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DOREEN SENIOR FOLK MUSIC ARCHIVE Level: Collection
There are several interesting manuscripts in the collection, including a 71 page typescript by Vaughan Williams on 'National Music', Doreen Senior's 'Fantasie on Four Folk Songs Collected in Nova Scotia for String Quartet' with a brief critical note by Williams; and a long account of Doreen Senior's 'First Atlantic Voyage' in 1932. Biographical note: Doreen Horn Senior studied and taught music and dance in London. She lived for a time in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and later moved to Devon in 1949, where she became the County Music Organiser. Outside of Devon she was probably best known for her collaboration with Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton collecting folk songs from Nova Scotia. The two women had met at the Nova Scotia Summer School where Doreen was teaching on behalf of the English Folk Dance Society. Beginning in the summer of 1932, Creighton and Senior toured through the coastal towns of Nova Scotia collecting folk songs. Creighton would note the lyrics and Senior collected music by dictation as this was prior to Creighton's use of sound recording. Altogether, Senior spent about five summers working with Creighton in Nova Scotia returning to England from her final trip in 1939 just as the War began. When in England, Doreen Senior shared her research with other collectors from the English Folk Dance and Song Society such as Anne Gilchrist. The results were two books which Creighton and Senior co-authored in 1941 and 1950. While Creighton went on to considerable fame and success in Canada and the United States as a pioneering folklorist, Senior had a successful career in Devon as a musician and educator. For more information search the online catalogue reference DS. |
Description: Doreen Senior served from 1949 as County Music Organiser in Devon. As such she was involved with music work at Dartington Hall and was also associated with the Devon Centre for Further Education at Dartington. This folk music archive is composed of music and lyric transcriptions, recordings of folk music, letters collected by Doreen Senior, and notes for books. Most of the collection, which was found without original order, consists of lyrics and musical scores of English language folk songs. Correspondents include Helen Creighton, Anne Gilchrist, Frank Howe, and Vaughan Williams.
The Dartington Hall Trust is a registered charity no. 279756. Company no. 1485560
Registered Office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL United Kingdom.
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