Participation Type
Workshop
Session Title
Session 10.11 Music
Session Abstract or Summary
Experience, sing, and/or play traditional Northern Appalachian music from the unpublished Samuel Bayard Folk Song Collection and consider how its source-singers communicate to a new century.
Penn State folklorist Samuel P. Bayard collected traditional English-language songs, ballads and spirituals during the early twentieth century, concentrating on rich but largely unrecorded sources in the Appalachian counties of Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia. Focusing on material from Pennsylvania and Marshall County, northwestern West Virginia, workshop attendees will experience selections from Bayard’s northern Appalachian ballads, songs, and spirituals. They will note the source singers’ backgrounds, and explore the songs’ context, relationship to the larger tradition, and meaning for contemporary hearers. Emphasis will be placed on encountering as many songs and source singers as possible. Music and lyrics will be provided so that all may follow, sing or play along. Those who would like to play should bring a musical instrument. A few extra instruments will be available. There will be a brief presentation about Bayard's large and substantially unpublished collection and a very brief update on Dearest Home's Bayard project, which is bringing these songs to life in a twenty-first century context.
Presentation #1 Title
Old Westmoreland: Northern Appalachian ballads, songs, and spirituals from the unpublished Bayard Folk Song Collection
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Experience, sing, and/or play traditional Northern Appalachian music from the unpublished Samuel Bayard Folk Song Collection and consider how its source-singers communicate to a new century. Penn State folklorist Samuel P. Bayard collected traditional English-language songs, ballads and spirituals during the early twentieth century, concentrating on rich but largely unrecorded sources in the Appalachian counties of Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia. Focusing on material from Pennsylvania and Marshall County, northwestern West Virginia, workshop attendees will experience selections from Bayard’s northern Appalachian ballads, songs, and spirituals. They will note the source singers’ backgrounds, and explore the songs’ context, relationship to the larger tradition, and meaning for contemporary hearers. Emphasis will be placed on encountering as many songs and source singers as possible. Music and lyrics will be provided so that all may follow, sing or play along. Those who would like to play should bring a musical instrument. A few extra instruments will be available. There will be a brief presentation about Bayard's large and substantially unpublished collection and a very brief update on Dearest Home's Bayard project, which is bringing these songs to life in a twenty-first century context.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
The Rev. Beth Folkemer presents songs and ballads from North America, the British Isles and Ireland, and Civil War era music. With "Dearest Home" she records selections from the unpublished Samuel Bayard Collection and is preparing a book of arrangements. With the Rev. Dr. Stephen Folkemer she has published Of the Land and Seasons: A Folk Song Paraphrase Setting of Holy Communion, highlighting rural life and care of earth.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Margaret Folkemer presents songs and ballads from North America, the British Isles and Ireland. With the band “Dearest Home” she records selections from the unpublished Samuel Bayard Collection, along with other Appalachian and Civil War era music. A graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, she professionally performs medieval, baroque and classical music, and she is Director of Music Ministries at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Hanover, PA.
Old Westmoreland: Northern Appalachian ballads, songs, and spirituals from the unpublished Bayard Folk Song Collection
Experience, sing, and/or play traditional Northern Appalachian music from the unpublished Samuel Bayard Folk Song Collection and consider how its source-singers communicate to a new century. Penn State folklorist Samuel P. Bayard collected traditional English-language songs, ballads and spirituals during the early twentieth century, concentrating on rich but largely unrecorded sources in the Appalachian counties of Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia. Focusing on material from Pennsylvania and Marshall County, northwestern West Virginia, workshop attendees will experience selections from Bayard’s northern Appalachian ballads, songs, and spirituals. They will note the source singers’ backgrounds, and explore the songs’ context, relationship to the larger tradition, and meaning for contemporary hearers. Emphasis will be placed on encountering as many songs and source singers as possible. Music and lyrics will be provided so that all may follow, sing or play along. Those who would like to play should bring a musical instrument. A few extra instruments will be available. There will be a brief presentation about Bayard's large and substantially unpublished collection and a very brief update on Dearest Home's Bayard project, which is bringing these songs to life in a twenty-first century context.
