Folk Music: Derivative Forms

Folk music is the original music of the people. It is passed down orally from generation to generation. Folk music has been around since the beginning of time.

Origins

Folk music is a type of music that is passed down orally from generation to generation. It is usually associated with the working class and rural areas. Folk music usually has a simple melody and is often accompanied by guitar, banjo, and other acoustic instruments.

Europe

Folk music of Europe, generally understood to include all music produced by people who were ethnically English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Slavic, Celtic or Finnish. The roots of European folk music are very deep and varied. Many types of folk music have been influenced by the music of the church. Church music was often “folklike” in character before it was collected and codified into what is now known as art or classical music.

The term folk music may refer to a number of musical genres which tend to be passed down through oral tradition. These include ballads (both narrative and lyrical), carols, epics (long poems telling stories), liturgical pieces (hymns and anthems), drone-based vocal music, work songs and play party songs. Folk music exists in every European country – indeed it is Europe’s oldest continuous musical tradition.

America

The United States has a long and rich tradition of folk music, which includes a wide variety of musical genres such as bluegrass, country, old-time music, blues, and others. Folk music often has strong ties to the traditions and culture of the region in which it originated. In many cases, folk music has been passed down from generation to generation within families and communities.

Folk music has been an important part of American culture since the early days of the country. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many American folk songs were created by combining elements of British and Irish folk music with African musical traditions. The result was a unique form of music that was distinctly American. Folk music continued to evolve in the 20th century, as new genres emerged and existing ones were adapted to changes in American society.

As the United States became more ethnically and culturally diverse in the late 20th century, folk music became even more varied. Today, there are many different kinds of folk music being performed in America, reflecting the diverse range of cultures that make up our country.

Forms

In music, the term “folk” refers to traditional music, which is usually transmitted orally, by ear, from one generation to the next. Folk music is usually based on a particular place, region, or country, and it often reflects the history and culture of the people who live there.

Ballads

Ballads are one of the most common forms of folk music and have been around for centuries. Many ballads were originally written as folk songs, passed down from generation to generation orally, with no set melody or structure. As they became more popular, they were often borrowed by professional songwriters and adapted to fit the structure of popular music.

The ballad form usually consists of four stanzas, with each stanza containing four lines of verse. The first and third lines of each stanza rhyme with each other, while the second and fourth lines rhyme with each other. The refrain, or chorus, is usually found at the end of the second and fourth stanzas. Ballads often tell a story, and many are about love, loss, or heartbreak.

One of the most famous examples of a ballad is “Barbara Allen,” which was first published inEngland in the 18th century. In this ballad, a young man dies of heartbreak after he is rejected by the woman he loves. As he lies on his deathbed, he asks his servant to go to Barbara Allen’s house and bring her a message. When she arrives, she finds that he has already died.

The following is an excerpt from “Barbara Allen”:
“Oh mother dear, oh mother dear,” he cried, “Come near me now before I die;
Oh bear me to some shady grove that I may see my true love’s face;
And hear her voice once more before I go to my gravesidehaste.”

Blues

Forms in folk music are usually derivative; that is, they evolve from preexisting folk forms. In the case of the blues, for example, various African American work songs and spirituals were merged with European balladry and song form to create a new American art form. The traditional British ballad (“Barbara Allen,” “The Unquiet Grave”) was one of the primary sources for the ballad stanzas used in the blues. The blues also borrowed heavily from the Afro-American tradition of call-and-response singing, in which a leader (or “shouter”) sings a phrase or “call,” and the group responds with a phrase or “response.” This call-and-response format is evident in many work songs, field hollers, and spirituals.

Folk-Rock

The original folk-rockers were The Byrds, who began playing country-influenced material in 1964, leading to their hugely successful cover of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965. The Beatles quickly followed suit with “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” and the genre was off and running. By 1967, the Byrds had recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a full-fledged country album that is often cited as a high point of the entire genre.

Other notable early exponents included Bob Dylan himself (going electric on Highway 61 Revisited), the Lovin’ Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, and Joan Baez. Thematic concerns included social protest (“Eve of Destruction,” “For What It’s Worth”), love (“I Am a Rock,” “The Sound of Silence”), and drugs (“Eight Miles High,” “Puff the Magic Dragon”). In contrast to previous folk styles, which were often acoustic and reflective, folk-rock was often loud and raucous, with amplified guitars and drums driving the music.

Notable Performers

Folk music is a genre that has been around for centuries. It is music that is passed down from generation to generation and is typically rooted in the culture of a particular region or country. There are many different types of folk music, each with its own unique history and sound.

Joan Baez

Built like a petite boulder of a woman with an unruly thatch of raven hair and flashing, almond-shaped eyes, Baez had—and continues to have—a mesmerizing stage presence. A Quaker born in New York City and raised in Southern California, Baez began playing the guitar as a teenager and within months was performing at coffeehouses in the San Francisco area. When she was 19, Vanguard Records released her eponymous debut album, which was recorded in just three days for less than $1,000. The album featured a mix of gospel tunes (“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”), traditional ballads (“House of the Rising Sun”), and songs by Woody Guthrie and fellow Californian Richard Fariña. Although it did not sell well upon its release in 1960, the album eventually went platinum.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist. He has been a major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant figurehead of the American civil rights movement. His best-known works include the songs “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963) and “The Times They Are a-Changin'” (1964), as well as the albums The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), and Blood on the Tracks (1975).

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson; November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment, and joy. She has received many accolades throughout her career. Rolling Stone called her “one of the greatest songwriters ever”,[1] and AllMusic has stated, “When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century”.[2]

Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon and throughout western Canada before busking in the streets and taverns of Toronto. In 1965 she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original songs (“Urge for Going”, “Chelsea Morning”, “Both Sides, Now”, “The Circle Game”) were covered by well-known artists such as Judee Sill,[3] Tom Rush,[4] Peter, Paul & Mary,[5] Ella Fitzgerald,[6] Andrew Durant[7] andFairport Convention.[8][9][10][11] Mitchell’s 1967 debut album, Song to a Seagull, was made while she was traveling through Europe. It included her signature song “Clouds” which has been recorded by over 150 artists including Judy Collins who recorded it as the title track to her 1968 album Welcoming You.

In 1968 Mitchell released Clouds which brought her into the public eye. The album’s single “Both Sides Now” reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[12][13] The next few years saw Mitchell producing more personal work including 1971’s Blue which has been called one of the best albums ever made.[14][15][16] In 1974 she released Court and Spark featuring pop arrangements by longtime collaborator Larry Klein which ultimately became her best-selling album.[17][18][19] With 1980’s Mingus Joni paid tribute to jazz legend Charles Mingus with whom she had been briefly involved romantically in 1974 before he died.[20][21] In 2000 Mitchell was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award while in 2007 she was inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame[22] and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[23][24]

Legacy

Folk music is songs created by the people of a nation that are passed down orally from one generation to the next. The music is about the working people and their everyday lives. It is about the land they live on and the people who have come before them. Folk music is the music of the people.

Influence on Pop Music

Folk music has had a strong influence on popular music, and vice versa. This is particularly evident in the US, where folk and popular traditions have intermingled from the country’s earliest days. Many pop singers have drawn material from folk traditions (sometimes without credit), and some have even been mistaken for folksingers themselves. In the mid-20th century, the commercial success of performers like Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Burl Ives, Josh White, Odetta, and Cisco Houston brought traditional songs to a wide listenership; during the 1950s and 1960s, Pete Seeger and The Weavers were among the first pop acts to included traditional songs in their repertoire. The Kingston Trio’s recording of “Tom Dooley” in 1958 was a major catalyst in the folk revival of the following decade. Popular artists such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Peter Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel helped to bring folk music back into fashion in the 1960s; Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963) became an anthem of the civil rights movement and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” (1965) was a voice of urban alienation.