African American Music

Three Categories for Music Usage• 1. Religious• 2. Work• 3. Recreation

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

• White Settlers brought instruments and psalm books

• Slave brought memories, cultures, and their rich tradition

African American MusicMusic in the Colonies

Primary Source of Information

1.The Colonial Newspaper2.Town and Court Records3. Assembly Journals

African American MusicMusic in the Colonies

Congregational Singing

• Singing In the Meeting Houses• Special Pews marked “BW” Black Women and

“BM” Black Men• “Lining Out” Practice • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdXIYUgYZgQ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrDLj_dmugE • The Bay Psalm Book

African American MusicMusic in the Colonies

Singing in the Community• Black Servants sang with their Masters on

Special Occasion• Music used in Services and Praise to God• Music used for the Solace of Man• Thought as a blessing of cheer for men after

work and long study

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

The Reform Movement• No instruments in the meeting houses• The Anglicans believed in instrumentsThe Growth of Hymnody• New Songs “Hymns”• Religious Poems instead of Scriptural Psalms

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

The Growth of HymnodyDr. Isaac Watts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_oaDuACGF4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wicra58W0mE

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

The Growth of HymnodyDr. Isaac Wattshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xP2DYpy2DQ

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

The Growth of HymnodyDr. Isaac Watts*Listen to Slave Songs and created Hymns1737 John Wesley, George Whitfield(official Methodist hymnals)A Collection of Psalms and HymnsMoravains (German religious sect brought hymns)

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

Religious Instruction and Psalmody

Patterns of Slavery in the North and South• Groups interested in Black men and women• Quakers, Moravians, the Congregationalist,

Catholics, and the Methodist• Slaves were associated as a part of the family• The slaves took the family’s last name

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

Religious Instruction and Psalmody

Conversion and Religious Instruction in the North• Clergy concerns: Conversion of the heathen • African Americans, and the Native Americans• Dutch Youth and Blacks were taught Christ• A teacher’s contract of 1682 in New York• “School shall begin with prayer and closed by

singing a Psalm” (1)

African American MusicThe Colonial Era

Religious Instruction and Psalmody

Conversion and Religious Instruction in the North• SPG 1702-85 (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in

Foreign Parts)• Purpose to convert slaves to Christianity • Established Church of England Missionary Organization• Founded schools for Religious instruction for black folks