Polish American Lullaby: A Case Study by MaryAnn McCabe

Volume 27
Spring-Summer
2001

Return to Table of Contents

DOING FIELDWORK AS AN INSIDER
Being of Polish American extraction myself, I was an "observing participant" while conducting my interviews. That dual role was more influential than I had expected. I felt my presence as a Polish American while interacting with my informants. At times my experience was helpful. For example, my hypothesis regarding the use of Polish Christmas carols as lullabies, generated prior to the fieldwork, derived from my experience as a Polish American. My questions to my informants were neutral—"What did your mother caretaker sing to you or your siblings before sleeping?" and "What did you yourself sing to your children?"—but they elicited responses common to my experience, and the extent to which this was true hit home when I was analyzing my transcripts.

My role as a "cultural bearer" (Burnim 1983) was also an impediment. While sorting my data, I realized that I had missed and failed to appreciate the variety of responses apparent from the interviews. This reminded me that I am heir to a tradition that is more dynamic and broader than one hypothesis. I was reminded of customs and of concepts and expressions that have existed in my mind only in the Polish language, even though I was born and raised in a non-Polish community of Boston.

Maryann McCabe received her PhD in musicology (New York University), MA in historical musicology (University of Toronto, Canada), and BA in music and German (Barnard College, Columbia University). She currently researches topics involving gender and the sociology of music. She conducts summer seminars at Rutgers University (Newark, New Jersey) and teaches at the Coalition School for Social Change (Alternative High Schools, New York City Public Schools).

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

Documenting Community by Barry Dornfeld

Interviews tape-recorded in New York City and in Boston in March 1988 reveal how the different cultural experiences of Polish American women affected their use and transmission of traditional Polish lullabies. These songs conform well to characteristics of the genre as described in the few secondary works devoted to the folk lullaby, but there remain areas for further exploration. The strong functional aspects of the lullaby explain the occasional substitution of other genres in the lullaby context, as well as the degree of improvisation that mothers use. The lullaby functions intimately, socially, psychologically, and creatively for the caretaker and her child. Although the women interviewed for this article can no longer recall all the Polish lullabies they once knew, the lullaby is yet a living manifestation of their culture.

Example 1 - words and music of Polish lullaby

Perhaps the Polish carol that is most revered is Lulajze Jezuniu, (above) which I would translate as "Lullaby, Little Jesus." The English translator for this example, Marguerite Wilkinson, chose to title it "Lullaby Carol," further suggesting the song’s dual function. Lulajze is frequently sung in church at a special moment during midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Words and music of lullaby example - Kio rano staje

Constance [one of the informants] recalled that most of her mother’s chats and lulls, both text and music, were improvisatory and referred to daily events ... [she] did recall, however, a number of nursery rhymes, or wierzk dia dzieci, that her mother used, which functioned as both chats and lulls. One was a poem from her grandmother set to a calming melody for rocking. Kto rano staje ("The Early Riser," above) is Constance’s variation on the basic melodic patterns that she remembered. Her mother, Constance said, would know how sleepy her children were by their reactions whenever she would change the melody a bit.

References

Botsford, F.H., comp. and ed. 1921. Folksongs of Many Peoples, vol. 1. New York: The Woman’s Press.

Burnim, Mellonee. 1983. Culture Bearer and Tradition Bearer: An Ethnomusicologist’s Research on Gospel Music, Ethnomusicology 29:432-47.

Hawes, Bess Lomax. 1974. Folksongs and Function: Some Thoughts on the American Lullaby, Journal of American Folklore 87:140-148.

Johnston, M.E. 1987. Lulling Your Newborn, Mothering (Fall):98-100.

Klymasz, R.B. 1968. Social and Cultural Motifs in Canadian Ukrainian Lullabies, East European Journal 12:176-83.

Lebentritt, Julia. 1987. The Lullaby Project, New York Folklore Newsletter 8(3):2-3.

Smith, Elva S., comp. 1925. A Book of Lullabies. Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co.

The text above is an abstract and excerpts of an article published in Voices Vol. 27, Spring-Summer, 2001, the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. For more examples of lullabies and the full article, join the New York Folklore Society now.