Beginners’ Guide to English Folk Music
Introduction
English Folk Music is a diverse and broad genre made up of songs and tunes from across the country. There are also strong connections with related traditions of the British Isles, Europe, America, and further afield.
English Folk Music is often recognised as being music that contains elements passed on from one generation to another often with some element of oral (or aural) transmission – that is, it is passed from one person to another learning by ear rather than from books or recordings or written notation. That is only one aspect of folk music though, and nowadays (and in the past) many people learn music and songs from recordings of other singers or find material in books.
English Folk Music encompasses strong regional traditions that are evident through differences of style, form, purpose and instrumentation. There is rarely one ‘true’ version of a tune. One tune will have different variations in rhythm, pitch and melody depending on the place in which you hear it, and how the tune is used e.g. if it is being used for accompanying dancing, or it is being played on its own. Tunes also vary depending on how folk collectors transcribed them, and subsequently shared them in publications etc. The diversity and variety of tunes is an important characteristic of the music.
A lot of English Folk Music is considered traditional in origin, meaning music that is passed along over generations, but might change to reflect the changes within the community over time. The knowledge of who first wrote or played the tune has been lost through time. The tunes have lived on through being played and appreciated by musicians and listeners over the decades and centuries. Traditional music has also been a focus for ‘collectors’ who have recorded and transcribed music in efforts to preserve it for posterity, and to make it available to others.
There is now also a lot of English Folk Music that is contemporary – the composers are known, and may be still living, composing and playing. Contemporary folk tunes, songs and dances may use the styles, forms and structures of the traditional material for inspiration, as well as being influenced by other traditions and other types of music.
You can hear English Folk Music at sessions and concerts, at social dances (ceilidhs/barn dances) and with performance dance (morris, rapper, clog, longsword etc.) and at festivals, competitions and celebrations (religious and secular).
