Imagining Native America In Music By Michael V. Pasani

In his narrative, Imagining Native America in Music, Michael V. Pasani documents the musical representations of Native American culture. In his introduction, he states: “Music, which plays such an extraordinary role in organizing and shaping our societies and our social values, remains an unspoken and too often unacknowledged contributor not only to the social history of America, but to the creation of its folkways and myths as well. Cultural historians, while they may acknowledge the relevance of music to the subjects of their study, more often than not shy away from discussing music and its power to affect political and social change.”1
In the last few centuries, music has changed dramatically time period by time period from Eastern culture
This quest came with a perfect opportunity for young writers and composers to be exposed by showing their support for America. By 1770, tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies were steadily growing at an all-time high due to the levying of unwelcome taxes to pay for the heavy debt that Britain had incurred for defending the colonists during the French and Indian War. That same year, the first original American songbook, The New-England Psalm-Singer by William Billings, a young Boston tanner and self-taught composer and singer who was also considered the first American choral composer, was published. Billings composed 727 of his own melodies as psalms, hymns, anthems and canons set for s four-piece harmony. In order to give the songbook an “American flavor” to his work, Billings named many of his hymn tunes after local places and landmarks, such as “Amherst” (Amherst College) and “Old Brick” (Church). Also, the plates for the musical portions of the volume were engraved by Paul Revere, the American patriot known for warning the Colonial militia forces of the British forces before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Billings published a second collection, The Singing Master’s Assistant, in 1778. By that time, the colonials in America were bound up in the Revolutionary War and the content of the collection included fiercely patriotic numbers that supported the colonists. Eventually, Billings’ musical talents and his practical sensibility made him the dean of the “Yankee tunesmiths,” a Bugle and Corp group who flourished in New England during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, writing and compiling music for numerous music