Law, Andrew
Law, Andrew
Law, Andrew, American singing teacher and composer; b. Milford, Conn., March 21, 1749; d. Cheshire, Conn., July 13, 1821. He graduated from R.I. Coll., receiving his M.A. in 1778, then studied theology and was ordained in Hartford (1787). He subsequently he was active as a preacher in Philadelphia and Baltimore, later as a pioneer singing teacher in New England. He invented a new system of notation, patented in 1802, which employed 4 (later increased to 7) different shapes of notes without the staff; it was not successful and was used in only a few of his own books. A second innovation (at least as far as American usages were concerned) was his setting of the melody in the soprano instead of in the tenor. In 1786 he received an honorary M.A. degree from Yale Univ., and in 1821 an LL.D. from Allegheny Coll. in Meadville, Pa. He compiled A Select Number of Plain Tunes Adapted to Congregational Worship (1775), Select Harmony (Cheshire, 1778), A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship (Cheshire, 1782), The Rudiments of Music (Cheshire, 1783), The Art of Singing, in 3 parts, each separately paged: I. The Musical Primer; II. The Christian Harmony; III. The Musical Magazine (Cheshire, 1792-93; 4th ed., Windsor, Vt., 1803; part III contains 6 books of tunes), Harmonic Companion, and Guide to Social Worship: Being a Choice Selection of Tunes Adapted to the Various Psalms and Hymns (Philadelphia, 1807), The Art of Playing the Organ and Pianoforte (Philadelphia, 1809), and Essays on Music (Philadelphia, 1814). Only one of his hymn tunes, Archdale, acquired some popularity; but his teaching books, quaintly but clearly written, contributed considerably to early music education in America.
Bibliography
R. Crawford, A. L, American Psalmodist (Evanston, III, 1968).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire