Scots folk singers and their sources : : a study of two major Scottish song collections / / Caroline Macafee.

• Superior document: Scottish Cultural Review of Language and Literature ; Volume 31
• VerfasserIn: Macafee, Caroline,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Scottish cultural review of language and literature ; Volume 31.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (231 pages)

"This book offers a detailed analysis of two major Scottish folk song collections, the Greig-Duncan Collection, and the Scots folk song material of the School of Scottish Studies Archives. This exhaustive study of song transmission includes all contributors, not only notable singers. The scattered information, marshalled into quantifiable data, throws light on such topics as transmission within and outside the family, the role of literacy, the public reticence of women singers, the association between the Travellers and the big ballads, and the impact of social changes in the late nineteenth century, and of broadcast music in the 1920s. The new opportunities opened up by digitisation are explored here for the first time"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Figures and Tables -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Origins of the Study -- 1.2 A Note on Tables and Figures -- 1.3 Estimated Dates of Birth -- 1.4 Social Background -- 1.5 Self-Reported Data -- 1.6 The Benefits of a Quantitative Approach -- Chapter 2 Weighing the Catch -- 2.1 The Data Sources -- 2.2 Selecting the Data -- 2.3 Approaches to the Data: Transmission -- 2.4 Approaches to the Data: Chronology -- 2.5 Ballad Fragments: Definition -- 2.6 Outline of the Contributors, and a Note on the Reliability of Estimated Dates -- Chapter 3 Did Greig and Duncan Neglect the Travellers? -- 3.1 The Fog of Euphemism -- 3.2 The Supposed Neglect -- 3.3 Travellers in Greig-Duncan -- 3.4 A Very Small Fraction of the Population -- 3.5 Traveller Songs -- 3.6 The Traveller and G‑D Repertoires: Two Exercises in Comparison -- 3.7 The Traveller Mystique -- Chapter 4 Song Transmission -- 4.1 Historical Stages of Song Transmission -- 4.2 Outline of the Data and a Note on Selection -- 4.3 Categories of Song Transmission Information -- 4.4 Inter-Personal Transmission -- 4.4.1 The Predominance of General Population Males as Non-family Sources -- 4.4.2 The Relative Lack of Non-family Transmission from the Travellers to the General Population -- 4.4.3 The Female Preference for Family and Female Sources -- 4.4.4 The Male General Population and Male G‑D Preference for Non-family Sources -- 4.4.5 The Traveller Preference (Both Sexes) for Family Sources -- 4.4.6 Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Transmission Pairs within the Family -- 4.5 The Travellers Embedded in a Literate Society -- Chapter 5 The Reticence of Female Singers -- 5.1 Older and Younger Women -- 5.2 (Older) Women and the Child Ballads -- 5.2.1 The Established Association between Women and the Big Ballads -- 5.2.2 The Contribution of Females in the Child Ballad Data.

5.2.3 Decline in the Female Contribution over Time -- 5.3 Sex and Age Patterns in Non-family Song Transmission -- 5.3.1 Sources and Recipients in Non-family Transmission -- 5.3.2 The Ages of Source Individuals -- 5.4 Domestic and Non-domestic Spheres -- Chapter 6 The Devolution of the Child Ballads to the Travellers -- 6.1 The 'Child Ballad' - a Valid Concept? -- 6.2 Combining the G‑D and SSSA Data - a Valid Approach? -- 6.3 Decline in Child Ballad Contributors and Contributions -- 6.4 G‑D as a Baseline -- 6.5 Age Gap between Contributors and Sources -- 6.6 Narrowing Ballad Repertoire -- 6.7 Transmission is Increasingly Family-Dominated -- 6.8 Greater Retention amongst the Travellers -- 6.9 The Cultural Context of Ballad Singing -- 6.10 The Performance Context of Ballad Singing -- Chapter 7 Social Change and Education versus Tradition -- 7.1 Demography of the Contributors -- 7.2 The 1840s Birth Cohort -- 7.3 Education and the Regional Culture of the North-East -- 7.4 The Demographic Transition Model -- 7.5 Extended Family Song Transmission -- 7.6 Rural Society in Flux -- Chapter 8 The Missing Singers of the 1920s -- 8.1 A Bimodal Distribution -- 8.2 Is the 1920s Dip Merely a Coincidence? -- 8.3 Singing at Work and Play versus Recorded and Broadcast Music -- 8.4 The Decline of Traditional Singing amongst the Travellers -- 8.5 The Folk Revival -- Chapter 9 Conclusions -- 9.1 Issues and Themes -- 9.2 Summary of Main Findings -- 9.3 Group Portraits -- 9.3.1 Greig-Duncan -- 9.3.2 The Travellers -- 9.3.3 The General (Including Core) Population -- 9.3.4 The Folk Revival Contributors -- 9.4 Timeline -- 9.5 Directions for Future Research -- Appendix A Additional Tables -- Appendix B Notes on the Selection of Greig-Duncan Data -- Bibliography -- Index.