Our Singing Country

Complete Text, Lyrics & Sheet Music

	EXPLANATION OF HEADNOTES
	A headnote in small type appears above the notation of each song, and contains the following information: (i) the pitch of the final tone of each tune, as shown on the duplicate phono­graph disc (played at 78 RPM) from which the tune was transcribed; (2)   the number of the original disc in the Archive of American Folk Song in the Music Division of the Library of Congress; (3)   the name(s) of the singer(s), and of the accompanying instrument(s) and player(s), if any; (4)   the place where the recording was made; (5 ) the date at which the recording was made; (6) one or several references to sources where similar songs can be found in print. The pitch of the final tone of each tune is shown by means of a letter in italics* as follows:                                                   _
	C to B          c to b                  c' to b' When the pitch rises or falls during the course of a song, this change is indicated fas ue to /"). When several voice-parts have been shown in the notation, the final tone of each is indicated here, from lowest to highest (as It should be noted that the original discs, as well as the duplicate discs from which the tunes were transcribed, were made on several different assemblies of equipment under varying conditions. It is a question, therefore, whether the pitch of the dupli­cates as given on the following pages is in all cases the same as that of the original singing, or of the original recording. The pitches given here are offered as having value for at least an approximate pitch placement, and as an indication of the amount of variation in pitch within the limits of any one song. There follows a list of books to which reference has been made in the headnotes. Most of the books may be found in any large library. The references here noted are not intended to be complete, but rather to lead the student or the interested reader to sources where versions of the song may be found, where the song may be located in a context of similar songs with discussion of these songs, or f ronj which the song may [ XXV ]