Description
Book SynopsisAn advertisement in the sheet music of the song Goodbye Broadway, Hello France (1917) announces: Music will help win the war! This ad hits upon an American sentiment expressed not just in advertising, but heard from other sectors of society during the American engagement in the First World War. It was an idea both imagined and practiced, from military culture to sheet music writers, about the power of music to help create a strong military and national community in the face of the conflict; it appears straightforward. Nevertheless, the published sheet music, in addition to discourse about gender, soldiering and music, evince a more complex picture of society. This book presents a study of sheet music and military singing practices in America during the First World War that critically situates them in the social discourses, including issues of segregation and suffrage, and the historical context of the war. The transfer of musical styles between the civilian and military realm was fluid
Trade ReviewThis is a richly nuanced study of music in the First World War. The book examines the role and function of sheet music during wartime and the social and cultural impacts the consumption, performance and politics of these songs had on those that wrote, performed and distributed them. An absorbing read. -- Paul Watt, Monash University
The first ever in-depth study of what Americans sang during World War I, Dr. Gier’s book paints a vivid and exciting picture and provides a sophisticated explanation of the song repertoire and of the preoccupations of the US army’s team of singing masters. Not to be missed. -- John Mullen, The University of Rouen, author of Popular Song in Britain in The First World War.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: “Music Will Help Win the War!” Chapter 1: Singing Pacifism and Preparedness—Sheet Music about the War 1914-1917 Chapter 2: Off to Battle Singing—The Gendered Politics of War Song Chapter 3: Song Leaders and “Music in the Camps,” November 1917 to June 1918 Chapter 4: Song Leaders in the Army and African American Soldier Singing in “Music in the Camps,” July to November 1918 Chapter 5: Song Leaders in the Navy in “Music in the Camps,” July to November 1918 Chapter 6: “On Patrol in No Man’s Land”—Black Soldiers and Music Chapter 7: Deciding Musical Morality—The Context of “Joan of Arc” Chapter 8: “K-K-K-Katy” and Janis—Songs, Women and Performers Chapter 9: “Over the Top”—Masculinity and Fighting in Song Chapter 10: Postwar “Music in the Camps” and Sheet Music
