Analyze
Compare and Contrast Chanteys
Using the analysis questions, write your observations in your notebook as you play each recording below. You can also download and print this graphic organizer to take notes on the similarities and differences between the recordings.
Analysis Questions- Do you notice anything unique about this music?
- Is there a steady beat? Is it fast or slow?
- What instruments or another accompaniment do you hear?
- Beyond singing, what other sounds/movements are the performers creating?
- What texture do you hear (i.e. Are the singers performing in precise unison or harmony?)?
- Are the melody or lyrics complicated? Do they repeat often?
- What are the lyrics communicating?
“Help Me to Raise ‘em Boys”
This video clip from the Library of Congress features a performance of the Northern Neck Chantey Singers. They are singing a chantey that was unique to their community. What musical features do you notice that sound similar to the previous examples of work songs and spirituals?
“Pay Me My Money Down”;
This 1959 audio recording is an example of a chantey documented in St. Simons Island in the Southern United States and performed by the Georgia Sea Island singers. The chantey is performed in a different context — not out at sea, but at the docks as workers load cargo (timber) onto a boat.
Credit: Lomax Digital Archive
As water transportation, seafood harvesting, and moving cargo became more automated by machinery, chanteys largely fell out of practice on U.S. waterways. In the present day, chanteys are mostly performed on land by former watermen and enthusiasts who want to celebrate the music and the traditions.
