Mildred Jane Hill (June 27, 1859 – June 5, 1916) was an American songwriter and musicologist, who composed the melody for "Good Morning to All", later used as the

melody A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combina ...

for "

Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 ''Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by " Fo ...

Biography

Mildred Jane Hill, born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, was the oldest of three sisters, Mildred,

Patty A patty or burger (in British English) is a flattened, usually round, Serving size, serving of ground meat and/or legumes, grains, vegetables, or Meat analogue, meat alternatives. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world. ...

, and Jessica. She learned

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

from her father, Calvin Cody, and Adolph Weidig. It has been reported that Mildred Hill was a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

and Sunday-school

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, like her younger sister

. Prof. Robert Brauneis, after extensively researching the Hill family, has concluded that she was not a kindergarten teacher. She moved into music, teaching, composing, performing, and specializing in the study of

Negro spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

. Hill and her sister were honored at the Chicago World's Fair (1893) for their work in the

progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''p ...

program at the experimental kindergarten, the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School. She wrote about music using the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Johann Tonsor, and her 1892 article "Negro Music", suggesting that the existing body of

black music Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Lat ...

would be the basis of a distinctive American musical style, influenced Dvořák in composing the

New World Symphony New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. Hill died in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, in 1916, long before her song became famous. She is buried with her sister in

Cave Hill Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buri ...

in Louisville, Kentucky. Mildred Hill's manuscripts and papers are held by the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

Music Library in

"Happy Birthday to You"

While teaching at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School, the Hill sisters wrote the song "Good Morning to All"; Mildred wrote the melody, and

the lyrics. The song was first published in 1893 in ''Song Stories for the Kindergarten'' as a greeting song for teachers to sing to their students. ''Song Stories for the Kindergarten'' had over 20 editions, and the words were translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Swedish. "

" first appeared in print in 1912 using the melody of "Good Morning to All" with different lyrics. Its popularity continued to grow through the 1930s, with no author identified for the new lyrics, nor credit given for the melody from "Good Morning to You". Based on 1935 copyright registrations by the Summy Company, and a series of court cases (which all settled out of court),, ''The Myth of a Court Ruling'' the sisters became known as the authors of "Happy Birthday to You". In September 2015, a federal judge declared that "Happy Birthday to You" is in the public domain.

Legacy

Hill and her sister were posthumously inducted into the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the her ...

on June 12, 1996.

References

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External links

Mildred Hill Collection - University of Louisville Music Library

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Mildred J. 1859 births 1916 deaths American women composers American composers Musicians from Louisville, Kentucky Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery American musicologists American women musicologists Songwriters from Kentucky Kentucky women musicians 19th-century American women musicians

Biography

"Happy Birthday to You"

Legacy

See also

References

External links