GRAINGER, PERCY (1882-1961), has a strong claim to be considered the first Australian-born musician who collected folk songs (although not Australian folk songs) and he achieved world fame as an arranger of folk music.
Percy Aldridge Grainger was born in Melbourne on 8 July 1882 and educated at home by his mother Rose Grainger (née Aldridge) and private tutors. At the age of 12 he was already an acclaimed pianist, and left Australia to study at Dr Hoch's conservatory in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany. In 1901 he moved to London and became a successful concert pianist.
Percy Grainger collected folk songs in several different countries: the United Kingdom, the Pacific Islands (with A. J. Knocks) and Denmark (with Evald Tang Kristensen).
He also transcribed some early wax-cylinder and disc recordings of Australian Aboriginal, Polynesian and Indonesian music.
He was one of the first to use the phonograph for field recording, and found it necessary to defend its use in the face of some conservative opposition. His definitive statement on the subject was pub-lished in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society in 1908.
Grainger's article "Collecting with the Phonograph" stated that 'it cannot be made too widely known that the phonograph puts valuable folk-song, sea-chanty, and morris-dance collecting within the reach of all possessed of the needful leisure and enthusiasm".
Many of Percy Grainger's field collecting methods were in advance of his contempo-raries and they are still of value to folklorists today. Grainger was particularly interested in variations in performances and in the total context of a collected item.
A. L. Lloyd acknowledged Grainger's leadership as a collector and wrote that:
the folk singer would convey the mood of the song by a small alteration of pace, a slight change of vocal timbre, an almost imperceptible pressing or lightening of rhythm, and by nuances of ornament that our folklorists, with the exception of Percy Grainger, have consistently neglected in their transcriptions.
Percy Grainger was also an innovative composer and arranger. He made numerous orchestral and solo arrangements of English, Danish and other folk songs, including his own collections. Some of the best-known of these arrangements are "Mock Morris', "Molly on the Shore", "Shepherd's Hey"and "Country Gardens". According to Simon, "Country Gardens"and Grainger became synonymous", and his piano score sold over 40 000 copies annually in the United States alone over a period of twenty years.
Percy Aldridge Grainger was born in Melbourne on 8 July 1882 and educated at home by his mother Rose Grainger (née Aldridge) and private tutors. At the age of 12 he was already an acclaimed pianist, and left Australia to study at Dr Hoch's conservatory in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany. In 1901 he moved to London and became a successful concert pianist.
Percy Grainger collected folk songs in several different countries: the United Kingdom, the Pacific Islands (with A. J. Knocks) and Denmark (with Evald Tang Kristensen).
He also transcribed some early wax-cylinder and disc recordings of Australian Aboriginal, Polynesian and Indonesian music.
He was one of the first to use the phonograph for field recording, and found it necessary to defend its use in the face of some conservative opposition. His definitive statement on the subject was pub-lished in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society in 1908.
Grainger's article "Collecting with the Phonograph" stated that 'it cannot be made too widely known that the phonograph puts valuable folk-song, sea-chanty, and morris-dance collecting within the reach of all possessed of the needful leisure and enthusiasm".
Many of Percy Grainger's field collecting methods were in advance of his contempo-raries and they are still of value to folklorists today. Grainger was particularly interested in variations in performances and in the total context of a collected item.
A. L. Lloyd acknowledged Grainger's leadership as a collector and wrote that:
the folk singer would convey the mood of the song by a small alteration of pace, a slight change of vocal timbre, an almost imperceptible pressing or lightening of rhythm, and by nuances of ornament that our folklorists, with the exception of Percy Grainger, have consistently neglected in their transcriptions.
Percy Grainger was also an innovative composer and arranger. He made numerous orchestral and solo arrangements of English, Danish and other folk songs, including his own collections. Some of the best-known of these arrangements are "Mock Morris', "Molly on the Shore", "Shepherd's Hey"and "Country Gardens". According to Simon, "Country Gardens"and Grainger became synonymous", and his piano score sold over 40 000 copies annually in the United States alone over a period of twenty years.
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