Rose Marie Kinder aims to compile as many videos of local musicians as possible on her YouTube channel, in order to capture specific techniques.

WARRENSBURG, Mo.--Rose Marie Kinder is a woman with a passion for music.

An amateur musician herself, Kinder finds respect and admiration for local musicians by video recording performances to include on her online YouTube.com channel.

Kinder’s videos are part of a larger project that she is participating in to help reconnect the present state of music to Johnson County’s musical past.

“What I do is part of the New Harmonies project, hosted by the Johnson County Historical Society, celebrating American roots music,” Kinder said. “This project is something that will have an exhibit in at the Historical Society building here in Warrensburg.”

The New Harmonies project is a traveling exhibit created by state humanities councils and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

“In October, the Smithsonian Society will be through to have a display about musical roots throughout the country and we will have videos available, stage performances, but also a list of any activities related to this project that may be occurring in Warrensburg,” Kinder said.

According to the New Harmonies Web site, the project documents the musical roots of Missouri by means of photographs, video and audio recordings, displayed instruments and specific artist profiles.

Warrensburg will be the fifth of six locations for the exhibit, which will be on display from Oct. 3 until Nov. 7.

Kinder began her volunteer work for the project about three months ago. In that time, she has recorded 77 videos spanning classic genres of music, all of which are available for viewing on YouTube before the exhibit’s scheduled display in Warrensburg.

“I started recording traditional musicians in Warrensburg who originally are the ones who go to the Historical Society and hold jam sessions on Sundays,” Kinder said. “I wanted to record the musicians who live in Warrensburg, not just the ones who come to the jam, so I started recording musicians I knew and those I have heard about. I am still trying to get as many as I can between now and October, when the exhibit will take place.”

Although compiling videos for the exhibit is important to her, of equal importance is showing respect to the musicians by phoning ahead of time.

“I call people or talk to them to ask if I can record them. Many of the musicians are acquaintances of mine,” Kinder said. “I don’t want to be intrusive, but I like informal jams."

While many of the videos that Kinder adds to her YouTube channel are of musicians from the Johnson County area, she does not limit her project to just them.

"Most are from Warrensburg, but they may come from surrounding areas to perform in Warrensburg. For instance, one musician I haven’t recorded, but feel the need to record, is Billy Beale, who is a blues musician living in Kansas City," Kinder said. " There’s a woman in Sedalia, named Mary Francis Herndon, who can whistle wonderfully. But, of course, she’s not from Warrensburg. But I do feel if she and others come to Warrensburg to perform, then they are a part of the town.”

Kinder said some of the performances are taped at public places like Monetti’s, others at practices in homes or informal jams.

“I usually film the Schoolhouse Jam on Sundays in the library of the Historical Society, which looks informal,” Kinder said. “Otherwise, I film at Blind Boone Park, Bottomfeeder Bay, local vineyards, anywhere that I can get good lighting and little to no feedback from the surroundings.”

Monetti’s had mostly local performers every Friday night during the summer. Kinder said it’s a decent location for performances because the musicians are outdoors and the proximity is more personal.

“I try to cover as many genres as I can,” Kinder said. “Originally, I thought I should try to record only the traditional roots of music, but then that goes into bluegrass, country, Celtic, blues and ultimately depends on what musical roots you specifically want to define and how far back you want to take the research.”

Kinder said she thinks those musicians who are paid may not want to be a part of this project because they have their own recordings in better quality.

“I just record with my little flip video camera and put the videos online, that’s all I do,” Kinder said.

She prefers to record informally so she can get close ups of the musician’s hands and instruments to better document the techniques used for the various styles of music. Kinder thinks documenting the little idiosyncrasies are important to the project.

“I don’t know if any musicians have had a response so far from what I have been doing, but I don’t think the YouTube channel gets too many hits,” Kinder said.

“It’s fun to know that people can go to the Johnson County Historical Society Web page for the New Harmonies project and they can link there and see people who are in Warrensburg who jam,” she said.

Kinder said some musicians have asked to use her videos on their own Web sites, “which really makes me feel good,” she said.

Mick Luehrman, department chair of art and design at the University of Central Missouri, said he thinks Kinder’s efforts are very commendable.

“There is a long history of unique musical talent originating from this area, going back to Blind Boone,” Luehrman said. “I was honored that she asked me to be part of her effort to document current local artists.”

“They will have the New Harmonies exhibit in the Culp building behind the Historical Society building,” Kinder said.

The Historical Society is located by the old courthouse at 302 N. Main St.

“People don’t know enough about the Historical Society,” she said. “The music jamming has been going on throughout the town for years. Before that, people would write plays about Old Drum and have musical performances to accompany it – all of which has been documented by the Historical Society.”

Kinder, a retired instructor of creative writing and women’s literature at the University of Central Missouri, also has a passion for writing.

“I have published two collections of short stories and have received the Willa Cather Award and the Literary Fiction Award,” Kinder said.

In 2007, Kinder’s psychological fiction novel, An Absolute Gentleman, was published and chosen for a Capitol Read Award in Jefferson City.

Before retiring from the University in 2002, Kinder was a co-editor with Kevin Prufer of Pleiades, a publication of literature. Kinder said it is one of the most-recognized literary publications in the country.

More information about the New Harmonies musical roots project can be found at http://www.mohumanities.org/programs/museums/moms/NewHarmonies.htm.

Rose Marie Kinder’s YouTube channel can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/user/rosemariekinder.