Ian & Sylvia Sylvia Fricker met Ian Tyson in Toronto in 1959, and they began performing their unique blend of traditional and composed songs. 1964 was a landmark year: they were married, recorded their third album with Vanguard, and had a hit with "Four Strong Winds" (by Ian). Another hit followed with "You Were on My Mind" (by Sylvia), and Ian's "Some Day Soon" was a hit by Collins, Judy. Their albums of traditional songs remain a favorite with traddies; they were also among the first to record songs by Lightfoot, Gordon.
In the 70s, they formed The Great Speckled Bird, a band named after a song by Acuff, Roy. In 1972, they then decided on separate solo careers, with Ian going on to modern C&W music, and Sylvia going on to write and perform many of her own songs, plus a stint as host of CBC's "Touch the Earth" folk program. She is currently (1996) singing with the group "Quartet", and has received the Order of Canada.
Ian, Janis (1951- ) (Janis Fink) grew up in the NY-NJ area and was briefly known as a protest singer in the 60s; she is known now mainly as a singer/songwriter. Her "Society's Child" was in the top 20 in 1967. She continues to write, record, and perform; some of her songs have been recorded by Glen Campbell, Cher, and Roberta Flack. She also wrote the songs for the films "Foxes" and "The Bell Jar".
I Come for to Sing a group of folk musicians in Chicago, organized by Stracke, Win; the purpose was to produce concerts and further the exposure of folk music. Broonzy, Bill was one of the membership, which varied. Not to be confused with the magazine Come for to Sing, although it probably inspired the title.
idiophone an instrument whose construction material generates the sound, such as a bell. It's one of the four types of instruments; the others are membranophone, chordophone, and aerophone.
idiot list see cheat sheet.
ilka (Scot.) each, every.
incest songs hardly a popular topic for ballads, but they do exist. Both "The Bonny Hind" ( Child 50) and "Sheath and Knife" (Child 16) tell the story of a doomed affair between brother and sister.
incremental songs a structural dramatic device often used in traditional ballads; in these songs, phrases or verses are repeated with small changes each time. Friedman, Albert gives the following example from the ballad "Fair Annie":
"And she gaed down, and farther down
Her love's ship for to see,
And the topmast and the mainmast
Shone like the silver free.
And she's gane down, and farther down,
The bride's ship to behold;
And the topmast and the mainmast
They shone just like gold."
Compare with cumulative songs.
Internet folk there is a wealth of folk resources on the various sections of the Internet, including both traddie and contemporary. Note that many of the Web sites listed include lots of links to others.
Note also that newsgroups, Web pages, and mailing lists are often added, deleted, or changed, so your best bet is to look around.
FOLKMUSIC.ORG: A huge database of bios, song lyrics, venues, links, and the home of the Folk File online.
http://www.folkmusic.org/The Folk File's direct link is:
http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/~spencer/FF/DIGITAL TRADITION: a collection of 5,000 song lyrics. Some have tunes that can be played if you have the appropriate terminal.
http://www.deltablues.com/dbsearch.html (new site as of Sept/96)NORTHERN JOURNEY ONLINE: Gene Wilburn's coverage of Canadian performers and venues. Plenty of links.
http://www.io.org./~njo/CANADIAN FOLK FESTIVALS: with links to information about clubs.
http://www.interlog.com/~ufojoe/DIRTY LINEN FOLK CONCERT LISTINGS: from Dirty Linen magazine.
http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/special/tour.htmlTHE SING OUT! HOME PAGE: information on the latest issue, back issues, subscriptions; also has a search function for performer venues.
http://www.libertynet.org/~singout/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER HOME PAGE: listings of the available services from the LOC; the catalog of published recordings alone is worth a visit.
http://lcweb.loc.gov./folklife/afc.htmlFOLK MUSIC HOME PAGE: Jay Glicksman's eclectic page; large number of links to other sites, as well as mailing lists (see below for comments on mailing lists).
http://www.eit.com/web/folk/folkhome.htmlHOME PAGE FOR STEVE GILLETTE AND CINDY MANGSEN: tour schedules, etc., and lots of links to other sites.
http://www.sover.net/~gillette/CAPTAIN FIDDLE MUSIC and PUBLISHING: Ryan Thomson's page for fiddle enthusiasts (plus other instruments, books, recordings, etc.).
http://www.tiac.net/users/cfiddle/MAURO RAVERA'S FOLK MUSIC RESOURCES: a huge number of international links on all aspects of British and North American folk music.
http://chp06.ch.unito.it/~ravera/folk.htmlPEERS (PERIOD EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT): a vast number of links to period music, folk dances, crafts, and just about everything for fans of the traditional or historical.
http://www.peers.org/THE WOODY GUTHRIE PAGE: David Arkush's page about Woody and many of the musicians who accompanied him.
http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~davida/woody.htmlTHE FOLK DEN: Roger McGuinn's page for contemporary and traditional folk.
http://www.uark.edu/~kadler/rmcguinn/Folkden/index.htmlAPG HOME PAGE: Les Weller's page on APG, which is basically fingerpicked guitar in the American folk tradition. Lots of tablature and discussions of techniques.
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/leswaia/APPALACHIAN STUDIES RESOURCES: Virginia Tech's page of links to all things relating to Appalachian traditions.
http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/stemmer/appalachia.htmlMORRIS RELATED INFO: the page for morris dancers - lots of info and links to related sites.
http://ucowww.ucsc.edu/~sla/morris/other.htmlEFDSS: Rhod Davies' unofficial page of the English Folk Dance and Song Society ( EFDSS).
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/users/rhod/dance/EFDSS/index.htmlFOLK MUSIC LINKS: lots of links from the folk music page out of Brisbane, Australia.
http://student.uq.edu.au/~re116274/folk.htmNY PINEWOODS FOLK MUSIC CLUB: links re folk music and folk dance.
http://users.aol.com/nypinewood/club.htmlFABULOUS FOLK: a huge number of links to folk resources.
http://www.izzy.net/~lauralee/folk.htmCONTEMPLATOR'S FOLK MUSIC MIDI PAGE: not only MIDI files, but lyrics as well.
http://www.epix.net/~lesley/folk.htmlTURLOUGH CAROLAN WEB PAGE: with lots of links for fans of the remarkable harpist/composer.
http://www.epix.net/~lesley/carolan.htmlEVERY CELTIC THING ON THE WEB: test out the claim with this immense list of links.
http://www.mi.net/users/ang/anglink.htmlPLAYFORD'S 1651 ENGLISH DANCING MASTER: the text for the Playford dances, plus some MIDI files, plus the world's longest Web address: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/org/sca/src/contributed/pc2d@andrew.cmu.edu/dance/playford.html
SOCIETY FOR CREATIVE ANACHRONISM: researching and recreating the customs of pre-17th-century Europe:
http://www.sca.org/LUTE PAGE FOR GUITARISTS: Conrad Leviston's tutorials and tablature of Elizabethan music for guitar.
http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~mongoose/lute.html
REC.MUSIC.FOLK: a huge Usenet newsgroup. Hundreds of messages exchanged on every possible folk subject. Use the newsreader search function to look for other Usenet groups dedicated to specific topics, such as Celtic music, guitars, banjos, dulcimers, performers, etc.
There are also folk mailing lists on Listservers. These send their messages directly to your email mailbox. An example would be FOLK_MUSIC listserv@nysernet.org. Some familiarity with subscribing to mailing lists is required. They have the advantage that you don't miss any messages, and the disadvantage that you have to clean out your mailbox routinely.
intonation 1. The accuracy with which an instrument or singer reproduces the scale. It's quite a problem with fretted instruments, since small changes in the action or sweep of the neck can cause changes in the tuning as the player goes up the neck. Additionally, the bridge (if adjustable) can get out of position. One cure is to reset the bridge or adjust its saddle if adjustments can be made. Another is to reset the tension on the truss rod, which changes the sweep of the neck, assuming that the neck adjustment is a minor one - serious changes in the action call for skilled repair.
An electronic tuner simplifies moving the bridge or adjusting the sweep. The adjustments are made in small increments until the 12th fret note is exactly one octave above the open string note.
2. The pitches of the notes of the scale in use - no scale is perfect, and the limitations of the various temperaments are listed briefly in equal-tempered scale, just intonation, natural scale, meantone scale, Pythagorean scale, comma of Pythagoras, wolf tone.
intro 1. A spoken introduction to a song. The content depends on the performer. It may be curt, endless, or very funny. Traddies love long historical backgrounds to the song. 2. A bit of music played before the song or tune begins, almost always part of the main melody or a variant, although it can be a tricky instrumental run. See also shuffle and turnaround.
inversion intervals are counted upward through the scale, and are counted inclusively. Thus, C to E is a third. However, if you put an E note below the C, finding this new interval means you also have to count upward, E-F-G-A-B-C - a sixth. This is an inversion. These are the inverted intervals:
second - seventh
third - sixth
fourth - fifth
fifth - fourth
sixth - third
seventh - second
octave - octave
See also chord inversion for the way this is applied to chords.
interval 1. (also "diad", "dyad") The distance between any two notes, counting inclusively. For instance, C to F is a fourth. Also, those two notes sounded together would be called an interval (as opposed to a chord). If the interval is sharped, it's augmented. If it's flatted, it's minor or diminished. "Major" means that no sharps or flats have been applied - C to E, for instance, is often called a major third. See also inversion. 2. The intermission or break between sets.
Irish pipes see bagpipes.
Irish music Irish traditional instrumental music first came to the public ear through the music of the Chieftains, thanks to their exposure in the Kubrick film "Barry Lyndon". What the public ear may not know is that there are *hundreds* of incredibly gifted musicians playing songs and tunes that bear no relation to the swill served up by the media around St Patrick's Day. The Irish tradition is a enormous storehouse of wonderful music, with each county contributing its unique style.
Many of the musically talented who were displaced to another country by the famine of the 1840s added greatly to that country's folk repertoire. For instance, they had a great effect on the fiddle style of the Ottawa Valley.
Such maudlin songs as "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" and cheerful claptrap like "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" have nothing whatsoever to do with Irish folk music - they were written in the US. Irish ballads and songs, like most traditional music, have a hard-nosed determination to them - no dripping sentimentality in sight.
Incidentally, the song "Danny Boy" is not Irish. It was written in the late 19th century by an Englishman (Fred Weatherly) about Scotland. Though it was set to a tune believed to be traditional Irish ("Londonderry Air"), there is some debate about its Irishness - the meter of the present version is unknown in any Irish music. Some of the confusion might have arisen from its arrangement by Grainger, Percy as "An Irish Tune from County Derry". The interested are referred to the tune's entry in "The Oxford Companion to Music".
See also O'Neill, Francis.
Irish Rovers after emigrating to Canada in the early 60s, the Rovers played various club and variety shows, but their success was made with their recording of "The Unicorn" by Silverstein, Shel. They had a CBC TV show in the 70s, and put their profits into a Toronto pub known as, obviously, "The Unicorn". They had another hit with "Wasn't That a Party" by Paxton, Tom and have recorded ten albums.
isometric characterizing a tune with simple rhythms throughout. Also called chordal style and homorhythmic. Most folksongs have simple rhythm (but see rubato).
Ives, Burl (1910-1995) a singer/actor who had great success in the 50s with folk songs like Bluetail Fly, "Big Rock Candy Mountain", and "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". He was never much accepted by folkies after the 60s, perhaps because he sounded commercialized. Still, he contributed greatly to the folk music revival. Probably best known to folkies for "Wayfaring Stranger" and to the public for the 1962 hits "Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'".
Ives, Charles (1874-1954) unorthodox American composer. He used folksong, pop songs, marches and other American idioms in his works.
IWW the Industrial Workers of the World. Aka "wobblies". See union songs.
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