Teacher Planbook: Integrating Folk Music, Folklore and Traditional Culture Instruction Into K-12 Education
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
C. Alphonso Smith called for ballad collection in the very first issue of the Virginia Folklore Society Bulletin, in 1913.
STANDARDS FOR FOLKLIFE EDUCATION
The Following Resources on this page are containted in the Standards for Folklife Education. Teaching: folklore; folk music; and culture, curriculum, teacher planners.
We need to remember that folklore is created by "the folk," and not defined or delineated by the folklorists. "The folk" do define their own folklore. That's the way the idea of folklore began. "The folk" were around before folklorists. The term "folklore" actually goes back over 1,000 years, and William Thoms basically re-coined the term in the mid-19th Century. You can find an interesting citation of early uses of an Old English term that looks and sounds a lot like "folklore" in Jeffery Mazzo's 1996 article in "Folklore." One of the interesting things that Mazzo discovered is that "folklore" was in contrast to "book-lore" or 'knowledge advanced within the early academic settings.' Mazzo also shows that "folklore" meant something like "knowledge held in common" in contrast to "book-lore" or the knowledge held by the elite. "What's folk?" but stories and behavior that are rooted in tradition -- not corporate processes.
What is Folklore?
Folklore (in a broader sense, traditional and popular culture) is a group-orientated and tradition-based creation of groups or individuals reflecting the expectations of the community as an adequate expression of its cultural and social identity; its standards and values are transmitted orally, by imitation or by other means. Its forms include, among others, language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts.
There is / was such a thing as "folkloric truth" -- this was "what should be true, whether it was documentable fact or not". From Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" you will find "story-truth" versus "happening-truth." So, maybe it *should* be true, but that don't mean folks should buy it! Don't believe everything you read in a gallery, museum, park, book or website.
Did you hear the story about the cowboy poet who was constantly getting asked to come "perform" at schools and libraries and such, the refrain always being "We can't afford to pay you anything, but it'd be great exposure." To which the cowboy replied, "M'am, in Wyoming people DIE of exposure."
DEFINITION OF FOLK
O.E. from P.Gmc.
folc "common people, men, tribe, multitude,"
*folkom (cf. O.Fris. folk, M.Du. volc, Ger. Volk "people")
*fulka-, perhaps originally "host of warriors;" cf. O.N. folk "people," also "army, detachment;" and Lith. pulkas "crowd," O.C.S. pluku
"division of an army," both believed to have been borrowed from P.Gmc.
Some have attempted, without success, to link the word to Gk. plethos "multitude;" L. plebs "people, mob," populus "people" or vulgus. Superseded in most senses by people. Colloquial folks "people of one's family" first recorded 1715. Folksy "sociable, unpretentious" is 1852, U.S. colloquial, from folks + -y.
FOLKLORE RESOURCES and RESOURCE PEOPLE
- Joe Hickerson ran Library Of Congress Folklore Archive in the 70's
- Dr. Alan Jabbour Director of the American Folklife Center
Dr. Alan Jabbour Appalachian Fiddle Workshop
Culture Maker / Culture Keeper / Scholar and National Treasure.
Where it all begins: Learn about the United States American Folklife Center created by Alan Jabbour: created to engage in a broad range of educational and research activities that preserve, revitalize, and present America's rich and diverse cultural heritage -- a heritage associated with ethnic, regional, and occupational cultures.
Dr. Alan Jabbour - Folklore Protection and National Patrimony: Developments and Dilemmas in the Legal Protection of Folklore PDF
*Dr. Alan Jabbour is a fan of Irish Scholar Peter Tamony - Michael Taft, head of the Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture
The Archive of Folk Culture contains three million objects that document traditional culture from around the world. Michael Taft presents a primer on the technology of Sound Recording (January 6, 2006). Almost every state includes at least one folklorist in their cultural agencies."My view is that there is no such thing as purity or even 'authenticity' in folklife; there is only ongoing and ever-changing creativity of the people. In this respect, there are no endangered cultures, except for those that are in danger of physical obliteration through genocide or ethnic cleansing." - American Folklife Center - A Teachers Guide To Folklife Resources
- FOLK MUSIC LESSONS, LYRICS, CURRICULUM and HISTORY
- FOLKLIFE AND FIELDWORK: "When the first edition of Folklife and Fieldwork was published in 1979 there were only a handful of professional state folklorists. Today nearly every state has a program for documenting and presenting its own folk cultural heritage. Folklife fieldwork has gone beyond its early missions of preservation and scholarship to serve new uses, such as providing information to economists, environmentalists, and community planners. New technologies for preserving and presenting traditional cultural expression have been developed. A new generation of professionally trained folklorists have emerged from university programs, and many now work in state and local organizations to sponsor concerts, website presentations, exhibits, and other cultural heritage programs. But regardless of the number of folklorists available for professional projects or the sophistication of the technology, there is still a need for the participation of all citizens in the process of documenting our diverse traditional culture."
A Teachers Guide To Folklife and Fieldwork Resources. A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques, originally prepared in 1979 by Center folklorist Peter Bartis, and revised in 1990, has once again been revised and updated (2002) and is available free of charge from the American Folklife Center. Copies are available to individuals or for use in workshops and classrooms (up to 50 copies to a single address). Special requests for more than 50 copies will be considered. Please contact Doris Craig at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC,20540-4610. Dcra@loc.gov [202-707-1736] - A Bibliography of Works in Folklore and Education Published between 1929 and 1992
- Folktales In The Classroom
- The American Folklore Society, [AFS] founded in 1888, is an association of people who study folklore and communicate knowledge about folklore throughout the world.
- Lesson Plans & Classroom Materials Ways to Use Primary Sources from the Library of Congress in the Classroom
The following linked pages offer a wide range of teaching strategies and learning activities for K-12 classes in American and world history, civics, politics, the visual arts and literature. Activities and lesson plans contain a wealth of primary source materials and are also designed to teach students the skills and techniques that folklorists, historians, anthropologists, and librarians use in the course of conducting research, interpreting their findings, and presenting the results of their research to the public. - State Arts Agency and Regional Arts Organizations Accessibilty Coordinators
- Online Access to the Journal of American Folklore
The full text of issues of the Journal from Volume 114 (2001) to the present is available online through Project MUSE. Those with access to a university library should have access to the full text of back issues of the Journal from 1888 to five years behind the present through JSTOR. - Folklore and Education Section of the American Folklore Society
- Independent Folklorists
- Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series Online Archives
Radio
- Lesson plan for high schools students that incorporates folklore and radio production skills. Build a Radio Station in your school
- American Routes Nick Spitzer covers the vast American musical landscape
- Alabamian Kevin Nutt's show, Sinner's Crossroads is broadcast and streamed weekly by WFMU.
- National Public Radio Makes audio/print educational materials for folklore
- Arthur Miller: The Accidental Music Collector http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/arthurmiller.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/r4musicdoc
Arthur Miller goes to Wilmington, NC to record
accents, finds himself in the middle of a labor strike, and starts collecting people talking about the strike, and then union songs, and then songs in general--an absolute must hea for its social history as for its music and interviews. Field recordings are AFS 6386-6395: "2 16" discs of interviews and spirituals recorded at mines, foundries, a quarry, trailer camp, employment center, and bus terminal. Recorded by John Langenegger and Arthur Miller in Wilmington, NC, Fall 1941.
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
- Society for Ethnomusicology
- Resources in Ethnographic Studies A Collection of Resources in Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, and Folklife
- Ethnomusicology and Folksong Resources
- Ethnomusicology listserve is archived,searchable, &publically accessible.
- What is an Ethnographic Field Collection?
FOLKLIFE PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS
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World Music & Traditional Folk Music 30,000 year old ivory flute found in Germany is the oldest instrument. - Teachers Find More Folk Music Resources
- Folksong Resources
- Culture of Honor Wassail History Mummers
- Philadelphia Mummers Parade and Tradition - History, club info, picture gallery,
- The Online Archive of American Folk Medicine
- The Southern Folklife Collection
- A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources free to educators
- The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress
- American Folklife Center: A Teacher's Guide to Folklore Resources for K-12 Classrooms
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Public Folklorist Directory
- The American Folklore Society
- Iowa Arts Council Folk & Traditional Life Resources
- LOC Educator's Resource
- The National Council for Traditional Arts, documents traditional arts, Sponsors the National Folk Festival.
- The National Women's History Project
- H.R. 4112 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act 1999, Section on Library of Congress
- Folk School
- Oklahoma Folklife Center
- New And Instructional Resourses Spring 2002 AFS Folklore & Education Section online newsletter is HERE
- LOC Serial Publications
- Publishers of books and mongraphs on Folklore, Ethnomusicology and Folk Music - Mail Order Dealers
- Folk and blues in the schools Cultural Heritage Initiative for Community Outreach (CHICO) School of Information, University of Michigan
- Roadside Memorials on the American Highway
STANDARDS
- Standards For Folklife Education
- National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
- Goals 2000: Arts Education Partnership (formerly known as the Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership)
TECHNOLOGY
- Should Folklorists study the Internet?
- Urban Legends Reference Pages by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson Maintained by The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society ISSN 1532-737X
- Hacker Folklore
Mailing Lists / Listservs
- Publore
- AWSF list is for public sector folklorists working in the American West.
- The Independent Folklorists Mailing List
- Newfolk Mailing List
- Independent Folklorists Mailing List
- BALLAD-L
- Options for Access to JSTOR
Online Projects
NATIONAL CHILDREN'S FOLKSONG REPOSITORY
COLLECT SONGS - BE A JANE OR JONNY APPLE SONG SEED
UF study reports children don't know their folk songs anymore and schools aren't teaching them!
The Historic Electronic Online Archive of Children's Folksongs A Public Folklore Project built by the children of the United States. Empower Children - Integrate Literacy, Music, and Technology into the classroom. Our RHYMING HISTORY
CALL TOLL FREE 1 - 877 - 220 - 0262 |
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TELL US THE NAME OF YOUR SONG + YOUR TOWN + STATE + YOUR NAME + THE YEAR |
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| --> NOW YOU CAN SING OR CHANT YOUR SONG <-- | |
How do you turn children into American citizens?
FOLK MUSIC, SONG LYRICS, STORY TELLING, AND FOLK TALES
THE ORAL TRADITION: From Gossip to Story Telling. Life Lessons Learned by hearing the stories.
The simplest definition of a folk song has it that a folk song is one that singers feel free to change, to make their own; and that it has passed from one generation to the next. ("Generation" is not the demographers' 33 years, but a flexible number. A generation is high school students is four years; of miners about seven, etc.) The word 'Folk' comes from the German 'Volk', meaning peasant, muzhik, serf, helot, sharecropper, and so forth. You can use this definition to separate a "topical" song from a folksong.
FOLK MUSIC started before there was a music industry when the role of music was about your life - about the life and times that most of us don't experience anymore and originally folk music was sung because it helped the people get through life and folk music song lyrics told the stories about their life and work.
K-12 Curriculum Standards, Benchmark
Bind children together, give them something in common using our own fabric of Folktales or choose one of the 50 states to see the folktale from that state.
STORIES & STORY TELLING RESOURCES
FOLKTALES
"Folktales outnumber all other books about American Indians and people from Africa, Asia, & Latin America because folktales are 'safe' and since they belong to the public domain present no copyright or royalty problems. See Folktales like John Henry.