LECTURE 1: Who are the Folk?

Who are the Folk?
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Photograph by Dorothea Lange

The term folk has been around for a while, originating back in the days when there were clear divisions between the upper educated classes and the lower, uneducated classes who tended to live in rural areas, believe in superstitions, recount folktales, and sing “folk” songs. Today, these divisions are less clear, but the term still exists and is used to refer to folks generally living in rural communities who betray three of the following characteristics. These are

1. Oral-aural: folklore, such as songs or stories, are told orally and learned via the oral tradition. This stands in contrast to other methods of learning, such as formal education in a classroom, learning with books, or reading sheet music.
2. Traditional: folklore and songs are passed down and learned orally from generation to generation. Over time these become traditional in the sense that they are old and have a history. Sometimes the composers of folk songs have become long forgotten.
3. Communal: folklore and folk songs tend to reflect the values, beliefs, and attitudes of the local community that performs the music. Remember music reflects culture and music helps reinforce bonds within the community (it brings people together).
   
   

Pop Versus Folk in the Digital Age

Another way to think about the term folk is to contrast it with pop culture. Pop culture tends to rely heavily on technology and media to reach huge numbers of people. Pop is all about the masses, not local communities. Folk is about face-to-face interaction and word of mouth. These modes of communication have been around long before technology enables the distribution of music via recorded formats, including digital mp3s that are downloadable over the Internet. For instance, Appalachian folk music gets heard sitting on a porch with a small gathering of listeners, including family and friends.

Also think in terms of how technology challenges these old folk ways or traditions. Face-to-face interaction has all but been replaced by virtual friendships, and communication between friends occurs to a large extent via texting. When I walk the hallways, I do not often see students talking to each other while waiting for class. Instead, they are engaged with their personal handheld devices.

Think too about how big of a change online education is compared to sitting in front of your instructor in the same room. In the latter setting, students learn from that kind of direct interaction with their professors. Some of that learning occurs on non conscious levels, but it is definitely there.

I am not saying that virtual classrooms and friendships are bad things necessarily. There are trade offs, some good and some not. Sociologists may be able to answer that question better than I. However, if people lose or fail to develop adequate face-to-face social skills due to a reliance upon or addiction to interacting with digital handheld devices, then it is probably not a good thing. Our reliance upon virtual, digital environments could all change suddenly if the great giant plug that fuels the Internet somehow falls out of its socket. Then we would be back to old school communication with a lot of problems to solve.

As for music, in my opinion, sitting on a porch, listening to good musicians and having friendly face-to-face interaction, seems real and genuine, but I am old school. The music is real too, mistakes and all; whereas, pop music comes heavily processed, manipulated in studios, and made to sound like something more than what it is. Folk music is organic, shaped directly by people engaged in the music as listeners and performers in a live social context.

Some pop culture makes for good entertainment and carries value. However, the same can be said about folk music and perhaps more.