Help: contemporized trad

Subject: contemporized trad
From: GUEST,ereeves
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 04:41 PM

does anyone have any recommendations for publishers that are interested in revamped traditionals? I use traditional folk song themes and bits and pieces of their lyric and stanza, but paint them with a modern, or maybe just a new, hue. The songs are still recognizable via key lines, refrains, etc.

cheers- evan

Subject: RE: Help: contemporized trad
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 07:18 PM

whoever publishes Kathy Fink's stuff I guess,,,she did "Wildwood Flower Revisited"....just before I quit listening to her...*grin*......

I really hate it when people gratuitously mess with the classic trad that way...no law agin; it, but...*sigh*....what's wrong with WRITING a melody, if you don't like the ones you hear....

(yes, I know they 'gradually' change over time anyway....but...)

Subject: RE: Help: contemporized trad
From: GUEST,m l mack
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 10:03 PM

Ditto. And loud huzzahs! Folk music should evolve, not mutate.

Subject: RE: Help: contemporized trad
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 11:13 PM

A lot of respected writers and composers have adapted traditional material.  Burns, Grainger, Copeland and Vaughan Williams come to mind.  Mind you, they had all demonstrated very clearly that they were capable of writing their own material as well, and were not simply depending on making small, "fashionable" changes to stuff they didn't have the imagination to make up for themselves.  Demonstrate that you can do as well, and you'll be well on the way, though even the best interpreters of tradition today often have difficulty finding a publisher.  Of course, there is quite a market at present for cobbled-together "cross-over" music, so it's probably not terribly hard to get some backing in that area if you put the work in.  If you genuinely love the music and treat your sources with respect (and acknowledge them, having done your research properly), instead of just using them as a handy royalty-free resource -as all too many people do- then you will deserve to succeed, and I'll wish you well.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Help: contemporized trad
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 11:16 PM

Subject: RE: Help: contemporized trad
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Aug 00 - 11:22 PM

well, there is some reason to do the things Copeland and Vaughn did...they are composing entire works, based on trad tunes...Cathy Fink simply 'messed' with Wildwood Flower until it was silly....