On Fri, 22 Oct 1999 10:07:58, Bob Ashworth wrote:
>> From my personal experience, (I used to join in with the girls at school),
> the rhymns are passed down exclusively by oral means and there is a core
> that change only slightly down the generations with the older children
> teaching the younger ones, but also there are transient topical rhymns
> which reflect current social trends and interests.
> These core rhymns were, according to my Grandmother, the same ones that she
> sang when she was young.
> The rhythm on the other hand was alway of an iambic nature with some
> variations, which I assume was in some way the easiest to recollect and
> reproduce time and again.
> One variation we did was that we did not clap but had strings of elastic
> bands between two people and a third danced in the middle, footing the
> bands into patterns whilst singing the rhymns.
> I was brought up in a village in East Sussex, England and the time i am
> refering to would be 1960-1964 when I was aged 6-10.
> Ihope this is of some good to you, but as I 've said before it's only my
> personal experience.
In the States, I recall the clapping in both those
of European and African heritage, but cannot recall
seeing it among Native Americans. African girls in
particular are quite expert in dance steps while
jumping rope. I dont recall any African traditions
of jump rope, but their dance has always been a very
rich heritage. And, here again, we see a heritage
which while not exactly 'oral' is certainly not the
result of literacy.
Since asking about this, the one rhyme I've heard is:
"Have you ever, ever, ever, seen a short legged sailor
with a long legged wife..."
with subsequent verses changing the subjects and the
adjetives. then the response runs:
"No I never, never, never, in my ..."
I dunno if this qualifies as iambic, but it does seem
to fit with the clapping rythms I've seen.
I cannot recall seeing anything like this in films of
Asian cultures either.
Sadly, one of the characteristics of the Nintendo fad
is its replacement of what may be a tradition of very
ancient lineage, which if we do not capture it now,
will be lost as if it never existed, and a chance to
examine how an oral tradition was spread or adapted.
As for personal experience, here again, this is oddly
unique, since that is the only way in which this exists.
There are no experts.
uncopywritten material; do whatever you want with it.
-- Arachne V1.50;beta, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://home.arachne.cz/
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