Samuel Preston Bayard
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| Samuel Preston Bayard | |
| Born | April 10, 1908 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Died | January 10, 1997 State College, Pennsylvania |
| Education | Penn State, Harvard |
| Occupation | folklorist, college professor |
| Known for | melodic families, fiddle tunes collection |
Samuel Preston Bayard Was an internationally known folklorist and musicologist. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1908, and received a B.A. in English from Penn State in 1934. He later earned an M.A. from Harvard University. He collected fiddle and fife tunes in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia from 1928 to 1963. He is known for his interest in the melodies of traditional music, at a time when often only the texts were collected. He introduced the concept of "melodic families", which are groups of tunes that appears to be structurally related.[1] He traced the origins of many traditional American fiddle tunes back to the British Isles.
In addition to his work on fiddle tunes, he was the expert on the use of the fife in traditional American music. He is fondly remembered by former students for his large collection of snuffboxes, which he used regularly.
He established the folklore program at Penn State, and taught there from 1945 to 1973
He was a fellow of the American Folklore Society, and its president from 1965 to 1966.
He died on January 10, 1997 in State College, Pennsylvania. An award in his name has been established at Penn State for graduate students in comparative literature.
[edit] On-line publications
- Samuel P. Bayard Tape Collection http://www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/grad_program/handbook/Bayard.pdf
- Hill Country Tunes (1944) http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/hct/index.htm
[edit] References
- ^ Prolegomena to a Study of the Principal of Melodic Families of British-American Folksong http://oraltradition.org/bibliography/show/449
- Obituary: Samuel Preston Bayard (1908-1997), An Appreciation. The American Journal of Folklore, vol 100, no. 438 (Autumn, 1997)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samuel Preston Bayard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 10, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 10, 1997 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | State College, Pennsylvania |
