Our nation is made up of many cultures. Does this include the diverse cultural makeup of our nation?

Yes, this study is multi-cultural in nature. When determining the children’s folk songs of our collective American heritage, I surveyed people across the nation, representing every nationality I could find. People who had not grown up in America were unable to participate in the study, of course, because the goal was to determine exactly which songs have been taught for generations to children growing up in America. As you might expect, our nation has always had a rich and diverse cultural background.

People from the following races contributed to the elder study: Asian/Pacific Islanders, Black/African Americans, Hispanic/Latina(o)/Chicana(o)s, Native Americans, English, Irish, German, Caucasian, European, Middle Eastern, Russian American, and others who did not specify a nationality other than that they had grown up in America.

This was a survey and not a census, though, so it is only a sampling of the population. Not everyone was included, but that does not make the study less valid. People all across the nation, from very diverse backgrounds participated and contributed to the song list. Participants in the elder study were allowed to add to the songs on the initial list in order to create a list truly representative of the songs they had learned as children growing up in America. Many people contributed songs to the list. The final song list consists of the songs taught for generations to the most children across America.