Folk Music
What folk music is and its uses
Folk music is very significant to human social life, in communities around the world. "Folk music" is music or melodies that have been only passed down orally from generation to generation. This means that in the past, this music wouldn't have been written down, but learned by ear directly from the voices of other people and their folk instruments. Folk music is one of the three categories of music; the other two being the classical and popular music categories. There was no certain composer or performer usually known, unlike the other music categories, but the songs would be known or heard before within a community. Some folk songs tell stories, relate to history, and are of work, play and emotion. Folk music existed for a very long time and is used as artistic communication by performers, but it is also a source of local pride when developing a nation.
Slight changes to folk songs by ear
Over the years, folk songs have been modified by numerous musical groups. "Oral tradition" is the method of knowledge of spoken of sung words. People may make changes to words/notes of songs to suit them, or maybe they remember the music differently from when it was heard from the performers before. This results in variation of words/music. The way folk music is learned affects its development. The different variations spread when performers travel to other communities. It is the ear that changes folk songs a bit, but never the folk music itself.
Different Kinds of Folk Songs
Different types of folk songs depend on the situations and conditions they are from. One very well-known type of folk song is the songs that accompany the folk dances, which can be called "dance songs". Another type of folk song is the ballad – an old song telling stories. There are also religious songs sung for Christ and other important figures in the bible. The easiest type of religious song to learn is the hymn. It has simple melodies that can be easily remembered. Work songs are there as well, which associate with work being done, and children's songs, relating to fun for children, such as Ring-a-Round the Rosie. Linking to children's songs in a way are rounds, in which there are identical parts sung at different times. Contra-facta is another type of folk song for which new words are sung to an existing tune. There may be nonsense songs as well, which will not make much sense, but are still fun to sing to, which can be connected to children's songs. Whatever the type of folk song, they all can be equally enjoyed.
Study of Folk Music
The term "folk music" was used to describe a certain kind of music composed by a European class of people. People who studied folklore used this term to describe the music of people who didn't read or write and entirely learned music/stories from others. In the early 1800's, it was understood that "folk" were people who lived in rural areas and had little contact with other people outside their community. The rich music from the "folk" was prized as purer than other kinds of music due to it not being sold or performed with a fee. Classical composers sometimes used folk music as the basis of their works. Johannes Brahms wrote a series of songs called the Hungarian Dances, after listening to Hungarian music and watching its folk dances, interpreting what he had learned into his own composed pieces of music. Folk music was also looked to as a source of native music not disturbed by foreign influences, by other musical composers concerned with a sense of national identity, such as Nelson Mandela and his moving songs created when fighting for independence in South Africa. This special music is now considered as a national treasure in many countries.
Some Examples of International Folk Music
Folk music is very interesting for the reason there is a vast range of music from around the world. With the music, there are also the very unique folk instruments which suit each culture's taste of their music. People liked to travel around to meet new people outside their community and were able to share their music with them. Families of performers called "griots" in some parts of Africa are professional in the folk music repertoire of their own communities. Here are some peeks into the folk musical worlds' of other countries and parts of countries (French Canada, Ukraine and Scotland)
French Canadian Folk Music:
French Canada covered over what are now the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, and parts of Ontario between the years of 1608 and 1763. Its beautiful music was treasured and loved by the people living there at the time. The music had some origins from France, but the songs were mainly created in Canada. These songs were of love, battle and war with mostly the English colonists and soldiers, of a particular group of people ( i.e. the Acadians, the coureurs de bois), and of the loss of loved ones. A Hungarian man named Zoltán Kolády later made importance of this national folk music with these songs, which were of course sung in French, and restored them.
Ukrainian Folk Music:
Ukrainian music developed from folk songs. They were composed and spread by kozbars, which were bards travelling from town to town performing music. Over the years it has tried to be combined with the popular music of today, but failed to succeed, so it never merged with popular music, unlike the others. A famous Ukrainian folk instrument is the bandura. It is somewhat similar to the guitar, with up to sixty strings in total, and it was very popular in the seventeenth century. A kozba is a predecessor of the bandura, as a round lute with three of four strings. Another instrument is the trembita, which is a wind instrument with a mournful sound in the Carpathian Mountains, and is three metres long. Some famous Ukrainian folk music players include Nina Matviyenko, Raisa Kyrychenko, and Anatoliy Solov'yaneko.
Scottish Folk Music:
In the 1960's, folk music in Scotland was popularized influentially by Bob Dylan. Traditional music musicians thus used this folk music as another means of expression. Bands like The Incredible String Band, Pentangle, and Jethro Tull achieved fame in what was thought to be traditional music, but it sounded more like folk music. There were also literary figures in Scotland that contributed into Scottish music history. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a novelist, poet, biographer, and historian. As a child, he was interested in traditional Scottish music and ballads, so he collected and re-wrote old ballads as he got older. He also published historical novels based on Scottish history and folklore. Robert Burns (1759-1796) was a national poet. He collected and re-wrote traditional Scottish ballads, producing songs like Auld Lang Syne, which he never received any payment for his work. He died in Dumfriesshire at the young age of 37 from rheumatic heart disease. Many Scottish people now celebrate his birthday, January the 25th, to commemorate his many contributions to Scotland. To celebrate Scotland's folk music, a folk music festival is held each July in Glasgow.
New Types of Music Form and Flourish Today with Folk Music
Folk music influenced a lot of current music. When different musical traditions interact with people, a new style of music is often created. This event happened numerous times throughout applied and musical history. For instance: jazz, blues, and rock music were first strongly influenced by African American folk music traditions. This more modern music fits into the popular music category because the music was being mass-produced and being sold almost everywhere, unlike folk music. People still think of how this music came to be part of our lives, so now, more people have a clearer understanding of the significance of folk music as the basis of their own music.
Catherine, Canada