Researching Secular Music and Dance in the Early United States

Laura Lohman is Professor of Music and Director at Queens University of Charlotte. Her previous publications in music include Umm Kulthum: Artistic Agency and the Shaping of an Arab Legend, 1967–2007 (2010) and Hail Columbia! American Music and Politics in the Early Nation (2020).

Introduction

David K. Hildebrand and Laura Lohman

Part I Interpreting Material Objects of Music and Dance Culture






Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589–1839: An Index
Raoul F. Camus




Aaron Thompson, His Book of Notes: First American Transcription of Five Country Dances From the Revolutionary War era Richard C. Spicer



A Scrapbooking President and a Few Good Tunes: Researching Early American Musical Practices through the Jefferson-Randolph Family Scrapbooks
Laura Lohman

Part II Situating Dance and Its Music in Early American Society




Keller’s Approach: New Perspectives in Dance History
Heather Blasdale Clarke




Successful Campaigns: The Commercialization of Leisure and Self-Presentation in Early America
Graham Christian




Mozart, America’s First Waltz-King
Michael Broyles

Part III Research and Contemporary Performance




A Practical Guide for Recreating Early American Music: Thoughts after 40 Years in the Trenches
David K. Hildebrand




Soundscapes of Tradition: Ancient Fifing and Drumming and the Embodiment of Place in the Connecticut River Valley
Timothy Murray




Imagining Colonial America and the Early Republic in Musical Theater: Historical Tensions and Creative Possibilities in Dearest Enemy (1925) and Hamilton (2015)
William A. Everett



Conclusion

Laura Lohman, David K. Hildebrand, and Heather Blasdale Clarke

Postlude

Robert M. Keller, Anne Keller Geraci, and Margaret Keller Dimock