In this activity, students learn about a musical composition practice called contrafact by tracing the evolution of one melody through iterations across country music's history. Students gain knowledge of country music’s changing sound by examining different versions of the same melody, re-recorded time and again with new lyrics — from the Carter Family’s borrowed “Wildwood Flower” in 1929 through Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in 1952.

Intoductory Activity: Understanding 'Contrafact'

• Play the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” without any lyrics and ask students what words go with the melody.
  • Twinkle might be the most common answer, but also the ABC’s or “Baa, Baa Black Sheep.”
• A contrafact (or contrafactum) is a melody or song whose original text or lyrics have been replaced with new text or lyrics. The practice dates back to European Medieval music (12th and 13th century) but can be found throughout music history. For example, the national anthem of the United States is a poem by Francis Scott Key set to the tune of a popular British song at the time. Parody songs, such as the type made popular by “Weird Al” Yankovic, also fall into this category. For jazz musicians, contrafacts usually refer to a new melody that uses the same chord or harmonic progression as a preexisting song.
• Listen to The Carter Family recording of “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” to familiarize students with the melody.