Music of Annapolis
Encyclopedia
The music of Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

played a major role in the music history of the United States during the colonial era
Music history of the United States during the colonial era
The upper-class during the colonial era promoted ensembles who played serenades, feldparthien and divertimenti, such as those composed by Mozart and Haydn. Natural horns and bassoons provided harmonic support for the melodic line, played by clarinets and oboes. Thomas Jefferson suggested this...

 and has since produced a number of notable musical institutions and groups.

Early music

In the 1710s in the colonial United States, a number of singing schools arose, beginning in New England and spreading into Maryland by 1764, beginning in Annapolis. These singing schools met in the evenings, with a singing master leading the education of both youth and adults in the basics of musical performance, including note-reading and part-singing, and the particulars of Christian hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

s. Most singing masters were educated only in other singing schools, and not in any sort of formal music education. Many singing masters were itinerant travelers.

Though Annapolis was the first town in Maryland to be home to a singing school, they became common, first in Baltimore and then throughout the state, after the Revolutionary War. The first was at St. Anne's Anglican Church in Annapolis, in 1764, led by singing master Phillip Williams, who taught psalmody in four parts. Though Williams, being itinerant, left Annapolis after only one year, he was replaced by a new singing master, Hugh Maguire, the following year.

After the Revolutionary War, singing school activities began diminishing throughout Maryland, including Annapolis. The only noted singing master during this time was Alexander Gray, in 1786, and possibly for some time thereafter.

Tuesday Club

During the colonial era, Annapolis was one of the larger cities in North America, and was home to an organization called the Tuesday Club, which documented musical activity in the city in more detail than any other record of its kind. The Club operated beginning in 1745, when it was founded by Alexander Hamilton in imitation of similar clubs in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, specifically the Whin-Bush Club. Music was not initially the major focus of the group, but it soon came to specialize in musical activities at biweekly meetings known as sederunts. Both original vocal and instrumental material and published compositions were a part of the Tuesday Club's repertoire, including Scottish and English folk songs, and English theatrical pieces. Among the Club's members was Jonas Green, printer of the Maryland Gazette and publisher of music books, and Thomas Bacon, the Club's most renowned composer whose works were very much in the European model. No compositions from the Club gained significant acclaim outside of the city.

The music of the Tuesday Club was expressly and purposely European in character, as the Club's members wished to emulate the acknowledged masters of the Western classical music tradition. However, unlike classical music, performances at the Club were recreational in nature, and not artistic, and the music composed by members of the Club was entirely casual, and probably never intended for outside consumption. The corpus of the Club constitutes the earliest known secular music in what would become the United States. Instruments included the French horn, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

 and harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

.

Popular music

In the 1980s, Annapolis was home to two of the most important early emo
Emo (music)
Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace...

 bands, Moss Icon
Moss Icon
Moss Icon was an Annapolis, Maryland post-hardcore band from 1986 to 1991. Its original members were singer Jonathan Vance, guitarist Tonie Joy, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence. Alex Badertscher joined as second guitarist in 1990...

 and The Hated
The Hated
The Hated was an Annapolis, Maryland punk rock band from 1985 to 1990. The original members were Mike Bonner, Erik Fisher, Daniel Littleton, and Colin Meeder...

, both of whom recorded for the prominent local Vermin Scum
Vermin Scum
Vermin Scum is an Annapolis, Maryland-based record label founded by Kenny Hill of the bands Spastic Rats and, later, the Hated. The name was given to fit the theme of the label's first release, the Spastic Rats' "Rodentia."...

 record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. Vermin Scum also released records by Black Dice
Black Dice
Black Dice is an experimental electronic music group currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA.-Early years:Black Dice formed in spring 1997 soon after guitarist Bjorn Copeland met drummer Hisham Bharoocha and bassist Sebastian Blanck when they were students at the Rhode Island School of Design...

, Breathing Walker
Breathing Walker
Breathing Walker was an indie rock band formed by Tonie Joy , Jonathan Vance , Mark Laurence , Tim Horner , Monica DiGialleonardo , Zak Fusciello and Alex Badertscher as a side project of Joy, Vance, DiGialleonardo and Laurence's band, Moss Icon.Breathing Walker only released one album, which was...

 and the Universal Order of Armageddon
Universal Order of Armageddon
Universal Order of Armageddon was an American hardcore band, active in the early to mid 1990s.-History:The band formed in September 1992 and by early 1993, after quickly gaining a small but devoted following, they were recording and touring the East Coast. Known for their extreme short chaotic...

. Annapolis has also been home to the funk rock band Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Jimmie's Chicken Shack is an American alternative rock band from Annapolis, Maryland. They emerged through MTV as one of the first Post-Grunge bands of the era...

, singer Eva Cassidy
Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996...

 and the band Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...

.

Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy Band
United States Naval Academy Band
The United States Naval Academy Band was officially founded in November 1852. Previously, there had been a band since the founding of the Naval Academy in 1845, consisting of a fifer and a drummer. The band consists of US Navy career musicians...

, the longest-lasting music group
Navy Music Program
As part of Navy Personnel Command's Enlisted Assignment Division , the Navy Music Program Management Office is located aboard Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee. PERS-4014 centrally manages the Navy's 11 Fleet bands, one support unit, and two premier bands...

 in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 and the third-oldest active-duty military band
United States military bands
There are many military bands in the United States military. Some are assigned to specific military bases or units. There are also bands associated with each of the service academies....

 in the country, was founded in 1852, though the history of instrumental music at the Academy can be traced back to its founding in 1852. John Jarvis, a drummer, and William Bealer, a fifer, are the best-remembered servicemen from the Band's early years, though the first Marine Musicians to serve were named Tommy Diggins and William Hoeke. Musicians with the band performed calls, like tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...

 and reveille
Reveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...

. When the Band was officially funded in 1852, bandmaster and performer John Philip Pfeiffer selected the first musicians, who performed their first concert in 1853 for the Secretary of the Navy. During the Civil War, the Band's musicians were deployed, while the Academy was temporarily transferred to Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, returning in 1865. At the end of the War, band members were transferred to the civil personnel of the Academy, as opposed to drawing pay as a member of the Navy. With this shift, performers' pay decreased, and the difference was made up by charging midshipmen and officers at the Academy a monthly fee. Soon after, Superintendent David Dixon Porter
David Dixon Porter
David Dixon Porter was a member of one of the most distinguished families in the history of the United States Navy. Promoted as the second man to the rank of admiral, after his adoptive brother David G...

 modernized and professionalized the Band, expanding its size and providing attractive uniforms. In the 1880s, woodwind instrument
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

s were added to the Band, which had previously been exclusively brass; new instruments included clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s, oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s and piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

s. The youngest bandmaster in the organization's history, Charles Adams Zimmerman, took office in 1887, and is known for establishing a theatrical group and becoming very popular among the cadets at the Academy.

In 1894, the uniform of the United States Marines Corp Band
United States Marine Band
The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the United States...

 was prescribed for the Naval Academy Band, and wore that uniform until 1925. Zimmerman remained the bandmaster even after being offered the more prestigious position with the Marine Corps Band in 1897, and is perhaps best known for composing "Anchors Aweigh
Anchors Aweigh
"Anchors Aweigh" is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy, and strongly associated with the United States Navy, composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmerman with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. Zimmerman was at the time a Lieutenant, and had been bandmaster of the United States Naval Academy...

" in 1907, intending it to be an inspiring and timeless piece of music that could be used as a football marching song. Under Zimmerman's successor, Adolph Torovsky, the Academy Band made its first commercial recording, in 1920, using Zimmerman's "Anchors' Aweigh", and one of Torovsky's own pieces, "March of the Middies". In 1939, the Band began performing on Maryland radio stations and represented that state at the World Fair
World fair
World Fair can refer to:* Expo , a large public exhibition* This World Fair, an American rock band...

, while the director, Lieutenant Sima, composed the "Victory March", one of the most well-known and popular pieces produced at the Academy. Under Alexander Cecil Morris in the middle of the 20th century, the Academy Band performed on television for the first time, established a weekly radio show and acquired entirely new instruments and facilities.

In the 1970s, under bandmaster Ned E. Muffley integrated women into the Naval Academy's music program, while the Academy's first rock band, Tidal Wave, also saw some national success. His successor, William J. Phillips, established lush, thematic performances featuring largely original compositions; the changes attracted new audiences and the Academy Band became internationally renowned. In 1973, Gayle Slayter was recruited for the Band, becoming known as the "Naval Academy's First Lady of Song" over the course of her twenty year career.

The Naval Academy Band also encompasses a brass quintet, wind quintet, marching band and other units. The Academy is also home to a number of other noted music groups, including the United States Navy Sea Chanters and the Men's and Women's Glee Clubs.

Annapolis Chorale

The Annapolis Chorale is a nonprofit organization whose programs include a Chamber Chorus, Chamber Orchestra and the Annapolis Youth Chorus; programs include both Western classical and semi-classical music, as well as educational and scholarship initiatives. The Chorale was founded in 1974 by James A. Dale, Assistant Director of Musical Activities at the United States Naval Academy. From 1976 to 1978, Mark Tardue led the Chorale to new growth and organized a 1977 sold-out concert that became critically acclaimed and greatly assisted the Chorale's reputation. J. Ernest Green was selected as music director and conductor in 1984, and he serves as of 2008, having becoming the longest-serving person in that position in the organization's history.

Annapolis Symphony Orchestra

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra is based in Annapolis, Maryland, and has been in operation since 1962. Its founders included Kenneth W. Page, a well-respected civic leader in the Annapolis area during the 1960s. He was also the music director of the Annapolis High School band...

, founded in 1962, is a well-known organization that has hosted guests like Cuban violinist Guillermo Perch and Charlie Byrd
Charlie Byrd
Charlie Lee Byrd was a famous and versatile American guitarist born in Suffolk, Virginia. His earliest and strongest musical influence was Django Reinhardt, the famous gypsy guitarist. Byrd became the American guitarist who best understood and played Brazilian music, especially the Bossa Nova genre...

; the Annapolis Orchestra inspired composer David Ott
David Ott
David Ott is an American composer of classical music.Born in Crystal Falls, Michigan, Ott's works include four symphonies, an opera , the Annapolis Overture, written for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and various pieces of children's music. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music ...

 to create the Annapolis Overture, which debuted in 1995.

The Sons of the Severn

The Sons of the Severn is an award-winning, non-profit men's choral ensemble founded in Annapolis in 1949. The chorus represents the Anne Arundel County, MD Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society
Barbershop Harmony Society
The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. , is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C...

 (SPEBSQSA, Inc), and won the 2010 Western Division Chorus Championship in the Society's Mid-Atlantic District. The Sons of the Severn chorus performs all year throughout Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, and the surrounding areas. Notable venues include the Maryland Statehouse, Oriole Park
Oriole Park
Oriole Park is the name of several former major league and minor league baseball parks in Baltimore, Maryland.It is also half the name of the current home of the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, its full name being Oriole Park at Camden Yards....

 at Camden Yards, Loews Annapolis Hotel, and Annapolis City Hall. T. J. Barranger has served as the group's director since February 2005, and has directed the chorus to six consecutive appearances at the Mid-Atlantic District chorus finals competition. The Sons of the Severn chorus is an active supporter of charitable endeavors in Anne Arundel County, MD, including the North County Emergency Outreach Network, and music education programs in Anne Arundel County high schools.

Other institutions

Annapolis also home to the Annapolis Opera and the Ballet Theatre of Maryland
Ballet Theatre of Maryland
Ballet Theatre of Maryland is Maryland's only fully professional company and is based in Annapolis, Maryland. The company was founded in 1988 by Edward Stewart, who was the Artistic Director until his death in 2002...

. The Annapolis Opera was founded in 1972, and hosts year-round musical programs and contests. The Annapolis Maritime Museum sponsors the Chesapeake Music Institute, an organization founded to promote traditional music associated with the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

.

Venues and festivals

In modern Annapolis, three music venues are notable for blues and jazz, namely the King of France Tavern in the Maryland Inn, the Rams Head Tavern and the Ebb Tide near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and, at the time, with a length of , it was the world's longest...

. The Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts is another major local venue, hosting numerous renowned performing groups throughout the year. It was founded in 1979.

The Annapolis Music Fest was first held in June 2002, which hosts both touring and local bands in a variety of styles of rock and hip hop.

Founded in 1997 by James Borchelt, Eastport-A-Rockin' is an Annapolis music festival featuring local and national artists on 3 stages. Traditionally held the last weekend of June on the grounds of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, it is the longest current running music festival within the city, with previous performers including Good Charlotte and Jimmie's Chicken Shack.
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