The conspicuous failure of folklife studies to progress far beyond the collection and classification of materials has been accompanied by a pervasive vagueness in terminology. A. L. Lloyd decries the imprecision of “folk” — “a gawky term suggesting English condescension or German soulfulness” — and Wiora suggests abandoning “ambiguous terms such as ‘folk’ and ‘folk song’ “ altogether. Maud Karpeles - a veteran of many terminological debates — concludes gloomily that “it is in the nature of the subject that we cannot draw up a precise scientific definition of folk song which will serve to differentiate it entirely from all other forms of music.” Scientific or not, this paper seeks to explore existing definitions and suggest alternatives.

In den bald drei Jahrzehnten seines Bestehens hat sich der International Folk Music Council weit ausgebreitet: über Europa und Amerika, über Länder der anderen Erdteile von Israel und Libanon bis Japan, vom Norden bis zum Süden Afrikas und in die Ferne bis Hawaii, Australien und Neuseeland. Diese Entwicklung setzt sich fort. Wie in ähnlichen Verbänden führt sie dazu, auf einem Sektor der Kultur die Menschheit im ganzen zu umspannen.

Survey courses in world musics survive on aphorisms, and one of the favorite characteristics appended to Asian music in such studies is its great interest in improvisation. The major problem with this saying is that it is not true. While it may apply to certain forms of South Asian music and be a part of the Southeast Asian polyphonic stratification structures, it is a rare thing in the music of East Asia. Thus, when I was asked to speak on Japanese music for a symposium on improvisation held by the University of Chicago, I was genuinely hesitant, because I simply could not think of examples upon which to base such a discussion. This study is the result of my search.

It may appear strange that the two brothers Djordević, who were in their lives and work quite separate, are taken together in this article. Professor and academician Dr. Tihomir R. Djordjević (4 March 1868 - 28 May 1944), the great Serbian ethnologist, folklorist, cultural historian, sociologist, museologist, and Balkanologist (as such, a specialist on Gypsies above all) worked in the realm of the social sciences. Vladimir R. Djordjev̌ić (2 December 1869 - 22 June 1938), composer, melographer, organologist, biographer of Serbian musicians, bibliographer of Serbian music, conductor, theoretician, and music pedagogue was active in the field of music.

A recent article by Jairazbhoy in Ethnomusicology is perhaps the first cogent account of the oboe in India. Here I wish to offer a few comments on his paper and give some supplementary material and ideas.

Thanks to several recent publications by Indian scholars, we are now much better informed about the life and the human-religious ideas of the Baul singers of Bengal. These descriptions are based on observations as well as on the statements that the Bauls themselves make in the texts of their songs. To shed some light upon the peculiarity of these “cultural and religious nomads,” a few remarks from the above-mentioned sources are repeated here as background.

Many patterns realized in the decoration of English folksongs are observed to recur with sufficient regularity to justify their formalization. The purpose of formalizing observed phenomena is to present them as data in a concise and unambiguous way, and such that subjective statements are avoided or replaced by statements which are empirically verifiable. Statements that certain non-English decoration patterns are “long wavering lines of ‘endless melody',” that “speak of tears, of fear, of trembling submission” for instance, are at best merely subjective and at worst automorphic. And since they say nothing of what exactly is under consideration their truth or falsity is beyond assertion. As with all science, in folksong study we must be clear about our observations and about their presentation. We suggest such a position may perhaps be achieved by formalizing our observations as demonstrated in this paper. Equally important is the forecasting of place and form of occurrence of such observed phenomena so that generalizations can be made about their future behaviour. Present behaviour is implied in objective description.

Dans la région de la Moyenne Volga l'improvisation a un rôle important dans la tradition musicale des peuples de langues turque et fïnnoougrienne. Au cours des recherches des dernières dix années nous avons surtout observé ce phénomène dans l'interprétation des chansons folkloriques tartares et bashkires, mais nous l'avons rencontré aussi dans les villages tchérémisses, votiaks et mordves, là où ces derniers ont subi une influence tartare lors de la coexistence séculaire. Cette influence se manifeste dans l'emprunt de certaines mélodies, dans la ressemblance des styles mélodiques, mais plus encore dans le domaine de l'ornementation.

Dance research is a rapidly expanding field. Because a detailed overview and categorization of dance studies has been published recently, I will not dwell on the historical background of dance research here. My aim rather is to emphasize some areas that have not been adequately discussed in other papers, and to offer some positive suggestions for future research.

Two-part singing, based predominantly on the drone type of polyphony, is a phenomenon which is still common in the Razlog district of Bulgaria. Ritual songs such as those for St. Lazarus’ Day, St. George's Day, and Easter, rain-begging, dance songs, and harvest songs are all well preserved though rarely performed, and are representative of what is known as the “old style” of singing. This type of singing is performed mainly by older women, recreating from the past songs which they once sang as young women and girls. Characteristic are narrow-range melodies commonly based on the following scale formations: ABC, ABCD, ABCDE, with or without the subtonic G, a major second below the tonic A, which ends all melodies in the collection (the melodies have been transposed for comparative purposes). Also characteristic are the traditional, harsh-sounding parallel majoren oinor seconds. Alongside this older style exists a “new style” of part singing which to a certain extent is limited to younger women. Melodies in the “new style” have a larger ambitus, with the range formulas 1-6, VII-6, 1-7, and VII-7. Although the younger women are relatively familiar with the older style and sometimes condescend to use it, they seem to prefer the modern style, in which the melodic range is less restricted and more consonant-sounding intervals are used.