Another thought -- I'm working from the idea that "tradition" is the problem under examination, rather than "traditional music." Maybe I'm all wrong about that. If not, there's a kind of koan I heard: "You can't buy shaker furniture" -- meaning, you can buy furniture from shakers, you can buy furniture made by shakers or in shaker-inspired styles, but there's a distinction to be drawn between acquiring things and participating in communties or events, entering a lifeworld. I'm noting your prof's cutoff date of 1700, and wondering if this person is open to theorized definitions, or is committed to definition-per-object. Folk studies shifted emphasis from text to context (maybe excessivly) some ways back.

Jeri, Declan and Burke are offering very interesting perspectives -- academics are saying some of the same things, if less clearly and at far greater length. One recent book that might be interesting is Simon Bronner's "Following Tradition" -- it's about the history of the IDEA of tradition in American culture. Can you say more about your thesis topic?

Adam