Anglo-American folksong style / [by] Roger D. Abrahams [and] George Foss.
| Author/creator | Abrahams, Roger D. |
| Other author | Ross, George. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, [1968] |
| Description | ix, 242 pages : music ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- The art of folksong. Folk, popular, and sophisticated art ; Public and private expression -- The cycle of oral transmission and composition. Oral change ; Degenerative causes of change ; Rationalization and conventionalization ; Forgetting and emotion core ; Forgetting and negative tropisms ; Universationalization and localization ; Conventional elements ; Composition and recomposition of folksongs ; The question of literacy and record -- From ballad to lyric. Story-songs ; Changing styles in the ballad ; Ballad and oral change -- The traditional shapes of content. Verse forms ; Form and repetition ; Form and formula -- Style and the organization of meaning. Story-songs: the ballad ; Blues ballads, coronachs, last goodnights ; Dialog songs ; Lyric songs ; Legendary songs ; Other song types -- The content of the songs: Love and death. Once more, the Child ballads ; Father's opposition to lovers ; Separation of lovers by their own devices ; American songs of death ; Men away from women: the occupational ballads -- The metrical aspect of folksong. Rhythm and meter ; Meter in traditional verse and song ; Meter in traditional music ; The interdependence of text and tune ; Metrical rigidity ; Story-song ; The influence of instruments ; Motion songs -- The nature of folk tunes. What is a folk tune? ; Melody ; Common characteristics in folk tunes ; Scale ; Melodic progression ; Contour ; Variety of contour -- The musical form of folksong. Musical stability in oral tradition ; Same song, different tunes ; Same tune, different songs -- Afterword -- Sources of songs -- Appendix I: [Collecting procedures] -- Appendix II: [Transcribing folksong] -- Appendix III: [Analyzing and classifying folksong]. |
| General note | Includes unaccompanied melodies. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-198) and index. |
| Bibliography note | "Selected bibliography of regional collections": pages 225-230. |
| Bibliography note | Discography: pages 231-232. |
| LCCN | 68011288 |