James Dawson of Pictou and the Harmonicon: Sacred Music for Victorian Maritimers‪.‬

In 1831, in the space of a few months, notices appeared in several Nova Scotia newspapers announcing proposals for the publication of two new collections of church music. One called for a "Collection of Hymns, to suit the taste of enlightened and intelligent Christians ... [which would include] the favorite, the best, and most unexceptional of those already published, with a few original ones," all of which would avoid a lengthy list of errors.(4) The second aimed to be "as extensively useful as possible" by requesting "all those who ... [were] interested in its appearance, to send ... [in] a list of the Tunes they would wish to appear in it."(5) The first, possibly because it had restricted its choice of suitable hymns, was never realized.(6) The second, however, was destined to become the first printed music in Nova Scotia, and for over three decades was the music book of choice for Scottish Presbyterian communities in eastern British North America. That these proposals for new music books appeared in Nova Scotia in 1831 was not unusual. As in many other colonial settings, the publishing of music in Nova Scotia followed the introduction of other forms of indigenous printing by several decades. More importantly, however, the proposals were a reflection of the "intellectual awakening" that D.C. Harvey claims the colony experienced in the 1820s and 1830s,(7) and, in the case of the second, represented the dominance of Scottish culture in the eastern part of Nova Scotia. Music, a feature of cultures everywhere, was an integral element in the life of early European settlers in North America. Scots, for example, who arrived in the Maritimes in the thousands in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,(8) created a rich legacy that today is found in the remarkable renaissance of musical talent and interest in Celtic music. Singing had long been an important element in the life of Scottish people; whether in the form of "wauking" songs, traditional ballads, or psalms and hymns sung at religious services, Scots assimilated music into their lives with enthusiasm. Early Scottish settlers in British North America brought this love of music with them.(9) Though far from their former homeland, they relied on aural transmission as well as imported song books to fill their desire for familiar music. These sentiments were voiced explicitly in the following ballad: