The Music And Musical Instruments Of The Pennsylvania Mountaineers

Uncle Ed Thomas, Famous Knott County Dulcimer Maker—Early 1920's 54 The Music And Musical Instruments Of The Pennsylvania Mountaineers by HENRY W. SHOEMAKER "The Music and Musical Instruments of the Pennsylvania Mountaineers" was given as an address to The Travelers Club, Smethport, McKean County, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1923. It was printed in pamphlet form by Mountain City Press, Times Tribune Company, Altoona, Pennsylvania. It is reprinted for its interesting presentation of early music and musical instruments of the area. Perhaps it will call forth other articles on the subject and its development—early or later. The article tells all we know about Henry W. Shoemaker at this time. In studying the lives of our Pennsylvania mountain people, it is necessary to first of all discover those traits that are purely distinctive to them, which concern their influence on the public in general, and on their own future development. It is interesting to find in our forests of Northern and Central Pennsylvania, in the old days, traces of remote antiquity, a transplanting of old-world primitive conditions, which though they have passed away here with the removal of the timber, and the disappearance of the former population, have left an indelible impress on our country 's civilization at large, its music, art, history and folk lore. It is these distinctive features of mountain life which are the backbone of American ideals and character. Probably no trait of our early Mountaineers was more unique or picturesque than their music and musical instruments, or has had a more far-reaching idelible effect all over the nation. The most noticeable musical instrument on the Pennsylvania frontier was the bag-pipes, brought over by the Ulster-Scots, commonly called Scotch-Irish, to the settlements along the Blue Mountains and the Cumberland, Lancaster, Lebanon and Juniata Valleys. It was the "Union" or Irish form of pipes and many of the pipers were girls. It was not considered undignified or worldly in 1754, in order to raise funds to erect a Presbyterian Church, at Falling Springs in the Cumberland Valley, to hold a contest between girl pipers "on the green before the manse". The committee in charge comprised Christ Quigley, afterwards a soldier of the Revolution , Patrick Gallauher and Timothy MuIvihill . The last named were the two best known male pipers in the Valley at that time. When the contest was held it is the tradition that "many Indians from the foothills of North Mountain were in attendance ". The aborigines were there to take notes, and used many of the weird and wailing sounds in a revision of their own music. The Indians were great music lovers , and nothing would draw them to a backwoods cabin at night like the skirling sound of the pipes. They would squat outside the doors, rapt and silent listeners; they never talked much, and Indians roundly hated a chatterbox. The music of the frontiersmen proved a civilizer and peacemaker , not sufficiently dwelt upon by his55 torians, a bond between the two races. The Indians secretly felt a feeling of kinship for Highland soldiers and followed the Black Watch ( 42nd Highlanders ) from the upper end of Manhattan Island to Albany to the unfortunate campaigns at Ticonderoga in 1757. Even squaws carrying papooses followed in their wake, charmed by the unusual music and seeking to fraternize with the bare-legged kilties, whom they called "little brothers". The same was the case when General John Forbes marched over what is now much of the Lincoln Highway, in the following year, for the conquest of Fort Duquesne. An Indian rabble was at all times present in the wake of his army crowding about the pipers at noon-day rest, and forming the outer circle of the throng around the camp fires at night, eager to catch the soul stirring Caledonian harmonies. On the return march there was not much hilarity, and subdued music, as General Forbes' health had completely given way, and he was expected to die before reaching Philadelphia , making the entire journey in a litter carried by his favorite pipers and orderlies. If any music was played, it would have been in die measure of "Lochaber No More". General Forbes' end...