History of Folk Music in America Essay -- Music History Research paper

History of Folk Music in America bushwhacker music grew out of the rich tradition of British folkb completelyads, songs and hymns brought to uniting America by British settlers andthen adapted to the peculiar circumstances, e.g., biographical names, placenames, frontier concerns, of the North American wilderness. It isimportant to remember that tout ensemble of the colonies were British, from Maine toGeorgia. The exact ethnic origins of the south are difficult to determineand non well documented. The rural south did not attract large add up ofEuropean immigrants in the great period of immigration (1850-1920)however, it is certain that by 1920 there had been considerableintermingling of a few ethnic groups (English, Welsh, Scottish,Scotch-Irish, German, Czechoslovakian, native Indian and African). Likewise, the ethnic origin of the music of the southern region is complex. There were Irish jigs, English and Scottish ballads and folk songs, hymns,et c. However, as Malone (19854) suggests, the end gist of the musicalmelting pot was a product more British than anything found in GreatBritain today. The 1790 census report indicates that the population of the get togetherStates was 60.1% English, 14% Scotch-Irish and 3% Irish. These threegroups made up 78% of the complete population. The White Anglo-SaxonProtestant core culture dominated all of pre-Revolutionary America. However, for reasons we will examine later, the southern region produced awhite and a black musical tradition which were significantly different fromthe rest of the nation. The British folk ballad is at the heart of the southern musicaltradition. collar outstanding characteristics of the Briti... ...from theMiddle Ages, used a four, five or sixsome note scale which did not fall withintradition study or minor scales. The tunes were almost chants which roseand fell in slash - normally peaking at the middle of the song and thendiminishing. Ins trumentation was usually non-existent and, when present,not very important to the song. In the U.S., harmony was much moreimportant. This probably results from the importance of gospel singing. SourcesMalone, Bill C. Country Music the States Fifty Year History. Austin University of Texas Press, 1985.Carr, Patrick (ed). The Illustrated History of Country Music. Garden urban center Doubleday, 1979.Roebuck, Julian B. and Mark Hickson. The Southern Redneck APhenomenological Class Study. refreshed York Praeger Publishers, 1982.