FOLKSONGS

Final Project
For College of the Siskiyous

English 12 - Internet Folklore
Michael Roesch Instructor

My Folklore Project

The Relationship of My Project to Folklore

Michael Roesch, Folklore instructor at the College of the Siskiyous, informed me in an e-mail, "In order to be considered folklore (or folktale) the story must have been in oral circulation and have versions.” This is also true for folksongs. If they have been orally circulated, passed down through generations, and they have various versions or an unknown author, they are considered folksongs. The songs that Papa sang to me and I sang to my children and they in turn are singing to their children, fulfills the preconditions of folksongs.

Jan Harold Brunvand states in The Study of American Folklore that “Folklore comprises the unrecorded traditions of a people; it includes both the form and content of these traditions and their manner of communication from person to person.”(3). The word tradition means the passing down from one to another, or generation to generation. Folk means ordinary or common people. Therefore, folksongs would be songs sung by ordinary people like the local barber or the housewife down the lane, not songs written by professional songwriters. The songs would be learned at work, from the family unit, from friends or learned as a child. Some professionals have picked up these folksongs that do not really belong to any writer in particular and put them to print and recorded them as popular songs. Many of the songs of Burl Ives, The Kingston Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, Marty Robbins and Hank Snow, were originally folkpoems or folksongs. These poems were put to music and recorded as ballads, or songs that tell a story.

As I was looking through my 1919 copy of Cowboy Songs and other Frontier Ballads, by John A. Lomax, Jr, I found many of the poems and songs I had heard Papa sing. Many of these songs have also been recorded by professionals and become popular songs. For Example: The Big Rock Candy Mountain, They Call the Wind Maria, The Preacher and The Bear, Billy Vrerno, and Ol' Shep.

How I Did
My Project

I took a COS Web Construction class last year, so I have a little knowledge about what I want to produce. The idea of making a web page and using Papa’s voice was real appealing. I have some cassette tapes that Papa recorded for my children of him singing and playing the harmonica. Some of these tapes are over twenty-six years old. A friend of mine, who has a recording studio in Etna, Snowflower Music copied the songs onto a music CD, and I have made copies for my brother and children. The friend also made me a CD with sound files so I can use them on my web pages. I played the different sound types and decided to use the .ra type. I think the .ra files will work on most everyone’s computer without having to have special software.

I researched most of the songs I plan to use, on the Internet. At first I had a hard time deciding just which songs I would use. There were so many and I wanted to share them all. Researching on the Internet took most of my time. I was surprised to find most of the songs. Some of these songs I thought Papa had made up, but they were just parts of different versions. There are pages and pages out on the World Wide Web of just song lyrics. This really amazed me. I had a hard time keeping on track. I kept listening to this one and then another. I have found lyrics, audio clips and web page links to incorporate into the web pages. Before this class, I never thought much about where these songs came from, I just liked them. I knew most people didn’t sing them quit like Papa did.

I spent some time picking out colors for the pages, the text, the font and font size. Trying to make the project look good and making sure all the links work took a lot of time. I wrote all the html pages in wordpad so I could use the information I had learned in the COS Web Construction class. This meant I placed all the sound files, art work, photos and links just where I wanted them on the page. I used family photos and clip art to make the pages enjoyable and fun.

I wrote a background on my father and his music. It was hard not to write his “whole” life history, but I did a little about his character and the importance music played in his life. I also wrote an Introduction that became the first page on this site. It also explained why my project is connected to folklore and how folklore is in our lives today. All of these writings are on the web pages, as written text.

What I Learned
from this
Project

I learned a great deal about sound and reproduction from my friend. I only wish Papa had lived to hear CDs. He would have loved the quality of the sound and the new technology. He would have enjoyed the whole process of burning a CD. Through various web sites, I have learned that there are other versions of many of the songs Papa sang. This really surprised me. I had grown up thinking he made some of these songs up. One of the songs for example, “The Wreck of the Old 97" was one of Papa’s favorites. I found the lyrics on several pages and some audio clip on a couple versions. I also found out this was a true story and there is a museum railroad page on the whole wreck, photos and all. Amazing

I enjoyed this project greatly and I am glad I chose to do a folksong web page. Besides starting the project earlier, I would like to improve on my writing skills more. Instead of answering, “what I’d do different?” I’d like to address it as my future plans. I hope in the future that I will be able to add additional family folklore to this web site. Papa also wrote some poems for my children. I can just see a page with old family photos and Papa’s poems. I also did a “Collection Page” for this COS Folklore Class on pinenuts and how our family gathered them. Yes, that could be added here! Oh! the possibilities are great. I could add my story about “Spooky Lane”. Better yet, maybe my mom, brother, or children would like to add some writing or stories. This could go on forever, but maybe that would be nice too.

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