The Folk Handbook: Working with Songs from the English Tradition (English Folk Dance/Song Societ): Working with Songs from the English Tradition (English Folk Dance/Song Societ) |
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English Folk Dance and Song Society
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Pages: 288 (Spiral-bound)
ISBN: 0879309016
Pub: Backbeat Books
Pub date: 2007-03-31
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 34157
Reader Reviews:
Excellent introduction to folk song (3/3 people found this helpful)
For educational purposes this is superb: concise articles explaining aspects of folk singing and the folk revival in America and Britain; songs arranged thematically; endorsements by Shirley Collins and Martin Carthy; a CD of recent-ish field recordings and an accompanying website with many riches, including MIDI files for all the tunes in the book, plus PDF files for errata, a forum for user comments and lots of useful links.
The only mild niggle, as a newspaper review has already pointed out, are that the lack of an index of song titles/first lines makes speedy cross referencing difficult, if this is intended as an educational resource - ie checking what you already have on CD if you're trying to build a library of recordings for students is more bothersome than it might be (though a selection of recordings are handily listed alongside the excellent notes which accompany each song). And fourteen field recordings (not the twenty indicated above) isn't overly generous (though a CD of more varied versions of some the book's songs, Old Wine, New Skins, will be available separately in a few weeks so that will help).
But this is carping: the key thing is that this book offers clarity and concision in guiding the novice through a minefield of information. Don't throw away the big Peter Kennedy book, as it is far more comprehensive, but point students here first.
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Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Music -> Styles -> World Music
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Music -> Styles -> Folk Music
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
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