In the first half of the century, newspapers, song sheets, and songsters print song lyrics, but music notation is usually neglected in favor of the mnemonic cue "sung to the tune of. Music schools are rarely seen outside the cities. Music and stories are handed down from generation to generation orally, but popular music publishing carries on nevertheless. Ballads and tunes from home blend with the new American stories morality songs and parables intermingle and new oral traditions are created. Amid the novelty of their new homes they cling to the cultures of their origins as a means of stability. With them they bring the instruments most important to them and most easily transportable. The immigrants tend to settle in areas that remind them of their former homes. Waves of immigrants come to America, some involuntarily as slaves, others seeking relief from tyranny or poverty. This is particularly evident in folk traditions and musical favorites. America is so large that regional differences begin to appear. Later, as women and children begin to migrate, so does "polite culture." Newspapers, publishing houses, the telegraph, and the railroad contribute to the distribution of information. The first explorers, primarily men, drive westward, conquering and incorporating cultures as they go.
Westward migration is fraught with difficulties. The rush to the ever-expanding western frontier and the first signs of the American "melting pot" of heterogeneous cultures begin.
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