29 Aug 05 - 04:30 PM (#1552415) Subject: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Dave Ruch Apologies if this has already been posted or discussed here - I couldn't find any reference to it in prior threads. There's a great new website with field recordings from two different Wisconsin folksong collectors. The real voices of the "informants", plus notes and even printable sheet music for each song! The Collection contains Wisconsin field recordings, notes, and photographs made by UW-Madison faculty member Helene Stratman-Thomas as part of the Wisconsin Folk Music Recording Project, co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin and the Library of Congress during the summers of 1940, 1941, and 1946; and recordings collected by song catcher Sidney Robertson Cowell during the summer of 1937 for the Special Skills Division of the Resettlement Administration. The database is very search-friendly as well, so if you are looking for specific topics, songs, etc, they are very easy to find. What a great job they have done here. I've spent way too much time at the website already today.... http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WiscFolkSong |
29 Aug 05 - 04:51 PM (#1552437) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: GUEST,leeneia I went to the site. There doesn't seem to be a list of titles anywhere. Apparently the only way to see the songs is to know the names (or parts of the names) of them. What fun is that? |
29 Aug 05 - 05:38 PM (#1552464) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Bev and Jerry First click on "Search" in the very top bar. Then, click on "Browse all records" in the lower left corner. Bev and Jerry |
29 Aug 05 - 05:40 PM (#1552466) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Q (Frank Staplin) ? Click on Search, then click on Browse all Records, and the first page of an alphabetical listing comes up. What more do you need? Dave Ruch, many thanks. Hadn't seen this collection before. |
29 Aug 05 - 07:08 PM (#1552504) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Snuffy Tremendous resource. Especially fascinating for the wealth of songs preserved in the languages of so many immigrants - Danes, Finns, Welsh, Poles, Italians, even Icelanders. |
29 Aug 05 - 07:29 PM (#1552523) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Margaret V That's terrific! Thanks for posting, Dave. Margaret |
29 Aug 05 - 09:20 PM (#1552595) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: GUEST,Art Thieme Good people, these are tremendously important collections. I am especially familiar with the Helene Stratman Thomas collection. (See the great book called: FOLK SONGS OUT OF WISCONSIN---An Illustrated Compendium Of Words And Music---edited by Harry B. Peters (Published by the State Historical Society Of Wisconsin). This entire lovely volume was created from the collecting work done by Helene S. Thomas and her partners on the Wisconsin land. Several years ago, Judy Rose, recently retired from hosting the folk radio show called SIMPLY FOLK, did a wonderful series of broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio called A Wisconsin Patchwork. She divided the shows by music type: 1)intro. and Lumbering Songs 2)Wisconsin Compositions -- Wisc. Instrumental Ensembles 3) The Homeland---Religious Music 4) Work Songs---fiddle music 5) Wisc. Instrumental Music---Mixed Bag (humor) 6)Judy Rose's Favorites----1940 recording trials and tribulations 7) Helene Stratman Thomas As A Collector This was simply radio at it's very best! The songs and the performances present a graphic piture of our meltingpot in action. You are now lucky enough to be living at a time when hearing this good collection is as easy as clicking your mouse. I've got JUDY ROSE's whole series on cassettes and these shows have given me untold hours of thorough transcendant pleasure while driving to gigs all over Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Now it seems that you have these performances too. Don't let the chance to hear these get away from you. I'll get back to this thread with specific recommendations soon. Tonight I am, of necessity, into other things. ENJOY!!! Art Thieme |
30 Aug 05 - 10:04 AM (#1552754) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Dave Ruch Wow!! I just took a break from the songs to listen to some fiddling.....check out Leizime Brusoe's playing. |
30 Aug 05 - 10:43 AM (#1552765) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: GUEST,leeneia I clicked on Search and then on Browse and I got: Search Error Sorry, an error occurred processing your search for The error code generated was "20", and the error message generated was "Unable to find input query". Please change or simplify your search and try again. ---------------- As they said in Winnie the Pooh, "Some other day, perhaps." It certainly seems like an interesting and wonderful collection. |
30 Aug 05 - 11:02 AM (#1552776) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: RangerSteve Great site! It's always bothered me that the record companies back in the "Golden Age" of country music believed that this kind of music only existed in the southern mountains. Who knows how much good music has been lost because of this belief? Thank God and Wisconsin for putting this site together. Steve |
30 Aug 05 - 11:49 AM (#1552818) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Bill D absolutely amazing stuff! ....and on some songs they have .PDF files of tunes and transcriptions. There is wealth of material here that could keep you busy for months. I do recommend using either RealAlternative or JetAudio for playing files, and Foxit PDF reader (free) instead of Adobe Acrobat, as it loads MUCH more quickly. (Note...if you do try Foxit, you must 'associate' PDF files with it in order to have it open on a click, or first save them, then open Foxit and go to where you saved it. It ain't hard, and once you do it twice, you'll wonder why you put up with Adobe.) |
30 Aug 05 - 08:52 PM (#1553158) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: GUEST,Art Thieme For sure listen to the nearly eight minute ballad "The Crucifixion Of Christ" as sung by Charlie Spencer of Crandon, WI in 1941. His style is more like those heard in the southern mountains than in the north woods--but that's 'cause he learned it when he lived in Kentucky. In 1987, at KXPR in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, I met Charlie Spencer, his grandson. He was busy then doing work on the songs of " the Kaintucks"---as those transplanted folks were known. Also, be sure to listen to Bessie Gordon doing "In The Baggage Coach Ahead" while playing her pump organ. It's marvelous. Off the top of my head, these two are special favorites of mine, but you all can see for yourselves that there is a wealth of great tales told musically here. Art Thieme |
30 Aug 05 - 11:46 PM (#1553232) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Jeremiah McCaw A treasure trove. I can see a lot of time spent on this site. Many thanks, Dave. And Bill T as well - the Foxit Reader is excellent, and very noticeably faster than Adobe. |
31 Aug 05 - 10:46 AM (#1553563) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Bill D (don't throw out Adobe...there may be complex stuff that Foxit can't handle...but for this site, and standard .PDFs, it usually works fine. Adobe loads many 'helper' modules for arcane tasks which are seldom needed each time it loads, so it always takes extra time.) ...and thanks, Art...I will give those suggestions a listen...and more besides. |
16 Jan 12 - 02:47 AM (#3291259) Subject: RE: Wisconsin Folksong Collection online!! From: Joe Offer Deckman and I were talking about this collection today, so I looked it up and added it to our Links page. Take a look at that online media section on our links page - lots of good stuff there. -Joe- |