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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Vic Gammon, Emily Portman
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In this paper we explore the history of the emergence of five-time in collected examples of English traditional song and explore the controversy that they engendered in the twentieth century. We define our research questions through this historical enquiry and we try to settle the controversy that emerged. Early in the essay we give a brief account of the place of five-time within the Western classical music tradition in order to create some understanding of the situation in which the idea of five-time in English folk song emerged. The key research question that the essay addresses is whether five-time is an imposition on the material gathered by collectors (a kind of fiction) or an observable phenomenon in the performance of English traditional song: was it a reality or some kind of misconception? An answer is attempted through careful listening to a selection of post-1945 recordings of traditional singers, represented as transcriptions.It is not our ambition to give a comprehensive account of the phenomenon of five-time (or other irregular metres) in English vernacular song, but rather the more modest aim of settling the historical controversy concerning the veracity of five-time in that song tradition. We come to the clear, if qualified, conclusion that a small proportion of songs collected have a five-time base. We are very aware that more research on aspects of this topic is possible and our hope is that the article opens up discussion of an area that has suffered from relative neglect in the past.
Author(s): Gammon V, Portman E
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Folk Music Journal
Year: 2013
Volume: 10
Issue: 3
Pages: 319-346
Print publication date: 01/01/2013
ISSN (print): 0531-9684
Publisher: English Folk Dance and Song Society
