Not a
group of ballads for or about children (though many appear therein), Child
Ballads are ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants,
collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century. His collection was
far more comprehensive than any previous assemblage of ballads in the English
language, and the publication of these songs provided a trove that is still
valued and referenced today by singers and researchers.
Brian Peters, who is making his
Augusta debut at this year’s Vocal Week, has been both researching and singing
Child Ballads for quite some time. David Kleiman, editor of the recently
released Digital Edition of the Child Ballads, credits Brian with "the best set
of Child ballads I've ever heard, both in terms of repertoire and performance".
This year Brian is releasing a CD of Child Ballads, and he offers a preview that
should excite ballad afficianados and neophytes alike:
“I've done a major restoration
job on the seldom-sung and never-before-recorded Child #62, Sir Aldingar
(featuring amputations, leprosy, prophetic dreams and a miniature hero - pretty
much standard fare for F. J. Child), put together my own versions of more
familiar ballads like The Banks Of
Green Willow, Lord Randal and
Golden Vanity, reworked radically the old Seven Drunken Nights chestnut,
included a couple of Appalachian-style arrangements, and revisited my back
catalogue in Demon Lover and False Foudrage. “ -BP
In this
class Brian will present some of his favorite Child Ballads, and explain how he
sources, reconstructs, arranges and performs them, while offering advice for you
to do likewise. He's very interested in the way the ballads evolved when they
crossed the Atlantic and will encourage participants to contribute from their
own repertoires.