The Rise of a Native American Balladry Essay -- Music Ballads Native A

The Rise of a Native American Balladry First, it allow be necessary to review almost important points. In the proto(prenominal) days (1600-1770s), importation/adaptation was the dominant process. British songs and ballads were adapted to the boundary experience, Victorian morality and Puritan ethics. Songs which contained subjectmatter which was completely conflicting to the frontier or unacceptable tomoral and ethical standards were either toss out altogether, new lyricswere added to old melodies, or lyrical changes were made. (Remember, therewere no right of first publication laws at that time). However, even from the beginning,original folk creations began to take their place on base the usagealballads. While some strong similarities to the traditional patterns my beobserved, some important differences emerge. Compared with British ballads,American ballads placed to a greater extent(prenominal) emph asis on vocal harmony and instrumentation(except in the mountain regions where women seldom play instruments). The American ballads were more journalistic (Wolfe, in Carr, 19794),that is, they paid much more attention to names (Tom Dula, Sally Goodin,Omie Wise, Floyd Collins), dates (of train wrecks, floods, wars, miningdisasters) and place. They were certainly more moralistic - in keeping withthe Puritan moral code. Art for arts stake was considered frivolous, e.g.,fiddling around. The idle mind is the devils workshop, thereforefrivolity is also likely sinful. These attitudes were very pervasive and were instilled in generations of American youth through McGuffeysReader, paltry Richards Almanac and popular literature such as HawthornesScarlet... ...r is an instrument of Spanish origin and wouldlikely have been transported to the new world by Spanish colonists. However, the guitar was in the American colonies during the colonialperiod. Mal unmatched is probably correct in his effrontery that the guitar wasrather late in coming into the southern musical tradition however, onceintroduced it soon became the dominant instrument. Again, theSears-Roebuck mail order catalog was one of the major sources for theguitar.Works CitedCarr, Patrick (ed). The Illustrated History of Country Music. Garden City Doubleday, 1979.Lomax, Alan. fellowship Song Style, The American Anthropologist 61926-955.Malone, Bill C. Country Music the States Fifty Year History. Austin University of Texas Press, 1985.Nettl, Bruno. An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States, l960).