The First Music Heard in America

November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is a time to be thankful for the wonderful gift of music. As we reflect on Thanksgiving, its important to know who was responsible for making Thanksgiving Day a national holiday. That person was Sarah J. Hale. She was born on October 24th, 1788 at Hanover, New Hampshire.

Sarah Hale was a remarkable woman or many talents who had a great influence on American culture. She was the first to advocate women as teachers in public schools and she helped organize Vassar College. Sarah was the author of two dozen books and hundreds of poems including the famous, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." She provided the verses for many of Lowell Mason's most successful school music books.

As we reflect on our musical history, it dates from the time when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims came for religious freedom; therefore, hymns and psalm singing was the only music heard. The Pilgrims sang only a few tunes in the various meters. The Doxology (Old 100th) was one of the favorite tunes they brought with them. It is an example of a hymn in Long Meter, that is 8888, which means that there are eight syllables in each phrase:

Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow
Old 100th

This arrangement of the Doxology is from the book, You Can Teach Yourself® Gospel Piano, page 97.

One of the first American composers to write new hymn tunes was William Billings. He was born in Boston, October 7, 1746 and died in that city September 29,1800. Billings had a natural liking for music but earned his living as a tanner. He sang in local choirs and gained a knowledge of music. Billings began to realize that there was something lacking in the music being sung in the churches. He composed his own tunes and published his first work, The New England Psalm Singer, in 1770. He became America's first professional musician when he had a sign put up over the door of his shop which said, "Billings' Music".

When the War of Independence started in 1775, the revulsion against anything British extended to the Psalm tunes of British origin that the Pilgrims had brought with them. Billings began to use his musical talents composing Patriotic songs as well as lively hymn tunes. The songs by this eccentric man with a withered arm, one leg shorter than the other and blind in one eye, became very popular and were sung in the most remote corners of New England.