The
simplicity and beauty of early American music has always been deeply
appealing to me. It embodies the plain directness which was the
hallmark of survival on the frontier. The tunes gave comfort when
the trials of frontier life brought grief; told the news when there
wasn’t any for months, brought friends together for infrequent
social interaction, provided courtship possibilities, told stories of
triumph and adventure and put babies to sleep.
Imagine
a life without the luxury of the media, product access or
transportation we so easily enjoy; a life of constant danger and
challenge which, in most cases, called upon the strongest and best in
the human condition. Most people knew a large
number of tunes by ear, and frequently new sets of words were
"composed" to fit older tunes.
Tunes
also served as theater songs, recruiting songs, dance tunes, and
military marches. The popularity of pieces of music varied over
time and by region depending upon the flow of fashion and backgrounds
of people living in a certain area. The music included ballads, dance
tunes, folk songs and parodies, comic opera arias, drum signals,
psalms, minuets and sonatas. Such music came from England, Scotland,
Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, and Africa, and was played on whatever
instruments were handy or easily constructed. Instruments like
the dulcimers were easily and quickly constructed and durable enough
for frontier travel. The beauty of such instruments was
indicative of the woodworking skill of the period, but even most of the
less attractive editions gave a sweet and attractive sound.
