The Vocational Aspect of Education

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The use of folk songs in education: Some examples

of the use of folk songs in the teaching of history,
geography, economics and English literature

Eric P. Johnson

To cite this article: Eric P. Johnson (1969) The use of folk songs in education: Some examples of
the use of folk songs in the teaching of history, geography, economics and English literature, The
Vocational Aspect of Education, 21:49, 89-94, DOI: 10.1080/03057876980000141

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The Vocational Aspect of Education (Summer 1969) Volume X X l No. 49, pp. 89-94
The Use of Folk Songs
in Education:
Some Examples of the Use of
Folk Songs in the Teaching of
History, Geography, Economics
and English Literature
By ERIC P. JOHNSON
Introduction
Cecil Sharp, the great collector o f folk songs,
wrote in his English Folk Song: Some Conclusions,
'We look, therefore, to the introduction o f folk-
songs in the elementary schools t o effect an
improvement in the musical taste of the people,
and to ref'me and strengthen the national
character. Our system of education is, at present,
too cosmopolitan, it is calculated to produce
citizens of the world rather than Engiishmen.' [ 1 ]
Earlier, Sharp had referred to the overwhelming
evidence, that as recently as thirty or forty years
before the writing of his book, every village had
been 'a nest o f singing birds'. Old country people
he had talked to said that when they were young
everyone sang, in the fields, on their way to work,
and as they trudged home. Flora Thompson, writ-
hag in Lark Rise about her childhood in Oxford-
shire in the 1880s, says that there was a good deal
of singing in those days. Most of the men sang or
whistled at their jobs: whilst hoeing or digging, or
doing their rounds as fish-hawker or baker. 'Even
the doctor and parson on their rounds hummed a
tune between their teeth.' [21 And, at 'The Wag-
gon and Horses', The Barley Mow, The Outlandish
Knight and Lord Lovell were sung, though these
songs and ballads were being superseded by comic
or sentimental songs o f the moment (for example,
Over the Garden Wall and Two Lovely Black
Eyes).
In the introduction to Folk Songs o f The
Upper Thames, Alfred Williams pointed out that
folk songs were exceedingly numerous and that
89
there must have been thousands in circulation, of
one sort and another. Some singers knew from two
to three hundred songs and would challenge others
to matches when one singer's repertoire would last
twelve or even eighteen hours if necessary [3] and
the singing would go on for two days. J. Arthur
Gibbs, in A Cotswold Village, mentions the smok-
ing concerts, where there would be an uninter-
rupted stream of music and that there were few
Cotswold men who could not sing a song of at
least eighteen verses. Jim the Carter's Lad, Turmut
Hoeing and George Ridler's Oven were some of the
songs. [4] Singing by Sussex peasants is com-
mented u p o n b y W. H. Hudson in Nature in
Downland. He refers to a Saturday evening in a
public house where the session includes a song
with fourteen stanzas; a rollicking song with a
chorus; and, finally, a celebrated murder ballad in
twenty-three stanzas. (Hudson remarks on the
resemblance between the style of singing and that
of the Basques, which in turn reminded him of
that heard in South America, sung by Indians, as
well as Gauchos of the Pampas.) [5]
In his final chapter of Some Conclusions, Sharp
refers to the English folk song as being music of
the highest quality, challenging comparison with
the greatest melodies any European country can
produce. He concludes, 'If this be sound criticism,
it is only necessary that the folk song of our
country should be known for it to win an abiding
resting place in the hearts o f the people. As time
goes on, it will no doubt become enriched by the
associations which will gradually gather around it.
90
And then, but not before, will the English people
enter once again into the full possession of their
musical heritage.'
Some current aspects
Today, sixty years after the publication of
Some Conclusions. it cannot be considered that
folk song has taken the place in English life for
which Sharp had hoped. Ralph Vaughan Williams
in his Appreciation of the third edition of Sharp's
book, reprinted in 1954, said 'We all knew, on the
best authority, that folk music was "all either bad,
or Irish"'. Today one would have to add 'or
American'. The vast majority of people in this
country, young or old, either think of folk songs
in association with recordings and appearances
made by Joan Baez, Julic Felix, Bob Dylan, The
Seekers and The Settlers, or think o f the songs
they were taught at school, not really being sure
which, and what, were folk songs. It is certain that
they will not look upon the songs of their dis-
t a n t - a n d not so d i s t a n t - a n c e s t o r s as a natural
part of their own existence. There are many
reasons for this lack of appreciation of the folk
culture of our own country. An important one
may be the way folk songs are taught, in the style
of Art songs, with no reference to the historical,
geographical, economic and social background
which gave rise to them. It is ironic that Sharp
must take some of the blame for setting songs to
piano accompaniment, for doctoring them for
public consumption, and in so doing removing the
very essence from them.
To millions of people, folk song, poetry, music
and the study of history are just subjects taught at
school. Experience with some Music Festivals
shows that in the folk song sections, songs are sung
as Art songs and without any appreciation and
expression of their subtleties: this changes their
essential nature. The fact that many competitors
make the same choice (for example Waly Waly)
indicates a lack of knowledge of the vast amount
of material available (it is true that Waly Waly has
a moving and beautiful tune, but so have very
many others).
Many folk song clubs have sprung up during
the past decade or so to join the few already in
existence. Some have remained and have gained a
name for themselves. 'The Singers' Club' in Lon-
don and the 'Jug O' Punch' in Birmingham are two
obvious examples. Others have disappeared rapid-
ly, due mainly to lack of finance arising from
inadequate support.
In the majority of clubs and other places where
people gather to listen to, and to sing folk songs,
the material used is mainly from American sources.
The Use of Folk Songs in Education
It is often sung in a pseudo-American style
and usually accompanied by guitar or banjo. O n
the other hand, in a few places, a comparatively
small number of individuals work hard to keep our
traditional songs alive. As an example we have a
small village near Thame, Oxfordshire, where
people gather from miles around to hear and to
take part in sinffmgJoan's Ale, The Bold Grenadier
and Oh No John (not the emasculated version) and
many other songs. These are often sung unaccom-
panied in the traditional style, or with guitar,
melodeon, concertina and other instruments.
In a few places there are clubs where there is an
emphasis on industrial and sea songs-shanties and
forebitters. Clubs such as 'The Singers' Club' in
London and 'The Grey Cock' in Birmingham come
under the influence of folklorist and singer A. L.
Lloyd, songwriter and singer Ewan McColl, and
Charles Parker, lecturer and BBC producer.
Material available
A survey, taken in Oxford two years ago,
showed that in bookshops and record shops
known throughout the world, the great majority
of material available on folk song was from Ameri-
can sources, such as 'blues' and 'blue grass'. This
survey included some local libraries where very
little material on folk song and folk lore was to be
found, and what there was had to be searched for
in corners along with poetry and literature! This is
undoubtedly the position in most libraries.
It is heartening to know that there is a growing
demand for records o f traditional singers and
songs, as indicated by the gradually increasing
output from Topic Records Limited of London. A
recent issue is called Leviathan, containing songs
and ballads of the whaling trade sung by A. L.
Lloyd.
Many collections of songs are in existence:
Sharp noted 5000, including 1700 from the
Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Ameri-
ca. The manuscripts o f these are kept in the
Library o f Clare College, Cambridge. Collections
had been made previously by S. Baring-Gould,
Lucy Broadwood, Frank Kidson and others. A
reprint o f Alfred Willian~" Folk Songs of the
Upper Thames, published in 1923, would be most
welcome; although it contains texts only, the
introduction is well worth reading for its informa-
tion on singers and their songs. The Idiom of the
People by James Reeves, also gives texts only, but
contains useful comment on songs such as Waly
Waly, The Foggy Dew and Oh No John. [6]
The publication in 1959 of The Penguin Book
of English Folk Songs, at 3s. 6d., was a most
ERIC P. JOHI~:
welcome addition to collections, with its introduc-
tion by A. L. Lloyd.[7] A n d now we have avail-
able The Francis Child Collection o f English and
Scottish Ballads, at the remarkably low price of
five guineas for five volumes.
Much good work has been done by the Work-
ers' Music Association in making us aware of the
songs and ballads of the Industrial Revolution, by
the publication of Shuttle and Cage, a collection
of industrial ballads; Coaldust Ballads,-edited by
A. L. Lloyd; and Songs ]'or the Sixties, a collection
of traditional and topical songs.
A number o f magazines containing articles,
songs and information regarding musical instru-
ments can be purchased. Possibly the best known
of these are English Dance and Song, published by
the English Folk Dance and Song Society; Spin,
published in Liverpool in connection with 'The
Spinners' group; and Sing, available occasionally.
Sing Out, an American magazine, can be bought in
this country: it contains songs from wide sources
and many lands. The Journal o f the English Folk
Dance and Song Society can be obtained from
Cecil Sharp House, Regents Park, London, which
will also supply information regarding films on
folk dancing and customs.
Commentaries on folk songs are rare. Few have
been written since Some Conclusions, but useful
material can be found in Sing a Song o f England
by Reginald Nettel, The Everlasting Circle by
James Reeves, and a study of British and American
ballads by Evelyn K. Wells called The Ballad Tree
(Ronald Press, New York).
Last November, sixty years after the appear-
anee of Some Conclusions, saw the publication of
Folk Song in England by A. L. Lloyd, England's
leading folklorist. Published by Lawrence and
Wishart at three guineas, it presents the results of a
lifetime of study. The theme of the b o o k is the
relationship between folk song style in this coun-
try and the evolution of society, tracing the
development of ritual song, the epic ballad, lyrical
song and the new song-forms of industrial society.
Subsidiary themes concern the structure of English
folk melody, and the m e t h o d b y which folk
song is handed on. The point is strongly made that
the songs are evolved by labouring people to suit
their ways and conditions of life, economic con-
ditions being the decisive factor. [ 8]
Folk song in education
In the Introduction to English Folk Song:
Some Conclusions, Sharp points out that his work
was mainly concerned with the music but that
'rightly regarded, the two elements of the folk
song, the words and the melody, should be con-
91
sidered inseparable'. After referring to the concen-
tration on words only in previous ballad collec-
tions, and the need to restore the balance, he goes
on: 'Its many-sidedness is not the least of the
many qualities o f the folk song. It spreads a wide
net and entangles within its meshes specialists in
many different branches of knowledge. The his-
torian, musician, ethnologist, educationalist, social
reformer, archaeologist, and student o f folklore
are, one and all, attracted to its study. The field is
a wide one and there is plenty of room for workers
in all these spheres of learning without jostlings or
rivalries.'
Today many changes are taking place in meth-
ods of education. The use of the blackboard, the
straight lecture and teaching by rote are becoming
relics of the pre-technological era. More use of
audio-visual aids is advocated. Television is being
increasingly used. This is all to the good. Com-
bined with visits to historical sites, art galleries and
museums, to factories and farms, much is being
done to bring to life the facts and figures of the
text books. But-there still remains the vital need
to interrelate subjects, to break down compart-
mentalism, to show that all aspects of life are
interdependent; a n d - t o provide for the 'culture of
feelings'. As David Holbrook, author of English for
Maturity, writes in a chapter headed 'The Very
Culture of Feelings': 'in our education we are not
yet sufficiently active in providing for the "culture
of feelings"'. He explains that the words come
from John Stuart Mill who, after an unhappy
childhood (caused by the severity of a father who
prevented him from leading a normal life), under-
went a mental crisis at the age of thirty, when he
seemed to have nothing to live for. Mill's way out
was in the reading of Wordsworth's p o e t r y and
finding what 'seemed to be the very culture of the
feelings, which I was in quest of'. In this chapter
and in one entitled ' F o l k Song as Poetry', Hol-
brook contrasts the words used in most pop songs
(for example in I Believe), with those used in folk
songs such as The Seeds of Love. He ends the
latter chapter with: 'In my experience children
like singing folk songs very much, particularly
songs such as The Cuckoo, The Two Magicians,
and the Nursery Songs from the Appalachian
Mountains. Much, of course, depends on the
willingness of the music teacher to co-operate.
Folk songs and ballads certainly seem to me
nowadays an important means for us to cross the
gap between children and young people's interests
and culture, and the best interests of educa-
tion.'[ 9 !
The willingness of music teachers to co-operate
is largely dependent on their understanding of the
92
role of folk song. A useful pamphlet which refers
to this is Does Music Matter? by Irene Armitage,
Teacher of Sight Reading, Harmony and Compo-
sition, published by the Workers' Music Associ-
ation; the sub-title isMusic in our S c h o o l s - A s it is
and as it might be. Referring to Juniors (7-11
years), Irene Armitage suggests folk song as the
basis of the music used, because it is the basis o f
all composed music. Moreover the words have real
meaning, and their meaning and origin should be
made clear, and where possible should be linked
with the lives of people about whom the children
are learning in their English and History lessons.
[101
A number of leaflets have been issued by Topic
Records Limited on the use of folk music records
as an aid to teaching, although it is pointed out
that Topic records are not produced specifically
for use in schools. One leaflet is by James Gibson,
who says that he believes it is the English teacher's
job to develop standards of taste, to introduce
children to that which is wholesome and genuine,
to educate their emotions and to teach them to
enjoy artistic truth and beauty: therefore we
cannot afford to ignore folk song. And, he goes
on, 'Poetry and Music do meet in the folk song
and I like to see c h i l d r e n - f f they feel like i t -
bursting into song in the English l e s s o n ' . [ l l ]
Gibson gives some examples of the records he has
used in teaching: Streets o f Song, The Jacobite
Rebellion, English and Scottish Folk Ballads,
Steam Whistle Ballads, and Farewell Nancy, and
says that they all offer possibilities for interesting
lessons.
Frank Whitehead writes that his preference is
for the songs and ballads with a long history, but
suggests that some classes might start with Ameri-
can ballads, such as Buffalo Skinners. F o r other
classes, he suggests a good start be made with
fo'c'sle songs and shanties. He concludes by re-
marking that he would like to see more use of this
material by teachers of English. Jack Dobbs, writ-
ing on the bridge between activities in the Music
Room and subjects in the curriculum, also refers
to our ballads, pregnant with history and some-
times with origins in pre-history. He calls our
attention to the use of accompaniments to folk
songs such as used on Topic records: violin, double
bass, guitar, concertina, harmonica, whistle and
other instruments, but also refers to unaccom-
panied singing. A. L. Lloyd comments on this in
his introduction to The Penguin B o o k o f English
Folk Songs: 'this is the ideal way. Our melodies
were made to be sung that way, and much of their
tonal beauty and delightful suppleness comes from
the fact that they have been traditionally free
The Use of Folk Songs in Education
from harmonic and rhythmic accompani-
ment'.[12] Dobbs refers to the wealth of folk
music produced by the industrial areas, as does
Michael Pollard in a leaflet called Topics in His-
tory. Pollard commences by saying that the basic
problem in teaching history is surely that of
making contacts between pupils and the past; of
giving the feeling of what it was like to be alive in
1745 or 1815. Only if this feeling is passed on can
children go on to understand the behaviour and
attitudes of the past, and only if this is achieved
can history become more than a sterile academic
study. He points out that, with the liberalization
of the curriculum, it is now permissible to admit
that for the vast majority of people life was a
living hell, cruel and barbarous; then he gives
examples of songs 'invaluable as a record of what
people felt about the fortunes and misfortunes by
which their lives were charted',[13] songs such as
Fourpenee a Day:
The ores are waiting in the tubs,
The snows upon the fell;
Canny folks are sleeping y e t
But lead is fight to sell;
Come, ye little washer lads,
Come let's away,
We're bound down to slavery
F o r fourpence a day.
The songs of mining, Pollard continues, tell of
the brutality of the child labour system, of the
seething discontent of the adult miners, and of the
callous indifference of the mine-owners to the
conditions in which their fortunes were made. He
shows that these songs chart almost every stage in
the development of the textile industries, from the
cottage-based, from which the weavers set out to
sell their cloth from fair to fair: The Work o f the
Weavers; the introduction of the power-loom: The
Hand-loom versus the Power-Loom; and even inci-
dents such as the distress caused by the blockading
of southern American ports during the American
Civil War: The Shurat Weaver. Michael Pollard
concludes with: 'History teachers are denying
themselves and their classes a good deal of pleasure
as well as historical interest if they do not explore
the possibilities of folk song. It is a chance to
make the kind of history we teach something like
the history people lived through.'
An example of how folk song can be linked and
used with the study of local history was given on
September 22, 1967, at the Midland Art Associ-
ation Festival, presented by Charles Parker and the
Midland Folk Centre and called 'Midland Broad-
sides and Their Tunes.' The Birmingham Mail
wrote: 'A fascinating selection of local folksongs
ERIC P. JOHNSON
painting events and sidelights of the c o m m o n man
in Brummagem's history, made a delightful lunch-
time recital at the Birmingham and Midland Insti-
tute, and those taking part made a team which
gave the breath of life to music and poetry that
should be heard more often. The performances
were individually so good and the general feeling
of enthusiasm so genuine that this truly became a
lesson in local history imparted with entertain-
ment and obvious enjoyment.'
Folk songs and ballads can be used in many
varied ways in education. Records can be played,
o r - p r e f e r a b l y - s o n g s can be sung by pupils, at the
beginning of a lesson to give an atmosphere; during
the lesson to illustrate certain points; or at the end
to bring it to a suitable close. Care must be taken
to see that the song is a useful addition to the
subject, and that it does not prove a digression.
The use of a guitar, melodeon or concertina allows
the teacher to be actually among the pupils, and
not separated from them by being on a stage or a
dais. Songs can be used in conjunction with visual
aids such as maps, drawings, and slides.
A real feeling of participation can be obtained
by the use of a chorus song, preferably without
the somewhat restricting influence of a piano. I
recently gave a short talk on the historical use of
oxen in English agriculture, and brought it to a
conclusion by singing an Ox Ploughing Song, with
fellow students joining in the chorus. A lesson on
exploration in the mid-nineteenth century could
be given more atmosphere by the singing of Lord
Franklin:
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the Pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes go.
In Baffin Bay where the whalefish blow
The fate of Franklin no one may know;
The fate of Franklin no one can tell,
For Lord Franklin alone with his sailors do
dwell.
What better way to illustrate the nostalgic
feelings of the weavers in the early nineteenth
century, than the use of the words and tune of
Four Loom Weaver?:
I'm a four loom weaver~ as many a one knows,
I've newt t'eat and 've worn out me clothes,
Clogs we ha' none nor no looms to weave on,
And I've woven myself to t'far end.
What more evocative picture could we have of
the excitement of the pirate chase than The Bold
Princess R oyal?:
93
And she chased us to the eastward
All that live-long day,
She chased us to the westward
But could make no way,
She fired shots after us
But none did prevail,
And the Bold Princess Royal
Soon showed her her tail.
Some words about sea shanties will be appropri-
ate for summing up the usage of folk song in the
teaching of history, geography, economics and
English literature. Having heard shanties sung by
female duos (!) and by pop folk groups, we
welcome as a useful antidote, A Sailor's Garland,
on which Ewan McColl and A. L. Lloyd, with
chorus, sing shanties and forebitters. This record is
most useful to illustrate how shanties should be
sung; and the notes on the sleeve by Lloyd are
most informative.
Shanties were purely functional: they were
sung at work to make a hard job easier and a dull
job more palatable; they differed in this from the
forebitters which were sung off watch for fun and
could be about anything or anybody. Shanties
were in existence many centuries ago but eco-
nomic conditions brought them back into use in
the early nineteenth century, when faster ships
were being built and competition began to develop
rapidly between rival companies. It was found that
if the crew could be urged by a song, and their
movements synchronized, the ship would move
faster. This is well brought out by Dana in Two
Years Before The Mast: 'A song is as necessary to
sailors as the drum and fife to a soldier. They pull
together as soldiers must step in time, and they
can't pull in time, or pull with a will, without
it.'[ 14]
Dana's book has a wealth of material in it on
shanties, forebitters and songs of every description
and country. In the chapter 'Loading for Home' he
refers to a visit by two English man-o-war's men
'so that, of course, we soon had music. They sang
in the true sailor's style, and the rest of the crew,
which was a remarkably musical one, joined in the
choruses.' They went on to sing 'Battle-songs,
drinking-songs, boat-songs, love-songs, and every-
thing else they seemed to have a complete assort-
ment of.' Dana often refers to a shanty called
Cheerly Men, and this is on A Sailor's Garland,
under the name of Sally Racket. The record could
be used, in conjunction with Stan Hugill's book
Shanties of the Seven Seas, as a basis for lectures,
talks or lessons on the development of the United
States; on voyages round Cape Horn; the economic
94
and geographical reasons for the making of the
Panama Canal; on conditions prevailing aboard
ships in the early and mid-nineteenth century.
There are many possibilities.
And in conclusion, words by Cecil Sharp are
still appropriate sixty years later:
'To ourselves as a nation, the sound of
our folk music is all but unknown. And, in
References
1. Sharp, Cecil (1907). English Folk Song: Some
Conclusions. Mercury Books, No. 61, p. 173.
2. T h o m p s o n , F l o r a (1939). Lark Rise.
O.U.P., p. 56.
3. Williams, Alfred (1923). Folk Songs o f
the Upper Thames. See 'Introduction'.
4. Gibbs, S. J. Arthur (1898). A Cotswold
Village.
5. Hudson, W. H. (1899). Nature in Down-
land.
6. Reeves, James (1958). The Idiom o f the
People. Mercury Books, No. 11.
7. Lloyd, A. L., and Williams, R. V. (Editors).
(1959). The Penguin Book of English Folk
Songs.
(Script received: October 24, 1968)
The Use of Folk Songs in Education
place of it, we have been nurtured musi-
cally-rather u n m u s i c a U y - u p o n alien
sounds, or sounds as fugitive and flashy, or
pretty and insincere, or ugly and downright
harmful.'
It is time that we appreciated folk songs as part
of our cultural heritage, and time to bring about
the change for which Sharp hoped.
8. Lloyd, A. L. (1967). Folk Song in England.
Lawrence and Wishart.
9. Holbrook, David (1961). English for Maturity,
Chapters 4 and 6, Cambridge University Press.
10. Armitage, Irdne (1965). Does Music Matter? A
pamphlet published by the Workers Music
Association, pp. 7-8.
11. 'Topic Leaflets' by James Gibson, Frank
Whitehead, Jack Dobbs, and Michael Pollard.
Topic Records Limited, London.
12. V. 7 above, p. 9.
13. V. 11 above.
14. Dana, R. (1948). Two Years Before the Mast,
pp. 256, 259 and 260.