During her undergraduate days, Dr. Ginny Tutton plays as a soloist with the UTC Orchestra in 2007 (photo courtesy of Dr. Ginny Tutton).
A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Music alum is returning to town, so to speak, for the holidays.
Dr. Ginny Tutton, who earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from UTC in 2008, will be hosting a live holiday version of her “SongFoolery” podcast via Zoom on Friday, Dec. 13, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Tickets can be found at SongFoolery.com under the Christmas Special tab.
Tutton described “SongFoolery” as a “musical game show podcast” where contestants play games like guessing the musical instrument or music trivia. This live holiday edition will feature a pair of her UTC professors—Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music Jonathan McNair and former University faculty member Julie Hobbs.
Following her undergraduate days, Tutton—now a middle Tennessee resident—earned a master’s degree in flute performance from the University of Idaho and a doctorate in flute performance from the University of Kentucky.
“I had the most supportive teachers while I was at UTC,” Tutton reminisced. “Jonathan McNair teaches music theory in the music department and he is just such a wonderful teacher. Not only does he know his subject really well and teach it really well, he loves it—which is just contagious. He actually comes up with games to help us practice our skills.”
“She’s this incredible, cheerful presence,” McNair said. “The idea of using humor, using puns to reach an audience for music that might be a little different—or at least to help make things appealing to a broader audience—made a lot of sense to me because of her entrepreneurial spirit and her unfailing cheerfulness.”
Dr. Ginny Tutton
“SongFoolery” initially originated over Zoom when it debuted. Tutton was scheduled to conduct a game show at a conference that was subsequently canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She had planned games, fun PowerPoint slides and other activities for contestants.
Tutton wanted to salvage the event.
“I thought, well, how can I still make this happen,” she pondered. “I touched base with all my contestants. We recorded on Zoom, and our audio quality was garbage. Over 100 people came to that first presentation, and I was like, ‘Wow. I had so much fun. Let’s do it again.”
Tutton enjoyed the show so much she wanted to continue producing similar content.
“I was making video episodes like that, but they were really high maintenance editing-wise,” Tutton said. “I switched to a podcast format, which was lovely.”
McNair remembered that this ingenuity wasn’t new. He talked about an instance when Tutton raised money for a new piece by a composer in Scotland during her time at UTC. The composer eventually traveled to Chattanooga for the performance.
“I thought, OK, this is somebody who’s got vision and imagination and is willing to do the work to make it happen,” he said about Tutton.
Viewers of the live podcast can expect to be entertained in various ways, Tutton said. Several guests will take place involving McNair and Hobbs. The audience can expect to play games like “Pun, Pun, Rudolph” and “Silly Southern Synonyms.” Attendees can receive a free custom jingle.
“I do love Christmas. I love the decorations. I love the music,” Tutton said.
She is also looking forward to having a live audience.
“Seeing the people, seeing the audience members … in podcast form I assume they’re there,” Tutton explained. “I hope they’re laughing at my jokes, but you never know. I can’t wait to see all the people there.”
