O Susanna!

Published in 1848, O Susanna quickly became one of the hallmarks of American cultural music.  The piece was written by Stephen Collins Foster at the age of 21 (American Ballads) and it kick started his illustrious music career of 37 years and over 200 songs. The song gained it's immense popularity during the California Gold Rush of 1849 and it retained its popularity throughout the Civil War Era. The song is about a man from the American South going to Louisiana to see his lover.  Ever since its publication, O Susanna has been a staple of folk music in the American Appalachia and the country as a whole.

Version of the Song- https://soundcloud.com/kendall-gardner-3/oh-susannah

Online Version of the Song- MEdium- The instrumentation of this piece involves a dominant banjo part, a fiddle or flute in some versions, and voicing.  The instrumentation is fairly thin, occasionally (like in the first example) it contains light percussion like a tambourine.

MEter- This song is in duple simple meter (2/4) in most instances.  Occasionally it is written in common time.

HArmony- Both versions are homophonic, but at times the second version is monophonic.  The instrumental accompaniment is repetitive in both selections.  In the first version, it tends to echo the voice.  In the second version it does not do this and the accompaniment has a continuous rhythmic pattern in the strings that only changes pitches.  In the first selection, the voices sing in harmony typically in major triads throughout the song.  The second version only has two voices, one tends to sing a fourth above the original melody.

MElody- The melody is based on the major pentatonic scale and the notes used in the first part of the song directly correspond to the scale (tonic, supertonic, mediant, dominant, submediant).  The melodic line is conjunct and the contour is undulating for most of the song.

FOrm- This song is in Strophic form using the same tune, but different lyrics for each verse.  Breaking up the verses is a refrain that comes back throughout the song.

STYle- The Strophic form, repetitive instruments, conjunct melodic structure, step wise motion, simple intervalic relationships, and major chords make this song extremely easy to sing along to.  Folk songs were transmitted orally and were used in popular culture, so they had to be easy to sing.  These components of O Susanna mark it as a traditional folk song.