Folk What Music Means To Me

            Since starting this unit on folk music, the definition of folk music has changed. Before coming to Ithaca, I would listen to music in the comfort of my room or with my friends because I enjoyed the simplicity of the music and lyrics. Now that I am in Ithaca, a town that is filled with the folk music, my view and passion for this genre of music grew. For the first time, I was able to see how music is able to bring forth a community and rejoice in the sounds that their neighbor or friend has created. Currently, I would have to say that my definition of folk music is a combination of my thoughts before and after arriving in Ithaca. Folk music is, at least to me, simple music that brings a community together by making the listener think. In the cases that we talked about in class, a lot of the issues that musicians want to highlight are social change.

            I believe the category that was most useful was the discussion between oral tradition vs. written is a very important topic to bring up. I feel like many people believe that folk is made singularly by a singer/songwriter. An interesting thought that Nettl brought up in this writing is the idea of oral tradition. I thought it was interesting the idea of oral tradition because, bringing a classical song into the modern age, many singers had there own spin into a song. For example, in class we listen to “Blowin’ In The Wind,” which was originally a song written by Bob Dylan. Now, although the idea of oral tradition falls into the category of religious music, I believe this song plays a very good example in oral tradition. Years after Bob Dylan released the song; Peter Paul and Mary released their version of the song, adding a music deeper meaning to it. The overall idea of adding vocal harmony to a three-person group vs. Bob Dylan performing solo adds to the idea of oral tradition; passing a song down to each generation.

            An idea that I personally don’t agree with was his idea of professionalism vs. “common folk.” I personally don’t think that there needs to be a separation between the two. I believe that folk music was created for the people, by the people for a functional cause. Although many agree that there are many nonprofessional groups performing folk music, there are many professionals who have the same amount of impact on a community. Again, looking at “Blowin’ In The Wind,” Peter Paul and Mary are a professional group spreading the word of social justice during the time of the Civil Rights movement. They were able to spread the world of social justice as professional folk musicians.  

            The idea of the song including something about change is something I think Nettl should have talked about. I remember in class, we discussed the idea of the song asking the listener a question and answering the question with what they believe. In a majority of songs that we listened to in class, the songwriter is trying to convey a point through the song. The idea of what the lyrics play in the song is incredibly important to any song, but especially in folk music.

            Folk music can come in many forms but its sense of community for be everlasting. I believe that Nettl wrote compared different forms of folk music to get the reader to really think about folk music. Some points we are able to agree with, other we are not. But what we can be certain of is folk music’s functioning purpose in society; to bring a community together.