ABSTRACT
An article of 1920 made a connection between Sharp and the Institutes by citing East Harptree as the second Women's Institute to be established in Somerset, and pointed out that this was where Sharp first started his collection of folk songs and dances. Revivalists saw folk song as synonymous with indigenous rural peasant music and part songs as also being part of England's musical past. Indeed, there appears to have been little differentiation between the folk songs and part songs recommended for schools and those considered suitable for communal amateur music-making, which may have been a contributory factor in Institutes' later rejection of the repertoire. The music in both the National Federation's song books consists of simple settings of folk song sung in unison, rounds, and part songs with optional descants, which indicates that the standard of choral ability within the Women's Institutes during the mid-1920s was of an elementary nature.
