Clarence Cameron White
Lesson XVI Excerpt from a lesson written by White on the folk music of St. Helena Island, South Carolina. While in Haiti on a fellowship, White toured and observed many native customs and sites, including native dancing. Ouanga! is based not just on Haitian music, but also African and African American dance music. Although this lesson does not directly relate to Ouanga!, it does show White's interest in ethnomusicology and his desire to incorporate African folk music into his writing. This desire was, in part, the influence of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, with whom White studied. Coleridge-Taylor was a English African composer who modeled some of his works on negro subjects and melodies. 

Text: 
"As may be supposed- we find in St. Helena Island a sort of ceremonial song called a "Game song". The following is an example of this type. 

Blue bird, blue bird, through your window; Blue bird, blue bird, through your window; Blue bird, blue bird, through your window; 
Oh Johnny, I'm tiah-ed 

You will notice here a new type - we might almost call it the Ballade type which presently corresponds to the play song type found on the Southern main land, [VA]. This tune is also known as the 'alphabet song' in South Africa. Perhaps from the above example we may conclude that the Gulah negro of St. Helena Island has a more cheerful naure than his brother of the plantation on the mainland." 
 
 
Original in the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
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