Music of Annapolis facts for kids
The music of Annapolis, Maryland, played a major role in the music history of the United States during the colonial era and has since produced a number of notable musical institutions and groups.
Early music
In the 1710s in the colonial United States, a number of singing schools arose, beginning in New England and spreading into Maryland by 1764, beginning in Annapolis. These singing schools met in the evenings, with a singing master leading the education of both youth and adults in the basics of musical performance, including note-reading and part-singing, and the particulars of Christian hymns. Most singing masters were educated only in other singing schools, and not in any sort of formal music education. Many singing masters were itinerant travelers.
Though Annapolis was the first town in Maryland to be home to a singing school, they became common, first in Baltimore and then throughout the state, after the Revolutionary War. The first was at St. Anne's Anglican Church in Annapolis, in 1764, led by singing master Phillip Williams, who taught psalmody in four parts. Though Williams, being itinerant, left Annapolis after only one year, he was replaced by a new singing master, Hugh Maguire, the following year.
After the Revolutionary War, singing school activities began diminishing throughout Maryland, including Annapolis. The only noted singing master during this time was Alexander Gray, in 1786, and possibly for some time thereafter.
Tuesday Club
During the colonial era, Annapolis was one of the larger cities in North America, and was home to an organization called the Tuesday Club, which documented musical activity in the city in more detail than any other record of its kind. The club was founded in 1745 by Alexander Hamilton in imitation of similar clubs in Edinburgh, specifically the Whin-Bush Club. Music was not initially the major focus of the group, but it soon came to specialize in musical activities at biweekly meetings known as sederunts. Both original vocal and instrumental material and published compositions were a part of the Tuesday Club's repertoire, including Scottish and English folksongs, and English theatrical pieces. Among the club's members was Jonas Green, printer of the Maryland Gazette and publisher of music books, and Thomas Bacon, the club's most renowned composer whose works were very much in the European model. No compositions from the club gained significant acclaim outside of the city.
The music of the Tuesday Club was expressly and purposely European in character, as the members wished to emulate the acknowledged masters of the Western classical music tradition. However, unlike classical music, performances were recreational in nature rather than artistic, the music composed by members of the Club being entirely casual, and probably never intended for outside consumption. The corpus of the club's output constitutes the earliest known American secular music. Instrumentation included the French horn, flute, cello, viola and harpsichord.
Popular music
In the 1980s, Annapolis was home to two of the most important early emo bands, Moss Icon and The Hated, both of whom recorded for the prominent local Vermin Scum record label. Vermin Scum also released records by Black Dice, Breathing Walker and the Universal Order of Armageddon. Annapolis has also been home to the funk rock band Jimmie's Chicken Shack, singer Eva Cassidy and the band Good Charlotte.
Venues and festivals
In modern Annapolis, three music venues are notable for blues and jazz, namely the King of France Tavern in the Maryland Inn, the Rams Head Tavern and the Ebb Tide near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts is another major local venue, hosting numerous renowned performing groups throughout the year. It was founded in 1979.
The Annapolis Music Fest was first held in June 2002, which hosts both touring and local bands in a variety of styles of rock and hip hop.
Founded in 1997 by James Borchelt, Eastport-A-Rockin' is an Annapolis music festival featuring local and national artists on 3 stages. Traditionally held the last weekend of June on the grounds of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, it is the longest current running music festival within the city, with previous performers including Good Charlotte and Jimmie's Chicken Shack.
Images for kids
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David Dixon Porter, Superintendent of the Academy, modernized the Band.
