English and Scottish Music

Wherever they settled, European immigrants brought with them two streams of music, military (briefly discussed in the section on popular music) and religious [see Bands, p. 563; Religion, p. 116]. The first settlements in British North America—in Jamestown in 1607, at Plymouth Rock in 1620, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1627—were founded largely for religious reasons, and musical life immediately focused on Protestant psalmody. The Pilgrims , a small conservative...