On Wednesday, 29th May 2024 The Practitioners of Musick presented at The Edison Academy Magnet School [on the campus of Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey] a program of music played and enjoyed by three generations of the extended family of George Washington. Music was a skill cultivated by polite society in the pursuit of refinement and was thought to contribute to the felicity of social harmony. General Washington once noted “There is nothing more agreeable and ornamental than good music”. Following the Revolutionary War and later serving as the first President of the United States, Washington attended numerous concerts, dance assemblies and theatrical performances in Philadelphia. The city that became, during his first term as President, capital of the New Republic from 1790 to 1800. The music heard at Edison Academy included select works drawn from the extensive Washington family music collection at Mount Vernon as well as music from volumes of sheet music now in the Houghton Rare Books and Special Collections Library at Harvard University that belonged to Martha Washington’s Granddaughter “Nelly”.
The Edison Academy Magnet School is modeled as a small school with a curriculum targeted to a career that meets very high academic standards. As Principal of the school, Amro Mossad stated in his welcoming remarks to the Practitioners of Musick , admission to this special school is competitive. The students with strong academic skills selected recognize the core curriculum is rigorous in the sciences and humanities. This is supplemented with a wide array of special guest presentations such as the Practitioners program organized by Jean Dvorak. Following the music a Q&A ensued with the students and faculty. For many students this was the first time they had seen and heard a harpsichord. One student brought up the great question how important was the role of music in advancing the patriotic cause during the American Revolution? This provoked a lively and engaging discussion bringing the presentation to a close.
