Defining Folk Music

Hello Bloggers!

            So in my Musical Phrases class we’ve been on the topic of Folk Music. Which brings up the question, what exactly is Folk Music? Everyone in my class has a different definition of what it is and why. My definition of Folk Music is a large, culture-rich functional genre of music designed to send a message to people but also made for entertainment and brings people of the world together. Every Folk song has a message even if it has no words. Take a traditional Irish Jig for example, the song’s message is to get up and dance, bring people together for celebration and have a good time. Because of the way the song is designed with its form, melody and texture makes it have a message and mood even without lyrics. There are also more modern folk songs that sound different from traditional Folk songs like Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary who were folk artists in the rebirth era of Folk Music in the 60’s. They sang songs that portrayed messages of peace and change because of the events going on at the time. I agree and disagree with some of Bruno Nettl’s theories of Folk Music in his introductory essay “An introduction to Folk Music”.

Nettl talks about the origin of music and whether it’s Folk music or not. I did not agree with his theory. Nettl said that if the origin of a song was known it was not classified as Folk Music, which I disagree. I believe that knowing the origin of the song is an important aspect of Folk music and the origin of the song does not define it. Folk music is the people’s music so to know the origin is a special part of any folk song. Knowing whether it’s Irish, English, American, Jazz Folk etc. Most traditional Folk songs people only know the place it originated from but with more contemporary Folk Music we do know the origin. Since we know Bob Dylan wrote “Blowing In The Wind” according to Nettl we would say it wasn’t a folk song. I find that such an odd theory, songs shouldn’t be defined and categorized by whether you know its origin or not, it should be categorized by the style and its characteristics.

Nettl talks about cultivated music versus Folk Music. He claims that cultivated music is music that is still performed today even if it's 200 years old and that Folk music is not cultivated music. I disagree; I believe Folk music is one of the most cultivated genres of music because of how far back it goes and it is still a popular genre of music today. There are so many Folk songs and Folk artists old and new that are popular to this day. There are also many covers of Folk songs still being produced and performed so to say that Folk music is uncultivated is in my opinion false.

One thing I did agree with Nettl on was communal re-creation versus unchanging over time. Folk music has been changing and evolving in a good way. It hasn’t stayed the same, it transforms with the times. That is why it is still around and popular because the genre is always re-creating. Most songs these days has some aspect of Folk music in it whether it’s the lyrics and message it portrays or the sound, there are so many forms of Folk music.

Another aspect I agreed with Nettl on was how Folk music is orally taught instead of written. Most Folk songs are passed down generation to generation by memory. Also a lot of Folk songs feature improvising both notes and lyrics. I have witnessed this with both traditional and contemporary. Many traditional Irish Jigs are improvised and the band makes the melody and lyrics up as they go. Contemporary Folk songs don’t have written parts sometimes, they often improvise instrumental breaks, a great example of this is Bruce Springsteen and his band; they go into long instrumental breaks some instruments improvising notes while still harmonizing with each other. Other music is much more structured compared to Folk Music. Concert music is very structured; they require sheets of music to perform their piece in order to make the piece work they can’t change the pitch or rhythm while Folk music artists can change whatever they want as they improvise. Folk music is much less structured.

Nettl’s categories of comparing Folk Music was useful because it really made me narrow down my definition of Folk music and why. The way I agreed and disagreed with Nettl’s theories made me see that there was so much more to music and Folk Music. I also realized people have different opinions and because Bruno Nettl wrote this in the 60’s times have changed and his views were different than mine. I believe Nettl brought up some great categories and theories in his essay about Folk music.

-Kelsey