Timeline of Music in The United States To 1819 - 1770

1770

• William Billings' The New-England Psalm-Singer is the first compilation of entirely American music and the first compiled by a native-born American to be published, first major publication by a singing master, and the first the first tunebook in the country dedicated to the music of a single composer. The most famous song in the compilation is "Chester", which will be an unofficial anthem for Americans during the Revolutionary War. Its publication begins a flourishing of distinctively American New England publications of sacred tunes. Billings himself will go on to become one of the first major figures in American music history, and is said to have been the first to introduce both the pitch pipe and the violoncello to the New England church choir.
• William Tuckey, an organist and choirmaster in New York's Trinity Church, presents a performance from Handel's Messiah, the first performance from that piece in the United States.