Getting Started - Folk Music Resources - LibGuides at Bowling Green State University

Defining Folk

Folk music is an ever-changing concept, and many scholars' opinions differ on what music is considered folk. Some have a very strict definition, while others are much more loose.

Some core concepts of folk are:

- also called "traditional music" or "roots music"

- community-created, from rural or urban origins

- is mostly singing or dancing with acoustic or no accompaniment

- differentiated from art music or popular music

- often of unknown authorship, passed from generation to generation

For more thorough definitions and interpretations of folk music, check out the music dictionaries and encyclopedias at Oxford Music Online.

Getting Started with Research in Folk Music

Photo of Woody Guthrie by Al Aumuller. Image is from the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division. Stream Guthrie's music at the American Song database (BGSU authentication required).

To find materials in the BGSU Libraries Catalog about traditional folk music try a subject search on the following terms:

Folk music
Folk songs
Folk dancing
Folk dance music
Folk singers
Ballads
Spirituals (songs)
Sea songs

To find materials in the catalog about contemporary folk music, try a subject search on the following terms:

Contemporary folk
Folk festivals
Folk-rock music
Folk-rock music - History and criticism
Folk singers

Musicians, Recordings and Scores

To find books about folk musicians, try a SUBJECT search of the individual's name (Last name, First name)

To find books, recordings, or scores (printed music) by folk musicians, try an AUTHOR search of the individual's name, or a TITLE search of an album title or a song title.

You can also limit your search results by designating a specific material type, such as CD or musical score.

Note: Many albums have excellent historical and biographical notes, and lyrics are frequently included on containers or inner liners.