The Folk Song of the Upper Thames
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: The Folk Song of the Upper Thames
Classmark: LAVC/SRP/1/090
Creator(s): Baldwin, John R
Site Location(s): Subject - Upper Thames Valley, England, United Kingdom ( 51.7268, -1.18532 )
Date(s): 1978
Size and medium: 207 bound typed leaves. Copy.
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/409986
Collection group(s): Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Description
M.Phil. study, based on fieldwork carried out between 1966 and 1968 (with some additional reference to material collected subsequently, in 1969), which relates songs, singing and singers to their social environment, and as such reflects an essentially functional and synchronic approach. The Upper Thames is here defined broadly as the area between Oxford and Swindon, Banbury and Abingdon. The study looks at how far song content correlates with the life, work and attitudes of individuals and of a community; how far changes in lifestyle affect the survival of songs; and how far direct experience and a sense of personal involvement are vital for continued transmission.
The Introduction describes the aims of the study and the collector's approach to fieldwork. The following chapter discusses the meaning of folk song, with sections on terminological problems, definitions and origins and transmission. Chapter Three describes the Upper Thames Valley region and sub-regions. The fourth chapter looks in detail at the song material of the area, and divides the songs by subject (historical material relating to war, trades and occupations, drink and drinking, love - courtship, marriage). Chapter Five discusses individual singers and their songs, and some common features of their repertoires, singing style and performance. The final chapter discusses Upper Thames Valley song in the context of social and cultural change, with sections on singer migration and the state of traditional song in the region in the late 1970s.
The study's appendices contain an alphabetical Index of Villages and Informants, a Title Catalogue of Individual Singer's Repertoires and a Key to Field Recordings on Tape. The study also contains thirty-five photographs (photocopies) of the landscape, geographical features, villages and informants from the region, taken by the collector in the period January-March 1969.
Access and usage
Reproduction
Access
The theses and dissertations in this subfonds are available for consultation in the searchroom of Special Collections, University of Leeds, by all bona fide researchers. Conditions relating to access and use have, in a number of cases, been applied to particular items by individual depositors. These are noted within the relevant individual records.
Material in this collection is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study within the terms of copyright legislation. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available on tracing copyright status and ownership.
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