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Music and Dance : 1607 - 1788
Music:
Looking at music of the early American settlers is important because
it reveals a lot about them. The lyrics show their mindsets, way
of life, and also their language use. The musical aspect shows the
simplicity of these people with clear melodies and repeats, whether
meant to cheer, amuse, or console the listener or performer.
- In the North, unaccompanied solo singing was popular, usually
in a flat, clear tone
- It was common for music to have refrains and no harmony
but unison of
parts
- Only those who had learned it by book used harmony
- The main and most important instrument for the North was the
fiddle
- Songs were usually narrative ballads that were of Irish and
British influence
- Public performance of singing was permitted in the North; In
the South, singing was only done behind closed doors. This is
because Puritanism in the North gave women more independence and
freedom than the Protestant religion in the South
- Ministers considered singing and dancing to be sins
- Music of the Puritans was mostly psalms not sung with great
skill or embellishment. There was no uniformity in that no two
people sang a psalm the same way
- Benjamin Franklin published ballads in Philadelphia:
- Lovewell’s Fight by Benjamin Franklin
These rebels lay in ambush this very place hard by,
So that an English soldier did one of them espy,
And cried out, ‘Here’s an Indian’ – and
with that they started out,
As fiercely as old lions, and hideously did shout.
Thus up spake Captain Lovewell when first the fight began,
‘Fight on, my gallant heroes, you see they fall like
rain.’
For as we are informed, the Indians were so thick,
A man could scarce fire a gun and not some of them hit …
- This is the first part of a true story telling of the battle
of Lovewell’s company and Indians.
- Songs were spread by word of mouth or cheaply printed and sold
by peddlers
- The presses were controlled by the clergy, so not many songs
were published
- It was only acceptable for men to sing when drunk, but most
singers knew about 450 different songs.
Fad: drunk men singing in bars
- Puritans liked to exaggerate stories, which is where tall tales
came from, commonly rhymed and made into songs.
- In songs from New England, it was customary for the father to
play the bad cop, being the punishing godly figure, whereas the
mother was viewed as more important and more understanding than
the father, sometimes shown as having incest with the son.
- The Quaker’s Courtship
(to be performed with guitar and banjo with free strumming, this
is an American variant on an English song, common to New England,
the South, and the Mid-West)
Verse 1:
Man –
Once there was a Quaker lover,
O dear, O dear me,
Courted by a Presbyterian’s daughter,
O dear, O dear me.
‘Here’s a ring worth many a shilling,
O dear, O dear me,
Take it and wear it, if thou art willing,
O dear, O dear me.’
Woman –
‘What do I care for you and your money?
Tee-I-dinktum, tee-I-day,
Want a man to call me honey,
Tee-I-dinktum, tee-I-day.’
Verse 2:
Man –
‘Madam, I have both home and land,
and both shall be at thy command.’
Woman –
‘What do I care for your home and land?
All I want’s a handsome man.’
Verse 3:
Man-
‘Madam, I have come a-courtin’,
‘Tis not for pleasure, nor for sportin’.’
Woman –
‘What do I care for your desire?
If you come, you’ll court the fire.’
Verse 4:
Man –
‘I’ll go home and tell my mother,
She’ll go straight and find me another.’
Woman –
‘What do I care for you and your mother?
She’s an old Quaker and you’re another.’
Verse 5:
Man –
‘Must I give up my religion?
Must I be a Presbyterian?’
Woman –
‘Cheer up, cheer up, loving brother,
If you can’t catch one fish, catch another.’
- The lyrics to this song pretty much speak for themselves. The
early colonists sang of everyday things having to do with their
lives, be it farming, money, sickness, family, or anything else.
This particular piece dealt with religion interfering with love
and courtship, probably a common occurrence in that time period.
- The Sow Took the Measles
(to be performed with guitar and banjo, this song was originally
from southern England and Ireland and came to New England with
the colonists)
Verse 1:
How do you think I began in the world?
I got me a sow and sev’ral other things.
Chorus:
The sow took the measles and she died in the spring.
Verse 2:
What do you think I made of her hide?
The very best saddle that you ever did ride.
Saddle or bridle or any such thing, (chorus)
Verse 3:
What do you think I made of her nose?
The very best thimble that ever sewed clothes,
Thimble or thread or any such thing, (chorus).
Verse 4:
What do you think I made of her tail?
The best whup that ever sought sail.
Whup or whup socket, any such thing, (chorus).
Verse 5:
What do you think I made of her feet?
The very best pickles you ever did eat.
Pickles or glue or any such thing, (chorus).
- This song is a great example of the colonist state of mind.
It has the stereotypical refrain,
as the chorus repeats with each verse. The lyrics reveal how farmers
were humble and used all that they little had.
- Americans liked to change lyrics of old English or Irish songs
to fit their moods or whims, often times to gibberish such as
“Shoo lie, shoo lie, shoo lie roo, shoo lie, shoo lie, sacka
babba coo”. The classic example of lyric changing is Yankee
Doodle Dandy-o, which was a British sea song originally making
fun of Americans, but developed into being a fun song that was
pro-American with silly lyrics made to fit the moods of the times.
Fad: Yankee Doodle Dandy-o tune with varying
lyrics
- War songs were popular, as people sung of their men going off
to war. Such songs include Felix the Soldier, Johnny Has Gone
for a Soldier, and Get Up, Jack. When Johnny Comes Marching Home
was based on an Irish anti-war song and became popular in America
around the time of the Civil War. Also during this time, Virginia’s
Bloody Soil became popular when Americans found out that England
favored the South and the Irish decided to support the North.
- Another major group that influenced music was the African-Americans
who were brought over as slaves. They brought more stylized singing,
featuring a richer tone quality, as well as aspects such as falsetto,
which the whites in America were not using at the time. Their
songs were highly percussive as they had good drumming skills
from Africa
- It was common for blacks to sing as they worked, and these work
songs or “field hollers” were based on tribal chants
from Africa. When religion was incorporated into these songs,
gospel music was created.
- Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Verse 1:
I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home,
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.
Refrain
Verse 2:
If you get there before I do,
Coming for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I’m coming, too.
Coming for to carry me home.
Refrain
Verse 3:
I’m sometimes up and sometimes down,
Coming for to carry me home,
But still my soul feels heavenly bound,
Coming for to carry me home.
Refrain
Verse 4:
The brightest day that I can say,
Coming for to carry me home,
When Jesus washed my sins away,
Coming for to carry me home.
Refrain
- This was a work song that incorporated religious ideas in the
lyrics. Songs like this soothed and entertained the slaves as
they worked. Home was a metaphor for freedom.
- Blacks used music for religious, agricultural, hunting, and
sexual fertility purposes. Singing songs that were not sacred
did not make sense to them. This has a likeness to Native American
music, which is also sacred and based on being at peace with nature
and heaven. Slave owners prohibited the singing of non-Christian
songs, using African musical instruments, or singing traditional
African songs. They also converted the blacks to Christianity.
Black churches became a haven for black music because it was the
only unsupervised place for slaves to congregate.
- Black Sheep
(a black lullaby from the South to be performed with guitar and
banjo)
Verse 1:
Black sheep, black sheep,
Where’d you leave your lamb?
Way down in the valley.
Verse 2:
Bees and the butterflies
A-pickin’ out his eyes,
Poor little thing cryin’ ‘Mammy’.
Verse 3:
Black sheep, black sheep,
Where’d you leave your lamb?
Way down in the valley.
Verse 4:
My mother told me
Before she went away
To take good care of the baby,
But I went out to play
And the baby ran away,
And the poor little thing cryin’ ‘Mammy’.
- This lullaby would have been sung by a black slave woman to
a white child that she was caring for. This song has sad hidden
messages by making the sheep black. The lamb left in the valley
may refer to the homeland of Africa, freedom, or both. The crying
baby may refer to the white child missing his white mother, or
maybe even the blacks themselves having been captured from their
country while no one was looking over them.
- Steal, Miss Liza
(a black children’s square dance song to be performed with
guitar and banjo)
Verse 1:
I’ve got a man and you’ve got none,
Little Liza Jane,
I’ve got a man and you’ve got none,
Little Liza Jane.
Chorus 1:
O Eliza, little Liza Jane.
Verse 2:
You swing mine and I’ll swing yours,
I’ll swing mine and you swing yours.
(Chorus 1)
Verse 3:
I’ve got a house in Baltimo’
Forty-leven chillun on the flo’.
Chorus 2:
Steal, Miss Liza, little Liza Jane.
Verse 4:
I steal yours and you steal mine,
That’s the way we’ll get along fine.
(Chorus 2)
- The music of the black children reflects their free nature,
as they were not judged as closely as white children. Black children
began sexual activity very early in life and there is a sense
of this attitude in the song, as there are no qualms about trading
partners with one another.
- Plantation owners had forbidden blacks from playing drums, so
instead they stretched cowhide over cheese boxes to make tambourines
or hit cow bones together for percussion instruments. Most drums
were made out of eel-pots and sheepskin.
- The main form of music was singing, throughout the 1800s due
to the isolation of many areas. Spiritual songs were very popular,
such as “Amazing Grace” and “Wondrous Love”.
- In the early 1800s, it became acceptable for slaves to perform
music for their masters.
- After the Civil War, better instruments were attainable by blacks.
They could buy European instruments for small amounts of money,
and instruments were even left on the battlefields for the taking
by eager black musicians.
- Whites began to have bands of fife and drums in the early 1800s,
which took over as the dominant instruments for the time.
- The blues first started in the early 1800s, but did not flourish
until late in the century.
- In 1835 a white man named William Walker published The Southern
Harmony and Musical Companion, which was immensely popular in
the Midwest. Other important men were Lowell Mason, the “father
of American church music” who composed hymns, and Thomas
Hastings, another hymn composer. A famous piano composer and player
was Sigismund Thalberg, notable for his composition of variation
on the theme “Lilly Dale”.
- It was during the 1800s that the pump organ was replaced by
the piano. Pianos had to be imported from Europe until 1823, when
America started making pianos. This resulted in a more affordable
price and pianos became very common in homes.
Fad: replacing pump organs with pianos in
every home along with sheet music
- The rise in piano sales helped increase the sales of printed
music. Music publishing became a profitable business.
- Ballads were still popular, and in 1823, “Home Sweet Home”
was published and made famous when performed by singers Jenny
Lind and Adelina Patii. Ballads were full of emotion and moved
audiences.
- Around the middle of the 1800s, white Protestants ceased to
sing folk songs in public, only leaving the tradition in Southern
and isolated areas. Black musicians gained fame in the North,
but only if they performed “white music”, which required
European training. Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was one such black
singer. Another black musician was Blind Tom, a slave boy with
perfect pitch and remarkable improvisation skills on piano. His
master made money off of his performances, and Blind Tom even
opted to stay with his master after he was freed, since he was
still a young boy. He went on to tour in the United States, Canada,
Europe, and South America.
- The California gold rush resulted in a number of new songs.
People liked to sing as they worked or traveled. As a result,
in the 1840s, traveling music groups were popular, one of which
was the Hutchinson Family.
Before the Civil War, Stephen Foster was a white who published
black music in the South. The songs he wrote were highly influenced
by black folk songs, his most famous song being “Old Folks
at Home”, also known as “Swanee River”.
- James Bland was a composer similar to Stephen Foster, but he
was mixed black, white, and Indian. After the Civil war, he taught
himself to play banjo and sing, performing and composing. In 1875
he joined a minstrel troupe, the Original Black Diamonds.
- Minstrel troupes peaked in 1860, at which time there were about
150 different groups. Stephen Collins Foster wrote music for minstrel
troupes, famous for his song “Oh! Susanna”. He also
wrote ballads such as “Beautiful Dreamer”.
Fad: traveling minstrel troupes
- The Civil War pretty much stopped the progression of musical
entertainment and ended careers for performers such as Elizabeth
Taylor Greenfield.
- However, the Civil War created inspiration for many songs to
be written, such that the story of the war could be told completely
through music. Daniel Emmett, a Northerner, wrote the song “Dixie”,
one of the leading songs for the time. Julia Howe, another Northerner,
rote “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, a march song.
- Many Civil War songs emphasized the spirit of the soldiers and
inspired them to fight harder. Both the North and South sang “When
Johnny Comes Marching Home”.
- Even after the war, the South did not appreciate black music.
In 1867, the Hyers sisters were sisters who sang duets together
and became successful in northern America and Canada.
- Freed slaves migrated North after the Civil War, where gospel
music developed with more harmony and melody. Whites wanted to
hear this type of music, so the white actors pretending to be
black would sing these types of songs on stage in minstrel shows.
From 1830 to the Civil War, the minstrel shows were humorous but
admired black music, however, after the Civil War, the bitter
Southerners brought the minstrel shows to a cruel level, emphasizing
stereotypes.
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a famous black woman singer
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- In 1866, The Black Crook opened in New York. This was an extravaganza,
related to minstrel shows, vaudeville, and burlesque. It featured
women in provocative outfits doing ballet, drama, and music. This
was a very popular show, and one performance lasted 5 hours.
Fad: shows such as The Black Crook
- In 1871, black students from the Fisk Jubilee Singers sang for
audiences across America and gained fame.
- Throughout the 1800s bands, especially marching bands, became
popular.
- These evolved from military bands, which were all white due
to restrictions on blacks joining the military. A group of blacks
formed their own band, called Frank Johnson’s Band. Frank
Johnson was a trumpet player who got together with other black
musicians from Philadelphia and toured Europe. When Frank Johnson
died in 1846, Joe Anderson took over and they toured the United
States until 1874. After that, the band broke into two separate
groups, one of which was an orchestra featuring stringed instruments,
while the other remained big on marches.
- Another source of musical inspiration came from the labor movement.
It was in the late 1700s to early 1800s that labor unions came
about, and with them came labor songs. These songs are useful
in that they depict the sad condition of mistreated workers and
told stories in the words. Like the black Americans, American
workers of other races used music to empower themselves, teach
others about their situation, and to inspire themselves to keep
going. Singing together in protest was more effective than unorganized
protest.
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a barber's union on strike
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- Some examples of labor songs are “Hard Times”, about
the anti-national-bank sentiment around 1834, “A Loaf of
Bread” about the depression of 1819, and “The Patriotic
Diggers” about how blacks and whites both helped to dig fortifications
against the British for the War of 1812.
Dance : 1607 - 1788
Dancing was important to the community because it brought people
together, allowing for the meeting of future spouses, judging people’s
grace, and for socialization. The music of the time and place was
a major influence on the dance that it accompanied.
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Dance in America was influenced by ideas brought
from England, Ireland, and France as well as the Native Americans.
Americans ordered dance books from England and while waiting
for new books, wrote some dances of their own and got them published.
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The colonists brought the style of country
dancing from England to America and it was common from then
through to the early 1800s. Music for country
dance was written by Mozart and Beethoven and the dance
steps were published in France first, then in England. In America,
the style of country dance was especially strong in Appalachia
and New England.
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As the dances moved from place to place, first
from Europe to America, then from East to West, they were altered
to become simpler. Many dances were forgotten, but others flourished
in southern Appalachia where Americans had added the caller
to the square dance.
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Since French things impressed Americans, some
names of dances stayed French. A good example of this is how
the Dosido in square dancing originated from “Dos a Dos”, which
means “go back to back” in French. However, the other dance
moves to be called by the caller developed into English for
convenience.
Fad: French things, as in keeping the
names of dances in French for the sake of being impressing
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Only the Puritans were against dancing in America,
because they thought that the Maypole represented paganism and
therefore it was sacrilegious to dance. Since the Puritans were
mainly in the North, dancing was much more popular in the South,
where there were less restrictions on it. In fact, by the 1700s,
dance had become popular to teach during physical education
in southern schools.
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The Shakers
square danced, however, they did not believe in co-gender dancing.
For this reason, the squares had only 1 gender each and they
believed that by shaking their bodies while dancing, the sin
would be shaken out of them. This is a good example of how dance
was a part of religion just as much as music.
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After the revolution, Patriotic Pageants were
commonly held. These festivals included music, dancing, and
acrobatics.
Fad: Patriotic Pageants
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Unlike the slower and tamer flute and violin
styles of Europe, America developed more fast and lively styles
adopted from the Irish featuring the fiddle and banjo for a
more upbeat dancing accompaniment. Usually the dance was written
to fit the song, but sometimes the song was actually written
to fit the dance. Popular dance music included folk songs and
ballads.
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Hoop skirts went out of fashion in favor for
simpler clothing, which allowed for dancing partners to stand
closer together than before.
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The dances of Europe became more simplified
and the caller had a more important job since the dancers depended
on him for instructions. This was all because Americans were
not really formally taught how to dance.
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Instead of dances for just one or two people
like the Baroque style of Europe, it was popular to have group
dances with many people. As in square dancing, there are four
couples facing into a square. Large dances such as this are
called “contredanses” in French and “cotillons” in English.
These types of dances usually had a specific sequence of placements,
to be changed into additional configurations called changes.
It was common for there to be 12 changes in a dance. This style
was done using either two or four-bar step combinations.
Fad: square dancing with fiddle and banjo
accompaniment
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Figured Minuets were also popular in the early
1700s. Minuets are group dances that were brought over from
England. They are composed of an introduction and then four
different figures. The figures are: an S or Z shape as the man
desires, giving of right hands, giving of left hands, and giving
of both hands. Each step takes 2 measures of music in ¾ time.
This popular dance lasted through to the mid-twentieth century
in England and America.
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Even when being transported to America, the
slaves were dancers. On the ships starting around 1690, they
were forced to go up on deck to exercise once a day, where they
were whipped if they did not dance to the beating of a drum
or the playing of a banjo by another slave or bagpipe or fiddle
played by a crew member.
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Blacks performed religious dances from their
native lands even after being converted to Christianity as their
own form of worship through song and dance.
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In the West Indies, slaves danced non-religious
dances that were competitive such as the Jumba, based on an
African jig. The slave who could dance the longest and best
would win.
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Slaves had dances for all occasions, including
lent, Christmas, weddings, funerals, harvest, corn-shucking,
and quilting. These dances were traditional and from Africa.
However, slaves also danced the dances of white people and used
white music. It was common on southern plantations for slaves
to go into the woods at night to dance their African dances
without danger of being seen.
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For the harvest, they did Cakewalks, where
a couple would go along a straight path balancing water buckets
on their heads and the winners would get a cake. Other harvest
festival dances involved dancing in a ring around people mimicking
the motions of work.
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In the North, there were not as many slaves
as in the South, and also, there were more Puritans and Protestants
in the North. Because of this, northern slaves were not permitted
to dance as the southern slaves often did. Africans believe
that dancing is a way of being in contact with ancestors and
gods, so this restriction on dancing was a major setback for
the slaves. A few rare Protestant churches allowed for slaves
to do ring dances, sometimes called a “ring-shout” as a form
of worship where they shuffled counterclockwise without lifting
the feet off the ground around the church.
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Since drums were a form of communication between
slaves, they were banned and the blacks had to resort to using
their feet and bodies to keep rhythm. This gave way to dances
such as the “Pattin’ Juba” where the thigh and hip are clapped
in rhythm.
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Slaves made up their own dances based on the
African idea of imitating animals with dancing. One of the North
American dances that developed was the Turkey Trot.
- Slave-owners were so interested in the dance and music of the
blacks that they would sometimes invite them to their parties
as entertainment for guests. The whites would then imitate the
black dances, as the “Negro jig” was popular in Virginia during
the revolution, sometimes even with the blacks themselves. An
example of the white fascination with black entertainment is how
the actor, Tea, painted his face dark with a burnt cork and did
a “Negro Dance” on stage with The American Company in Philadelphia
in 1767. This soon caught on and other actors began doing the
same. However, it was always white actors pretending to be black
and never actual blacks on stage.
Fad: whites imitating blacks for entertainment
purposes
Dance:
Dancing was important to the community because it brought people
together, allowing for the meeting of future spouses, judging people’s
grace, and for socialization. The music of the time and place was
a major influence on the dance that it accompanied.
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