Introduction

Biography

Billings was one of the first ma­jor Am­er­ican com­pos­ers. A tan­ner by trade, he used to mark down the mu­sic he com­posed on the backs of hides on which he was work­ing.

Works

• The New Eng­land Psalm-Sing­er, 1770
• The Sing­ing Mas­ter’s As­sist­ant, 1778
• Music in Min­ia­ture, 1779
• The Psalm-Sing­er’s Am­use­ment, 1781
• Suffolk Har­mo­ny, 1786
• The Con­ti­nent­al Har­mo­ny (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Isai­ah Tho­mas & Eb­en­ezer T. An­drews, 1794)