No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Formalization of English Decoration Patterns
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 February 2019
Extract
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.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1976 By the International Folk Music Council
References
Notes
1. Lloyd, A. L., Folk Song in England (London, 1967), p. 90.Google Scholar
2. Lomax, Alan, “Song Structure and Social Structure,” Milton C. Albrecht, James H. Barnett and Mason Griff, The Sociology of Art and Literature (London, 1970), p. 63.Google Scholar
3. Scholes, Percy A., The Oxford Companion to Music (London, 1970), p. liii.Google Scholar
4. Ibid., p. liii.Google Scholar
5. Ibid., p. liv.Google Scholar
6. Ibid., p. lv.Google Scholar
7. Ibid., p. 407.Google Scholar
8. Ibid., p. 821.Google Scholar
9. Ibid., p. 958.Google Scholar
10. Sharp, Cecil J., English Folk Song: Some Conclusions (London, 1907: reprint, London, 1965), p. 104f.Google Scholar
11. Broadwood, Lucy E. and J. A. Fuller Maitland, English Country Songs (London, 1893), p. 68; Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl, The Singing Island (London, 1960), pp. 22, 37.Google Scholar
12. Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, op cit., pp. 172, 124; Seeger and MacColl, op cit., p. 33, and Now is the Time for Fishing (Folkways Records, New York, 1961).Google Scholar
13. Sharp, op cit., p. 105.Google Scholar
14. Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 39, 41.Google Scholar
15. cf. Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, The Sound Pattern of English (New York, 1968).Google Scholar
16. For nz = nx + 3, cf. Seeger and MacColl, The Singing Island, p. 32.Google Scholar
17. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 48.Google Scholar
18. Scholes, op. cit., p. lii.Google Scholar
19. Sharp, op. cit., p. 103.Google Scholar
20. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 306.Google Scholar
21. Cf. Chomsky and Halle, op. cit.Google Scholar
22. Seeger and MacColl, Now is the Time…. Google Scholar
23. Cf. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 67.Google Scholar
24. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 200.Google Scholar
25. Cf. Hugh Tracey, “The Sound of Africa” series of longplaying records (Gallo Records, Johannesburg, 1960-); John Blacking, Venda Children's Songs (Johannesburg, 1967), p. 35.Google Scholar
26. Daniélou, Alain, Unesco Collection — A Musical Anthology of the Orient (Bärenreiter-Musicaphon, Cassel, no date).Google Scholar
27. In Bartók, Béla and Lord, Albert, Serbo-Croatian Folk Songs (New York, 1951).Google Scholar