Steven Collins Foster was born on the Fourth of July, 1826. Steven Collins Foster passed away on January 13, 1864. He is acknowledged as the patriarch of American popular music. Foster received recognition for his minstrel and parlor music. Parlor music was a musical genre which was developed during the industrial revolution and the development of the railroad system in the United States. The parlor music was created with the intention of being musically recreated in the residences of the idle class citizens in the United States. This recreation was intended for musical vocalists and piano accompaniments. Parlor music was distributed as a result of the increase in household income which occurred prior to and during the gold rush of the late 1840s and early 1850s. The inventions of the industrial revolution and the development of the national railroad system, Parlor music was distinct in its demonstration of melodies which were played in complete absence of harmonies. The parlor music manifested tonal characteristics which possessed aggregated tonal chords of the aggregated sixth, dormant major ninth and the dominant thirteenth chords. The melodies in parlor music were developed by means of parlor modes. The parlor modes possessed variants of the major mode with emphasis placed upon the seventh, sixth and third by the application of model reference frames which incorporate the median octave mode. The style of music applies the third as a base and ceiling tone. The less frequently occurring variants are the pseudo – phyrgian. In this aspect musical emphasis is placed on the fifth and the seventh (Hamm 1979; Root 1992).
A number of initial parlor songs were composed for application on the keyboards and by vocalists. A number of categories of parlor songs were played in the parlors. These songs included music which was derived from minstrel shows, musical tunes which were inscribed for theatrical use, religious songs and patriotic selections. The songs which had...