Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father, Inventor, Scientist, Publisher & Musician: Madeline’s Monthly Musical Tips Blog & Radio Show for January 2026
Our blog and Radio Show celebrates’ the life and work of Benjamin Franklin, statesman, diplomat, scientist, inventor, printer, publisher, author, Founding Father of the United States, and musician.
Many of the world’s statesmen, diplomats, inventors, scientists, printers, authors. engineers, medical doctors, researchers, mathematicians, poets, architects, and teachers have studied and played musical instruments since they were children. These eminent individuals have integrated music into their thinking process. Studying a musical instrument develops millions of new connections, synapses, between nerve cells in the brain.
Included is the article “10 Powerful Ways Music Education Heals Teenagers and Our Inner Child” (Dec. 6, 2025) by Emma G.
Our article of the month is “Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues: A Plan for Success One Week at A Time” by Madeline Frank, Ph.D.
Feature Question for January 2026: How did Classical music play a part of Benjamin Franklin’s life as a Founding Father, scientist, inventor, printer, author, publisher and musician and what musical instruments did he play?
https://madelinefrankviola.com/one-minute-musical-radio-show/
Early Years:
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger Franklin in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay. Ben was the 15th of 17 children. Ben’s father wasn’t a college graduate; he made soap and candles. Ben’s father, Josiah Franklin was a widower and his second wife, Abiah Folger Franklin, Ben’s mother was committed to making their home healthy and happy. They had 10 children together. (Ben’s father, Josiah had 7 children by his first wife, Ann Child Franklin.)
The most foundational trait Josiah Franklin passed on to his children was his love of reading.
At the age of 8, Benjamin’s father sent him to South Grammar School, later called the “Boston Latin” school, preparing young Benjamin to be a minister. Two years later, Josiah ran out of money and brought Benjamin home to work with him in the candle making business.
Ben learned to play the violin, guitar, harp, cello, viola de gamba, harpsichord, and bells. He became quite good at it.
Apprenticed at 12 to a printer:
Benjamin, was a voracious reader. He enjoyed reading and learning. He would borrow books from his friends. From these books he taught himself grammar, philosophy, and arithmetic. Every time he saved a little money he would purchase books to read and learn from. His friends also loved to read books and they regularly studied the books and discussed them.
When Benjamin was 12 years of age, Josiah had him apprenticed to his older son, James who was a printer. The apprenticeship was signed for 7 years. (Yes… at the age of 12!)
“New England Courant”:
James Franklin began his “New England Courant” newspaper in Boston in 1721 when his brother Benjamin was 15. It was the third paper in Boston. James’ and his friends wrote articles, opinions, news of the day, advertisements, and other information.
The beginning of Benjamin’s Writing Career:
Benjamin began writing articles and asked his brother James to publish them in his newspaper. James refused! So, Benjamin, 16, secretly placed his articles under James’ door every two weeks by using the pen-name Silence Dogood, a 40 year old widow.
Benjamin Franklin at 16 became the printer & publisher of his brother’s “New -England Courant”. James had written an article against the government and was put in jail. The next year, Benjamin Franklin, 17, became for the second time, printer and publisher of his brother’s “Courant” newspaper. James, this time, wrote an article “mocking religion”. Once more the court made the decision to jail him. James escaped out of town.
By September 1723, at 17 years of age, Benjamin Franklin had had enough of his brother’s “abuse and strict control”. He escaped by traveling to New York and later Philadelphia looking for a new opportunity in the printing business. He worked several different jobs during this time.
Birth of Benjamin Franklin’s Junto Club in Philadelphia: At 21, in 1727, Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Club, a weekly discussion group of 12 men. Another name later given to his “Junto Club” was “Leather Apron Club”.
Benjamin decided tradesmen should have the opportunity of an education just as the wealthy people who were able to send their children to be educated at colleges/ universities.
The difference to him was reading books, learning from them, and discussing them with others who loved reading, learning, improving themselves, and discussing what they read. He thought that this would be a great equalizer. (Today we call it a “think tank, a mastermind” group.)
What questions should you ask your prospective members of your Master Mind or Junto?
What 4 questions did Benjamin Franklin ask his prospective Junto Club members “to qualify” them as a member?
“Each person was also asked to stand up, and lay their hand on their heart, and answer the following questions”: (Updated to 21st Century English)
1) “Do you feel “any disrespect” for any of our members?” Answer. I do not.
- “Do you “sincerely declare” that you love mankind; no matter what profession or religion?” Answer. I do.
- “Should anyone be harmed in body, name or goods, for their opinions or their religion?” Answer. No.
- “Do you love the truth, and will you endeavor to find, receive, and communicate it to others?” Answer. Yes.
In Benjamin Franklin’s Memoirs he wrote “I had formed most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the Junto; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss’d by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased.”
It was agreed to have “12” members who “were tradesmen and artisans”. The Junto Club continued for 38 years.
In 1728, at the age of twenty-two, Franklin opened his printing shop and his newspaper, the “PennsylvaniaGazette”. It was both well read, profitable and later his book “Poor Richard’s Almanack” became a best seller in the colonies. As “the most active printer in the colonies” he “was appointed the official printer of Pennsylvania” and his “duties included printing money, laws, and documents for the colony.” He also “became the public printer for Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland” helping to “establish newspapers in New York, Connecticut, and two islands in the West Indies.”.
When Benjamin Franklin’s Junto Club and its members saw a problem, a need, they found a solution. Education began by starting the first Public Libraries in 1731. From their Junto members personal libraries, they would gather books for the first lending library in Philadelphia. Learning through reading, educating everyone no matter what their financial circumstance. Education to Benjamin Franklin was the great equalizer.
After fires killed people, destroyed homes, and businesses, Benjamin and his Junto members began in 1736 in Philadelphia the Union Fire Company in Pennsylvania, (First Fire Department), a volunteer fire department. They also began a Volunteer Militia to protect and secure the colony. Where they saw a need, a solution would follow.
In 1749, Benjamin Franklin involved some of his Junto members in designing the University of Pennsylvania and in 1751, the Pennsylvania Hospital was founded by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto members. When Benjamin Franklin saw a need he worked to find a solution leading the way with his Junto members. Team work at its best!
In 1752, Franklin saw the suffering of families who had lost their homes to fire and helped establish the “Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire.” Where Benjamin Franklin saw a need he filled it!
Inventions:
At the age of 11, in 1717, Ben’s first invention was his Swim fins. “He attached these fins to his hands.”
- In 1742, he invented the Franklin Stove.
- In 1750, he invented a lightning rod.
- In 1752, he invented a flexible catheter.
- In 1761, when he was 55 years of age, he invented the glass armonica.
- In 1784, he invented Bifocals.
Invention of Glass Armonica:
Benjamin Franklin attended a London concert in 1761. His friend Edward Delaval, a musician, performed on a set of water tuned wine glasses. “The sound was beautiful but was “unwieldy” to play. “One wrong move and all the glasses” would fall over and harm someone. Franklin invented an alternative design “a rod of rotating glass balls “that he called the glass armonica. Mozart, Beethoven, and Donizetti wrote music for the glass armonica. (Benjamin Franklin and Histories Most Dangerous Musical Instrument by Lucus Reilly, Oct. 1, 2018: The Franklin Institute Glass Armonica)
In his new house, he built a room to house his instruments called the Blue Room. He enjoyed playing duets with Sally, his daughter. She played on harpsichord and he played on his glass armonica.
Mr. Franklin said, “I play some of the softest Tunes on my armonica, with which Entertainment our People here are quite charmed.”
When he was in France, he would play duets on his glass armonica with his friend Madame Brillon, on piano. She was said to be “an accomplished musician and composer. An audience member wrote, “The ear of a mortal can perceive in its plaintive tones the echoes of a divine harmony.”
History:
When Franklin “was born, America was made up of thirteen colonies that were ruled by England. Trouble between England and the thirteen colonies started to unfold following the French and Indian War.” The Townshend Act, the Stamp Act and other Intolerable Acts “angered the colonists to rebel against Mother England.” (gigmasters.com/armonica/benfranklin)
The colonists on April 19, 1775 “went to war” to obtain their freedom. Franklin was sent by the colonies to Europe to represent them. In 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778. He negotiated, with the French, for the colonists, becoming the first United States minister to France. For the army and volunteer troops he secured guns, and other provisions. In 1781, “when the colonists won their independence.” He negotiated, “the peace with England” and in 1782 signed the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. At the Constitutional Convention he was the oldest delegate at eighty- one years of age and his health was beginning to fail.
After “signing the Constitution on September 17, 1787, Franklin “became the only Founding Father to have signed all five documents that established American independence: The Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States of America.”
Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father of the U.S. and was the only one to sign all four key documents establishing the U.S. He was a printer, publisher, author, philosopher, politician, statesman, diplomat, scientist, inventor, economist, lifelong musician, husband, father, and grandfather. On April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin died, at the age of 84 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues: A Plan for Success One Week at A Time by Madeline Frank, Ph.D.
- Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
- Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
- Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
- Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
- Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
- Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
- Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
- Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
- Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
- Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
- Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
- Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
- Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
How did Franklin acquire these virtues?
“My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but “to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that”, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through’ the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquired and established, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place.”
Franklin developed his 13 Virtues, in 1726, while traveling by ship from London to Philadelphia during his 80 days of travel. Each week he would master one virtue! Throughout his life he “continued to practice and reflect on these virtues.”
Take the one-month challenge. Each week pick one of Franklin’s virtues to work on and master. For this New Year which of the 13 Virtues will you work on first?
Let us know at [email protected]
I will begin at the top of his list with Temperance! © 2026 Madeline Frank
“10 Powerful Ways Music Education Heals Teenagers and Our Inner Child” (Dec. 6, 2025) by Emma G , Guest Contributor for Music Will.
Emma G, “As a teaching artist, performer, and trauma survivor who’s undergone ten brain surgeries for a condition called hydrocephalus [water on the brain], I’ve learned firsthand how music doesn’t just entertain us — it regulates, restores, and transforms. In my work across schools and youth programs, I’ve seen music unlock confidence, cognitive growth, emotional literacy, and a sense of belonging that many young people desperately need, especially if they’re struggling with their academic career.” Emma’s 10 Powerful Ways Music Education Heals Teenagers: 1. Music Regulates the Nervous System. 2. Singing Activates Self-Soothing Pathways 3. Songwriting Builds Emotional Intelligence 4. Music Supports Cognitive Reframing
5. Posture and Performance Reinforce Confidence 6. Rhythm Moves Trauma Through the Body
7. Voicework Rebuilds Agency 8. Music Fosters Connection and Belonging 9. Creativity Gives a Safe Outlet for Vulnerability 10. Music Nurtures the Inner Child.”
https://musicwill.org/blog/music-education-benefits-mental-health/
“Musical Notes On Math” by Dr. Madeline Frank teaches your child fractions and decimals, the fun easy way, through the rhythm of music, Winner of the Parent To Parent Adding Wisdom Award is available in book form, newly updated as an e-book on Kindle, Nook, or iBook.:
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Dr. Madeline Frank’s book “Leadership on a Shoestring Budget: Timeless Principles for Everyday Use, helps businesses stay afloat in times of trouble. She calls her innovative observations, Tuning Up Your Business. For over 25 years she has helped countless people create their great image brand, and communication style that makes them irresistible. Click on the following Amazon.com link to order your copy of “Leadership On A Shoestring Budget
“The Secret of Teaching Science & Math Through Music” shares scientific evidence, medical evidence, test results, and true stories of the world’s scientists, medical doctors, and mathematicians who have studied and played musical instruments since they were children by Madeline Frank, Ph.D. Click below:
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“Madeline’s Midnight Melodies- Music From around the World”. This CD complements her books with a blend of dance music, gigues, tangos, ballet and favorites including “Danny Boy”, Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro”, Debussy’s “Claire De Lune” and others. “Madeline’s Midnight Melodies” CD is now available for purchase by downloading a song, downloading the album click below:
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Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, and successful New Year, from Your Non-Invasive Medicine Music Expert, Madeline
For over 30 years, Dr. Madeline Frank has helped children and adults overcome problems through Classical music. Madeline Frank, Ph.D. is an award-winning teacher, author, researcher, speaker, conductor, and concert artist. She has discovered a scientific link between studying a musical instrument and academic and societal success. Madeline Frank earned her Bachelor and Master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music. Her education has included scholarships at the Juilliard School, Indiana University, and the University of Cincinnati and she has a violin performance diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts. (C) 2026 Madeline Frank