Folklore
Folk music of a region.
What it means
Folklore designates the transmitted popular culture of a region or community — songs, dances, customs, tales. In music the term means folk music, that is, the music that is passed on orally in a community and cannot be attributed to a single composer.
Characteristic of folk music is its transmission from generation to generation, usually without musical notation. In the process it changes constantly: melodies are varied, adapted to new occasions, and executed differently by different singers and players. There is therefore seldom a single “correct” version.
The term is used in different ways. In research it designates the transmitted popular culture itself; in everyday language it is also used for folk music that has been arranged or prepared for an audience and has partly moved far from the original practice. It is important to keep the two apart.
In the notation
By its nature, folk music is not notated. Recordings by collectors and researchers capture individual versions but can render peculiarities such as free rhythm, special intonation, or ornaments only incompletely. Many collections of the nineteenth century, moreover, adapted the melodies to the art music of their time.
Musical use
Folk music has been a source of art music in every period. In the nineteenth century it is especially valued in connection with national movements; in the early twentieth century its systematic collection and study begin with sound recordings. Many composers have arranged folk melodies or taken them into works of their own.
The term designates both the transmitted folk music of a region and its arrangement in art music or entertainment. Composers such as Bartók and Kodály collected folk songs scientifically. They used the melodies as the basis of works of their own.
Performance practice
Listen to recordings of musicians of the respective tradition before you play folk music; notation alone seldom suffices. Watch rhythm, intonation, and ornamentation as they are usual there. And treat the music with respect — it is part of a living culture, not merely material.