Simon Furey wrote:
> 
> Incidentally, does this tell us anything about the "folk process" in melody
> retention?;o)

Happens all the time.  I used to think I had a exceptional memory for
melody, but I've been humbled by recent experience in mastering new
repertoires for several productions I've been in.  I "learn" the parts
fast, but the more familiar I get with the music, the more I find myself
borrowing from other parts - and sometimes when I go back to a piece I
sang repeatedly last season, I discover I don't have any idea whether
what I'm singing is right.

Cliff Haslam had this experience with the beautiful piece he sings,
"Curragh of Kildare".  He heard someone sing it, and remembered the
melody, but had to hunt down words over a couple of years.  When he got
words, he added the piece to his repertoire and eventually recorded it. 
However, somewhere along the line he ran into the original artist again,
and discovered his "remembered" melody wasn't really the way the
original singer sang it after all!  He'd grown so used to the way he
sings it that he stayed with it, of course.  I'm just as happy; it's
hard to imagine the original could be prettier than the version he sings.

I heard Sydney Carter's "John Ball" several times on the radio, and
liked it.  When I found the words, I started singing it.  Then I led it
at a sing, and two people who started singing along suddenly stopped -
which was my cue that the melody I was remembering and singing wasn't
the "right" one after all.  So I went to Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman's
version, but I can't really sing it *either* way at this point!
But this takes us into different territory - e.g. whether there is *a*
tune to a traditional song from the oral tradition, or only versions, etc.

-Don Duncan


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%