Introduction: Fiddler’s Stories 1. Simon Bronner, Old-Time Music Makers of New York State, xiv. 2. “Performance theory” describes an eclectic array of approaches, methods, and theories used in the study of folklore. Within the vast literature, the following sources provide an essential basis for examining how an analysis of folklore within its performative contexts yields an understanding of a system of knowledge and ability termed “competence.” Dan Ben-Amos and Kenneth Goldstein’s edited volume Folklore: Performance and Communication, Richard Bauman’s Verbal Art as Performance, and Dell Hymes’s “In Vain I Tried to Tell You”: Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics include foundational articles that brought the study of performance into folklore. Henry Glassie centers his ethnographic methods on performance studies in numerous works, including Passing the Time in Ballymenone: Culture and History of an Ulster Community. Edward D. Ives used a performancecentered orientation in his study of a ballad singer’s life in Joe Scott: The WoodsmanSongmaker as well as in subsequent scholarship. Kenneth Burke’s theory of dramatism underlies various approaches to performance; his Dramatism and Development provides a uni¤ed view of his theory. Performance theorists adapted, and critiqued, Noam Chomsky’s articulation of distinctions between competence and performance in his early theories of transformational-generative grammar, especially as presented in Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Recent overviews and applications of 209 Notes contemporary performance-centered approaches are discussed in Deborah A. Kapchan ’s article “Performance” and in a special issue on performance theory edited by Harris M. Berger and Giovanna P. Del Negro in the Journal of American Folklore (“Toward New Perspectives on Verbal Art as Performance”). 3. The critique of logocentrism offered by Jacque Derrida in Of Grammatology , 9–29, provides a basic text for his program of poststructuralist deconstructionism . In replacing the phonemes of the spoken word with the grammatological “grapheme” and foregrounding the importance of traces, Derrida provides an approach to critiquing empirical foundations in literary criticism. Performance theory can be read through deconstructionism, but I ¤nd there to be great value in what Derrida critiques as “logocentrism.” Namely, most performance-centered approaches are built from an empirically grounded science of the concrete. There are intricate systems within Richard’s ¤ddling and storytelling, and a logocentric perspective is closer to his theory of artistic creativity. 4. James Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life, 131. 5. Kenneth Burke’s distinction between the “psychology of information” and the “psychology of form” is presented in a number of his writings. The essential essay is “Psychology and Form,” in Counter-Statement, 29–44. In distinguishing between the content of what is said versus the range of aesthetic qualities and emotional associations that accompany this information, Burke provides important perspectives for expanding ideas about analysis and interpretation. 6. David E. Whisnant, All That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region, 13–15. 7. Nancy Michael, Preface to A Teacher’s Guide to the Duval County Folklife in Education Program by Gregory Hansen, v. 8. Thomas McLaughlin, Street Smarts and Critical Theory: Listening to the Vernacular. Chapter 1. Arts Mania 1. Although The Landing was not established to create venues for folklife programming, the staff has supported various folk culture programs. In “Cultural Conservation and Economic Recovery Planning: The Pennsylvania Heritage Parks Program,”Shalom Staub provides a model and case study for examining folklife programming in relation to economic development within urban environments. 2. Joe Wilson and Lee Udall provide a good discussion of various genres of folklife festival presentations in Folk Festivals: A Handbook for Organization and Management, 77–87. Their discussion on matching musicians with appropriate stage settings is essential reading for those thinking about full performance stages versus workshop presentations at festivals. Richard Kurin’s Re®ections of a Culture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian provides additional case studies and discussion of the major concerns in staging folk culture presentations in appropriate venues. notes to pages 4–10 210 3. I have presented these renditions in this chapter to provide a verbatim transcript of a festival performance and to show ways in which Richard varies his storytelling within performances. For tale types and motifs, see the discussion in Chapter 4, “Your Words Was Your Bond,” where I provide historical context and commentary on these tales and other stories in his repertoire. 4. This text is a variant of Aarne-Thompson Tale Type 1414: The Returning Husband Hoodwinked. The story is rooted...