The article focuses on the history of music in Boston, Massachusetts during the 17th and 18th centuries. The author considers the historiography of colonial American music. A discussion is presented of psalm books used by the Pilgrims, Puritans, and other 17th-century colonists, including "Ravenscroft's Psalter," "Ainsworth's Psalter," and "The Bay Psalm Book." Other subjects include the popular movement begun in the early 1700s to teach singing by using musical scores as a way to improve religious services; the first recorded public concert in Boston held December 30, 1731; the importation of an organ by Thomas Brattle which was subsequently donated to King's Chapel in Boston after his death; and the establishment of music societies such as the Handel and Haydn Society.