by Dr. Michael Pratt Lowell Mason, who many people regard as the father of public school music education, was born in Medfield, MA on January 8, 1792 into a musical family. Both of his parents sang in their church choir and his father played the bass viol. At a young age Lowell learned to play [...]
Archive for the ‘American Music’ Category
A Biography of Lowell Mason: The Father of American Music Education
Posted in American Music, Music Education on September 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Film Music of Max Steiner with Emphasis on King Kong (1933) and Gone With the Wind (1939)
Posted in American Music, Composers, Film Music, Steiner, Max on September 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
by Dr. Michael Pratt 1. Film Music as an American Art Form Many people had a hand in the birth and early development of the motion picture in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in this country including Thomas Alva Edison who in 1887 invented the movie camera known as the Kinetograph in his [...]
The Shakers and Their Relationship to the Culture at Large
Posted in American Music on September 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
by Dr. Michael Pratt EARLY SHAKER HISTORY Colonial America was fertile ground for religious groups and sects from Europe seeking a peaceful environment in which to be free to pursue their unique brand of religion. One such example are the Pilgrims: coming to this country on the Mayflower, settling in what would become New England, and [...]
The African-American Spiritual and its African Roots
Posted in American Music, Chorus on September 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
by Dr. Michael Pratt The ancestors of almost virtually 100 percent of African-Americans originally came to the United States as slaves, most of them from West Africa. These slaves, brought here against their will, were allowed no freedom of expression and used religion as a means to speak out against their oppression and for their hopes [...]
