II - Notes on the Songs and on Manners of Singing

Summary

14. Adherence to a dynamic level throughout the song as a whole

With few exceptions, the singers of these songs maintain approximately the same level of loudness or softness from phrase to phrase and from stanza to stanza throughout the song. The calculated gradations of broad dynamic levels so characteristic of fine-art performance, with emphasis on climax and morendo, is not typical of the folk singing recorded on these discs.

Among the freer singing-styles will be found recordings which exhibit considerable dynamic detail within the phrase—as, for instance, that of Darling Corey, a fragment of which is given below, with dynamics roughly indicated,

The dynamic change in stanza 4 of Go Down, Ol’ Hannah, though slightly more extensive, is still within the limits of the phrase.

15. Adherence to a dramatic level throughout the song as a whole

With few exceptions, the singer sets the dramatic mood at the beginning of the song and maintains that mood throughout. Dramatization in the conventional style of fine-art performance, with emphasis on fluctuation of mood, is scarcely ever heard on these discs. The singer does not try to make the song mean more, or less, than it does. No special emphasis is given to words or to details which the sophisticated singer would tend to point up. The strong dramatic conviction with which the singer begins his song underlies each stanza from first to last; the gay stanza, or the comic, is sung in precisely the same manner of musical expression as the tragic or dignified. The tune makes no compromises, is no slower nor faster, no softer nor louder. There is no climax—the song “just stops.”

The few exceptions to this general practice which do occur will be found, for the most part, among the come-all-ye's and the Negro hollers. Experience with this collection would suggest, however, that even among these freer songs, fluctuation of mood is more often induced by musical than by linguistic requirements.

16. Adherence to the tempo set at the beginning of the song

a. Infrequency of long ritardandos from the beginning to the end of the song as a whole

The singer, once he has set his tempo, usually sticks to it throughout the song without substantial deviation.