Category Archives: Music

Music as Communication among Peers

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Music as Communication among Peers

Informant information:

Mary Kate resides in Andover, Massachusetts. She has a daughter who has an undiagnosed developmental disorder. Her daughter is nine years old and participates in the” My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover.

Type of lore: Customary

Genre: Children’s Folklore

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

Mary Kate and Neal’s daughter cannot speak even though she is now nine years old as a result of an undiagnosed developmental disorder. Among the challenges this presents, she often has a difficult time connecting with her peers. This video captures how she and her peers created a methods of sharing a common act on a daily basis.

 

Informant’s comments:

The “typical” girls that [our daughter] is friends with at school also use music and songs to connect to her. They make up dances to show the teacher and even have a secret handshake which is really an elaborate high five routine with some dance moves and a sing songy recital of the moves. I would say this is the most included that [she] has been in the classroom in a long while and it is through music and movement.

Collector’s comments: 

This seems to be a piece of true children’s folklore, the girls work on songs, dances and routines like this together. What makes this particular one special is how it is in an effort to communicate with the girl who has special needs in a way that she is capable of reciprocating. At the end of the video one girl raises her hands and begins to shake them, which symbolizes applause in American Sign Language.

Tags/Keywords: Music, Communication, Custom, Special needs, Children, Dance, American Sign Language

Club Team “Fight Song”

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1. Title: Maryland Club Team “Fight Song”
2. Informant: Catherine (Katie) Harmon (19) has just completed her freshman year while swimming for the club team at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  UMD does not have a varsity collegiate team so they receive some preferential treatment as far as facilities useage when compared to other club teams.  Katie has swum competitively in MD for most of her life starting on a local neighborhood summer team, then a small local club team, eventually a high school team, and now the UMD club team.
3. Customary: Ritual
4. Language: English
5. Country of Origin: United States
6. Social / Cultural Context: Katie stated that every team at UMD does the same fight song to emphasize unity among the athletic teams at UMD.  Usually club teams do not have to participate in this tradition but since there is no varsity swim team, their team is encouraged to do so.
7. No audio, transcribed Skype interview.
8. Transcript:
“Maryland, we’re all behind you
Raise high the black and gold
for there is nothing half so glorious
as to see our team victorious
we’ve got the team boys
we’ve got the steam boys
so keep on fighting don’t give in
M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D maryland will win!
(and then three rounds of GO MARYLAND! with fake drum noises)”
9. Informant’s comments: Every varsity team and Katie’s club team perform this distinctive fight song
10. Collector’s comments: I have seen the Maryland football team perform this fight song when watching games on TV.
11. Tags/Keywords: Pre-Meet, Ritual, Fight Song

Music as Communication within Families

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Music as Communication within Families

Informant information:

Mary Kate resides in Andover, Massachusetts. She has a daughter who has an undiagnosed developmental disorder. Her daughter is nine years old and participates in the” My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover.

Type of lore: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

Mary Kate and her husband Neal often sing to their daughter as a way to communicate with her. Other people in their daughter’s life use this technique as well, since her developmental disorder makes it more difficult for her to communicate using spoken language.

This use of music as a form of communication was something we found to be consistent across many families with children who have special needs.

Informant’s comments:

Music has always been used by many people in [our daughter’s] life to communicate and interact with her. As you do with all babies, Neal and I sang to [her] as we cuddled and held her close to sooth and help her sleep. [Her] grandmothers also did the same thing when holding her close. What is unique with [our daughter] is that even though she is almost 10 years old we still do the same thing.

[She] often times still drifts off to sleep with the “soothing ” tones of me or Neal (and trust me we cannot sing) in her ear. The songs vary based on her mood and how long we are singing. Neal and I both sing songs that we heard from our parent. We sing songs from movies and musicals ­ right now Mary Poppins is a preferred choice. We make up songs to melodies that she knows and use current information to keep her engaged such as what happened that day or what is happening in the future. I even sing commercial ditties ­ the oscar mayer wiener song is popular as is the oscar mayer bologna song.

Songs can be used as a reward as well. [She] has a token board at school and if she complies with the rules and expectations she receives positive marks throughout the day. If she receives enough checks she earns the opportunity to pick something from the treasure chest. When she gets in the car at parent pick up, if she has a good day (earned treasure chest) I sing this song… I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you. I hope that you are proud of you too! [Our daughter] loves this and beams while I am singing. Honestly, 99% of the tangible rewards from the treasure chest are forgotten and returned to school. She really is motivated by the song.

Collector’s comments:

We found this behavior of communicating through song to be a piece of customary folklore because it was something we saw consistently used across multiple families with children with special needs.

Because of the unique nature of certain developmental disorders, we saw the use of music to be an effective mode of communication between parents and their atypical children. This mode of communication is customary because of the way that parents of children with special needs share this technique with each other.

Tags/Keywords: Music, Communication, Custom, Special needs, family

Hey Josephine

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Hey Josephine

Informant info: Craig Serpa, marine. He was stationed in San Diego.

Type of lore: Customary, Music

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Craig Serpa was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Craig was asked about any folk songs that he remembered singing during training or being stationed at base camp. Craig was a drill instructor, so he remembered many. I asked him to talk about they they sang.

Associated file: 

Transcript:

C: There’s, we have, so our cadence is something we are known for. I was a drill instructor so I made marines. You can look up on youtube a video of me singing cadence.

Interviewer: Oh just type in your name?

C: Yeah so just put, idk how long 5-6 min when I actually start singing and walking the group. Another thing that we do that I am sure that the army does too, I’m not sure, but instead of doing just regular walking cadence and stuff, a lot of runs are done with cadences, where we sing songs that tell funny stories. And then hiking. When you’re doing the long hikes and you have your packs on and everything, we have like hike specific songs that tell stories about being back home, and what happened like if I die tell my mom I did my best with my medals across my chest. And they do that I think just to keep your mind off the shit you’re going through. Like you have 80 lbs on your back, its been 3 days and you’ve slept an hour and a half, sing a song. And its like, if you have a good platoon lader, they like actually sing and get into it. It kinda gets you going. Really what I was told, the purpose of doing all of that—forces your to expand your lungs- It benefits you from hypervenhilating. It keeps you breathing in a rhythm.

Interviewer: Do you remember any of them? You probably remember all of them. Do you have your favorite song? You can speak it, you don’t have to sing it.

C: Probably Hey Josephine. 1st sg. Pharo when I was a drill instructor with bravo company. I’m not going to sing or anything, if you look up the legendary marine core drill instructure—there’s a cd with some of the more famous DI in the last 20-30 year. Actual cadence song. All of us use it and kinda memorize it and stuff and try to get all of the songs down. Some of them tell stories of WWI, Korea, Kayson, Bell Wood and all of that stuff

Informant’s comments: Craig told me that singing was something that helped them get through the hard times, which we often see in history. Craig said that men would buy the CD full of hiking songs so that they could memorize them. The songs never change from year to year.

Collector’s comments: Informant was nervous to sing, and refused to but he told me I could look up the song. He seemed very fond of the songs, and said he could remember every word.

The Recon Creed

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Title: The Recon Creed

Informant info: Graham “Ossie” Osborn. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Marine Corps Veteran. Informant was a member of the First Reconnaissance Battalion.

Type of lore: Customary/Verbal, Tradition, Ritual, Song

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about his a unit song or chant.  Informant was in the Marines in the First Recon Battalion is their is their battalion creed.

Associated file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1us1frzhrn0u2t/IMG_7545.MOV?dl=0

Transcript: Item: [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: There was not a song, but there was the “Recon Creed.” It is hard for me to remember, but it is every single every single word begins with it. So “R” was realizing this was my choice and my choice alone. The Recon Creed is out there just like the Ranger Creed for the Army. It is important for a lot of people and I knew it backwards and forwards 10 years ago.

Informant’s comments: Joked about how it is one of those things you say so many times, but then you can’t actually remember it when you try.

Collector’s comments:  Informant had a certain cadence to his voice when he began to share the chant.

Unit Song: Boots, Boots, Boots

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Title: Unit Song: Boots, Boots, Boots

Informant info: Matt Menezes. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and deployed twice to Afghanistan as well as spent two years as a drill sergeant for basic combat training.

Type of lore: Customary/ Verbal, Tradition, Song, Lyrics, Chants

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about any songs that they sung during their time in boot camp or while serving abroad. The informant laughed before they began speaking saying he didn’t remember all the words. The lyrics discuss the life in which the 82nd Airborne unit troops lived.

Associated file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/11vv5a27kzlycgq/Dartmouth_Folklore_Collections_Matt_Menezes.mp4?dl=0

Transcript: [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: There is a song related to my unit. I don’t remember all of it, but I remember that it goes something like this: Put on your boots, boots, boots, and parachutes, chutes chutes, we’re going up, up up , we’re going down, down down, we’re all-American and proud to be. That’s all I remember.

Informant’s comments: He sang lots of songs during his time in the military, but did not remember the others or the words. 

Collector’s comments: Informant was nervous to sing, but had a smile on his face.  He also did the arm motion associated with the song. His arm at a right angle swinging across his body.

Jodie

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Title: Jodie

Informant info: Informant requested to remain anonymous. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was a member of the Army Infantry 10th Mountain Division of Fort Drum, New York. Informant served in Iraq from 2006 to 2007. Informant is 28 years old.

Type of lore: Customary/ Verbal, Tradition, Song

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about any songs that they sung during their time in boot camp or while serving abroad. Informant spent childhood in the Northeastern United States and feels a lot of hostility toward the Midwestern United States. Informant mentioned that they sing lots of songs revolving around a character named Jodie. This character represented the guy that comes into your social and family contexts while a soldier is deployed and takes your girlfriend or has sex with your mother.

Associated file: Informant requested to remain completely anonymous.

Transcript:

[I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Uhh there are a lot of songs. A lot of them will refer to this Jodie. Jodie is like this name, I don’t know why its called Jodie so don’t ask… Uhh Jodie’s like the name of the person that’s in Dear John letters you know, um Jodie’s the guy that comes and steals your girlfriend or fucks your wife or your mom or or whatever. Uh there’s lots of songs about Jodie while we are marching or running and what not. I don’t know why that’s the device chosen to motivate so many soldiers but it’s a high testosterone environment and its also a very simple environment, mostly because of all the dumb southern farmers and Midwesterners that can really relate to shooting the guy that’s fucking your wife. Shot guns and heartbreak and trucks and dogs and tobacco and whiskey sort of thing. But yeah those songs

Informant’s comments: Informant mentioned that the figure of Jodie is taken very seriously and that are a number of songs that involve his character. Informant suggested that I search the internet for some examples and mentioned that “chances are they were sung during my time in the military.” Informant also mentioned that they don’t understand why this motivates soldiers but attests that it does.

Collector’s comments: After informant sang a previous song, they became more serious and talked about a character in many songs named Jodie. The overall attitude was contrasted greatly as frustration and a lower tone of voice.