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Folk Music of Kentucky
Advocate-Messenger article on Lee Sexton
Centre College article on course
FRS 167 Syllabus Revision 1.2 (January 14, 2007)S
Instructor
Professor Nathan Link
Office: Grant Hall, Room 314
Office Hours: MWF 10:20–11:20, 2:50–3:50
Preferred email address: nathan.link@gmail.com
Meeting Time and Place
M-F, 1:00-4:00, including a short break. Generally Grant 403, but for certain presentations and performances we will meet in Grant 114
Course Description
We will examine the rich traditions of folk music in Kentucky, focusing especially on Appalachian fiddle-tunes, early folk songs, and Bluegrass, investigating as well those musical genres which exerted the most influence on these traditions, including the music of the British Isles and early American blues. In addition to various reading and listening assignments, the course will include lecture/performances by a number of local musicians.
Required Materials
Goldsmith, Thomas, ed. The Bluegrass Reader. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Malone, Bill C. Country Music, U.S.A. 2nd rev. ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Malone, Bill C., and David Stricklin. Southern Music/American Music. Rev. ed. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
Wolfe, Charles K. Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1982.
Course Outline
Attendance: Attendance is expected at all class meetings. Excused absences will be granted either with prior approval, with written confirmation of a medical condition, or through official college permission. (To receive an excused absence, you must either consult the staff at Parson's Health Center, or contact Associate Dean Bill Johnston.) The first unexcused absence will result in a 3% deduction from the final grade for the course, the second an additional 6% (so 9% total), the third an additional 9% (so 18% total), and so on. For example, if you averaged 95%, which would have been an A, but had three unexcused absences, your grade would be reduced to 77%, and you would receive a C+ instead of an A for the course. Furthermore, quizzes, tests, and presentations can only be made up in cases of excused absences. In other words, if you are absent, unexcused, on the day of a test or presentation, you will receive a grade of zero for that test or presentation.
Communication: I will check my e-mail on a daily basis, and will make every respond to all e-mails within 24 hours. I ask that you also check your Centre e-mail account at least once a day in order to stay abreast of any announcements or unexpected changes.
Class participation: Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the readings and compositions previously assigned. Full participation in class discussion is an important component of the final grade.
Listening Assignments: Listen carefully to each track assigned, at least once, perhaps more than that. Not only will you be quizzed on the pieces, but you must also be prepared to discuss the assigned pieces—I will often call on a particular student (“Gerald, what did you think of piccolo part on Crazy Joe McGee's version of “I Done Caught me a Fish?”), so be prepared!
Reading Assignments: Read each assignment thoroughly. Not only will you be quizzed on the readings, but you must also be prepared to discuss them in class—I will often call on a particular student (“Matilda, do you agree with Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt's assertion, which he makes in Chapter 2 of your assigned reading, that all guitars are made out of chalk? Why or why not?) so be prepared!
Ballad Presentation: On Thursday January 4, you will give, in groups of four, a presentation on a particular folk ballad. The specifics of this assignment will be covered in class on Wednesday January 3.
Short Reading Quiz: There will be a relatively short quiz on Friday 1/5, covering the assigned readings for that day.
Ballad Prose Project: On Monday, you will hand in a prose narration of a ballad. The specifics of this assignment will be covered in class on Wednesday January 3.
Unit Tests: The two Unit Tests will combine a written component with a listening component. The written component might include multiple-choice, short answer, or short essay questions. The listening component will consist of a series of
“needle-drop” excerpts: you will hear an approximately one-minute passage from a recording you have been assigned, and will be asked one or more questions about that piece (You will almost certainly be required to indicate the title and performer of the piece, and might additionally be asked about issues covered in class. Each Unit Test will cover all reading assignments, listening assignments, and class discussions through to the previous class day. The first Unit Test, then, to be given Tuesday, January 9th, will cover all reading, listening, and in-class activity from 1/3 through 1/8. Please note: You will be tested on information imparted by our guest visitors, as well as any material that we might cover in class that is not addressed in the reading. Note that there will be no Unit Test on Unit 3.
Final Exam: The final exam will similarly consist of two components: listening and written, following essentially the same parameters as the Unit Tests. This exam will be cumulative—you will be responsible for everything we have covered throughout the course.
Presentation: Each student will be asked to give an oral presentation, up to thirty minutes in length, on a topic of his or her choice, which must be approved by the instructor.
Grading
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Class Participation (cumulative) 25%
Group Presentation: Ballads Thu 1/4 5%
Short Reading Quiz Fri 1/5 5%
Ballad Prose Assignment Mon 1/8 5%
Unit Test 1 Tue 1/9 10%
Individual Presentation Mon 1/15 15%
Unit Test 2 Wed 1/17 10%
Final Exam Wed 1/24 25%
Grading Scale
92–100 A
89–91 A-
86–88 B+
82–85 B
79–81 B-
76–78 C+
72–75 C
69–71 C-
60–68 D
59 or below U
Preliminary Schedule
Note: This schedule is likely to change from time to time, depending on such factors as scheduling conflicts with the guests, time allotment, student interests and issues, etc. If and when this happens, I will provide you a revised syllabus.
Unit 1: Ballads and Ballad-Singers
Wednesday 3 January
Class
Preliminaries
Introductions
Syllabus
Oral traditions. Ballad traditions.
Analysis: “Wind and Rain”
Assignments (for 1/4)
Group Presentation: (See assignment sheet)
Listening: CD 1a: “Collected Ballads”
Thursday 4 January
***Student group presentations: ballad case studies***
Class
Group Presentations: Pretty Polly,
Assignments (for 1/5)
Reading
Malone 2002, 1-16
Wolfe, 1-18
Malone and Stricklin, 1-38
Listening: CD 1b: John Jacob Niles
Friday 5 January
***Short reading quiz***
Class
Lecture/Discussion: Kentucky Geography and History, John Jacob Niles, Homer Ledford
Guest speaker/performer Conrad Shiba: The dulcimer and the ballad tradition
Assignments (for 1/8)
Reading
Niles, xiii-xxvi
Alvey, 1-50
Listening: CD 1c: Jean Ritchie
Monday 8 January
***Ballad Prose Assignment Due***
Class
Lecture/Discussion: Jean Ritchie
Guest speaker/performer Carla Gover, singer, banjoist, and guitarist
Assignment (for 1/9)
Reading: Ritchie 1988, 1-77
Tuesday 9 January
***Unit 1 Test : Ballads***
Class
Film viewing and discussion: Songcatcher
Assignments (for 1/10)
Listening: CD 2a: J. P. Fraley
Unit 2: Appalachian Instrumental Traditions
Wednesday 10 January
Class
Appalachian Instrumental Music: Introduction
Guest speakers/performers: Barb Kuhns and Doug Smith, fiddler and guitarist
Assignments (for 1/11)
Reading: Malone, 31-75
Listening: CD 2b: Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes
Thursday 11 January
Class
Guest performer, Jack Link, fiddler
Introduction to the Banjo
Assignments
Reading
Gura and Bollman, 1-73
Titon, 1-19
Milnes, 1-21
Listening: CD 2c: Lee Sexton and Banjo Bill Cornett
Friday 12 January
Class
Guest: Lee Sexton, banjoist and singer
Assignment
Reading: Conway (pages TBA)
Monday 15 January
***Individual student presentations 1***
Assignments (for 1/16)
(No reading assignment)
Listening
Listening CD 2d: Roscoe Holcomb, Owen “Snake” Chapman, Fiddlin' Doc Roberts
Tuesday 16 January
Guest speaker: John Harrod, Collecting fiddle-songs
String Band Music. Guests: John Harrod, Jack Link, Conrad Shiba
(No Assignments—prepare for Test 2)
Wednesday January 17
***Unit 2 Test: Instrumental Traditions***
Class
Film viewing and discussion: O brother, where art thou?
Thursday 18 January
***Individual student presentations 2***
Assignments (for 1/19)
Reading
Wolfe, 96-129
Goldsmith, ed.
“Introduction: From the Big Bang to the Big Time,” 1-34
“An Introduction to Bluegrass,” 77-90
Listening: CD 3a: Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys
Unit 3: Bluegrass
Friday 19 January
Class
Introduction to Bluegrass
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys
Assignments
Reading: Goldsmith, ed.
“Bossman Bill Monroe,” 35
“Kenny Baker,” 178-83
“Bill Monroe—The Daddy of Blue Grass Music,” 137-140
“Going Back to Old Kentucky: Ricky Skaggs Rediscovers the Rules of Bluegrass,” 319-323.
Listening: CD 3b: Stanley Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, Flatt and Scruggs
Monday 22 January
Class
Stanley Brothers
Ricky Scaggs
Assignments (for 1/22)
Reading: Goldsmith, ed.
“Hot Rize, Pete Wernick's Secret Ingredient,” 239-45
“Country Artist of the Year: Allison Krauss,” 277-278
“Little Darlin's Not My Name,” 282-87
“Is there a Link between Bluegrass Musicianship and Sexuality?,” 288-297
“'Women in Bluegrass': Keynote Address at the IBMA Trade Show,” 298-304
“Keynote: Bones to Pick,” 305-07
“First Christmas without Bill,” 308-311
Listening
CD 3c: Women Bluegrassers
CD 3d: Hot Rize, Bela Fleck
Tuesday 23 January
Class
Gender Issues, Newgrass
(No assignments for 1/24—study for final exam)
Wednesday January 24
***Final Exam***
Film viewing and discussion: Songcatcher
Bibliography
Alvey, R. Gerald. Dulcimer Maker: The Craft of Homer Ledford. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1984.
Child, Francis James, Helen Sargent, and George Lyman Kittredge. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1904.
Conway, Cecelia. African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia : A Study of Folk Traditions. 1st ed. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.
Goldsmith, Thomas, ed. The Bluegrass Reader. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinios Press, 2004.
Gura, Philip F., and James F. Bollman. America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth-Century. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
Malone, Bill C. Country Music, U.S.A. 2nd rev. ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Malone, Bill C., and David Stricklin. Southern Music/American Music. Rev. ed. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky
Milnes, Gerald. Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1999.
Niles, John Jacob. The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. New ed. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2000.
Ritchie, Jean. Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie: 77 Traditional Songs, Tunes, and Ballads from the Singing of Jean Ritchie and the Ritchie Family, with Guitar Chords and Notes on the Songs. [New York]: Oak Publications, 1965.
———. Singing Family of the Cumberlands. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1988.
Ritchie, Jean, and George Pickow. The Swapping Song Book. New York,: Oxford University Press, 1952.
Sharp, Cecil James, and Olive Dame Campbell. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. Edited by Maud Karpeles. 2nd and enl. ed. London ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
Shearin, Hubert G., and Josiah Henry Combs. A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs. 43 p. ; 23 cm. vols, Transylvania University Studies in English 2. Lexington, Ky.: Transylvania Print. Co., 1911.
Titon, Jeff Todd. Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
Tribe, Ivan M. Country: A Regional Exploration. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006.
Warner, Anne, Frank Warner, Jeff Warner, and Jerome S. Epstein. Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne & Frank Warner Collection. 1st ed. [Syracuse, N.Y.]: Syracuse University Press, 1984.
Wolfe, Charles K. Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.