#FRENCH CAFE MUSIC OFTEN USD FOR BALLET FULL#
#FRENCH CAFE MUSIC OFTEN USD FOR BALLET PROFESSIONAL#

The grandmother of our modern guitar was around also, but not as popular it is called today a Baroque guitar, and it was a small version of a classical guitar with gut strings, frets of gut tied around the neck, and strung as a modern 12-string without the bass E strings, so it was also a 10 stringed instrument. The other instrument of choice for women was what we call today an English guitar, a now extinct 10-string version of a Renaissance cittern with a flat back and a tear-drop shape, tuned to an open C chord, seen in the picture above. Many wealthy women played harpsichords on which they practiced and performed for family and friends. So what did the women play? A very tight self-regulation of activity in the name of 'maintaining reputation' limited musical options for women. There were fifes, recorders (in early America these were called common or English flutes), and transverse flutes (called then German flutes), but it is doubtful that there were any pennywhistles, despite their numbers in the mouths of little tourists at Williamsburg. Second in popularity to violins were flutes of many different kinds, also played for the most part by men. Prices varied from cheap to quite expensive and there is little doubt that violins were imported in great numbers. Men of all different classes, from Thomas Jefferson to indentured servants and enslaved people, played violins or fiddles. Violins were by far the most popular instruments. Most instruments that we have today were around by the Revolution (when pianos were just coming into popularity) but certainly, some instruments were more prevalent than others. Some instruments and types of music were more appropriate to certain classes, genders, and ethnic backgrounds. Further, the popularity of specific pieces of music varied over time and by region, depending upon the flow of fashion and backgrounds of people living in a certain area. Single tunes also served a variety of functions-for example, 'Over the Hills and Far Away' served as a theater song, a recruiting song, a dance tune, and a military march. Many people knew a large body of tunes by ear, and we frequently find new sets of words 'composed' to fit these older tunes. General ConceptsД¬olonial music involved both written and oral/aural processes.

#FRENCH CAFE MUSIC OFTEN USD FOR BALLET PROFESSIONAL#

To understand, appreciate, and translate such rich history behind the pleasing melodies and stories told through song-that is our professional mission. It is clear that while our ancestors were musically dependent upon Great Britain, Europe, and Africa, for the most part, uniquely American developments were already felt before 1776.

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In early America, a wonderful variety of types and styles of music emerged, expressing the full spectrum of colonial life. Such music came mostly from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, and Africa, and it was played on whatever instruments were handy. Their music included ballads, dance tunes, folk songs and parodies, comic opera arias, drum signals, psalms, minuets, and sonatas. Understanding the music that early Americans chose to sing and play gives us a better understanding of the colonists themselves.

What was Colonial or 'Early American' music?Д¬olonial music was not so much music written in America before the Revolution as it was music that was brought here and helped define the people who were to make a new country. How is this music reflective of what people thought and did back then?.This area includes a tremendous amount of information to answer basic questions such as: The following brief essay is designed for students and others interested in an introduction to this field.