Defining Folk Music

Over the past week, a main objective of our class has been to find a suitable definition for folk music. At first glance, you wouldn't think this would be a difficult task. However, it is not that simple. Should it be defined by it's social importance, or should we define it solely by a single unique sound that it conveys? After thinking it over, I came up with what I consider a good overall definition: "Simple down to earth music created for the purpose of telling a stories and bringing people together." While I understand that most music is created to tell a story, folk music is unique in the fact that it is not limited to professional musicians. Anyone - whether they are professionally trained or not - can create music to tell their own story. 

In Bruno Nettl's essay An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States, he too attempts to provide a concrete definition of folk music. At first, he does this by comparing what is considered "folk music" to what he calls "cultivated" and "primitive" music. In this instance, "cultivated" means music created by trained musicians, often professionals. "Primitive" music is the exact opposite - music created by common folk, often what he described as "pre-literate". I look at these two types of music (primitive and cultivated) as the two extremes of folk music. Folk music can be created by people with little to no education, played for only themselves or a few people. On the other hand, we see trained professionals today who play folk in front of sold-out arenas. This is a large part of why folk music is so unique, as theres is such a large variety of types of people who listen and play it.

Two other words used a lot when defining folk music are the contrasting "simple" and "complex". Both words can have different implications when describing styles of music. Most genres - including folk - carry the best of both worlds. To me, folk is generally simple in the fact that most songs follow fairly basic chord progressions and melodies, with phrasing that is not so complex. However, as I said in my own definition of folk music the stories that many folk songs tell are indeed complex and require thought and analysis. Again, not all folk music falls under these guidelines but in general this can be considered true. This is contrasted against much of popular music nowadays. Today, even amateur bands and artists can gain access to professional sound recording equipment, making their music sound sophisticated and complex, even if the underlying message or story is rather basic or cliche. Similarly, the increasing popularity of instrumental electronic/techno music often times is produced extremely well, with amazing sound and complexity. However, it may lack any resemblance of a  story or message whatsoever. Therefore I make my case that most music has complexities, just some appear in different forms than others. This is why I don't necessarily agree with the statement "folk music is simple". It simply is not as clear-cut as that.