American Music Timeline American Music Timeline
Part I: Colonial Music
by David Johnson

1640 1700 1775 1776 Next: 1800s

1640 The Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, Massachusetts, first book printed in British Colonial America, entire Book of Psalms translated into English meter; indicates dominance of religious music
Circa 1700 Black slaves include songs based on Old Testament stories in their worship services; beginnings of Negro Spirituals
Circa 1775 British soldiers sing "Yankee Doodle" to mock colonists; Americans adopt it as their own tune
Circa 1776 "Johnny's Gone for a Soldier," adaptation of Irish folk tune, popular during American Revolutionary War
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Next: Francis Scott Key writes "The Star-Spangled Banner"

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