5/28/2023 0 Comments Songster fiddle![]() ![]() Maryland My Maryland: Confederate song about the Civil War's first casualties, it's still Maryland's state song!.Kingdom Coming: An abolitionist minstrel tune-popular with African American soldiers, but sung on both sides.When Johnny Comes Marching Home: Patrick Gilmore's optimistic rewrite of an anti-war Irish song.Hard Times/Tack Come Again No More: Classic Stephen Foster song and soldier parody.Home Sweet Home: Universally popular, but sometimes banned for inciting desertion!.Cumberland Gap: Fiddle tune about a highly contested gap in the Appalachian Mountains.Soldier's Joy: The name of a Civil War drink (beer, whiskey, and morphine), and the name of a still popular fiddle/dance tune-both guaranteed to bring soldiers "joy". ![]() Lorena: There were so many words in this popular "sweetheart ballad" that I never finished singing it.Dixie: Though the song was written by a northener, this became the anthem of the South.John Brown's Body/The Battle Hymn of the Republic: Basically the anthem of the North.Jeff in Petticoats / A Song for the Times sheet music. Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music - Armed Forces - Civil War, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. After learning the history and how to play the fiddle tunes, instrumental and vocal versions of the songs, and accompaniment parts to allow visitors to sing, I sat down with my songster in the exhibit and began fiddling. northern soldiers, civilians, colored regiments, etc.) and used them to create my own "songster" for visitors to read and sing from. I also researched different lyrics that people might have sung to the same melodies (e.g., southern vs. Drawing on my own old-time fiddle repertoire as well as my readings on Civil War music and history, I chose a variety of songs that would be historically informative and yet relevant and entertaining. My Civil War project started with my belief that the best way to make musical history "come alive" for visitors would be to let them experience this music first-hand in a way comparable to how soldiers would have listened to and created music. Brainard's Sons ca 1885. Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music - Armed Forces - Civil War, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Illustrated sheet music of "Our National War Songs" published by S. Browse through the collection of Civil War sheet music here. The museum's collection include sheet music from the Civil War era, including Kathleen Mavourneen, popularized by touring Irish opera singer Catherine Hayes, and Glory Hallelujah, which included lyrics about John Brown's body, pet lambs, hanging Jefferson Davis, and being a soldier in the Army of the Lord. More than just offering a break from the miseries of battle and camp life, music was part of larger political and military battles raging throughout the war. In the course of my research, I discovered that music was an essential part of life during the Civil War for soldiers and civilians on both sides of the war. I spent much of my internship trying to imagine and recreate the life of that fiddle on my own well-worn violin (admittedly, I have not inscribed a diary onto mine, but I have named the unintentional scratches that have become my historical legacy in my violin's life). Solomon Conn, a Civil War soldier with Company B of the 87th Indiana Volunteers, recorded a list of his travels and battles on the back of his violin, turning the instrument into a unique document of his adventures and military record.Ĭonn's fiddle may be very different from the elegance of the Stradivari instruments in the museum's collection, but the fact that Solomon carried it with him throughout his Civil War travels and used it as a travel diary proves that it must have been important to him and to other soldiers in his regiment. ![]()
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