The Challenge of Defining Folk Music as a Whole

Through Bruno Nettl's An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States, we finally get a clear, descriptive study on folk music and an attempt to define it. After spending such a long time going over folk music, it was frustrating to not find a clear definition of it. Nettl says in his novel, “The notion that folk music is very old has played a part in the problem of defining it,” but I quickly learned that folk music wasn't only hard to define because of its age, but also because of its conflicting factors. Nettl uses several different comparisons within the realm of folk music to dissect this genre and help us create our own definition of folk music. 

I developed my definition through comparisons Nettl made in his novel. 

Folk Music vs. Cultivated Music

In the novel we learn that Nettl believes there is a strong difference between folk music and this "cultivated music." Cultivated music is really defined as music that is part of a culture that has been passed down through written tradition, making cultivated music a type of music that is very cookie-cutter and easily defined. The reality is that some folk music is cultivated music because folk music came long before cultivated music and folk music "has a life quite independent of its characteristic qualities." Folk music has something called style. 

Folk Music vs. So-Called Primitive Music

Primitive music to Nettl brought us back to the form of tradition this music was brought through history. Since all folk music started somewhere, it had to be passed along through a certain form. The form music is passed on through is the deciding factor of which category it is placed into. Primitive music, according to Nettl, is music from a culture passed on through oral tradition. The issue here is that Nettl is saying that primitive music only comes from cultures that lack literacy, where the music is used for ceremonial and religious events. 

Simple vs. Complex

In primitive and cultivated music, the purpose behind that music was for events, ceremonies, religion, and entertainment. It was also a strong form of communication and pastime. Because of that, Nettl describes primitive and cultivated music as complex. Folk music is, therefore, simple. It's placed in these easy forms such as AAA, AABA, ABBA, etc., making them easy to remember and simple to perform. Simplicity brings out unity where complexity brings out diversity. 

Changing Through Communal Re-creation vs. Unchanging Over Time 

Phillips Bary describes re-creation as "individual pieces of music in written tradition do not change appreciably in their performance over the years, but pieces of folk music do (the making of variants). This is the greatest distinguishing feature in folk music as opposed to cultivated music." Folk music is constantly being adapted to new forms and new sounds. It is taking from the old, using the aspects learned from the old, to created newer and more innovative music, whereas cultivated music is never-changing.

Passive vs. Participatory

There are two types of people involved in music, the listeners and the creators. Within folk music, we are inspired to become both a listener and a creator. It's the nature of folk music. Think about nursery rhymes and educational music. It's so simple and involving, it is the bare bones folk music that brings out the listener and the creator in us. That's the problem with cultivated music, the complexity behind it scares off the natural creators in us and exclusively turns us into listeners. 

Functional vs. Narrative

This comparison really takes us back to simple vs. complex. With function comes the question of how complex something needs to be to work towards the goal of the music. Music without a function belongs in a more complex society, pushing it farther away from the characteristics of folk music. Narrative music brings out a message, narrates an emotion. That is what folk music is all about. Complexity is disregarded and simplicity is embraced. The goal is to tell a story or emit a feeling. 

Nettl's constant comparisons in his novel really helped me to come to a conclusion for my definition of folk music. Although I think his wording could've been less distasteful, I agree with a lot of the points he makes about folk music. Folk music is a difficult type of music to describe. It is so vast and ever-changing. I admire Nettl's attempt to explain it all, but it is really impossible to describe something so infinitely dynamic. 

My definition: folk music is music of some simple or complex variety, originating from oral or written tradition, mastered throughout history and currently, in an manner that tells a story either through a portrayal of musical emotion and/or with lyrical creativity.