What counts as folk music
People use the term in several ways. In the older sense it means traditional music learned by ear within a community: tunes and songs whose original composers are usually unknown, played at home, at work and at celebrations. In a looser modern sense it also covers newer songs written in a traditional style. These guides mostly mean the first kind, especially the dance music.
Traditional tunes change as they travel. Two players from neighboring valleys may play the same tune with different notes, ornaments and endings, and both versions are correct. Collectors who wrote tunes down often found dozens of versions of a single melody.
Learning by ear
For most of history, folk musicians learned by listening and copying. A young player sat near older players, picked up tunes phrase by phrase, and learned the style along with the notes. Many players still learn this way, even when notation and recordings are available. Group sessions, where players sit in a circle and play tunes together, keep this process going. The finding groups guide explains how to locate one.
Dance music and its shapes
Dance tunes usually come in short, repeated sections, often eight bars long, so that dancers can predict when a figure begins and ends. A common form plays an A section twice and a B section twice, then repeats the whole tune. The meter tells dancers what kind of step to use:
| Meter | Feels like | Dances you may meet |
|---|---|---|
| 2/4 | Two strong beats per bar, quick and bouncy | Polka, many marches, some circle dances |
| 3/4 | Three beats, the first strongest | Waltz, mazurka, many Scandinavian couple dances |
| 4/4 | Four beats, often felt as two pairs | Schottische, reels, many line dances |
| 6/8 | Two beats, each split into three | Jigs and many marches |
The rhythm guide shows how to count these and where the accents fall.
Some regional families
Every region has its own traditions, and the short list below only gives a feel for the range:
- Central and eastern Europe: polkas, waltzes, mazurkas and many circle dances, played on accordion, fiddle, clarinet, brass and hammered dulcimer.
- Ireland and Scotland: reels, jigs, hornpipes and strathspeys on fiddle, flute, tin whistle, pipes and button accordion.
- Scandinavia: couple dances in 3/4 time, such as the Swedish and Norwegian polska families, and tunes for the fiddle and, in Sweden, the keyed fiddle called the nyckelharpa.
- The Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean: line and circle dances, some in uneven meters such as 7/8, played on clarinet, fiddle, accordion and local lutes and drums.
- Appalachia and the American South: old-time fiddle and banjo music for square dances and other social dances.
- Northern Mexico and Texas: polkas and other dances played on button accordion and bajo sexto.
How traditions mix
Traditions borrow from each other all the time. The polka reached Ireland, Scandinavia, Mexico and the American Midwest and took a local shape in each. Instruments travel too: the accordion, a European invention of the 1800s, became central to dance music on several continents. When you hear a local folk band, you are often hearing several centuries of borrowing.
How to start listening
Libraries are a good free source. Many hold folk recordings on CD and through streaming services, and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress publishes field recordings and research guides online. Your state folk arts program may also share recordings and information about traditions in your area.