WILLIAM BILLINGS

American Composer (1746-1800)

The first truly known American composer

BIO
No real formal training -- possibly someone at his church
truly an amateur musician
Education stopped as an early teen
Mostly a singing school teacher – another term for choir master
singing schools taught sight signing and music theory
the choirs at the time led hymns -- not singing latin motets
more men than women in church -- influenced his tenor/bass heavy sounds
Composed in Boston
knew the revolutionary war characters
Paul Revere (engravings for frontispieces)
No copyright laws
Tunes stolen  Died penniless (six children)
Influenced American Hymn Singing
Also Sacred Harp singing in the south

MUSIC
Six major collections for “chorus”
Hymn tunes, anthems, psalms, songs
Books often had instructional sections for singing
How students should behave -- The singing master was the ONLY authority
Most famous tune is “CHESTER”

STYLE
Male predominant sounds
Considered treble voices to reinforce male
Often the melody is in the tenor  the decision is to reverse the parts
Keys tend to be high (but movable)
Range is wide – a bit “screamy” in the trebles
Open chords - tuning
Rustic voice leading – makes the pieces deceptively tricky
Full voice production -- Not meant to be blended – “congregational” sound
Lyrics often his own – some awkward rhymes
Don’t avoid them
Celebrate them

LEVEL
Much accessible to church choirs and high school
When Jesus Wept is good for children and middle school
Check those texts – certain lyrics will affect children and teens
Not all is “good” music – wandering melodies, many verses
there are more musical decisions than you assume
tone quality, keys, voicing  how do you keep this entertaining