Abstract
This article highlights a group ballad project which is a part of student experiences in Sing and Shout!, a course that integrates academic study with singing and song writing to develop a deeper understanding of problems in society. Students explore the intricacies of song composition and social consciousness drawn from past events that reflect the effects of cultural, political, technological, and natural change. And, by extension, they continue the folk tradition by reliving their own stories in the ballads they create. A brief history of the ballad, sequence of instruction, and resources are included so that others can use the ballad-writing experience as a means for students to understand the value of collaboration to achieve artistic goals, the role of music as an expression of social consciousness, and the power of song as voices join together with a common purpose.
Decisions we make shape the rest of our lives, they shape the rest of our lives.
This refrain, to “Blowin’ in the Wind,” is from a ballad created by a group of university students about a fatal drunk driving accident on campus. As the student composers sing their ballad for their peers, a slide presentation features photos of young people who were killed during the past year by drunk drivers across the country. In the final verse, the refrain is changed: Decisions we make stain the rest of our lives, they stain the rest of our lives. At the conclusion of the song, the entire class is in tears.
These students are enrolled in Sing and Shout! The History of America in Song, a general education course at the University of Connecticut. They come from all majors. The purpose? To study the history and culture of America through immersion in the creative expression of American folk songs, games, and dances associated with population movements and critical moments in our country’s past. Folk traditions reflect the lives of ordinary people. Equally important, when students understand their role and function, they gain a new appreciation for how earlier generations of Americans responded to immigration, war, slavery, changes in technology, unemployment, and natural disasters. They, then, demonstrate their understanding of these traditions by creating their own songs and singing games.
One project is to create a ballad in response to events and conditions in the world, that is, to use music as a tool to develop “social consciousness.” 1 The purpose is to view a situation from a different perspective and begin to contribute to the greater good through collaborative actions to produce an artistic product (Schlitz, Vieten, & Miller, 2010).
The model for this project is the mid-16th century broadside ballad of the British Isles. Historically, these ballads served to foster commentary on current events through the construction of new lyrics set to traditional tunes. In Sing and Shout!, current events, music, language arts, and visual arts are integrated to create contemporary broadside ballads intended to impact the audience. Through this process, artistic perceptions, creative expression, and aesthetic values are developed as ballads are created that promote the well-being of others while also meeting several National Standards in Music (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994). 2
The purpose of this article is to share ballad history, resources, project descriptions, and results so that teachers may adapt the material for use in secondary general music classes.
History
If you ask a student to define the word “ballad,” most would probably say it is “a slow, love song.” That might be true today, but historically, the ballad is a song that tells a story. The traditional ballad of the British Isles and Western Europe, which developed between 1300 and 1500, is a narrative song with from 5 to 20 verses, sung a cappella by a solo singer. The stories are dramatic, with lyrics about love, death, honor, and betrayal, and common references to the mystical and supernatural (Nettl, 1976). These ballads were passed on by the aural/oral tradition for generations. As they changed over time, numerous variants developed. The ballad, “Barbara Allen,” for example, is purported to have more than 400 variants.
The methods for transmitting music in general and ballads in particular changed in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. By the early 16th century, a new type of ballad emerged in the British Isles, the broadside ballad. These ballads consisted of newly-composed lyrics about current events and issues sung to common folk song melodies. Lyrics were printed on a single sheet of paper, called broadsides, adorned with woodcut illustrations. They were performed in taverns, theaters, and on street corners. In addition to generating profits for the author and the publisher, the ballads also become a tool for “sharing the news.” Typically, broadside ballads did not last as long as traditional ballads because as the “issue” faded, so did the song; however, the most popular broadside ballads became traditional ballads over time (Place & Cohen, 2000).
Early colonists brought traditional and broadside ballads with them to the United States. These Scottish, Irish, and British immigrants settled in the rural Appalachia region, relatively isolated from innovations in manufacturing, commerce, and technology. This isolation allowed them to maintain their traditional ballad singing for generations in places such as Madison County, North Carolina (King & Roberts, 2005). American broadside ballads were written by the thousands, often reporting and commenting on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, workers’ strikes, and disasters such as floods, coal mine collapses, and train wrecks. Although their literary quality varied, they always reflected the attitudes that were significantly influenced by social, political, and natural upheavals of the time. Studying them uncovers a side of history that history textbooks often omit.
The ballad tradition in America was not exclusive to Anglo or European Americans. Other groups engaged in them as well. The African American ballad tradition, with roots in the English ballad tradition, peaked from 1890 to 1920. They included songs that addressed “abusive White authority figures,” and “blues ballads” (Pearson, 2006). Along the border between Texas and Mexico, the corrido flourished from the time of the Mexican–American War through the 20th century. 3 Created by Mexican Americans, this tejano music featured stories of oppression and the quest to gain socioeconomic, political, and racial equality (Peña, 1996). 4
By the early 20th century, a strong interest had developed in preserving folk traditions. Cecil Sharp (1859–1924), the well-known British folk song historian, and Maud Karpeles (1885–1976) collected traditional Scottish and English ballads from the Appalachian Mountain region. John Lomax (1867–1948) and later his son, Alan Lomax (1915–2002), scoured the country seeking authentic ballads and other folk songs. The Lomaxes encouraged traditional ballad singers such as Huddie William “Lead Belly” Ledbetter (1888–1949), “Tom” Clarence Ashley (1895–1967), and Almeda Riddle (1898–1986) to share their traditional music with a wider audience through recordings (preserved by the Library of Congress) and live performances.
During this period, folk songs also were used to respond to social injustice. Some of these “protest” songs were broadsides, others were newly composed, but all were used to motivate and inspire people to become more active and vocal in addressing poor working conditions, poverty, and other social ills that plagued the country. Pete Seeger was a motivating force in this movement. He sang traditional ballads, broadsides, and his own protest songs with The Almanac Singers and The Weavers, as well as in his solo performances. Seeger, along with Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) and The Almanacs, inspired young musicians like Bob Dylan (b. 1941) and Joan Baez (b. 1941) and set the stage for the 1950s–1960s folk music revival.
Seeger and Malvina Reynolds (1900–1978) revived the broadside ballad tradition in the 1960s, and encouraged Sis Cunningham (1909–2004) and Gordon Friesen (1909–1996) to publish a periodical to share contemporary folk songs. The result was Broadside Magazine, which featured ballads by contemporary folk singers about current issues such as nuclear weapons, civil rights, war, environmental concerns, and human rights (Place & Cohen, 2000). Since major record companies were not interested in recording or giving radio time to songs with controversial lyrics, Broadside Magazine provided a means for folk musicians to spread their music and voice their concerns (Place & Cohen, 2000). Bob Dylan was the most notable writer of protest ballads in the 1960s, and since that time, Bruce Springsteen (b. 1949) and others have continued the broadside tradition by writing songs about current events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Resources
Recordings, videos, and books about the history, people, and songs associated with the ballad traditions and folk revival are readily available (see Table 1). Smithsonian Folkways has an extensive list of recordings featuring various ballad singers and time periods, including Selections from the Best of Broadside 1962–1988: Anthems of the American Underground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine. Alan Lomax’s independent archive of recordings is now available online for free and Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection of CDs is available through Smithsonian Folkways. Folkstreams is a website with documentaries on American art and culture, including one about Almeda Riddle and another on the ballad tradition in Madison County, North Carolina. Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, a film on Seeger’s remarkable life, is available for purchase and on YouTube (2007), a treasure trove of videos on traditional and contemporary folk singers and folk song collectors. Folk song collections edited by Cecil Sharp, John Lomax, Allan Lomax and Pete Seeger feature traditional and broadside ballads and are in many school libraries. Copies of The People’s Song Book (Hille, 1948), a collection of American protest songs, can be found in many libraries and on Amazon.com.
Resources.
“Inez,” a song about the criminal justice system, has explicit lyrics from a rape trial.
Ballad Project Description
The goal of the project is to create a broadside ballad about a current event, situation, idea, or concern that will captivate the interest of a large group of people. The ballads included are appropriate for all ages; activities can be adapted at the discretion of the teacher.
Preparatory Activities
Preparatory activities begin 2 to 4 weeks prior to the project assignment to ensure the requisite knowledge and skills and for the experience to be a meaningful one.
First, student surveys are administered to learn about personal information, previous music experience, and comfort level with singing alone and in a group. Collaborative learning experiences designed around work and academic situations are integral to the process, because, as research suggests, previous experience helps college students to foster more successful future collaborations (Colbeck, Campbell, & Bjorklund, 2000). This information is used later to organize ballad groups of four to six students that are balanced in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, music abilities, and collaborative experience.
Several traditional and broadside ballads are then selected for singing and analysis. Lyrics are posted on electronic slides with the accented syllables underlined to strengthen the feeling for the meter of the verse when singing. From these ballads, three are chosen to provide melodies for the project; “Barbara Allen,” “Froggie Went a Courtin’,” or “Golden Vanity” as narrative ballads, and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which represents a newer, lyrical style. These ballads meet the following requirements: (a) they provide a variety of forms, tempos, meters, and rhyme schemes; (b) they have melodies that are easy to sing and recall; and (c) they exemplify a variety of emotional states. For example, “Froggie Went a Courtin’,” is a good melody for a comic broadside, but it can work just as well for satire on a serious subject. The melody for “Barbara Allen” has tragic connotations, but it can also be used to “deadpan” a comic subject. “Golden Vanity” sounds upbeat but can also have a disastrous ending, whereas “Blowin’ in the Wind” is more reflective. We sing these ballads for several classes until the tunes are “in their ears.”
A basic understanding of musical and poetic meter is needed to write lyrics that fit well with a chosen melody. To gain familiarity with musical meter, students are asked to tap the beat to a familiar song in duple time such as “Yankee Doodle” and are taught to distinguish between strong and weak beats by “conducting” the song, with simple up and down hand motions (“down” motions are accented beats). Finally, they sing the words to make the association between accented musical beats and accented syllables.
The most common poetic meter in traditional ballads is iambic (“ta-TUM”), with an accent on the second of two syllables. Two metrical schemes predominate: common meter and ballad meter. A typical common meter verse consists of four lines in which each line of verse has four accented syllables (tetrameter). Ballad meter consists of four lines in alternating tetrameter (four accents) and trimeter (three accents; see Table 2). However, common and ballad meters share the same number of musical accents, that is, two or four per line.
Common and Ballad Meters.
It is also important for students to understand the different forms a ballad may take. Many traditional ballads are strophic, with each verse sung to the same tune. However, ballads may also be in the form of (a) verse-and-burden, with a short response, such as “uh-hum” sung at the end of each phrase or stanza; (2) verse-and-refrain, with one or two lines tacked on to the end of each verse; or (3) verse-and-chorus, with a complete stanza of at least for lines repeated after each verse. Part of the form of a ballad is its rhyme scheme. Although many tend to have a good sense of “what rhymes,” they still need some experience analyzing the difference between traditional schemes such as aaa (“Froggie Went a Courtin’,”), aaab (“The Fox”), and abcb (“The House Carpenter” and “Barbara Allen”) and identifying how these differences affect the listener. For example, are they equally good for telling a story? Are some schemes better for comic stories and some for serious stories?
Several opportunities are provided to analyze lyrics according to meter, rhyme scheme, and content. Homework assignments include listening to folksongs, writing out lyrics, and underlining accented beats/syllables. Discussions about the differences between narrative ballads that tell a story and newer lyric ballads that convey the point of view of the singer and imply the story are a critical dimension of their activities. Analysis experiences include comparing different performances of the same ballad (e.g., “Barbara Allen” as sung by Jean Ritchie (b. 1922), Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan) to comparing and contrasting form, lyrics, instrumentation, melody, texture, and so on. These activities focus students’ listening skills as they come to realize that each singer has a different interpretation and message, and that this variety is built into the life and nature of the ballad. As a result, they reflect on both the performances and their own response as a part of developing and articulating their preferences.
As students become more immersed in ballads, they analyze variations of songs with different story endings (e.g., “Froggie Went a Courtin’”) and work in groups to create their own final verses. They quickly realize that there are a number of ways to construct a ballad depending on whether they want the conclusion to be humorous, disastrous, romantic, or otherwise (see Table 3).
Student-Composed Final Verses.
The next step in the process is to introduce broadside ballads that can relate to periods of American history studied in social studies classes. We study broadsides from the 1960s to the 1980s to illustrate how song may be used as a tool advocating for social activism highlighting issues still current today. Featured broadsides address tenants’ rights, discrimination, Native American rights, and the criminal justice system (see Table 1). 5 We discuss whether or not these issues are still matters of concern, citing examples from the recent news. After students memorize three melodies, analyze several ballads, create verses, and become aware of the social, cultural, and/or political dimensions of several ballads, they are ready to create their own.
Assignment Description
First, organize groups of four to six students based on the criteria previously stated and distribute ballad assignment and rubric (see Tables 4 and 5). A due date is set, which, for our class, is 1½ weeks after the assignment is given. Two and one half hours of class time are allotted and the rest of the assignment is completed outside of class through group meetings, e-mail correspondence, texting, and Facebook.
Objectives and Tasks.
Rubric.
Tasks include researching current events, choosing a topic, documenting references, and including the garnered information in the lyrics, the broadside, and as part of their “introduction” during the song sharing. The broadside may be either hard copy, with copies for classmates, or electronic, as a slide presentation. All participate in the song sharing, performed a cappella with live or recorded instrumental accompaniment. Reflections focus on the collaborative process, the use of songs to promote social justice, and the effectiveness of their own ballads and those of their colleagues.
The project is worth 15 points equally distributed among five categories: Topic, Lyrics, Song Sharing, Broadside, and Reflection. The first four categories are assessed as a group; reflections are written and graded individually (see Table 5).
Results
Throughout the song-writing process one challenge was to communicate ideas effectively, using simple language and adhering to the poetic meter. For example, the similarities between the name Sarah Palin and Barbara Allen prompted a satiric ballad on the 2008 election. The ballad on the Jena Six showed how a single word change elicits an entirely different emotional response (see Table 6A). In the refrain featured at the beginning of the article, one word was changed (from shape to stain) to show the impact of the drunk-driving tragedy on the driver.
Sample Student Ballad Verses.
Ballad topics ranged from those that addressed the concerns of college life (dorm food, difficult roommates, distractions when studying, housing options, and losing sports teams), to others of a more serious nature (sexually transmitted diseases, rape, pregnancy, alcoholism, stalking, and water conservation). Some ballads were quite clever, like the one that bemoaned the smell of manure from the neighboring cow pastures that invaded the dormitory (see Table 6B). Others echoed tragic ballads from the past (see Table 6C).
The experience of creating a broadside ballad seemed to strengthen feelings of community as various perspectives and opinions were negotiated to create an artistic product (see Table 7B). Student reflections indicate that singing influences attitudes and feelings about the issue addressed (see Table 7C).
Sample Group Reflections.
Conclusions
The results of this ballad project are informative and meaningful. The song-writing experience reinforces: the value of collaboration to achieve artistic goals, the role of music as an expression of social consciousness, and the power of song as voices are joined together with a common purpose. Melody, language, and images are woven together to craft a point of view about a current event into an aesthetic work of art that both moves and motivates others.
Over time, I have made several observations: in an age of social media where young people constantly share their own stories, telling someone else’s helps develop empathy; in a culture in which young people are surrounded by music, creating a ballad helps to develop a deeper appreciation for artistic expression; and in a world in which the population is connected to news updates continuously, choosing stories to share through song helps to discriminate between issues that have long-term impact and those that will fade quickly. By creating new broadsides, voices are joined to those from the past who have responded with energy, emotion, and creativity to circumstances and events that affected their lives, thus continuing the broadside ballad tradition for another generation.
Writing a broadside ballad is a very emotional process that takes a lot of thought and consideration. (Group ballad reflection, Spring 2011)
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding to design the course, Sing and Shout! The History of America in Song, was provided by a University of Connecticut Provost Grant.