New user. Need help! Now that you’ve strummed chords to a couple of songs, let’s dig a little deeper into folk songs.
Choose one of the American folk songs below to research the story behind the song. Don’t like these choices? You can choose your own, just be sure to check with your instructor.
Blowin’ in the Wind
Freight Train
If I Had a Hammer
This Land is Your Land
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Folk songs are music of the people and often don’t have direct connections to one culture. Knowing this, your goal is to find out where your song came from and how the story and meaning has changed over generations. Use the following questions to guide your research (research, not a research paper, don’t go running for your MLA citation guidelines):
What song did you select? How is your selected song considered Folk music?
Trace the history of your selected song. What was the closest point of origin you found?
What is your favorite rendition of your selected song?
What was the oddest, most intriguing, or bizarre (it is your song, pick your own adjective here) fact you discovered about your selected song?
What current cultural connection can you make with your selected song?
You did the research, don’t forget your proof. What are three resources you used? Be sure to include all the information needed for your instructor to check out your sources. This should include the title, author, and the URL address of any website.