is more endowed with individuality and depth of emotion. Five
characteristic examples are herewith cited:
[Music: I]
[Music: II]
[Music: III Harmonized by RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF]
[Music: IV]
[Music: V]
This last melody is of particular significance, because Tchaikowsky
has used it so prominently in the Finale of his Fourth Symphony.
The growing interest in folk-music in America is a tendency
concerning which the progressive student should inform him-
self. For a national basis of creative work, our country has al-
ways been at a disadvantage in comparison with nations which,
as their birthright, have much music in their blood. Moreover,
with the exception of the tunes of the aboriginal Indians and
the plantation melodies of the Negroes, it has been asserted
that America could boast no folk-songs. Recent investigations
have shown, however, that this is not entirely true. Cecil Sharp,
Henry Gilbert, Arthur Farwell and other musical scholars have
proved that there are several regions of our country, settled by
colonists from England, Ireland and Scotland, where folk-songs
exist practically in the condition in which they were first brought
over. One of the best collections of such material is the set of
so-calledLonesome Tunes from the Kentucky Mountains, taken
down by Miss Lorraine Wyman and Mr. Howard Brockway di-
rectly from the mountaineers and other dwellers in that region.
These melodies have great individuality, directness and no little
poetic charm. It is certainly encouraging to feel that, in this
industrial age, there are still places where people express their
emotions and ideals in song; for a nation that has not learned
to sing—or has forgotten how—can never create music that en-
dures.