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Singing styles during the CW, even for popular music sung by amateurs, was not like the singing used by the hillbilly, folk, and old-timey string bands that often play Civil War tunes today.
Some fine authentic string bands have become increasingly and more authentically aware over the last 6 years or so, with their Minstrel repertoire, and as played at the EBUFUs.
There's an 1864 soldier's songster "Trumpet Of Freedom", cover shown here or the whole book .pdf which I've made available at
It's at least one indication how period instrument and harmony parts were expected to be performed at the time, by amateurs singing soldier's songs*.
One nice thing about these old songsters is that all the music and verses show on one open page even in this compact size (in this case 7-1/2 inches by 4-3/4 inches, if you want to print the book trim it to size).
Anybody have another of these period songsters to share? The ones with more than just words, I mean.
Dan Wykes
* Some of the songs you may recognize, though many are forgettable knock-offs of songs only similar to the popular tunes at the time, I suppose to avoid paying royalties.
Some fine authentic string bands have become increasingly and more authentically aware over the last 6 years or so, with their Minstrel repertoire, and as played at the EBUFUs.
There's an 1864 soldier's songster "Trumpet Of Freedom", cover shown here or the whole book .pdf which I've made available at
It's at least one indication how period instrument and harmony parts were expected to be performed at the time, by amateurs singing soldier's songs*.
One nice thing about these old songsters is that all the music and verses show on one open page even in this compact size (in this case 7-1/2 inches by 4-3/4 inches, if you want to print the book trim it to size).
Anybody have another of these period songsters to share? The ones with more than just words, I mean.
Dan Wykes
* Some of the songs you may recognize, though many are forgettable knock-offs of songs only similar to the popular tunes at the time, I suppose to avoid paying royalties.
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