Samuel Preston Bayard

Infobox Person
name=Samuel Preston Bayard
pseudonym=


image_size=
caption=Sam Bayard
birth_date=April 10, 1908
birth_place=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
death_date=January 10, 1997
death_place=State College, Pennsylvania
death_cause=
resting_place=
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known_for=melodic families, fiddle tunes collection
occupation=folklorist, college professor
education=Penn State, Harvard
spouse=
parents=
children=

Samuel Preston Bayard (born April 10, 1908 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died January 10, 1997 in State College, Pennsylvania) was an internationally known folklorist and musicologist. He received a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University in 1934 and later earned an M.A. from Harvard University.

He collected fiddle and fife tunes in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia from 1928 to 1963. He is known for his interest in the melodies of traditional music at a time when often only the texts were collected. He introduced the concept of "melodic families", which are groups of tunes that appears to be structurally related. ["Prolegomena to a Study of the Principal of Melodic Families of British-American Folksong", "Journal of American Folklore", 63:1-44 http://oraltradition.org/bibliography/show/449] He traced the origins of many traditional American fiddle tunes back to the British Isles.

In addition to his work on fiddle tunes, he was the expert on the use of the fife in traditional American music. He is fondly remembered by former students for his large collection of snuffboxes, which he used regularly.

He established the folklore program at Pennsylvania State University, and taught there from 1945 to 1973

He was a fellow of the American Folklore Society, and its president from 1965 to 1966.

He died on January 10, 1997 in State College, Pennsylvania. An award in his name has been established at Penn State for graduate students in comparative literature.

On-line publications

*Samuel P. Bayard Tape Collection http://www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/grad_program/handbook/Bayard.pdf
*Hill Country Tunes (1944) http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/hct/index.htm

References

*Obituary: "Samuel Preston Bayard (1908-1997), An Appreciation." "The American Journal of Folklore", vol 100, no. 438 (Autumn, 1997)

Persondata
NAME=Samuel Preston Bayard
ALTERNATE NAMES=Sam Bayard, Samuel P. Bayard
DATE OF BIRTH=April 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH=January 10, 1997
PLACE OF DEATH=State College, Pennsylvania