Sara Beth Keough grew up in Tupper Lake, New York, a small town near the Quebec border, not far from Lake Placid, and currently calls Saginaw, Michigan her home. But to simply call her an upstate New Yorker or a Michigander, would be like saying Canadian geese only live in Canada. This well-traveled geographer has spent a good deal of her life living and working in many parts of the world from the Atlantic shores of Newfoundland, Canada to Jacksonville, Florida to mountainous regions of Tokushima, Japan and the Appalachians of the western Virginia. She has also lived in West Africa and traveled to other remote parts of the globe such as Costa Rica, France, China, Peru, and Mexico. In all she has visited five of the world’s seven continents and every U.S. state except Alaska, Hawaii, and Arkansas (believe it or not!).
One does not travel the world without some skills and purpose. Sara Beth is proficient in multiple languages. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Jacksonville University and in order to conduct her research in Africa, she speaks both French and Hausa (an African indigenous language). She picked up a little Japanese while she lived in that country and has been known to sing German drinking songs quite well! As for purpose, her scholarly activities drove much of her need to travel. She spent several months touring and interviewing people in the coastal towns in Newfoundland, Canada for her award-winning Doctoral dissertation, Canadian Cultural Policy and Newfoundland Music on the Radio: Local Identities and Global Implications (University of Tennessee, 2007). It was from the Newfoundlanders that she learned how to use music as a therapeutic mechanism. Newfoundlanders sing about everything… history, politics, humor, tragedy, people, places, the environment, events…there is little about Newfoundland that you can’t learn by listening to its music! As a Fulbright Scholar in Niger (West Africa), she taught the graduate course Communicating Climate Change at Abou Moumouni University and conducted research on the problems of accessing reliable, safe, and affordable drinking water in arid urban environments. These stories can be found in her book, Water, Life, and Profit: Fluid Economies and Cultures in Niamey, Niger (Berghahn Books, 2019).
Since 2007, Dr. Keough has been a key player in developing a robust program in Geography at Saginaw Valley State University where her work has been duly recognized, receiving the Warrick Award for Excellence in Research (2017) and the Faculty Association Award for Outstanding Research (2015). During her tenure, she has taught classes in human and physical geography, regional geography, urban and cultural geography, geographic education, and research methods. In 2021 the International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture awarded her the Henry H. Douglas Distinguished Service Award which is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the study and teaching of material culture and landscape studies. Since 2008 she has served on the ISLPMC board and been Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s flagship journal, Material Culture.
At what point did this outstanding scholar turn down the road to the debauchery of leading Fröhliche Musiker Blasorchester? Sara Beth has always had a love for music and performing and has been playing music (piano, guitar, and trumpet) and singing in choirs since she was 6 years old. In high school she performed in the school musicals (Godspell, The Crucible, and Jesus Christ Superstar) and she spent several summers singing and dancing in the show cast at Santa’s Workshop in the Adirondack Mountains.
Years later, she moved from the stage to playing trumpet in the pit orchestra for many musicals, her favorite being Guys and Dolls, with the Summer Musical Enterprise in Blacksburg, Virginia (2002). In College, she performed with several different campus ensembles, but significantly with the Jacksonville University Brass Quintet where she had the opportunity to meet the world-famous trumpet player Wynton Marsalis.
Since coming to Michigan, she has performed with The East Shore Wind Symphony, the Mid-Michigan Brass Band, the Midland Concert Band, Riverside Film Festival Orchestra, Tri-City Trumpets, the Bay Concert Band, and she serves as President of the Saginaw Area Concert Band. She caught the polka band bug in 2000 playing with the Sauerkraut Band while she was a graduate student at Virginia Tech. She played with the Sauerkraut Band for seven years and incorporates much that she learned into her performances with FMB.
Outside of her scholarly and musical endeavors, Sara Beth enjoys serving her community and helping people. In Japan, she found it fascinating and humbling to live in a culture that put the good of society ahead of the individual and she has endeavored to bring that into her own lifestyle. She served as a volunteer counselor for four summers at the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s summer camp for kids in Wakefield, Virginia, is past President of the Parent/Teacher Organization at her son’s school, works at the aid stations for local charity runs, and is often seen delivering cookies with her son to the new residents in her neighborhood. She is an outstanding endurance athlete herself, having run in the Boston Marathon several times and was the overall female winner in the 2021 North Country Trail Marathon in Manistee National Forest, Michigan. She also enjoys biking, hiking, skiing, and swimming. She is instilling a love for the arts and life in her son who is a budding musician himself, playing the piano and singing with the Saginaw Youth Choir. They regularly attend symphony concerts together and her friends see them often roaming the trails of Saginaw area, Sara Beth in her running shoes with her son on his bike, close behind.
Dr. Keough has led a lifestyle of environmental awareness, community service, and physical well-being. She has nurtured a love for performing and sharing the Arts with friends and family, and is highly accomplished in her professional and academic endeavors. For her son and all those who are fortunate to have been touched by her presence she is a source of kindness and inspiration. She says, “I love giving people an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and be themselves. Being able to do this as a musician, teacher, runner, parent, and community member brings me great joy.”
