What was music like in Early America? How did different early Americans—Native Americans, African Americans, and White Americans—integrate and use music in their daily lives?
Your questions about music inspired this 5-episode series about music in Early America.
Our exploration begins with music in Native America. Chad Hamill, a Professor of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University, is an ethnomusicologist who studies Native American and Indigenous music. He will guide us through Native North America’s musical landscapes before European colonization.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Chad Hamill, a Professor of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University, is an ethnomusicologist who studies Native American and Indigenous music. Chad serves as our guide as we explore the musical landscapes of Native North America prior to the arrival of European colonists.
As we explore music and its importance to Native American and Indigenous communities, Chad reveals details about the study of ethnomusicology and how this field of study helps us understand the musical traditions of people past and present; The musical landscapes of Native North America by 1492; And the role music played and plays in Native American life past and present.
What You’ll Discover
- Applied Indigenous Studies
- Musical landscapes of Native North America by 1492
- Great variety of Indigenous music
- Use of music in Native American religion
- Change over time in Native American musical traditions
- The role of music in Indigenous interactions
- Indigenous use of music to announce intentions such as greetings and war
- Song gift giving
- How far songs might travel from their place of origin
- Instruments in Indigenous song-making
- Connections between song and land
- The impact of contact on Native American music
- The impact of Native American music on Euro-American music
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Chad Hamill
- Chad's Website
- Songs of Power and Prayer in the Columbia Plateau: The Jesuit, the Medicine Man, and the Indian Hymn Singer
- Smithsonian Institution, Wax cylinder recordings of Native American songs and dances, ca. 1910
- The Last Owl Dance
- RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World
- Mildred Bailey, “The Queen of Swing”
- Mildred Bailey, “Honeysuckle Rose”
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- Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America
- Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1
- Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2
- Episode 297: Claudio Saunt, Indian Removal Act of 1830
- Episode 310: Rosalyn LaPier, History of the Blackfeet
- Episode 323: Michael Witgen, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder
- Episode 342: Elizabeth Ellis, The Great Power of Small Native Nations
In your opinion, what might have happened if Europeans and enslaved Africans had not settled in Native North America starting in the sixteenth century? How might the musical landscape of Native America be different if people of European and African descent had just remained occasional transatlantic trading partners?
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