German Folk Music

German Folk Music

Bob M. Romanowski-Grüneke
Music Therapist, Germany
Romanowski.Bob@t-online.de

Bob M. Romanowski-Grüneke currently works as a music therapist in Berlin, Germany. He

studied Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in
Franfurt am Main and was trained as a music therapist at the Institut für Musiktherapie in
Berlin-Zehlendorf.

Abstract

The author discusses issues of German folklore and its relationship to the academic
disciplines of Volkskunde, cultural anthropology and comparative cultural studies. A
description of how the propagandistic use of folklore under the Nazi rule led to a devaluation
of folk music in the public opinion of post-war Germany is presented. Special focus is given
to the domain of music and particularly to the German folksong; the development of which is
traced from the early middle ages to the late 20th century.

Background Information

This paper begins by clarifying the terms “German” and “folklore.” In defining
German heritage it is necessary to include cultural traditions that exist in Germany, Austria
and Switzerland, or more precisely, those provinces where Schwizerdütsch is spoken, as well
as the outliers: people in the former USSR who call themselves “Russland Deutsche”; the
Pennsylvania Dutch, who preserve their traditions inside the United States of America;
people in northern Italy who call themselves Tiroler; people of German descent in Romania;
and also perhaps smaller cultural enclaves in South America and Namibia (formerly Deutsch
Süd-West). There are, in any case, a significant number of cultural and geographical
provinces which could be tapped in order to identify a specific trait of culture that might
qualify as engaging or containing “German folklore”(Anonymous, "German language"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language).

Culture is an ongoing project with a procedural character as well as with an

overlapping and constant flow of materials and concepts among ethnic groupings. Cultural
traditions and items differ from one local community or social subgroup to another, and
social practices differ greatly from one age cohort to another – both at a given point in time
and inside a given generation as time progresses. Considering this, it would help to limit the
investigation to a narrow timeframe: we might, for instance, create a list or catalogue of items
that represent German folklore at a given point in time (for example, summer of 2012).

Folklore is widely considered to envelop folk stories, legends, and songs plus any
kind of folk tradition (dance, handcraft, remedies, ritual, etc.) For the present, I am limiting
the treatment of folklore to the domain of music, and more particularly, to the German folk
song as a typical cultural possession as it pertains to the original concept and definition of
folklore. As a musician and music therapist, I feel most competent reporting on the folk song
as a vital facet of folklore, one that can reveal some essential characteristics of folklore as a
whole. This approach will allow for a more telling inspection of at least one facet of folklore.
 German Folk Music

Any serious discussion of German folklore in the 21st century needs to begin with a
close look at the dramatic (semantic) change in the evaluation as cultural possessions
undergone by the terms Volk, Volksmusik, Volkslied (translated as folk, folk music and folk
song, respectively), and folklore in the preceding century. In Nazi Germany, the term “Volk”
was a heavily-loaded expression because of its use by Nazi propaganda as the means for
aligning every German subject with the fascist worldview (Gleichschaltung) (Stephenson,
2008). By creating the illusion of a unified people (Volksgemeinschaft) behind a god-like
leader (the Führer, as in „Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer), large parts of the population were
lured into the megalomaniac scenario of a supposedly superior Germanic nation whose
destiny was to fight and subdue inferior peoples (Caplan, 2008; Evans, 2008; Rees, 1997).
This led to the exclusion of “unwanted” parts of the population, and finally to the
extermination of large parts of the population who lived under the political and wartime rules
of the NSDAP in Germany, and in occupied or overrun parts of Europe. Tens of millions died
in the conflict – 20.6 million in Russia alone inflicting on the continent a cultural trauma of
hence unknown dimensions, whose effects still linger in current European societies (Ploetz,
1999). It is important to keep this highly charged nationalist-fascist background in mind
when reflecting on the terminology and function of German folklore, and to remember that
under Nazi rule, Germanic folklore was highly valued as a tool for political manipulation
(Rathkolb, 2006; Pieberg, 1982). German Volkslieder and orchestral music by German
composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, and Bach were given priority over the
musical traditions and productions of an “un-German” culture by “un-German” producers,
composers, etc. In fact, so-called “un-German” culture was banned from cultural life.

The singing of folk songs was important in rituals of groups such as the BDM (Bund
Deutscher Mädchen) and HJ (Hitler Jugend) with their paramilitary hierarchy and activities
(Rathkolb, 2006; Lefebvre, 2006). And of course, the singing of Volkslieder was also a
custom in the SS (Schutzstaffel) and SA (Sturmabteilung) in the Reichswehr (Armed Forces)
when marching in military order. In the period after the Second World War, the singing of
Volkslieder was readily associated with remembrances of activities inside those institutions.
Males who came of age during that period, when offered an opportunity to sing Volkslieder,
are particularly likely to report their recollections of wartime experiences, as seen through my
personal observation with patients in nursing homes. Such recollections, often involving
highly traumatic content, are still glorified in conservative rightwing sections of society, but
since 1945 the general tendency has been to deny or ignore this part of the cultural heritage.
In most parts of society, the singing of folk songs and related activities is seen as a
stigmatized activity no longer to be undertaken, so much so that it has almost completely
disappeared. Exceptions such as the renaissance of folk songs among Neo-Nazi factions only
prove the rule, such as the Neonazi-Singer-Sonwriter, Franck Rennicke (for an example, visit
the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFVCBKIHIIg&feature=related).

My personal experience may serve as an example. In the 1950s, singing Kinderlieder

(children songs) was a standard kindergarten activity. In elementary school, teachers taught
an extended canon of Volkslieder, and in high school I became a member of the school choir
where more elaborate versions of those songs were the mainstay of our repertoire. In contrast,
the musical taste of my generation as I came of age was dominated by the so-called “British
Invasion” (pop music from Great Britain) and products of the North American music industry
which we absorbed through broadcasts of Radio Luxembourg and of AFN (American Forces
Network). Currently, however, the singing of Volkslieder is no longer a relevant part of the
cultural practice in the German mainstream, and the memory of its tradition is fading out.
 German Folk Music

Folklore, Folklorismus, Fakelore

This section of the paper deals with reflections about the term “folklore,” based in
part on Bausinger’s (1984) Folklore, Folkloristik. First, folklore in the narrow sense is found
to include the orally transmitted traditions of a people, but in a wider sense it is the totality of
all cultural traditions of a people (Bausinger, 1984). Scientific investigation, analysis, and
discussion of folklore would then be a task for the academic discipline of Volkskunde.
German universities also use the terms: European Ethnology, Comparative Cultural Studies
and Cultural Anthropology. Volkskunde in its current form is concerned with culture and
social developments and especially with the phenomena or aspects of everyday life
(Alltagskultur) (Greverus, 1978). Culture is understood in a broad and dynamic sense, as
encompassing the whole interrelation of a social formation, a social group of people, or a
society that can be defined in social, religious, or ethnic categories
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkskunde). Folklore can thus be a grouping of cultural
phenomena being part of the whole of a cultural system.

The term “folklore” was coined by the English antiquarian William Thoms in a letter
published in the London journal The Athenaeum in 22.8.1846, but the idea of “folklore”
seems to have been initiated and shaped around the turn of the 19th century, in the cultural
epoch of Romanticism, with its quest for naturalness, authenticity, and national identity that
stimulated an intensive debate concerning an autochthonous history of a people and their
original traditions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/folklore). The period fostered a growing
interest in mythology, poetry, folk tales, legends, and folk song
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkskunde). Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) was the
first author to apply the term Volksmusik to signify a popular genre of a national form of
music:

In the 19th century scholars increasingly interpreted “Volk” as nation, in the singular,
which meant that the “Lied” needed in some way to bear witness to the national unity.
... Folksong scholars were able to forge links between the Volkslied and the German
nation.
(P. V. Bohlman, Central European Folk Music: An Annotated Bibliography of
Sources in German, 1996 ).

Other important authors of the early 19th century who were part of the movement
were: Achim von Arnim; Clemens Brentano; the Brothers Grimm; Johann Wolfgang Goethe,
and Fouque.

The intellectual tendencies that led to the employment of ideas about “Volk” and
“Nation” eventually become part of the historic context of political developments concluding
in the foundation of a unified German Nation (Constitution of the German Empire) under
Otto von Bismark (the Reichskanzler von Preußen) in 1871(Ploetz, Carl (1999)).

In current discussions within folklore, however, the term “ Folklorismus” is used to

describe the phenomenon of “conveyance and continuation of Volkskultur from second hand”
(H. Moser, 1962). In this usage, “ Folklorismus” is simply a promotional tool for tourism and
other commercial interests (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklorismus).

“Fakelore” is an openly derogative term to describe a genre of purposely fabricated

 German Folk Music

folklore. “Folk” or “folk music” is in these terms a genre of popular music in which melodies
and lyrics of traditional or nationally associated music is newly arranged or stylistically
imitated. Featured instruments used are mostly acoustic such as the fiddle, recorder,
accordion, and guitar. An internationally known feature of German Volksmusik is the
Bavarian Brass-Orchestras (Blasmusik)

German Folk Music

The German word Volksmusik is used in two ways. First of all, a traditional music
which supposedly was transmitted orally and was not transcribed. It is supposedly
characteristic for regional cultures and includes folk songs, instrumental pieces, and music
for folk dancing. Secondly, a current meaning includes “volkstümlicher Schlager” (hit-songs
in the folk genre), light music with elements of traditional folk music
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksmusik).

This second genre is currently still very popular and is an important part of public
television programming (ARD, ZDF) on Saturday evenings. Contrary to this cultural style is
the existence of a roots-oriented music that would separate itself from commercialized forms
of “Schunkelmusik” (German drinking music).

In the alpine provinces of Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland traditional folk music is
still prevalent on the local public radio. This deep-rooted love for folksy music is also
apparent on YouTube, where I found a network of users posting video recordings of
homemade instrumental music known as Ziach Musi or Steirische, a style featuring
accordions made in regions of the Alps. Jodler singing and Schuhplattler dances can also be
found on YouTube.

As for the origins of German folk music and specifically folk song, I will summarize
from Theo Mang’s introduction to his compilation of 750 Volkslieder, Der Liederquell
(2007), an account on the development from medieval times until the 20th century.

Development of the Volkslied

In the early Middle Ages, melodies and lyrics were supposedly handed down through
the people, but, since literacy was reserved for clergy and noble men, there are no records of
any early songs in the language/vernacular of the common people. After 800 A.C.E. we find
a rich documentation of lyrics used in liturgy in several thousand songs, but the notation of
melodies (pitch) in a line system did not arrive until 1000-1100. Guido of Arezzo (ca. 991-
1050) used lines as a system to transcribe an “Antiphonar” for Pope Johannes XIX (1024-
1033), and he originated the system of the “do-re-mi-fa-so-la” mnemonic.

Psalmody (the singing of psalms) and hymnus (singing of hymns) are early musical
forms in the Christian ritual. The so-called Antiphonal (antiphonal singing) originated in
Milan about 385 A.C.E.: this is a reciprocal style in which the singing alternates between two
choirs or between a soloist and a choir. These antiphones are supposed to have been melodic
and textual sources for the German church song as well as for the secular singing of the
common people. The influence of the Gregorian choral can also be traced in the German folk
song (Mang, 2007).
 German Folk Music

Another important source for the German folk song, or Volkslied, is “Minnesang,”
both thematically and musically. “Singer-songwriter” would be a most fitting term to
describe the best-known figure of this genre, Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230), who
began as an entertainer at the Vienna court and later traveled from court to court as a
professional singer (Mang, 2007). Minnesang took its name from its central topic, “Minne,” a
highly idealized form of love (never to be fulfilled in physical love) for a lady of noble birth.
Walther developed the genre from the courtly “Minnelied” to the so-called “Mädchen-
Lieder,” or songs of the lower “Minne,” also called “Morgenlieder.” Another important
proponent of the songs, the travelling singer Neidhard von Reuenthal, wrote songs of this
type during the period 1210-1245. His principal work consists of “höfische Dorfpoesie,”
entertaining music for village dances, and winter and summer songs.(Mang 2007;
wikipedia.org/wiki/Neidhart_von_Reuenthal, 2012). The themes of his songs are still to be
found in the later Volkslied.

“Tageslieder” (morning songs) constitute a special lyrical form which is still to be

found in the songbooks of the 1400s and 1500s, and this influence lingers on into the
Volkslied of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Starting about 1300, following the courtly “Minnesang,” we find a new tradition
among the rising middle-class, a genre called “Meistergesang,” with singing schools
organized along membership lines in the trade guilds. Mainz was a starting point for this
development, followed by centers in Freiburg im Breisgau, Straßburg, Augsburg, and
Colmar. The most popular “Meistersänger” was Hans Sachs of Nürnberg (1494-1576), who
in his lifetime performed as many as 4000 songs of secular and spiritual content.

Early handwritten collections of songs in Germany include the following:

1. Carmina Burana (about 1230), containing a wide cross-section of songs of the

11th and 12th century: love songs, drinking and gambling songs, and spiritual
(sacral) songs. Some of these songs were originated by Walther von der
Vogelweide, Dietmar von Eist, Reinmar, Neidhard von Reuenthal
(http://www.hs-
augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost13/CarminaBurana/bur_intr.html)
2. The Lochamer-Liederbuch (1450-1460), named after its owner, Wölflein von
Lochheim (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochheimer_Liederbuch)
3. Münchener Liederbuch (1460), by Hartmann Schedel.
4. Glogauer Liederbuch (1480), containing a basic form of ballad about the
children of the king (“Königskinderballade”) and songs bridging the gap
between the late Minnesang and what was to become the German Volkslied.

Spielmannslieder (minstrel songs) are another genre of songs to be found in these

early sources, with medieval minstrels being the professional entertainers of their times.
Gassenhauer (rude popular songs), erotic love songs about beautiful maids, dance songs, and
epical songs based on heroic sagas, comprise still another.

With the invention of book printing (which happened around the year 1450) came the
distribution of the first printed songbooks for common usage. In the German Renaissance, the
secular components of the song became more pronounced. Similarly, the Reformation saw
old spiritual songs being fitted to German language lyrics, which thus became an integral part
 German Folk Music

of the contemporary German church service. A large number of these medieval melodies,
fitted with German spiritual lyrics, are still a part of the repertoire used in today’s Protestant
church.

A List of Various Early Printed Collections/Collectors of Songs

16th Century
1. Georg Forster, Ein auszug guter alter und newer Teutscher liedlein (...) (1539)
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Georg_Forsters_Frische_Teuts
c he_Liedlein?uselang=de)
2. Johann Ott, 121 newe Lieder (Nürnberg 1534).
3. Amt von Aich, Liederbuch (Köln 1519).
4. Schmelzel, Quodlibets (Nürnberg 1544).
5. Erasmus Rotenbucher, Bergkryen - zu zwei Stimmen (München 1551).
(http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Rotenbucher,_Erasmus)
6. Christian Egendorf, (Frankfurt 1535).

17th Century
1. Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612) and Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630)
were authors of compositions and renditions of secular (polyphonic) part
songs (http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Ha%C3%9Fler,_Hans_Leo;
http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Schein,_Johann_Hermann)
2. Friedrich Spee (Spee von Langenfeld 1591-1635) (
(http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Spee,_Friedrich_von)
3. Angelus Silesius (alias Johann Scheffler, 1624-1677)
(http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Angelus_Silesius)
4. Paul Gerhard (1607-1676)
(http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Gerhardt,_Paul)

18th Century
1. Valentin Rathgeber (1682-1750) was a composer and collector of popular
songs, the “Augsburger Tafelkonfekt” (between 1729-1738). The 18th century
saw a greater acceptance of the “Volkslied” among the educated. Mozart, for
one, created melodies that lent themselves to singing along with, some of
which are adapted as “Volkslied” (e.g., “Komm lieber Mai und mache”).
2. Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), who first coined the term “Volkslied,”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Achim von Arnim (1781-1831,
who wrote “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” in 1805-1808)
(http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Des_Knaben_Wunderhorn), and Clemens
Brentano (1778-1842) all praised the “Volkslied,” and collected them to a
previously unprecedented extent. For them, the “Volkslied” represented the
soul of the people.

The term “Volkston” as defined by the composer Johann Abraham Schulz (1747-
1800), in his Lieder im Volkston beim Clavier zu singen (1785), means “melodies of the
utmost simplicity that are easy to catch, and have an aura of something we already seem to
know (http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Schulz,_Johann_Abraham). Friedrich Silcher
(1789-1860) and Anton Wilhelm Florentin Zuccalmaglio (1803-1869), for example, created
their songs in this format, which became the prevailing style of the Volkslied.
 German Folk Music

19th Century: The Century of the Volkslied

Early in the 1800s the Brothers Grimm started collecting literary items from oral
traditions, and called on others to do the same. Numerous collections followed in the 1840s,
by Ludwig Erk (1807-1888), Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), and August Heinrich Hoffmann
von Fallersleben (1798-1874). Ludwig Erks’s collection alone contains 30,000 songs, with
2175 titels published in the three volumes of Deutscher Liederhort. The 19th century was
also a time of a movement that cultivated singing in organizations such as “Berliner
Liedertafel” of Carl Friedrich Zelter (1756-1832) and the “Schwäbische Liederkränze” of
Hans Georg Nägeli (1773-1836).

Choirmaster Friedrich Silcher is noted for his movements in four male voices for
many songs, which made this style very popular in Germany. Melodies in this Volkston style
also became included in the works of the great composers of classical music: Mozart,
Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Bruckner, Mendelsohn, and von Weber.

20th Century
The 20th century saw the movement of the Wandervogel (wanderer), initiated in 1896
by Hermann Hoffmann-Fölkersamb (1875-1955), a student at a high school in Berlin-
Steglitz. It was a romanticized search for freedom through hiking tours in the countryside,
expressed in their slogan zurück zur Natur (back to nature), and the singing of Volkslieder
was a valued custom among those youth. Hans Breuer first published Der Zupfgeigenhansel,
in 1908. It became a handy companion on those hiking tours, selling millions of copies over
several decades. In the period before WWII, songwriters such as Cesar Bresgen, Jens
Rohwer, Gottfried Wolters, Felicitas Kuckuck, Hans Baumann, Robert Götz, Werner Gneist,
and Fritz Jöde added many new songs to the repertoire of the Volkslied (Mang, 2007).

In the years 1929-1933 film producer Erich Pommer (1989-1966) in cooperation with
composer Werner Richard Heymann (1896-1961) created a new genre, the so called "Tonfilm
Operette". These movie productions from the famous UFA studios in Berlin-Babelsberg
brought a long line of highly popular songs, to large parts of the population. The propaganda
ministry under Heinrich Goebbels was well aware of the positive effects of entertaining
movies and light music for boasting moral of a people preparing for war and in wartime when
exhortations to hold out were forced. Today these songs are still very much alive in the
memories of people who grew up in those times (Mang, 2007).

Movies like "Der Kongress tanzt" (Le Congrés s'amuse, Congress Dances, 1931), Die
drei von der Tankstelle" (Le Chemin du Paradis, 1930) and others were a new marketing tool
to popularize these songs for the masses: "Ein Freund ein guter Freund", "Das gibt's´s nur
einmal", "Liebling, mein Herz lässt dich grüßen", "Das ist die Liebe der Matrosen". W.R.
Heymann stated in an interview (TV-documentary: So wie ein Wunder, arte, 24.5.2012): "I
never tried to write "Schlager"(hit-songs). I always tried to write a "Volkslied" and it seems I
succeeded in many cases." Dr. Rainer Rother (Deutsche Kinemathek) explains in said TV-
documentary:

The "Tonfilm Operette" is mainly a Jewish genre with a strong part of Jewish Artists.
Heymann used to write for cabaret, which was part of the "Kultur" of Weimar"
(Weimarer Republik, the democratic German tradition of the 1920's) …"which was
liquidated by "National Sozialisten" and the Jewish artists were driven into exile.
 German Folk Music

I believe this episode is relevant for the folksong as well as for folklore. What follows
will say something about the national character of folklore. Besides the fact that these
enduring songs in the German folksong format were written by a Jewish composer inside a
Jewish dominated music and film industry and were made even more famous through the
German-Jewish boy group of the time "The Comedian Harmonists", producer Erich Pommer
had the striking concept to produce these movies (about 130 productions between 1929-1940)
synchronously in German and French (some also in English)! "Der Kongress tanzt" aka "Le
Congrés s'amuse" was viewed by millions in Germany as well as in France and the songs in
the movie were engraved in the public memory of both nations!

Lilli Marlen, by Hans Leip (1893-1983) and Norbert Schulze (1911-2001), is maybe
the most popular of the late folksongs and became internationally famous during the war. In
1941 the Soldatensender Radio Belgrad needed music for its programming to German
soldiers (Mang T., 2007). Incidentally, a copy of the recording sung by Lale Andersen in
1939 was picked up in a box from Vienna and back in Belgrade becaming the signature song
of this German radio program, which could be heard by soldiers in the Allied Forces in
Europe as well. In 1944 Tommy Connor wrote the English version to be sung by Vera Lynn
famous as "The Force’s Sweetheart". The song was translated to more than 40 languages. It
was a hymn to soldiers on all frontiers or even a cultural Leitmotiv of WWII (Mang , 2007).
When Hitler banned the song from the radio as it was sentimental and of slightly pacifistic
content, the allied broadcasters picked it up in an anti-propaganda move which could be
interpreted as a pan-humanistic gesture as well (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Marleen,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Marleen).

Marlene Dietrich sang the song and made it even more popular. Later, when Pete
Seeger wrote Where Have All the Flowers Gone, an anti militaristic hymn, Dietrich recorded
it as Sag´mir wo die Blumen sind, which became but one more incarnation of the German
folk song. The musical qualities of the folk song can be traced up to the present . Just follow
the line of songs by Freddy Quinn’s Junge komm bald wieder, Udo Jürgens Griechischer
Wein, Reinhard May’s Über den Wolken, Hannes Wader’s Heute hier morgen dort, and
Franz Josef Degenhard’s Spiel nicht mit den Schmuddelkindern.

In the 1960´s, the arrival of internationally noted folk artists like Pete Seeger, Bob
Dylan, Joan Baez starts a merging of repertoires from different nations.

As mentioned before, the end of WWII marks a breaking point from old traditions in
Germany concerning especially the folksong and related traditions, such as the folk dance. It
was also the beginning of the ascent of youth cultures accompanied by the triumph of the
electronic media with recording techniques, radio broadcasting, TV and finally the arrival of
computers and the Internet.

Music and Globalization

As can be seen, musical development in historic times has seen a steady sequence of
evolving musical styles. Since the 1950’s, every decade has brought new styles of music to
the young people of the time. This can be viewed as a side-effect of globalization and the
development of communication technologies which has made music from different cultural
background ever more available to the common public. Music that terms itself folklore makes
up a small segment of all the available musical sources today and it is questionable if the
 German Folk Music

ascribed ideas of naturalness, simplicity, or old fashioned-ness and national identity offered
under this label can hold up to any serious inspection.

At the same time, the music of the youth cultures today ( Hip hop, Techno, Gothic
House, Trance, Pop, Reggae and various hybrid styles to name a few) are relevant to those
growing up and looking for an autonomous identity and codes to signify affiliation to a
unique group or segment of society. In my perspective the popular music styles of today fill
up the gap of what once used to be folk music or any other musical part of folklore. My
suggestion for using the term folklore is: folklore equals regional styles.

It is not easy to estimate what the prevalent styles of participation in private musical
activities are. Is there an anthropological or behavioral constant in these activities under the
surface of these constantly changing styles and particularly with the changing and growing
usage of electronic media? I believe that rituals like gathering in a circle to participate in
musical activities as well as the performance of bands of musicians on public stages will
remain.

Conclusion

A music therapist should strive to build a solid knowledge of the history of popular
music in order to be able to assess the musical identity and needs of her/his clients. This
paper is an attempt to deconstruct the terms folklore, folksong, and folk music in
consideration of the music therapist and these clients. My conclusion is that these terms
cannot be used as genuine generic concepts for scientific research or realization. Their
character is of romantic origin corresponding with national sentiments and ideologies and has
in the past been misused for political objectives. Their main function today is as marketing
tools for the music industry referring to music in regional styles performed on acoustic
instruments, which originate in pre-industrial times and are ascribed to ethnic identity,
political territories or national constructs.
 German Folk Music

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