Ed Zubrow writes:

>...  when I listen to the music of an American composer such as Charles
>Ives, I find that the folk tunes, spirituals and hymns which are quoted
>are distracting.  I can't avoid pausing and thinking:  "A ha!  There is
>Turkey in the Straw."
>
>How do others feel about this and what might I do to get past it?

An observation or two which I hope are at least somewhat relevant  --

About two weeks ago, the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra performed
Ives's Third Symphony, "Camp Meeting," which to my ears has always seemed
 [flameguard rising into protective position] the least effective of the
four symphonies.  As I listened, I realized that the older members of the
audience in this largely evangelical Protestant community knew most if not
all of the quoted tunes, I knew many, my somewhat younger wife knew even
fewer, and many of my students perhaps only "Just as I am." Certainly part
of the symphony's effect relies on the nostalgia induced by hearing
half-remembered meoldies from one's youth.  I found myself wondering how
this piece played to our youngest listeners, and how it would affect those
raised either outside our immediate sub-culture, or at a greater distance
from American culture in general.  It seems to me that the further the
listener is from the musical culture being referenced by a particular
piece, the more that piece has to work on purely musical merits, apart from
other associations.  With Dvorak and Bartok, I can somehow delight in the
characteristic rhythms and melodic patterns without knowing a great deal of
detail about them.  When Dvorak works a furiant into the Piano Quintet, it
turns out to be great, compellingly structured music which just happens to
use folk ideas.  I'm sure that at least some of Ives's music works in a
similar fashion -- how can anyone not get swept up in the fun that is the
last five minutes or so of the Second Symphony? However, I have yet to be
convinced about the Third.  Is the musical argument compelling enough if
one cannot count on a nostalgic reaction to its materials?

DPHorn, who never met a folk-tune he didn't like.