H I LL INO I UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. Volume 3, No. 1 October 15, 1962 OCT 17 1?C2 RAMBIERS CCOE TO CAMPS I - 'he New Lost City Ramblers will 1920's and early 30's. They sing lent a concert of traditional mountain depression songs, election songs, British .c at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, songs, and they even have an album of ncoln Hall Theater. Old Timey Songs for Children. They also 'he Ramblers are one of the leading sing humerous songs like "It's a Shame ips working to perpetuate pure, un- to Beat Your Wife on Sunday", (When Lterated folksongs. This effort can you'v got Monday, Tuesday...etc.) eard in their "old timey", unaffected Their popularity has become evident .eof singing; an unusual and admirable by the enthusiastic acceptance of five .evement for urban singers. Folkways albums and a number of Newport lembers of the trio are Mike Seeger, Folk Festival discs. Their own NLCR cording technician, John Cohen, a songbook is to be issued soon. Those 'essional photographer, and Tracy of you who were on campus last year and rarz, an accomplished string band heard the Philo Glee and Mandolin Society, tormer replacing Tom Paley. All are will notice and enjoy the similarities wrb musicians and play unamplified in style and humor between the Philos aruments: the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and the Ramblers. lie, dobro, and autoharp. Tickets for the concert are $1.25 and lecording to Seeger, the Ramblers' $1.75 and are available at the Illini .c is that of the rural areas of the Union Box Office. All seats are reserved. theastern United States during the ---Benette Rottman--- ATTEN'TON New Members If you had joined the campus folk club four years ago, you would have been a member of the Folk Arts Society; a group which met for folk dancing at the Illini Union and held its sings in the base- ment of the Channing Murrey Foundation. Or, if you had joined a year and a half ago when the folk singing faction of the Polk Arts Society decided to form the Campus Folksong Club, you would have found fewer members in the entire club than we now have on our ex- ecutive committee. The organization and growth of the Club has special meaning to you as a member. We are now able to bring well-known folk artists to the campus for your entertainment. There are afternoon folk seminars given by speakers who are experts in some phase of folk music, history, or lore. Some of these speakers will be giving performances in the eveningsfollowing their lectures. Also, beginning, intermediate and advanced guitar lessons as well as beginning banjo lessons are now being offered to members of the club. Last year the club cut its first record, a project which has brought us to the attention of folk enthusiasts across the country. It is only through our ranid growth, through your membership, that these things are made possible. You are a member of the fast- est growing, most outstanding club of its kind in the nation...one in which you can take a great deal of pride. This leads to one other very imnortant function of the club. When a group like ours ceases to be informal, it negates the very tradition which gave it life. All facets of the club's activities are open to you....from writing articles for Autoharp to performing at the sings. Remember...this is your club.....use it!! e,* * Sue Rissman....editor CAMPUS FOLKSONG CLUB CALENDAR OF EVENTS FALL SEMESTER, 1962 Sept. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Sept. Wed. Executive Commmittee 7:30 pm 43 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. Oct. Wed. General Business 7:30 pm 35 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. Meeting Oct. Thurs. KARL WOLFRAM 8:00 pm Smith Music Hall Oct. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Oct. Thurs. HIGHWAYMEN (Star 8:00 pm Auditorium Course Extra) Oct. 19 Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Oct. 27 Sat. NEW LOST CITY 8:00 pm Lincoln Hall Theater RAMBLERS Nov. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Nov. Tues. JACK ELLIOTT (to be announced) Nov. Thurs. JOAN BAEZ (Star 8:00 pm Auditorium Course Extra) Dec. Sat. JEAN REDPATH 8:00 pm Lincoln Hall Theater Dec. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 314 Altgeld Hall Jan. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 314 Altgeld Hall Guitar and Banjo Lessons The Campus Folksong Club will once again sponsor Workshop classes which provide members with instruction in folk guitar and five string banjo. Instructors will offer beginning guitar, intermediate guitar, blues guitar, and beginning banjo. Persons interested in blues guitar should possess a moderate facility on the guitar in basic styles such as Carter Family and double thumbing, as discussion will consist primarily of three-finger picking. (If you do not recognize names of these techniques, you probably are not qualified for the class.) Intermediate classes will develop Carter Family style, double thumbing, and various other techniques designed to play melody line, while the beginning classes will nrovide an introduction to the guitar,illustrating fundamentals common to all styles of playing. Beginning banjo classes will teach the basic strum, frailing, double thumbing, and an introduction to Scruggs style. Workshops will be held on five consecutive Saturdays with the first meeting being held on October 6, in room 114E of the English Building. Beginning classes in banjo and guitar will meet at 1:00 p.m. ?nd the intermediate and blues guitar classes will meet at 2:00 p.m. The cost of the five classes is $3.50. This price includes printed materials which are passed out at the lesson. Workshop participants must belong to the Campus Folksong Club, and all students must bring their own instruments. People may register for classes by contacting Bill Becker at 359-1060, by writing to the Club at 322 Illini Union, or by coming to the first meeting on October 6. FOR SAIE GUITAR . .R.D. COCK 1112* E. I•in/U. Banjo * . PRESTON MARTIN 904 W. Illinois 367-1336 Dulcimers and long necks for banjos. BILL BECKER 106 E. John St. 359-1060 A Folka nger's Credo by Jean Redpath For me, honesty is the keystone of any performance that is to be convincing to the listener, satisfying to the singer, and a genuine emotional experience for both. An honest approach toward folk songs, I feel, requires considerable understanding of the material and the cultural tradition it reflects. I find myself best equip- ped, at present, to offer the songs I've grown up with in the lan- guage I am accustomed to speaking. Scots songs hinge so much on the vernacular use of language that they deserve to be treated, linguistically, as "foreign songs", not touched on lightly by speakers of English as some quaint dialect. All languages (and many translators) suffer in translation. So, too, in rendering Scots into Anglicized versions many nuances of humor and irony are lost, as are many emotional subtleties. The sources for my materials are as varied as the songs themselves. Some I learned from py parents in Leven, Fifeshire, or from their family. Others were learned from Arthur Argo, folksong collector and journalist from Aberdeenshire, and from Ella Ward of Edinburgh. Fellow members of the University of Edinburgh Folksong Society con- tributed still other numbers in my repertory. In the background for all of this is the enthusiastic support and assistance of Hamish Henderson of the School of Scottish Studies. And, of course, there is the great device of the modern collector and repertory builder, the phonograph. I regard myself, therefore, as partly a traditional singer and partly an interpreter of traditional Scots songlore. (Jean Redpath will -p pear in a Lincoln Hall concert on Saturday December 8, 1962 at 8:00 p.m.) * * * * * * General Bussiness Meeting Of October 3, 1962 Two very important items, vital to the club organization, were discussed at the general business meeting of October 3. The first problem confronting the club body evolved around the reorganization of the Constitution. Several changes were needed to clarify the constitution and place it in line with University policy on the run- ning of student groups. Briefly, the two changes made concerned 1) voting membership, which is now limited to students, University staff, and their families, and 2) the proceedure for filling vacancies in elected offices during a given smmester. As there was a vacancy in the office of Vice-President, an election was held and the Club elected Dave Huehner. This left the office of recording secretary vacant and Dianne Wells was elected to the position. The rest of the meeting was spent in aquainting the club body with the various duties of the officers and committees. (General business meetings are held at the start of every semester and all members are encouraged to attend, Members are also welcome to attend Executive Committee Meetings which will be held at 43 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. (5th and Armory) on the following dates: Oct. 24; Nov. 7, 20; Dec. 5, 19; 'and Jan 9. Our First Record: CFC 101 by Dick Adams It would be hard to say who first suggested that the Campus Folksong Club put out a long-playing record album. More than anything else, it seemed to follow naturally from the Club's other activities. What would be a better way to document, in some meaningful and permanent form, the University of Illinois folk music revival? On February 21, 1962, the idea came up for the first time at a meeting of the Club Executive Committee.