Genres of “Mother’s” Folklore and “Children’s Rhythm”

Abstract

The issues related to the analysis of the rhythm of children’s (including “mother’s”) folklore are considered in the mainstream of general analytical approaches in Russian ethnomusicology. This view allows us to see the patterns of organization of various song genres, but does not contribute to the formation of specific terminology that reveals their distinctive properties. However, it is children’s folklore that is most closely connected with the patterns of human ontogenesis, which determines many structural and rhythmic parameters of the texts that a child must master, forming the necessary speech and musical skills. Observing common features at the level of rhythmic organization in samples of children’s folklore among different peoples, the Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brailoui in the middle of the 20th century proposed to define them with the term «children’s rhythm». In this article, this term is compared with those that have developed in Russian ethnomusicology in relation to time-stable constructions (sequences of eight eighth notes, combined in pairs according to the trochee type) using the example of samples recorded during expeditions in the Vologda region.