Cultural Considerations: Piggy Back Songs...

A couple of days ago, I was struck by a thought.

My intern was using familiar folk songs and changing up the words to accommodate specific goal areas.  I was listening to the familiar melodies with different words and wondered if this was a form of cultural appropriation.

Just for the record, I use piggy back songs all the time, but I've never really thought about it from this view before. Is taking a folk song and changing it something good or something not so good? Does it matter how you are using the song? Is it part of the life of a folk song? Is it negating a part of cultural heritage to change a song into a music therapy tool? Do I owe it to those who created the song and who then passed the song through generations to know about the origin and intent of the original song before changing it to make it something that I use for convenience? Should I honor the traditional aspect of the song at all times? Or, is music a tool that can be used at any time by anyone?

Does anyone else think about things like this?

I do not know answers to these questions, but they are part of my continuing investigation into what cultural competence, sensitivity, and my role in this world is from here on out.

I can never really fully understand things from another perspective because it is not one that I have experienced. This means that I will think about things, talk about things, ask questions about things, and continue to evolve in my way of thinking about life and how we connect. I do not pretend to know any answers, and I never will, but I will continue to think.

Right now, in an attempt to make sense of a rapidly changing and scary world, I am focusing on folk song appropriation. I will think about this more deeply.