folk music

Introduction
The concept of folk music
General characteristics of folk music
- Creation and adaptation
- Transmission and variation
- Compositional patterns
Folk music in society
Performance characteristics of folk music
- Singing styles
- The forms of tunes
- Rhythms and scales
- Polyphony and accompaniment
- Instruments
Folk music in historical context
The study of folk music

References & Edit History Related Topics

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At a Glance

folk music summary

Quizzes

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

Pop Culture Quiz

Related Questions

How are epic folk songs different from ballads?
How can a song belong to both folk music and popular music traditions?
How did Aaron Copland use folk-related musical ideas in American compositions?
How did Alan Lomax classify European folk singing styles?
How did Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák use folk music in Czech art music?
How did Béla Bartók collect and study Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovak folk songs?
How did Edvard Grieg draw on Norwegian folk music?
How did Pete Seeger help revive traditional folk songs in the United States?
How did Protestant Reformation hymns borrow from folk tunes?
How did Renaissance composers use folk tunes in masses and motets?
How did “We Shall Overcome” become associated with the civil rights movement?
How did Woody Guthrie use folk music to express the concerns of rural and working-class Americans?
How did broadside ballads become part of oral folk traditions?
How did folk music help urban ethnic communities in North America maintain group identity?
How did folk rock blend folk music with popular rock music?
How did industrialization and growing cities affect traditional folk music?
How did recordings and mass media change the way folk music is learned?
How did the Nazi and fascist movements use folk songs in military ceremonies?
How did the Soviet Union institutionalize the folk music of ethnic groups after 1945?
How did the ballad “Barbara Allen” develop many versions and tune families?
How do bagpipes use drones in European folk music?
How do drones create harmony in folk music?
How do folk musicians create new songs from existing musical phrases and motifs?
How do the meanings of folk music terms differ among English, German, Hindi, Czech, and Persian speakers?
How does folk dance music commonly organize melodic lines into paired patterns?
How does folk music differ from art music?
How does folk music differ from popular music?
How does oral transmission cause folk songs to change over time?
How does the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle produce its distinctive sound?
How have archives such as the Library of Congress preserved folk music recordings?
How is folk music traditionally passed from one generation to another?
How were South Slavic epic songs performed with the gusla?
What are ballads in folk music?
What is heterophony in Bulgarian, Serbian, and Croatian folk song?
What is the difference between a version, a variant, and a form of a folk song?
What roles do work songs, lullabies, game songs, and ceremonial songs play in communities?
What were broadside ballads, and how were they distributed?
Which European regions are known for singing in parallel thirds?
Which parts of Europe have strong traditions of polyphonic folk singing?
Why are many folk songs anonymous even though individuals originally composed them?
Why are many folk songs strophic?
Why did 19th-century collectors sometimes change folk songs when publishing them?
Why did guitars become important instruments in folk and popular music?
Why did interest in folk music increase among European intellectuals in the late 18th century?
Why did nationalist movements encourage the preservation of folk music in the 19th century?
Why do folk tunes change when they move across ethnic or national boundaries?
Why does the presence of polyphony not make one folk tradition more advanced than another?
Why is folk music often connected to work, rituals, games, and community events?
Why is participation important in traditional folk music performances?
How did ska music gain international appeal?
How did reggae music evolve from ska?
What is the connection between reggae and the Rastafarian movement?
What is world music?
When did the Grammy Awards introduce the world music category?
What is the blues?
Where did the blues get its name?
How did the blues begin as a musical genre?
How does blues music sound?
What are the origins of country music?

Entertainment & Pop Culture Popular Music Genres Folk Music

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External Websites

CUNY Pressbooks Network - Understanding Music: BMCC Edition - Folk Music
IndiaNetzone - Indian Folk Music
Humanities LibreTexts - Folk Music to Popular Music
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas - Folk Music
University of Baltimore OER Press - Contribution to Knowledge: Reflections on Ways of Knowing - The Power of Folk Music
LiveAbout - The History of American Folk Music

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

folk music - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
folk music - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Lead Belly American folk-blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lead Belly.

folk music

performing arts

Written by

Bruno Nettl

Emeritus Professor of Music and of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Author of The Study of Ethnomusicology; Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents.

Bruno Nettl

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

folk music, type of traditional and generally rural music that originally was passed down through families and other small social groups. Typically, folk music, like folk literature, lives in oral tradition; it is learned through hearing rather than reading. It is functional in the sense that it is associated with other activities, and it is primarily rural in origin. The usefulness of the concept varies from culture to culture, but it is most convenient as...

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