A man of the future, a worker in the present, A master of the past. Nicolas Slonimsky – Composer, conductor, editor, “Baker’s Biographical Dictionary “

Mark Evans Discussing the Film Music of Max Steiner

 

https://www.culturalconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Mark-Evans-on-Film-Music-2-Max-Steiner.mp4

 

Mark Evans’ Guest Appearance on “First Things” podcast with Dr. Mark Bauerlein

 

Here are only a few of the topics Dr. Mark Evans can discuss:

 

Topic: America’s Musical Story

America has a rich musical heritage, but it is in danger of falling into an undeserved oblivion. Classical music, jazz, film scores, and the masterpieces of musical theater are an essential part of our history. American music is the result of the American melting pot, a vast and unique combination of influences from the people of many times and places. Here are only a few of the fascinating aspects of Our Musical Heritage:

•Our Musical Founding Fathers. Did you know that a composer actually signed
the Declaration of Independence?
•How and why The Star-Spangled Banner was written and why we still sing it
today.
•How John Philip Sousa wrote our national march and became forever known
as The March King.
•The American composer who was born in a log cabin on Lincoln’ s Birthday in
Lincoln County, Oklahoma and was inspired by Lincoln throughout his musical
life.
•How jazz evolved from roots in New Orleans and traveled to Chicago, Harlem,
and around the world.
•The self-taught church musician who single-handedly put music into American
schools over huge protests.
•The composers and lyricists who turned the Broadway musical into an art
form.
•How motion picture music preserved the tradition of melody in a
cacophonous twentieth century.
•The President of the United States who threatened to punch a music critic in
the nose.
•Why many of the finest composers and conductors in our musical history
remain unknown or forgotten.
•Why America’s first professor of music was greeted at Harvard with the
slogan, “Music must be destroyed.”
•Why your family needs to help preserve America’s true musical legacy

 

 

Topic: Cultural Amnesia

President Ronald Reagan famously said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

• The same can be said about great music, books, art, language, and history. In the abysmal 21^st century pop culture, we will lose all of these if we not actively take steps to preserve them and pass them along from one generation to another.
• Cultural Amnesia is a term coined by Canadian professor Stephen Bertman to describe the loss of collective memory plaguing our society.
• As we celebrate America/250, it is essential that we ensure that our the best of our culture doesn’t simply vanish, overwhelmed by blissful ignorance, social media, and a lack of awareness that if we don’t know where we’ve been, we have no idea where we are or where we are going.

 

Topic: What Families Can Do This Year to Celebrate America/250

In this special America/250 year, do you feel that you and your family have missed the opportunity to discover the best of America’s culture and especially its music, If our schools and entertainment media have “defined the arts down” to a point of no return, is the situation hopeless? Not at all. Can you rediscover the joys of words and music and the pride of achievement in the age of trash talk and cultural chaos? Absolutely. Dr. Mark Evans offers guidance and solutions for every family so that you children and grandchildren don’t miss out on the best of our musical heritage.

 

Suggested questions for a Mark Evans interview

https://www.culturalconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Suggested-Questions-for-Dr.-Mark-Evans-on-Our-Musical-Heritage.pdf

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