Folk music in the music curriculum

Worldmusic or the music of the world?

It was Kodály Zoltán himself who encouraged us to use folk music in the music curriculum. So I do not want to speak about this fact and about the utility of that, but I would like to highlight one or more pathes, the possible ways, some segments, how to do it.

We can’t avoid using this more or less new expression in our nowadays life. The term: world music or worldmusic together written, has two important and not related meanings:

First: the music of natural people, music of peasants, tribals, music of exotic, not Europian cultures. It is a general categorical term for global music, such as the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians and is closely related to the music of the regions of their origins. The term has been credited to ethnomusicologist Robert Brown, who coined it in the 1960s at Wesleyan University  (Connecticut, US). Later – since his death - he was the president of The Center for World Music, this organization makes different programs: concert series, World Music in schools (special lessons for students), special events – festivals, local workshops and cultural tours abroad. It is a nonprofit organization, the center of it is in San Francisco, California, and it was established in 1963.

In literature we can see a new term to explain it: the music of the other. Some years ago a book was published with this title, it was written by Laurent Aubert, who is an antropologist in Museum of Ethnographie in Geneva, at the department of ethnomusicology.

The second meaning of the term: a marketing category for a flood of releases and new recordings of traditional music in a new format,  pairing exotic music with contemporary, actual western musical schemas, forms and harmonies, approaching to pop music. This explanation emerged in 1987.

We should know and accept that folk music – as a traditional art of the nations – depends on the culture of the given nation. The music, the melody form and the rhythm is determined not only by the antropoligical customes, but by the melody of the language, the intonation of speaking, the habit of a nation, (the inhabitants of the given country) and the frame of mind (lelki alkat), the mentality of them.

Before I would propound my opinion about this not so simple, but very vague topic (what is world music?) we should speak about another phenomenon, that we usually use to describe some not identified, strange, more or less weird folk musical attempts - folk revival.

We Hungarians connect it to a great Television folk music competition, which was held in 1969-70, (it was 2 years after Kodály’s death!) when some very important and talented folk performers emerged, who have been the determining musicians of this genre up to the present. This competiton resulted two social – civil movements: the dancing house movement (with new folk music orchestras)  and – the so called folk song singing circle movement – which spread mostly in villages. Now we have about 1200 folksong singig circles in Hungarian villages (there are 3000 settlements in Hungary). This amateur choirs give a good entertainment opportunities for those who sing in them.

„The Táncház (dancing hous – it is a small dance hall, a place were they can dance) – is not a production, but a form of recreation, in wich folk music and folk dance appear in their original forms and functions as the „native language” – musical language and body language – of those taking part.” (Quote from Béla Halmos, one of the founders of this entertainment form - táncház)

In the US the folk revival of the 60s is often the starting point of fascination with the style for many contemporary folk fans. One big effect of the '60s folk revival—thanks to Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, he is the iconic American folk singer – he is one of the sons of Charles Seeger, the noted musicologist, composer, and professor of the Juilliard, the University of California, the Yale University - and  Joan Baez and others —was that it marked the beginning of folk singers, on a large scale, writing their own material.

They appeared in Newport Folk Festival in 1959. ”The festival draws on folk music in a wide and loosened sense.” (quote of its website)

Many traditionalists believe, that this diluted the very definition of folk music, while revivalists look at it as just another turn in the evolution of the genre.

The process of revival we can follow up almost all over the world – at the same time, in the 60s and 70s.

From the 80s we should notice our nice expression: worldmusic in a new meaning: it is the new format – and a new name - of the revival folk music elaborations.

Worldmusic is a vague term, typically used to describe a type of popular music that draws on multi-cultural fusions. We can find here weird combinations, for example, is a band  that combines Irish and West African traditions, the multiple varieties, or the combination of traditional Celtic and middle eastern melodies with other musics. I think you could tell more examples.

World music can also be an overall marketing term for popularized folk traditions and ethnic music, or pop from outside of the Anglo traditions of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Thus, the "world music" section in a record store might include albums of Hawaiian slack-key guitar, Dominican merengue, Hungarian hurdy gurdy and Australian digeridoo, there are many music of any kind specific to a region, culture, race or ethnic group, religion or language.

So we should acknowledge: world music is the folk music of other nations -  and a label of the shelves in music stores, what we put the CD-s we can’t crib none of other shelves.

The other important and inappropriate expression is: globalization. This performance is understandable all over the world – like hamburger, chewing gum and t-shirt. We use a strange, exotic melody and impose it to an accompaniment accepted worldwide, and thus we make a new product. The accompaniment uses the structure, harmonies, forms of the western culture.
Let us see what Aubert Laurent writes about it:

„Globalisation of culture is not, as we believed for a long time, an exclusive synonym for the Westernisation of the rest of the planet, because the sonic invasion has been reciprocal, even if we assume responsibility for its initial impulse. Cultural globalisation appears, on the contrary, like a vast and indefinite game of distorting mirrors, in wich the other sends back to us the altered image of our transient identity.”

So, our responsibility is more than we would ever think.

And, at last, how and when can we, music teachers use this ambivalent genre in music education? How can it help us in our every day work?

First of all I have to express: the most important and most furthering, most advenced way of folk music performance is the authentic style. When we listen to songs performed by their authors, the peasants. But sometimes it is not possible – the record is too old, the modulation of the tune is not good, the students are too young to understand the value of that – we should show them it in another way. So called world musical arrangements can help us this time.

Let us see, which music elements are teachable with world music CD-s!
Modal scales – we can find a vide variety of different scales – modal, heptatonic, pentatonic and others – in this musics.

Unstable intervalls – we can show it with Iranian, Iraqui, Indian, Chinese music and with Hungarian, Transdanubian songs. (Diminished minor third)

Special musical structures – against celtic dance music.

If we try to speak about the different dimensions of the time and the space – we can show them musical pieces from the Far- East, without usual forms, where we can’t speak about western structures.

To show interesting, asymmetrical  rhythms, we can show them Bulgarian, African music.

I know, some of us resist this musical material what we call as world music. We all accept it. But I have to express: we don’t do anything against the spreading of this style, we can’t stop the births of new records and the success of this weird, new and easily digestible musical direction. So we should live with it, but we have to know: we can sort them out, we can select the valuable ones. And listening this musical style is not compulsory, not necessary. And, at last, we have to know: world music is only a taste, a bit of spice on our musical food…

Hungarian Heritage. European Folklore Institute. Bp. 2009. 16. p.

Aubert, Laurent: The music of the others, 53 p