American and African Folk Songs - Admission/Application Essay Example

American and African Folk Songs Folk music has been more of an oral tradition than formal entertainment. It is around the 1920s when efforts were made by collectors to collect all of the traditional American folk music, including Scottish and English ballads. During this period, a varied set of folk songs were collected and added to the collections. The focus was more on the text of the songs and its academic constructions rather than its production therefore many folk musicians were discouraged from making their own music (“Folk Music and Song”, n.pag.). Folk music ranges in its genres and subject matters, although most of them are themed based on the lives and struggles of the working class people. African American folk songs have also made a huge contribution to American folk music in general. Notable African American artists have brought into American folk music the traditional African renditions thereby giving rise to new ways of musical expression and genres including jazz, soul, blues, zydeco, hip hop, and so on. African American influences are strong and deep rooted, based on themes such as slavery, personal empowerment, development, and other societal struggles faced by African American forefathers. To a great extent, African American music articulates the cultural experiences of the African American diaspora community living in the United States. Although not completely dominated by African American folk music, American folk music does present a very diverse set of influences including local ethnic and European influences shaping the American folk culture. American folk music provided a great way of recording American experiences in farms, ranches, churches, schoolyards, cities, clubs, and prisons. Folk musicians sought to describe their lives through folk music. Folk music incorporated cowboy ballads, work songs, church choir songs, patriotic songs, field holler, blues, and other songs that expressed traditional values and forms (“Folk Music and Song”, n.pag.). While a major number of traditional folk songs were oral many collectors made journeys into several areas so as to record as many folk songs as possible. It had been soon realized that if such efforts were not made, American folk music was under the danger of being lost. Since folk music is considered to be an important aspect of culture, thus the preservation of traditional American folk music was considered imperative so as to maintain the culturally rich American music. Native American works were also included in the recordings as the collectors went on to preserve American music. The collections composed of a wide variety of diverse music recordings ranging from Native American music to African American to the European music. Each kind brought its own set of influences in terms of its rendition. Native American music was more melodic with emphasis on vocals usually done in choral although some songs were also performed in solo. African American music, on the other hand, involved various singing styles and expression of African American experiences in the American society in children’s rhymes, spiritual songs, work songs, and so on. Also, due to a longstanding history of colonization in the American continent, Latin American influences mainly reflected the Spanish and Portuguese European influences along with music produced from their traditional instruments. Perhaps the most common element in American folk music was its derivation from experiences and traditional stories. Most African American as well as Native American folk music sought to describe and articulate visual or spatial experiences through words and music. Although the concept of communication was understood differently among the Natives, who considered it to be a way of communicating with the dead or supernatural forces, African Americans used folk music extensively in order to demonstrate its cultural heritage (Thieme, 9). The vocal style of African and Native American music is also considered to be similar as heard in the genre of gospel music. There have been increased understanding of both groups sharing common experiences throughout the European expeditions to the Americas and even before that. The linkage between the use of traditional percussion and wind instruments and drums is quite prominent in both styles of music although several other string instruments such as banjo are also used in African American folk music (Thieme, 10). The folk music genre of blues is also one which represents common experiential expression of shared struggles of the minority or less popular communities in the American society. Slavery and societal struggles are common themes that are often associated with blues and linked with Native American and Afro-American music. Many of the songs base their theme on a journey taken to seek their roots and to chase for their original vision. One such song is the Song of Solomon which talks about a journey of treads that is made to discover the truth of the individual’s vernacular ancestry. Although considered to be distinct, American folk music incorporates what is termed as African American music and European music. Jazz, which is a musical genre of folk music is often generalized to be performed better by African Americans than any other American group. Improvisation, which is a practice quite relevant in jazz is perceivably done better by African American musicians considering their longstanding history with the form of music. However, there have been many white Americans who have contributed to the genre of jazz. Some of the leading European classical musicians have not only been great composers but also excellent improvisers, who possess the ability to make music spontaneously without any prior memory or learning. Although the concept of improvisation died from traditional classical European music, it has been retained in jazz music by mainly African American musicians. Since then, improvisation is more prominent in African American music than any other American folk music. Since American folk music is diverse in its composition, there are also some differences in the different musical styles and renditions apart from their commonalities. In folk music inspired from European connections, there are seldom any dancing apart from ballet and other musical performances. Music is rather taken as an isolated art although some European folk music do involve dances along with folk music. In this case, African American music presents a more aesthetically beautiful form of art that is significantly different from its European counterparts (Patterson, 303). African American music is not only lively in its performance but also involves frequent dances and maneuvers that accompany the music. The Negro spiritual songs by African American composers present a different style, context, and even theme to American folk music (Patterson, 304). Here, the employment of different musical instruments has also brought about new ways of making music with instruments that had not been used at all or as extensively in European music. Thus, American folk music is diverse in its origins and influences from the varied cultural groups. The creation of today’s US folk music has been the result of a deep cultural mix in the region that has deeply influenced folk music and its styles. In particular, African American folk music occupies a prominent position in the creation of American folk songs giving rise to several genres of music, some of which have taken a more mainstream role. However, despite the cultural diversity that seems to impact traditional American folk music, there is no cultural hegemony of one form of music over the other in terms of patriarchal musical occupation. Major contributions to traditional folk music have been made by many artists and composers belonging to African American origins. Due to extremely variety in folk music, American folk songs have seen more creative works than any other cultural music. Works Cited "Folk Music and Song: American Folklife Center: An Illustrated Guide (Libraryof Congress)." American Folklife Center, 2013. Web. 26 Mar 2014. . Patterson, Willis. "The African-American Art Song: A Musical Means for Special Teaching and Learning." Black Music Research Journal, (1996): 303--310. Print. Thieme, Darius. "Afro-American Folksong Scholarship." Black Music Research Journal, (1990): 9--13. Print. Read More