Wauking Songs of Scotland by Joe Smith

Contents Introduction and Bylaws Interpretive Clothing Scottish Culture History Music and Dance Military Life Language Bibliography, Sources and Library Materials

"Folk music" has played a vital role in the growth, education and preservation of social culture throughout human history.  The folksong, as well as the ballad, has served as a form of entertainment, but more importantly, as a way for acquiring skills and craft and lore through oral transmission.  The traditional folksong has also been a means of reflecting the social conditions and ways of life within the community. The word folksong has a definite meaning for us today, but it is only within the past two centuries that the word has come to be used as a definition of the music of the common people.  Up until the early nineteenth century, only the works of the clergy, nobles, scholars and well-known composers were deemed fit to print on a large scale.  But by the middle of that century local customs and beliefs were being recognized as folklore, and the music began to attract the attention of composers and noted musicians.  It was this new interest by poets and the like, searching for fresh literary means to create and hone their art, that folk music began to gain a wider popularity. In order to perform and preserve folk music, and the cultures from which it has arisen, one must firstly understand the society of its birth, secondly, the content, or meaning, of the song, and thirdly, its possible, documented, or traditional function.  Traditionally, a majority of folk music has its roots as a form of accompaniment while one is about the business of daily work.  This text contains a handful of tunes from Scotland known as wauking songs.  "Wauking” (Gaelic: "luadh") is the process of fulling woolen cloth by pounding the material against a board or large flat stone, and stretching it with the hands and feet.  Traditionally, wauking was women's work.  Most, if not all, wauking songs were composed by women.  What makes a wauking song, quite simply, is that it incorporates a distinct meter that lends itself ideally to the task at hand.  The song consists of single lines and end rhyming.  The lines are usually in pairs with the verses following an AB, BC, CD...  pattern.  Because these songs were composed originally in Scottish Gaelic, they have been reproduced here as such to insure the preservation of a language that unfortunately may be destined for extinction due to neglect and time.  There are English translations for the songs in this volume, but you will find, as with most translations, that they are shadows of the original compositions and can hardly render true justice to the poetry of these pieces. Sources: Brander, Michael.  Scottish and Border Battles and Ballads.  Kennedy, Peter.  Folksongs of Britain and Ireland.  Roche Collection of Irish Music.  Oak Publications