R. Nathaniel Dett was a composer, pianist, and choir director who lived from 1882 to 1943. He was born in Canada and worked in the United States. He took the spirituals he had heard as a child and built concert music from them, for piano and for choir. The best first piece for a child is “Juba,” a two-minute piano dance with a stamping beat.
Quick facts
- Born: 1882, in Drummondville, Ontario, which is now part of Niagara Falls
- Died: 1943, in Battle Creek, Michigan
- Era: Modern
- Played: piano and organ
- Known for: “Juba,” the choral piece “Listen to the Lambs,” and the choir he led at the Hampton Institute
The life in short
Dett grew up on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. His grandmother sang spirituals, the sacred songs of enslaved Black Americans. When he was a boy, his family moved across the river to Niagara Falls, New York.
He played the piano from an early age. As a teenager, he worked as a church organist.
He studied music at Oberlin, a college in Ohio, and finished his degree in 1908. While he was a student, he heard a string quartet by Antonín Dvořák. Its tunes reminded him of the spirituals his grandmother sang. He decided that this music belonged in the concert hall.
Dett spent most of his life teaching. From 1913 to 1932, he worked at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a school for Black students. He built its choir into one of the best in the country. The choir sang at Carnegie Hall in New York, and in 1930 it toured Europe.
He kept studying all his life. He took courses at Harvard, where he won two prizes, and he studied in France with the famous teacher Nadia Boulanger.
During the Second World War, he directed music for a group that put on shows for American soldiers. He died in 1943 while doing that work.
What the music sounds like
Dett’s piano pieces are tuneful and full of rhythm. Many are short scenes with titles, in the manner of Schumann and Grieg. The harmony is rich and warm.
His choral music grows out of spirituals. He did not copy the songs note for note. He took a tune and built a larger piece around it, with a part for a solo singer and a part for the full choir.
Pieces to play first
“Juba,” from In the Bottoms. Juba is a dance with stamping feet and patting hands. In Dett’s piece, the left hand keeps the stamp going while the right hand skips above it.
“Listen to the Lambs.” A piece for choir with no instruments. It begins quiet and sad, and a solo voice sings a comforting tune in the middle.
“Honey,” from In the Bottoms. A short, sweet piano piece, slower than “Juba.”
“Barcarolle,” from In the Bottoms. A barcarolle is a boat song. This one paints morning on the river.
About In the Bottoms
In the Bottoms is a set of five piano pieces from 1913. “The bottoms” are the low, flat lands along a river in the American South. Each piece shows a scene of life there: night, a song, a sweet moment, morning, and a dance.
“Juba” is the last and the most famous. Bands and orchestras have played it in many versions.
Things to do together
Stamp and pat. Play “Juba.” Stamp on the strong beats and pat your knees on the beats between.
Hear a spiritual first. Listen to a spiritual sung by a choir, such as “Deep River.” Then play “Listen to the Lambs.” Ask what is the same.
Five scenes. Play all five pieces of In the Bottoms. Your child draws one small picture for each.
Find Niagara Falls on a map. One city lies in Canada and one in the United States, with the same name and a river between. Dett lived in both.
For piano students
A dance by Dett is on the Level 10 list in the Royal Conservatory piano syllabus. Younger students can enjoy “Juba” as a listening piece and ask their teacher for an easier arrangement.
Print and play
Fill in a composer study notebook page for R. Nathaniel Dett. Read about more composers in Canadian composers for kids and Black composers for kids. For the composer who inspired him, read Dvořák for kids.
For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.
Sources
Checked in November 2026.
- The Canadian Encyclopedia. Nathaniel Dett.
- Wikipedia. Robert Nathaniel Dett, for his family’s move and his years at Oberlin.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.