A MUSICAL DISCOVERY OF 18TH CENTURY AMERICA
Broadsides,
ballads, love songs and humorous ditties are accompanied by Linda's
instrumentals as she tells the stories of everyday life in early
America. Included are such songs as "Johnnie's Gone for a Soldier",
"Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" and George Washington's favorite
dance tune!
19TH CENTURY NEW YORK STATE IN SONG AND STORY
Linda explores the
life of rural New York State through the music of farmers, canal
boatmen and lumberjacks, as well as the popular songs of parlor and
porch.
This program can be adapted to the history of any state.
SONGS OF THE CIVIL WAR
Students will hear
the recruiting song that urged young men to sign up to fight, the
anthems that inspired them and the musical complaints about the food and
conditions they endured such as "Army Beans" "Hard Crackers, Come Again
No More" and "Goober Peas". Included also are the ballads about the
yearning for home and the loved ones left behind.
THE ERIE CANAL ERA IN SONG
An exploration of
the songs that built the canal as sung by the diggers, boatmen and
people that celebrated on the banks of “Clinton's Ditch!”
WESTWARD HO!
Music
accompanied the pioneers on their trek to the Promised Land. This
presentation highlights the minstrel melodies, hymns, humorous ditties,
dance tunes and parlor ballads that soothed, entertained and inspired
the travellers on their harrowing journey.
As well as…
SONGS OF THE HISTORIC HUDSON
The
story of the Hudson River as seen through the songs that reflected life
in the Hudson Valley throughout its history. Included are songs of the
Revolution, of Erie canal boatmen and sailors, of steamboats and lost
love.
AMERICAN CAMPAIGN SONGS
Linda takes you on
a romp through elections past as you hear the ditties that inspired
Americans to vote. She sings gems like Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too, Get
on the Raft With Taft and I Like Ike.
SONGS OF NATURE AND THE LAND
The
music of America’s past reveals our changing relationship with nature,
from 18th century ballads where poetic imagery of birds and flowers
carried the day to the 19th songs with their vivid depictions of lumberjacks, miners and farmers facing the daily rigors of working the land.
SONGS OF WORK and THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
This show follows
the evolution of technology from the late 18th Century to the 19th
Century as seen on the songs of farmers, cobblers, canallers and
railroad men.