The Joy of Singing
November 10, 2023
“TO experience the tremendous power of genuine, unaffected folk songs, you must sing them yourself, sing them often, and sing them well. You cannot possibly experience the beauty of folk music if you simply hear the songs performed by a choir in picturesque costume. In folk singing, the goal is to sing, and this fact distinguishes the folk song from all other types of song. In the concert hall, in the cabaret, on the radio, the singing is a means to excite emotion in a passive audience who sit quietly and listen. The art song and the modern popular song are founded entirely on an appeal to the ear. But the folk song is founded on the joy of active singing, the joy of rhythmic movement of the entire voice organism. The frequent repetitions of a refrain which are so characteristic of the folk song are evidence that folk music is basically kinesthetic in its appeal. These refrains are a pure delight to the active singer, he does not tire (as a silent listener would) of repeating the same chorus many times. Folk singing is active in goal and method. It is essential to join in the singing to experience the deep beauty hidden in the music.
“If you begin to sing folk songs and to make them a part of your life, you will soon discover that they have the power to form your taste and to cultivate your artistic judgment. You will become aware of the pretension and insincerity in works of art which perhaps you admired before. You will find that you have come to prefer simplicity to sophistication, genuine feeling to empty sentimentality, real joy to superficial amusement.”
— Dr. Jop Pollmann, Laughing Meadows Songbook, Grailville Publications, 1947
— Comments —
Robert Robbins writes:
I have read and listened to your recent post regarding folk songs with considerable delight. I am not entirely familiar with this genre of music beyond that instruction on its form and content I received in kindergarten, singing and dancing around chairs.
But thinking on your post a little more, I wonder what you would say about the utter dearth of contemporary folk songs—or is it that folk songs as such is a misnomer, since a melody and lyric do not spring up out of a people as such at all but must come into existence by a single creative mind?
What I am getting at is what “folk songs” are today, taken out of their historic context which gave them birth, are really just the popular songs of today sans record labels. That’s the only difference.
Tell me, what is the lyrical and melodic difference between “Home on the Range” and “A Horse with No Name”? I can’t figure one. Both are melodically simple and undemanding such that anyone could sing along. Both deal with general outdoorsy topics on the surface and existential issues beneath. Both are folksy, earthy, and simple songs that are sung by a popular majority and not a highly cultivated class. The only difference is the latter was created in our lifetime and has a copyright, whereas the former wasn’t and doesn’t.
I just think that the difference between folk songs and popular songs of today is not as clear cut as is supposed by the author, and that there are a lot of questions regarding the origins of folk songs if they are not simply copyrighted original creations by historical individuals time has forgotten the names of.
Mr. S. writes:
I think the article by Dr. Jop Pollman in its entirety will help Mr. Robbins out with more of the thrust of what he was saying. Check out “Home on the Range.” No one knows its lyrics beyond the first verse and chorus. It’s a beautiful song. Look at its history, it’s hard to tell where everything came from.
Pollmann says folk songs are “properly anonymous,” not that they were not written by someone but the people, unconsciously, made them their own.
Now look at “Horse with No Name.” Look at the pretentious, non-nonsensical lyrics. Do they speak to the “universal realities of human life, realities which belong equally to the present and the past, and which always hold deep meaning for us,” as Pollman put it?
I’ll only say too, that there is no culture in the West, because there is no people. I dont’ think Pollmann could have seen that the devil would not wipe out the bards and harp players, but would convince Europeans that they are not a people: just a “thousand points of light,” singularities under a singular leviathan.
True democracy is CULTURE! From the slime, the lowest people, comes the brilliance of culture, the dress, the music, the architecture, the food. Perhaps, just perhaps, like he does, the devil used that truth to convince us that authority and politics worked that way too. It doesn’t, it’s a lie. Now we are all mind-slaves, but he played on that truth — that beauty DOES come from “the people”. Just not (in most cases) good leaders and good governance.
There can be no culture if there is no “a people”. And European whites refuse themselves that. BUT sing the songs and that spirit will reawaken. And we may say NO:
We have a right to be us
and only we can be us
Mr. S. adds:
I am starting to learn the songs from Pollmann’s Laughing Meadows collection, which is no longer in print. They are an education beyond the wonderful intro. Some are really difficult.
I’m trying to find adult songs that meet the criteria of Pollmann that are a little easier than this songbook.
But John Feierabend is a good place to start for the very young. He also had an excellent book of canons for adolescents and adults that have very pleasant, but easy songs.
The problem is mode. Most of Pollman’s songs are in modes that sound strange to the modern ear: Dorian. This makes them wonderful to sing but difficult to learn.
Laura writes:
Here is the full article from Laughing Meadows:
Foreward
The lay apostolate and the development of a Catholic culture necessarily proceed hand in hand. As apostles, it is our task to express dynamic Christian spirit in music, literature, drama, dancemand the arts. In turn, a Christian culture, supporting and strengthening the apostolate, isindispensable for a spiritual renewal.
In a God -centered society, the arts of recreation form an integral part of human life. Like man’s prayer, work and study, his recreation is dedicated to God’s glory and reflect the divine beauty. Songs and dances, drama, literature, sports, all contribute positively to man’s growth as a human being and a member of the Mystical Body of Christ.
How shall we proceed with our task of building such an integrated culture? It is evident that modern secular civilization with its sentimentality, its individualism, its emphasis on the passive spectator, has little to contribute to our moral, intellectual or spiritual development. Where then shall we turn for the elements from which to build an American Catholic culture? Where shall we find the artistic mastery through which to express a Christian spirit? The first step surely is to return to our heritage, to the traditions which developed in a more realist, communal and spiritually healthy age. If we become acquainted with these traditional arts, if we allow them to form our taste and judgement, then we may hope to see the budding of a new Catholic culture, rooted in the old, but creating its own characteristic forms of beauty.
Introduction
Gathering material for this collection, searching through countless manuscripts and books to find some of the most beautiful and appropriate songs, has been a pleasant and interesting task. I should like to be with you when you sing these songs, but since that is impossible, I have written this introduction to explain something of the significance of the folk song in an integral human life and to tell you how best to sing them. I present this book to you, trusting that it may contribute to the development of a vital folk culture in America.
Folk song is the Mother of Literature and Music
Through its text and melody, the folk song is the mother both of literature and of music. This sung poetry is our earliest poetry; this poetic song is our first music. Thus, the well known folk song , “Summer is icumen in” is the beginning of polyphony as well as the earliest recorded poem in the English language. Out of the background of lyric, ballad and other types of folk song, the more complex forms of literature have developed; from the simple melodies of the people, the elaborate harmonies of modern music have grown. But while it has given birth to many forms of music and poetry, the folk song is a mother who remains eternally young and beautiful. Can we ignore this mother or become so clever as to do without her? Must we not always return to her as to the source and crown of our musical culture?
Folk Songs Deal with Universal Realities of Life
The folk song deals with the fundamental, universal realities of human life, realities which belong equally to the present and the past, and which always hold deep meaning for us. Thus, nothing has has changed in the relation between God and man in spite of modern atheism; nothing has changed in the relation of boy and girl, man and wife, despite rising divorce rates; nothing has changed in the relation between mother and child despite birth control; nothing has changed in the relation of a man to his country despite treason and cowardice. Folk music sings of life and death, the joy of true love and the pain of disappointment, daily chores and heroic adventure, the jovial comradeship of the tavern, the difficulties of this earthly pilgrimage and the longing for our heavenly home.
Because folk songs present these universal human experiences in a simple and beautiful form, they have the power to stir the souls of men in every age. They are always contemporary; they speak to us now as clearly and warmly as when they were first sung. We experience today the timeless beauty of the anonymous folk poetry, a beauty often equal to the work of our greatest poets and composers.
Folk Singing for the Joy of Singing
To experience the tremendous power of genuine, unaffected folk songs, you must sing them yourself, sing them often, and sing them well. You cannot possibly experience the beauty of folk music if you simply hear the songs performed by a choir in picturesque costume. In folk singing, the goal is to sing, and this fact distinguishes the folk song from all other types of song. In the concert hall, in the cabaret, on the radio, the singing is a means to excite emotion in a passive audience who sit quietly and listen. The art song and the modern popular song are founded entirely on an appeal to the ear. But the folk song is founded on the joy of active singing, the joy of rhythmic movement of the entire voice organism. The frequent repetitions of a refrain which are so characteristic of the folk song are evidence that folk music is basically kinesthetic in its appeal. These refrains are a pure delight to the active singer, he does not tire (as a silent listener would) of repeating the same chorus many times. Folk singing is active in goal and method. It is essential to join in the singing to experience the deep beauty hidden in the music.
If you begin to sing folk songs and to make them a part of your life, you will soon discover that they have the power to form your taste and to cultivate your artistic judgment. You will become aware of the pretension and insincerity in works of art which perhaps you admired before. You will find that you have come to prefer simplicity to sophistication, genuine feeling to empty sentimentality, real joy to superficial amusement.
The Folk Song is the Song of the Community
Folk music is profoundly communal in its origin, scope and function. While text and melody are often the work of an individual composer, the folk song receives its final form from the community and expresses the common standards of values and way of life. It is properly anonymous, for it is the product of the community, the fruit of primal, elemental forces living in the people and shaping their mentality.
Like most of the Gregorian chant, the folk song belongs to the entire people, for it is meant to be sung by every member of the community. With its universal appeal and its simplicity of technique, it is that rare form of music in which everyone can participate actively.
Often folk songs may be sung by one person, a mother singing a lullaby, or a father singing with his little child on his knee. But even here the influence of the community makes itself felt in the form and content of the song. Most typically, however, the folk song is meant for the family and community, the intimate circle of neighbors and friends gathered together for an evening of enjoyment. In this circle it performs an important function, creating a friendly atmosphere, dissolving barriers, and helping to strengthen the bonds of unity between the members of the community.
The Folk Song as a Force in History
Some years before the last war, a German scholar wrote an excellent book whose contents answered to the title, “Songs Which Have Shaken the World.” In every crisis of history, we find the folk song as the bearer of ideas which have shaped civilization. One need only think ofsome of the famous names of the past centuries to see that singing is a dynamic force in the making of history. Thus, St. Paul exhorted the first Christians to “sing hymns and canticles”; St. Ambrose taught the chant to his besieged congregation in Milan; Luther’s followers worshiped to the strains of “En fester Burg its unser Gott”; the French Revolution surged onward to the sound of the Marseillaise; “Yankee Doodle”, “Dixie”, and “John Browns Body” mark the crises in American history. When in the later part of the thirteenth century, Edward I of England conquered Wales, he at once issued a decree that all the bards and harp players should be executed. When the Austrians at the beginning of our century conquered the region around Trebinje, they forbad the inhabitants to play the goezla, a small one-stringed instrument which gives a thin tone, but which the people required as an accompaniment to their ballads.
These are merely a few facts out of many. An invader who leaves the folk culture of the country untouched, sooner or later will see his acquisition escape from his hands, so great is the power of the folk culture and especially the folk song to preserve the spirit of the nation. Because the folk song embodies in a special way the characteristic genius of the nation, it has often strengthened and inspired the people in the crises of history.
All culture Draws its Vitality from Folk Culture
We are accustomed to measure our cultural achievements by certain external signs: the well-filled concert halls and opera houses, the number of symphonic hours on the radio, the ability of school children to discuss Bach and Stravinsky. But genuine culture is a matter of inner growth, the slow formation of the ideas and values of a people through environment and tradition, work and worship . The most brilliant individual achievements are destined to perish if they are cut off from the inner life of the people. To preserve their vitality, our activities must spring from a vital folk culture. We need a broad base of folk song, actively possessed by the people, before we can safely erect the splendid peaks of musical artistry. Otherwise, we will be like the architect who is busy decorating the towers of the cathedral when the foundation has not yet been securely laid. Sooner or later, the whole precarious cultural structure must collapse. The concert hall, out of touch with the spirit of the people, will degenerate into an exhibition of the technique for the erudite few. Eventually, the audience will turn away from this sterile brilliance, and the apparently flourishing musical life of the country will break down. The folk song is the foundation of a sound musical life, as the folk culture is the root from which a living culture springs.
Folk Singing is Active in Goal and Method
The folk song can indeed perform many important functions. It can help to build up a community; it can inspire great works of art; it can express a Christian spirit in work and play; it can help to preserve the ideals of the nation; it can make our festivals really festive again. But we should be on our guard lest we are tempted to turn the folk song into propaganda for a cause. If we introduce folk songs in order to reach one of these worthy goals, we will not experience the beauty of the music nor will we reach the goal. In the last few centuries, many well-intentioned people tried to turn folk songs into an instrument of improving the world. These reformers wrote songs to furnish a moral lesson, but by their unrealistic preaching they only succeeded in degrading morality, spoiling folk music, and destroying the folk culture.
Folk songs should be sung for their own sake, for the joy of the singing. They should be sung simply, spontaneously, without any extrinsic purpose. Folk singing is like the queen in the fairy tale who was mean and avaricious of those who came seeking money and favors, but who because mild and generous to all who served her freely because of her beauty. So do not sing folk songs because they enable you to work faster or to march more vigorously. Sing because you like it, and all the rest will be added unto you.
Restoring a Living Tradition of Folk Music
Folk music is traditional by its very nature. In a flourishing culture, songs are passed down from generation to generation, acquired without written or printed sources, just like the language of the people. Obviously, in the countries of the western world, this healthy living tradition no longer exists. Individualism, puritanism, and urban industrialism have combined to destroy it.
The present generation has lost contact with its roots, and is wholly dependent upon songbooks and formal training.
Is it possible to restore a living tradition of folk music in the modern world? To answer this question, we must realize that folk music is one aspect of a cultural complex, one expression of an organic culture which includes dance, drama, dress, architecture, customs. Like the parts of an organism, these divisions of a culture are intimately related to each other. We cannot restore the folk song without restoring the organic culture from which it springs. The folk song blossomed into artistic perfection in a culture characterized by a deep Christian spirit, a strong sense for communal living, an intimate contact with nature, a spontaneous delight in the exercise of man’s creative powers, and a healthy enjoyment of the simple events of daily life. This culture and its song aim making the human being more completely human, developing and perfecting his capacities for knowledge and love, beauty and worship. The campaign to restore a living tradition of folk music is one point of a vastly greater campaign to rebuild a Christian and human culture. We must supplant our materialistic, impersonal civilization with a vital, spiritual and personal culture which will fulfill man’s deepest needs and aspirations. Then the folk song can flower again; born of a vigorous life, it will bring for new and beautiful forms.
Thus this small booklet, and those which are to follow, have great ambitions to contribute to the building of a true Christian culture. But great events often proceed from apparently small and hidden causes. The decisive factor in the last analysis rests with you. If you become acquainted with your tradition, if you let these songs mold your taste, if you become again a singing person then we may be optimistic about the musical culture of the future.
Dr. Jop Pollman, Laughing Meadows Songbook, Grailville Publications, 1947
Kathy writes:
Mr Robbins has an interesting point of view, and I have to agree with him that some popular music could qualify as folk-cultural, just not the awful “Horse With No Name”. There are plenty of great popular songs that are better than that (see links below). I have written before about the non-organic roots of Laurel Canyon IC created “rock music”, and Dave McGowan’s contention that part of it’s purpose was to hijack the budding anti-war folk music genre.
The advent of radio, FM radio, TV, music videos, Walkmans, contributed to the atomization of people, and the disintegration of a perceived common culture. I refuse to listen to rap or hip-hop, it is not my culture. It reflects hatred of my culture. I do not deny that it is part of some people’s culture, just not mine. It does not reflect or support what I value. People need to reflect on what they are watching, reading, listening to, because it has impact. The social engineers know this.
Until people interact in a common shared culture, and have no easy access to music made for them, folk music will be a very niche interest.
Laura writes:
I hope you will read Pollman’s essay because I think he explains.
Dec. 3, 2023
Laura writes:
Mr. Robbins has more comments on Pollman’s essay and on points made here. I was not aware of his response until yesterday.
“Folk music” is definitely an ambiguous category and some popular music obviously qualifies. I hope Mr. Robbins has read Pollman’s essay in its entirety. That is the best response to his points.
