Our study of music in Early America continues with this third episode in our five-episode series.
Our last two episodes (Episode 343 and Episode 344) helped us better understand the musical landscapes of Native North America around 1492 and colonial British America before 1776. In this episode, we jump forward in time to the early days of the United States.
Glenda Goodman, an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book Cultivated by Hand: Amateur Musicians in the Early American Republic, joins us to investigate the role of music in the lives of wealthy white Americans during the earliest days of the early American republic.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Glenda Goodman, an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Cultivated by Hand, leads our investigation of the role of music in the lives of wealthy white Americans during the earliest days of the early American republic.
During our investigation, Glenda reveals the musical landscape of the early United States, including the instruments early Americans played; The development and cultivation of music education in the early republic; And, the impact women and the post-revolutionary generation had on the development of musical culture in the new United States.
What You’ll Discover
- The musical landscape of the early American Republic
- Sacred versus secular music
- The types of sources historians use to study music in early America
- The kinds of instruments early Americans played
- How class and location impacted the instruments musicians had access to
- The difference between amateur musicians and occupational musicians
- The role class and status played in amateur musicians’ lives
- What elite musicians reveal about early American music and its role in daily life
- Music books and their use in the lives of early American musicians
- Musical education in the early republic
- Amateur musicians’ lack of interest in writing and composing music
- The role gender played in access to musical opportunities and expectations
- The impact of marriage on female musicians’ lives
- Republican Motherhood
- The impact of the post-Revolutionary generation of musicians
- How studying early American musicians can help us better understand the history of the early United States
- The difficulty of finding Indigenous & Black musicians in historical sources
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Glenda Goodman
- Cultivated by Hand: Amateur Musicians in the Early American Republic
- Duetto in F Major, Op. 14, No. 3, For Piano Forte: I. Allegro, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Governor’s Musick
- Il cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, Concerto No. XII, Op. 8: I. Allegro, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, A Delightful Recreation: The Music of Thomas Jefferson
- Three Airs: II. Over the Hills and Far Away, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Governor’s Musick, Instrumental Music from the Colonial Williamsburg Collection
- The Rakes of Mallow, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Nottingham Ale: Tavern Music from Colonial Williamsburg
- Transcript
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Complementary Episodes
Episode 145: Rosemarie Zagarri, Mercy Otis Warren
Episode 237: Nora Doyle, Motherhood in Early America
Episode 311: Katherine Carté, Religion in the American Revolution
Episode 343: Chad Hamil, Music and Song in native North America
Episode 344: David Hildebrand, Music in British North America
Time Warp Question
How might the experiences and opportunities of female musicians have been different if it had been acceptable for women to play music professionally in early America?
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