Submitted Papers 2010

Capturing an Oral Tradition on the Page: Notations of Ornamentation, Variation, and Individuality in Hungarian Folk Singing

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Creating transcriptions of source recordings is both a science and an art - and the detailed transcriptions of Hungarian folk songs created by Hungarian ethnomusicologists provide invaluable material for historical understanding, theoretical analysis, and vocal study of these songs. What other styles of notation could serve different functions: capture new elements of the songs, demonstrate the variation and improvisation, or provide a more visually representative or easier-to-follow guide for today’s many folk singing students? With complex but stylistic ornamentation, rubato and ‘uneven’ timing, differing vocal timbres, and other fluctuating and flexible elements specific to regions and song types, this diverse oral tradition can be represented on the page in many ways. I will present a few examples of notational strategies developed through experience with folk singers’ rehearsal techniques without sheet music or with limited music-reading skills, contemporary composers’ use of modern notation and graphic scoring, and Hungarian folk music scholars’ knowledge of transcription methods appropriate to this music. As folk singers often must know to embellish skeletal notations or are daunted by transcriptions that are unnecessarily complicated and counterintuitive (and in fact create their own alternatives), these tools may aid in practical daily ways. But as I bring out important elements intrinsic to Hungarian folk singing they may also shed light on conceptual changes in our approach to folk music and its notation. As it bonds Hungarians and folk music enthusiasts around the world, how we conceptualize, visualize, and notate this music is a pressing issue in the ongoing continuation and development of this special heritage.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

Instrumental Technique in Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1: Reconciling the Composer, Modern Performance, and Field Recordings

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As an American cellist seeking to perform Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1, I found that Hungarian folk music was not an extensive part of my musical vocabulary. There is an inherent difficulty in assimilating three seemingly autonomous sources with the intent of performance: The published composition that was crafted by Bartók, the recordings of modern artists like Bartók, Szigeti, and Starker, and the field recordings of Hungarian, Rumanian, and Gypsy folk music. It is the intent of this string-performer’s guide to explicate performance of four techniques through these sources: bow articulation, rubato, vibrato, and glissandi.
Beginning with a discussion of Bartók’s written word (essays, letters, etc.), I consider his view of the bowed strings with respect to folk instruments, Western art instruments, the voice, and performance. I then analyze his compositional processes for incorporating six folk melodies into Rhapsody No. 1 and offer a map of folkloric techniques such as pizzicato and imitation of bagpipes, placing special emphasis on the four techniques mentioned above. After analyzing the published composition, I discuss the major keystone recordings spanning 75 years and apply the methodology of László Somfai to decipher the discrepancies between notation and sound. Also presented within this section is an examination of the field recordings of the six incorporated folk melodies. Next, I discuss how the sound of the folk instrumentalist influenced performance by modern artists. I conclude by offering the violoncellist a technical “how-to” for performing Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 with the character and zest of a native Hungarian.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

Traditional Dance as Local Knowledge, Everyday Practice and Cultural Heritage

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
I would like to speak about how the collected dances for villages and those in archives - according to the footprints of the local knowledge of the time - become an integral part and building block to a varied cultural heritage for communities who keep them alive. I will demonstrate this with films of old collections and recent archival footage.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

„I went on board the ship in Fiume…” The Songs of Hungarian Emigrants and Temporary Workers in America

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Gyula Ortutay and Imre Katona called the songs of travelling tradesmen and crafstmen among the genres of Hungarian folk-poetry wandering songs. There are a few groups of Hungarian folksongs which are closely related to the wandering songs and also connected with different travellers as refugees, exiles, soldiers, highwaymen, outlaws, herdsmen, shipmen, navvies, seasonal workers, etc. Several themes and motifs appear in all groups of these songs.
The „American” songs (songs of Hungarian emigrants and Hungarian returned from America after long stay there) are a characteristic patch of colour in Hungarian folk-poetry. They are production of the great wawes of emigration in the turn of the 19-20 th century. The „American” songs also closely related to above-mentioned groups of songs. There are very limited publications of „American” songs in Hungary. The author will present some collections of these songs keeped in archives. She will examine which typical motifs and topics of wandering songs appear in „American” songs.

„Amerika hegyes-völgyes határa…” AZ AMERIKÁS DALOK A MAGYAR FOLKLÓRBAN
A magyar népdalok legfiatalabb tematikus csoportjai közé tartoznak az ún. amerikás dalok, amelyek az 1880-as évekt?l az els? világháborúig terjed? id?szakban keletkeztek az Amerikába ideiglenesen, vagy véglegesen kivándorlók körében. A nagyrészt paraszti származású emigránsok többsége a bányászatban, illetve a nehéziparban helyezkedett el. A lakóhely- és életmódváltás sokkhatás-szer?en érte a magyar kivándorlókat, akik korábban még a szül?falujuk határát sem lépték túl, s az angol nyelvet sem értették. A csak ideiglenes munkára érkez?k (többségükben férfiak) zsúfolt tömegszállásokon laktak. Idejük nagy részét nehéz és veszélyes munkával töltötték. Körülményeik részben a katonaságra, részben a rabságra, részben a magyar történelemb?l jól ismert bujdosásra, a szül?földt?l történ? kényszer? elszakadásra emlékeztettek. Nem csoda, hogy az általuk énekelt dalok egyrészt a többszázéves katonadalok, rabénekek, bujdosóénekek és panaszdalok közeli rokonai, illetve aktualizált változatai, másrészt a vándorló céhes mesterlegények dalai nyomán, azok kisebb-nagyobb átalakításával születtek.
El?adásomban az amerikai lejegyzett, vagy publikált szövegek, valamint a hazatért amerikásoktól Magyarországon gy?jtött dalok f? tematikus csoportjait mutatom be, illetve konkrét példákon szemléltetem a keletkezés – alkotás és változatképz?dés folyamatát.

Juhász Katalin© és Pál Lajos m?sorában szerepl? amerikás dalok szövegei
SZEGED 2010

Sötét felh?k, sötét felh?k vándorolnak az égen,
Maradásom, maradásom nincs ezen a vidéken,
Az van írva a vándorló felh?kre:
Isten veled, Magyarország örökre.
***
Ha elmegyek, ha elmegyek nagy Németország felé
Visszanézek, visszanézek szép Magyar hazám felé.
Látom a nagy hegyeket, rajta a sok szüzeket
Arccal vannak elborulva, úgy siratnak engemet

Te kismadár, barna holló, tedd meg azt a jót velem:
Édesanyám karjaiba vidd el az én levelem!
Hogyha látod búsulni, gyöngykönnyeket hullatni,
E szavakat mondjad néki, fel fogom ?t keresni.
(Bakonyoszlop, 1952, Deák Jánosné Cseri Anna (75 éves)
***
Magyarországon bajos a legénynek,
Amerikába köll menni szegénynek.
Amerikába terem az angol lány,
Fáj a szívem, ha ölelni akarnám.

Azér nem jó Amerikába lenni,
Éjjel-nappal a vasgyárba dolgozni
Inkább ülnék kisangyalom ölébe,
Kacsingatnék világoskék szemébe.

Nincs édesebb a pápai dinnyénél,
Nincs kedvesebb az els? szeret?mnél.
Göndör haját kétfelé fújja a szél,
Meghalok én az els? szeret?mér.
***

Emerika hegyes völgyes mezeje,
Itt sínyl?dünk sok magyarok ezrede.
Kigyöttünk a hiteget?k szavára,
A családunk árván hagytuk magára.

Munkát kaptam az átkozott Koriba,
Küvet raktunk az átkozott kárékra
Meg-megállunk, mérgel?dünk a plézen,
Mér nem ette a fene azt már régen?

Összenézünk, mint a cigány bandája,
Mint akinek nem jól megy a nótája.
De a bászunk odakiált: hariapp!
Hát a ménk? mire való, ha megcsap?

Kori, Kori elbúcsúzom tetülled,
De sok küvet kiforkútam belülled.
Itt marad a viski, a sör, a bánat,
Téged Kori suflizzon csak a bászat.



Hétf? reggel virradóra
Jön a pitbósz az ajtóra
Keljetek fel, hat az óra:
Eldudált már a bojlerba.

Nincs szebb élet a miénknél,
A bányászi mesterségnél,
Mert mi adót nem fizetünk,
Meddig tetszik, addig fekszünk.

Hétf?n reggel virradóra
Jön a pitbósz az ajtómra:
Föl bányászok, hat az óra,
Eldudált már a bojlerba.

Miszter pitbósz, nem dolgozunk,
Mind egy szálig besztrájkolunk.
Besztrájkolunk, megmutatjuk,
Hogy a szenet nem ládoljuk!

Én palér úr, nem dolgozom,
Inkább a kufferom fogom.
Kufferszíjam a kezembe,
Úgy megyek el más pelézre.

Más plézi bosz van-e dzsobod?
Van-e kökényszem? lányod!
Dzsobom is van, lányom is van,
Hogyha köll, hát viszkim is van.

Minden plézit az én hazám,
Minden miszisz édesanyám,
Mindegyik lány feleségem,
Kivel világomat élem.

Mégis szép élet a miénk,
Az urakkal nem cserélnénk.
Mert mink a h?vösön járunk,
A halállal parolázunk.

De jó is bányásznak lenni,
A halállal incselkedni,
Szénport a tüd?re szívni,
Aztán koporsóba menni.

Így döngetjük életünket,
Míg egykor majdan végünk lesz.
Azt mondjuk a pajtásunknak,
Családommal ne is tudasd.

Hogyha pedig megtudatod,
Írjad, hogy csak beteg vagyok,
Mert ha holt híremet hallják,
Hová lesznek szegény árvák.



***

A bányába keresik az aranyat,
Nem az ágyon, se nem a paplany alatt,
Mer ha(j)azt a paplany alatt keresnék,
Én már többet bányászlegény nem lennék,
Mer a bánya olyan, mint a temet?,
Nincsen abba, csak a fáradt leveg?.

Trejberosok tik is szépen mehettek
Mert dolgozni úgyse nagyon szerettek
Lihajparton van egy h?vös zöld liget,
Sétálhattok a tavaszig ölöget.

Mindennap gyün g?zer?re a hajó,
Húzza eztet két fekete muli ló
F?mutatod a császulló levelet,
Ha lesz pénzed, Ókontriba elmehetsz!
(Bakonybél, 1954. Szelthoffer István, 81 éves)
***
Nevijorki kiköt?be áll egy hadihajó
Közepibe, közepibe nemzeti lobogó
Fújja a szél fújja, hazafelé fújja,
Kilenc éves öreg amerikás megy az Ókontriba
***


Ha bemegyek Nevijorkba az ágentofiszra
Kiváltom a hajójegyem, megyek ókontriba.
Hajójegyem csak egy, ötven dollár lesz az ára,
Ha megunom, visszagyüvök Nord Amerikába (ISM)
***

Ammerikai tenger vize veri a hullámot
Az én kedves kisangyalom szedi a virágot.
Szedjed kedves kisangyalom, szedjed a virágot,
Hogyha tudtad, hogy engem szeretsz, mért adtad a szíved másnok?

Ammerikai kiköt?ben áll egy hadihajó,
Közepibe, négy sarkába nemzeti lobogó.
Közepibe, négy sarkába rezesbanda játszik,
Az én kedves kisangyalom más ölibe játszik.
***


Szombat este megmondom a gazdámnak,
Másik kocsist keressen már magának,
Ingem gatyám bekötöm a batyuba,
Jön a bilét, vár rám nagy Amerika.

Visz a vonat, megérkeztünk Serburba,
Százhúsz magyar van együtt egy csoportba’,
Itt a hajó, indulunk a nagy útra,
Isten veled már örökre Európa.

Fiuméban ültem fel a hajóra,
Visszanéztem széles Magyarországra.
Áldott legyen Magyarország örökre,
A sok magyar boldog lehessen benne.

Mikor kezdtem a tengeren utazni,
Kezdett velem a hajó hánykolódni.
Én meg csak úgy sóhajtoztam magamba
A jó Isten most segítsen át rajta!

Aki meghal, a tengeren leteszik,
A hóttestit a nagy halak megeszik.
A csontjait a hullám hajtogatja,
Odahaza a sok árva siratja.

Amerika nekem nem szül?hazám,
Nincsen benne se víg napom, sem órám
Búval élem, búval töltöm világom
Senki se látja szomorúságom.

Holnapután ülök fel a gályára,
Visszanézek Észak Amerikára.
Átkozott légy Amerika örökre,
De sok magyar boldogtalan lett benne.
***




Házunk el?tt bólingat az akácfa
De vorizva búsan hull a (szegény) virága
Fáj a hártom édesanyám, éjjel-nappal tinkolok a babámra
Fár-avéj a Nyír-Egyházi kaszárnya.

Rájtottam a galambomnak levelet,
Megrájtottam, hogy ne várjon engemet,
Kámbek haza nemsokára, ne várja, hogy én valkoljak utána
Fár-avéj a Nyír-Egyházi kaszárnya.
(Juhász Katalinnak Dodi Gödölley 2009)


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

The Role of Singing and Dancing in the Creation of Roma Men and Women in two Hungarian Roma groups

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A number of Roma/Gypsy/Sinti and Traveller groups seem to distinguish themselves from the non-Gypsy population through a complex set of moral rules which collectively add up to what they refer to as the "Gypsy way of being,", who enact their specific femininity and masculinity with sensitivity for age and locality. Having the non-Gypsies as a counterexample, the Gypsies focus on creating and performing their present inter-subjectivity, which they perpetually remake and reinterpret in different situations. In this paper, I shall make use of the above ideas, as put forward by Paloma Gay y Blasco (1999), and illustrate how musical expressions are one of the best ways to generate distinct Roma selves, male and female, who see their superiority not so much in a strict adherence to, or passive acceptance and reproduction of, already set moral ideals but in their active creation and performance of always alternating and affecting selves. I shall draw on my research among two different Hungarian Roma groups, the Vlach Gypsies and the Romungro, and refer to my own research/performance experience when appropriate.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

Urban Popular Musical Culture in a Transdanubian Village

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
There has always been a connection between the rural and urban musical culture. The verbunkos music of the 19th century, as an amalgam of urban and rural traditions can nowadays be collected from Transdanubian rural bands as pieces of an archaic folk repertory. The urban Hungarian song (magyar nóta) started to spread from popular theatre pieces, later through the elementary school education, and for the first half of the 20th century in several Hungarian villages it has became the dominant part of the song repertory of the peasants. In a village in Tolna country where I do my fieldwork, the generation over sixty years of age lives in the culture of the magyar nótas and to smaller extent in the new style folk songs. This material has an organic connection to the world of the melodious Hungarian hits (slágers). The big shift has been ensued by the rock music’s rising that had started to change the active singing to mere listening of the music since the 1960s. The rural youth went to the towns to study in secondary schools, where they encountered the new and fashionable musical styles. The generation over forty years of age, as teenagers came under the spell of the rock music, because among others they could find valid messages for themselves in the texts of the rock songs. The 1970’s Hungarian rock has been serving them as an etalon and they try to transmit it to their children with the help of music listening, just like their parents did it with the folkloristic songs for them. They accept the interest of the young generation in the contemporary popular music, but they react to them with a similar lack of comprehension like their parents did to the rock music that meant a big change of musical styles. In my paper on the basis of participant observations and interviews I examine in what categories local people think of music, music listening, the music of the different contexts and the harmonic coexistence of the different genres.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

The Art of the Epistle: Sándor Veress to János Demény from the City of Bears

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The composer Sándor Veress, Kodály`s successor as Professor of Composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, left Hungary in 1949 and settled in Bern, Switzerland, where he was active for the next 40 years as a highly influential teacher and a successful composer. His closest friend in Hungary was musicologist János Demény, who was responsible for collecting and publishing Bartók`s letters. The
correspondence between these two musicians covers many subjects from travels to family matters but it mainly revolves, not surprisingly, around music. The paper will illustrate how Veress sought to communicate the new insights and experiences gained in the West to his friend in Hungary. At the same time, it will pay tribute to letter-writing as a literary genre; Veress and Demény clearly enjoyed practicing this dying art-form.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):

---

The Bridge That Never Was: Székely and Bartók and the First Performance of his Last Quartet

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The lifelong friendship between the violinist Zoltán Székely and Béla Bartók began in the early 1920s when Székely was a student at the Academy of Music in Budapest and Bartok was a piano instructor there. In 1937, Székely joined the Hungarian String Quartet, and it seemed inevitable that the violinist and the composer would collaborate on a quartet together.
Even though the first performance of Bartok’s Fifth String Quartet was given by the Kolisch quartet in Washington (1935), it is the Hungarian String Quartet that have been attributed with the most authentic interpretation, as they had the privilege of rehearsing with the composer himself. In 1939, Bartok finished his last quartet and he had intended for the Hungarian Quartet to première the work. However, due to communication difficulties with Székely, the plan never materialized. It was the Kolisch quartet that once again premièred the work; this time in New York in 1941.
Although the Kolisch Quartet disbanded in the 1940s and a recording of the première does not exist, Bartok worked in America with this quartet prior to performance to ensure authenticity. However, many critics have stated the performance by the Hungarian Quartet most accurately captures the spirit of the work, not due to superior ensemble or technical capabilities, but simply by virtue of their ethnicity. This paper draws on the rehearsal notes taken in collaboration with the composer prior to the Kolisch première and compares them to the recording made in 1961 by the Hungarian Quartet in order to determine whether Bartok’s wishes were fully realized.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

Acquired History: How Hungarians in America Connect with their Past through Folk Music and Dance

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This study explores two contradictory forces affecting Hungarians in the New World and their interaction with Hungarian folklore and tradition—the first is the natural impulse to maintain ideas brought with them from Hungary; the second, the blending of ideas and practices which occurs within an expatriate group with heterogeneous backgrounds as they build a community-based on maintaining ties with an Hungarian heritage.
Immigration of Hungarians to the US and Canada throughout the last century has occurred in waves, each wave coinciding with different reasons for leaving Hungary and affecting certain economic and social groups. In addition, American Hungarians vary in their distance from true folklore. For some, folklore is an extension of their experience; for others it is a new background, which they embrace as a tie to a homeland, sometimes many generations behind them.
A major event where Hungarians of diverse backgrounds come together, bound by a shared motherland but varying experiences, is Hungarian Day, which takes place the first Saturday in June every year in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This paper will combine interviews and videos from events at Hungarian Day to show how differing ideas as to what people like, the appropriate use of folklore, and even what is Hungarian, are revealed in stage presentations.
I suggest that for many, the ideas represented in their individual presentations form a snapshot of ideas on folklore in Hungary when the group came here. We will also explore the degree to which the event reflects a sort of pan-Hungarian cultural space in which people from varied backgrounds are able to interact.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection

---

Acquired History: How Hungarians in America Connect with their Past through Folk Music and Dance

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This study explores two contradictory forces affecting Hungarians in the New World and their interaction with Hungarian folklore and tradition—the first is the natural impulse to maintain ideas brought with them from Hungary. The second, the blending of ideas and practices which occurs within an ex-patriot group with heterogeneous backgrounds as they build a community based on maintaining ties with an Hungarian heritage.
Immigration of Hungarians to the US and Canada throughout the last century has occurred in waves, each wave coinciding with different reasons for leaving Hungary and affecting certain economic and social groups. In addition, American Hungarians vary in their distance from true folklore. For some, folklore is an extension of their experience; for others it is a new background, which they embrace as a tie to a homeland, sometimes many generations behind them.
A major event where Hungarians of diverse backgrounds come together, bound by a shared motherland but varying experiences, is Hungarian Day, which takes place the first Saturday in June every year in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This paper will combine interviews and videos from events at Hungarian Day to show how differing ideas as to what people like, the appropriate use of folklore, and even what is Hungarian, are revealed in stage presentations.
I suggest that for many, the ideas represented in their individual presentations form a snapshot of ideas on folklore in Hungary when the group came here. We will also explore the degree to which the event reflects a sort of pan-Hungarian cultural space in which people from varied backgrounds are able to interact.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
computer projection with audio

---

The Pedagogy of Imre Waldbauer, First Violinist of the Hungarian String Quartet

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Imre Waldbauer was a distinguished violinist-musician-teacher. He was born in Hungary in 1892 and lived and taught there until 1945, when he came to the United States. From that time he taught at the School of Music at the University of Iowa until his death in 1952. Waldbauer attained his greatest stature as a performer in his position as first violinist with the internationally famous Waldbauer-Kerpely String Quartet which existed from 1910 to 1945. He was closely associated with such composers as Bartok. Kodaly and Dohnanyi and premiered their works at a time when their music was generally treated with indifference and hostility.
The main thrust of this presentation will be about Waldbauer’s teaching of violin, viola and chamber music based on my 1977 dissertation for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In order to obtain information about his teaching, I made inquiries of his former students and colleagues from both Hungary and North America. The main instrument of inquiry was a detailed questionnaire which I devised. Altogether, forty persons out of the sixty-two contacted responded to these questions.
Details of his teaching include descriptions of his analytical manner of teaching, his attitude toward teaching children, his interest in and philosophy of the so-called “vocal method,” and his major influence upon his students. Probably the most distinctive feature was his emphasis on the physiological aspects of playing the violin, including right and left hand techniques on muscle functions and tone production.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):

---