William Little’s The Easy Instructor

The Influence of the First Voice of American Singing Schools

Anissa Bacon

December 22, 2004

William Little’s The Easy Instructor is demonstrative of the music and techniques used in the early singing school traditions of the late 18^th/early 19^th centuries. It utilizes a conglomeration of hymn tunes from previously published sources, as well as including new tunes. Also, it presents a method of teaching these tunes that is new – shape notes. As such, it is a highly influential text and can provide an insight into the musical styles of the early 19^th century, the way in which music was taught and how music was experienced by people of that era.

The purpose of this study was to utilize the books available in the Nutter-Metcalf Hymnological Collection at Boston University to discovery trends of music education within church sponsored singing schools and to discern the repetitive use of certain hymn tunes from the mid-18^th to early 19^th centuries. To accomplish this task I used the Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes by John Tufts (1726 – 5th edition), The Easy Instructor 1816 edition, and The Boston Handel and Haydn Collection of Church Music edited by Lowell Mason (1825 – 3^rd edition). This covers the span of the first hundred years of education for singing in churches. I had hoped to discover a string of purpose behind the creation of each of these books as evidenced in their introductions and a similarity to some of the tunes used. To that end, this study has two facets – a comparison of the purpose behind these singing books (and the singing school system itself) and the pervasiveness of tunes used over time.

Comparison of Introductory Material

John Tufts published the Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes because he recognized the deplorable state of singing in the churches. The communal memory of tunes had begun to fail congregations. Samuel Sewall, in his memoirs, speaks to this occurrence within his own church. He served his congregation by setting the psalm tune during services. On September 28, 1705 he wrote, “…[I] set the Tune; I intended Windsor, and fell into High-Dutch, and than essaying to set another Tune, went into a Key much too high. So I pray’d Mr. White set it; which he did well. Litchfield Tune.” [1] This is partially due the close melodic nature of some of the established hymn tunes in the Bay Psalm Book which had been normative in churches since 1640 and the lack of attention paid to the constant aural renewal of the original tunes.

The movement between hymn tunes within one song setting was a challenge that became progressively worse over time. Sewall writes on February 23, 1718 (a mere three years before the publishing of the first edition of Tufts Introduction), “I set York tune, and the congregation went out of it into St. David’s in the very 2^nd going over. They did the same three days before…” [2] John Tufts, a minister who perceived this lack of musical skill, and its ability to detract from worship, among his congregants published the Introduction with instructional materials on singing. They were designed to be easily understood by the lay person, not requiring any further musical training. He begins the text with a treatise on the “Divine Use of Music” (see Appendix A). The third edition of Introduction (the earliest known to be in existence) claims the purpose of the text is to promote congregational singing, specifically, singing in harmony. In the publishers preface, singers are specifically admonished not to scream when they sing and to pay careful attention to singing the parts properly. [3]

In order to accomplish this task, Tufts sets forth and early form of lettered notation, using periods and colons to denote longer note lengths. It used the Fa, Sol, La, Mi system placed on five staff lines. The letters would appear on the staff of the note being sung, helping to indicate the melodic line while also accommodating for those who were music readers. The tune pages begin with a short four lines of on-staff instruction - delineating clefs, note equivalencies, note names on a staff and practice lines for interval changes using the Fa, Sol, La, Mi system.

This system became more developed by the time The Easy Instructor was published. [4] Similar to Tufts, Little describes in his introduction that music is for a divine purpose and therefore needs to be executed well by the congregation. [5] He utilizes various scriptural references to describe the nature of music in worship. This serves to emphasize the necessity behind learning this particular method (Fa, Sol, La, Mi) of singing and give the reader a means through which to achieve those goals.

The Easy Instructor parallels this Fa, Sol, La, Mi method with the use of shape notes, the first such use in a singing treatise in the United States. The music also appears on staff lines, and includes pieces in three and four part harmony. However, the portions of the text allocated to musical instruction are much lengthier than in Tufts. Presumably, after having over 50 years of use, the Fa, Sol, La, Mi method was able to be readily applied to more advanced pieces of music in more styles. Learning was aided by the additional use of shape notes – a practice that became pervasive in the instruction and instructional materials used by the early American Singing schools.

It is a much more complete instruction than offered in the Tufts text. More visual examples are given to ease in the learning process; however, I believe it is presented in such a way that would require a teacher that was familiar with the material and the learning style. Little speaks contrary to this in the introduction, but the instruction method, because of its completeness, would be daunting to the average, non-trained musician. This can be seen as evidence of its likely use in the thriving singing school movement of the late 1700- early 1800’s.

By the time Lowell Mason had created The Handel and Haydn Collection of Church Music, singing schools were well established as instructional and social venues. However, Mason despised the Fa, Sol, La, Mi system, thinking it a poor substitute to actually learning how to read music. This begins the decline of singing schools and the shape note system. Mason also includes a lengthy instructional portion to this text. Part of the reasoning for this is the attempt to stamp out the use of shape notes for the more advanced music included in the Handel and Haydn collection. He, like Little, stated that the method can be used for individual instruction, but it seems more readily designed for class instruction.

The comparison of these three introductions shows that each book intended to build on the practices that the other had already established. Certain basic elements of the instruction were assumed to be common knowledge among those who would be using the texts. The assumption was made that since there was a common thread in teaching method, there would also be a common thread to the tunes used. In order to test this theory, I began with a tune comparison between Tufts’ Introduction and Little’s Easy Instructor. This study caused me to completely ignore the Mason text and pursue a course a closer study of the particular hymn tunes in the Easy Instructor.

The Core Repertory of Early Tune Books.

The study of a core repertory is difficult because we often use our own musical experiences as a lens to understanding the limited data available to us. For example, the memoirs of Samuel Sewall are often used as a source to describe the popular hymn tunes of the period. The tunes he mentions are listed below with the frequency of their appearance throughout the memoir.

St. David’s – 9 times High Dutch – 1 times (also called Psalm 21)

Low-Dutch – 5 times Windsor – 10 times

York – 6 times Litchfield – 3 times

Oxford – 1 time Martyrs – 1 time

From this, we would assume that Windsor, St. David’s and York are the three most popular hymn tunes of the day. While these tunes do appear in Tufts’ Introduction, they are absent from Little’s Easy Instructor. This would seem to indicate their actual lack of popularity and maybe more appropriately defines Samuel Sewall’s own preferences for hymn tunes.

With that understanding, I compared the tunes from the Introduction to The Easy Instructor, making the assumption that many of the tunes would be common. However, only two tunes appeared in both editions – Martyr’s and Old 100^th. Old 100^th by this time was already a standard and continues to be today. Martyr’s only appeared once in Sewall’s diary, but yet is the only one the he suggests that also appears in Little, suggesting that it was actually a more popular tune. This issue is made even more complex (using the modern standards of hymnody) by the fact that this tune appears in Tufts in the key of f-sharp minor. A question that this creates (that I have not been able to answer) is why would someone writing for unaccompanied singing write in the key of f-sharp minor? The Easy Instructor (1816) uses this tune in the key of f minor.

This discovery necessitated two actions; a delay in my comparison to Mason (a comparison that I would later abandon) and a search to discern the sources of the tunes found in the Easy Instructor. I used Thomas Ravenscroft’s Whole Book of Psalmes´ as an example of the musical tradition brought over to the colonies from Europe. I then included this text, The Easy Instructor, ten other tune books from the United States, Britain and Scotland and the 5 hymnals listed in Harry Eskew’s Sing With Understanding; The Baptist Hymnal (1991), The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal), the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and Hymns, Songs and Spiritual Songs (1990). This covers a period of almost 300 years. (See Appendix C for the data table for this comparative study.) Utilizing the Hymn Tune Index, 17 texts were analyzed, including the first edition of The Easy Instructor (1801) and the 1816 edition that I had physical access to.

The tune ‘Martyr’s’, previously mentioned for its uniqueness in key and singularity in repetition in Little, is one of three tunes that appears in both Ravenscroft the 1816 Easy Instructor. It does not, however, appear in the initial edition of the Easy Instructor. This could indicate either a decline in popularity the lack of need for printing such a popular tune. The 1801 edition of Bartholomew Brown’s Bridgewater Collection of Sacred Music is the only other text included in the study to also contain this tune. This particular tune book is relied upon heavily for the 1816 edition of the Easy Instructor.

There is a considerable difference between the 1801 and 1816 editions of the Easy Instructor. Out of 113 pieces that appear in the 1816 edition, only 34 appear in the original edition. The rest of these pieces appear to be derived predominantly from four sources; the aforementioned Bridgewater Collection (1810), Rev. Stephen Addison’s A Collection of Tunes for Publick Worship (1792), Daniel Bayley’s The American Harmony (1774) and Henry Boyd’s A Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1793). These four texts combined can account for 77 of the hymn tunes in the 1816 Easy Instructor. Of these, 41 tunes do not appear in the 1801 Easy Instructor.

Interestingly, three of these books (Addison, Bayley and Boyd) were published before the first edition of Easy Instructor. Since two of these, Addison and Boyd, were published in London and Glasgow, respectively, one could extrapolate that there is a time lag between the time the books were published and their appearance or popularity in the US. This however would be only an assumption based on little evidence. Bayley’s American Harmony, however, was published in the United States a full 25 years before the first edition of Easy Instructor. Why were its tunes not included in that first edition? One would assume that there would be a working knowledge of the text by that time, as it had run in at least nine editions before the Easy Instructor first appeared.

Another thing we learn from a closer look at these three collections in particular is the influence of music from overseas sneaking back into the American Repertoire. When the colonists came from Europe they brought hymn tunes with them. Then, with the publishing of the Bay Psalm Book and Tuft’s Introduction, they began to create a tradition of their own, one that would come to emphasize indigenous colonial music. The three aforementioned texts (Addison, Bayley and Boyd), however, were largely influential in the creation of the later editions of the Easy Instructor and derive from Europe. Even the Bayley text is a conglomeration of two texts by compilers in England. These English tunes represent 68% of the tunes in the Easy Instructor. The other 32% likely derive from other American sources. [6]

In the collective study of the texts before and including the 1816 Easy Instructor, the most popular tunes (appearing more than 7 times are): Old 100^th, Bangor, St. Martin’s, Wells, Winchester, Psalm 34, Little Marlborough, and Silver Street. These tunes appear in keys ranging from two flats to three sharps. Only five of them (Old 100th, Winchester, Psalm 34, Little Marlborough and Silver Street) always appear in the same key. Each of the other three (Bangor, St. Matin's and Wells) alternate only by one whole tone among the sources included in this study. Based on my modern assumptions, it would seem that these key changes are for the ease of the singers involved, however, there is no historical evidence within the scope of this study to support this assertion.

Of the seven repeated tunes, three are in common meter (Bangor, St. Martin’s and Psalm 34), three in long meter (Old 100^th, Wells and Winchester) and two in short meter (Little Marlborough and Silver Street). One of these, Psalm 34, has a portion of text that causes a repetition in the last half of the tune, including the increasing influence of fuguing tunes. This seems to indicate a continued preference for standard meters, even though the use of complex meters is seen throughout these texts. Only four of the tunes are found in the modern hymnals used in this comparison; Old 100th, Bangor, Winchester and Silver Street. Again, they seem to equally represent common meter, long meter and short meter tunes.

In a closer look at the tune meters of the Easy Instructor (1816) we find, however, an unequal balance of preference for tune meters. Out of the 113 tunes in the Easy Instructor, 38% (43 tunes) are in common meter, 30% (43 tunes) are in long meter, 14% (16 tunes) are in short meter and 18% (20 tunes) are in various other meters. [7] This seems to indicate a preference for common and long meter tunes. More importantly, it shows a lack of predilection for short meter tunes. My modern sensibilities might read this as a turn toward more lengthy, less repetitive texts and tunes, but this study does not encompass enough data to make that claim.

As we turn to the modern hymnals and their comparison to the Easy Instructor and other tune books of the period, we find two tunes that warrant closer inspection. St. Thomas (Williams) and Coronation are the only two tunes in the 1816 Easy Instructor that also appear in all five of the modern hymnals. [8] St. Thomas appeared in only four of the 12 tune books dating from Ravenscroft to Little (1816). Coronation appeared 6 times in the same books. I could ask the same question of these tunes as I did of the tunes that appeared between the first and eighth editions of Easy Instructor – what is the cause of their reappearance and their apparent modern popularity? This is not a question that can be answered within the scope of this study.

I believe that the Easy Instructor can provide an insight to the musical preferences of this period. As we have seen, influences from Europe and seemed to outweigh the influences of American texts in the preparation of this book. This is indicative of the movement from isolation from Europe in the early colonies to the sharing and recovery of music from Europe as more normative (evidenced in the opinions and compilations of Lowell Mason). Of the tunes that Samuel Sewall spoke of in his diary (late 17^th/early 18^th centuries), only one (Martyr’s) still appears in popular hymn books by 1816 and by the 20^th century it had disappeared. Therefore we cannot assume that these secondary texts provide us with ample information to make judgments on popularity of hymns.

Bibliography

Tufts, John. An Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes. Boston: Samuel Gerrish, 1723.

Thomas, M. Halsey, ed., The Diary of Samuel Sewall 1674-1729. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.

Buechner, Alan. Yankee Singing Schools and the Golden Age of Choral Music in New England. Boston: Boston University, 2003.

The Hymnal 1982. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1982.

Temperley, Nicholas. The Hymn Tune Index [database online]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001; available from http://hti.music.uiuc.edu/default.asp.

Lutheran Book of Worship. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978.

Hymns, Songs and Spiritual Songs. Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990.

United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989.

The Baptist Hymnal. Nashville: Convention Press, 1991.

Little, William. The Easy Instructor, ed. 8. Albany: Websters, Skinners and Steel, 1816.

Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Massachusetts. Mason, Lowell, ed. The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, ed. 3. Boston: Richardson and Lord, 1825.

Appel, Richard, ed. The Music of the Bay Psalm Book, ed. 9. Brooklyn: Institute for Studies in American Music, 1975.

Inserra, Lorraine and Hitchcock, H. Wiley, ed. The Music of Henry Ainsworth’s Psalter: Amsterdam 1612. Brooklyn: Institute for Studies in American Music, 1981.

Appendix A: The Divine Use of Music

From Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes by John Tufts.

We sing to Thee, whose Wisdom form’d

The curious Organ of the Ear:

And Thou who gav’st us Voices, Lord,

Our grateful songs in kindness hear.

We’ll joy in God, who is the Spring,

Of lawful Joy and harmless Mirth:

Whose boundless Love is fitly call’d,

The Harmony of Heav’n and Earth.

Thy praises, dearest Lord, aloud,

Our humblest sonnets shall rehearse:

Which rightly tun’d are rightly stil’d,

The Music of the Universe.

And whilst we sing, we’ll consecrate,

That too too much profaned Art;

By off;ring up with ev’ry tongue,

In ev’ry song a flaming heart.

We’ll halloe pleasure, and redeem,

From vulgar use our precious voice:

Those lips which wantonly have sung,

Shall serve our turn for nobler joys.

This we will imitate on Earth,

Poor mortals still the heav’nly quires:

And with high notes, above the clouds

We’ll send with words more rais’d desires.

And that above we may be sure,

When we come there our part to know,

Whilst we live here, at home and Church

We’ll practice Singing oft below.

Gloria Patri

Glory and Praise be given most,

To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

Hal-le-lu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah,

Hal-le-lu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah.

Appendix B: Introduction to The Easy Instructor by William Little (1816)

THE EASY INSTRUCTOR

Or

A NEW METHOD OF TEACHING

SACRED HARMONY

Containing,

I. The rudiments of music on an improved plan, wherein the Naming and timing of the notes are familiarized to the weakest Capacity.

II. A choice collection of Psalm Tunes and Anthems from the most celebrated authors, with a number composed in Europe and American, entirely new; suited to all the Metres sung in the different churched in the United States.

Published for the use of Singing Societies in general, but more particularly for those who have not the advantage of an instructor.

By William Little and William Smith

Printed Typographically at Albany

By Websters and Skinners and Daniel Steele (Proprietors of Copy-Right)

Copyright granted 1798.

PREFACE

The Song of praise is an act of devotion so becoming, delightful and excellent, that we find it coeval (?) with the sense of Deity; authorized by the example of all nations, and universally received into the solemnities of public worship. Under the Jewish Dispensation,, the Holy Spirit of God directed this expression of homage, as peculiarly becoming the place where his honor dwelleth. The book of Psalms, as the name itself imports, was adapted to the voice of song; and the author of those invaluable odes well knew the sweetness, dignity and animation that were hereby added to the sacred service of the temple. With what rapture do they describe its effects – with what fervor do they call upon their fellow worshippers to join in this delightful duty – It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O thou most High. Praise ye the lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant and praise is comely. O sing unto the Lord a new song – sing unto the Lord all the earth 0 sing unto the Lord 0 bless his name – shew forth his salvation from day to day. Nor hath Christianity dispensed with religious song as an unmeaning ceremony, or an unprofitable sacrifice. It commands us to address the Father in spirit and in truth; but it nevertheless enjoins those outward acknowledgements that fitly express and cherish the pious temper. Our blessed Lord was pleased to consecrate this act of worship by his own example, under circumstances the most affecting. He concluded the celebration of that supper, which was the memorial of his dying love, by an hymn of praise. And his apostles frequently exhorted to the observation of this duty: - Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs; singing with grace in your hearts and unto the Lord.

Divine song is undoubtedly the language of nature: It originates from our frame and constitution: Do lofty contemplations, elevated joy and fervor of affection, give beauty and dignity to language, and associate with the charms of poetry, by a kindred law which the Creator hath established? They pleasingly unite with strains of sweet and solemn harmony. And there are two principal views in which music will appear to render eminent service to the sacrifice of praise: - In the first place, it suitable expresses the sentiments of devotion, and the sublime delight which religion is fitted to inspire. Joy is the natural effect of praise, and song the proper accompaniment of joy. Is any merry or glad, let him sing psalms; and singing is not only a general indication of delight, but expressive, also, of the prevailing sentiments and passions of the mind – it can accommodate itself to the various modifications of love and joy, the essence of devotional temper – it hath lofty strains for the sublimity of admiration – plaintive accents, which become the tear of penitence and sorrow – it can adopt the humble plea of supplication, or swell the bolder notes of thanksgiving and triumph: Yet it hath been properly remarked, that the influence of song reaches only the amiable and pleasing affections, and that it hath no expression for malignant and tormenting passions; the sorrow, therefore, to which it is attuned, should be mingled with hope – the penitence which it expresses, cheered with the sense of pardon, and the mournful scenes on which it sometimes dwells, irradiated with the glorious views and consolations of the gospel.

In the second place, music not only decently expresses, but powerfully EXCITES and IMPROVES the devout affections; it is the prerogative of this noble art to cheer and invigorate the mind – to still the tumultuous passions – to calm the troubled thoughts, and to fix the wandering attention: And hereby it happily composes and prepares the heart for the exercise of public worship. But it further boasts a wondrous efficacy in leading to that peculiar temper which becomes the subject of praise, and is favorable to religious impression. It can strike the mind with solemnity and awe, or melt with tenderness and love – can animate with hope and gladness, or call forth the sensations of devout and affectionate sorrows; even separate and unconnected, it can influence the various passions and movements of the soul; but it naturally seeks and alliance, and must be joined with becoming sentiments and language, in order to produce its full and proper effect; and never is its energy so conspicuous and delightful, as when consecrated to the service of religion, and employed in the courts o the living God – Here it displays its noblest use, and brightest glory; here alone it meets with themes that fill the capacity of an immortal mind, and claims its noblest powers and affections. What voice of song so honorable, so elevating and delightful? To whom shall the breath ascend in melodious accents, if not to him who first inspired it? Where shall admiration take its loftiest flight, but to the throne of the everlasting Jehovah? Or what shall awake our glory, and kindle our warmest gratitude, if not the remembrance of his daily mercies, and the praise of redeeming love? When the union of the heart and voice are thus happily arranged – when sublime subjects praise are accompanied by expressive harmony, and the pleasure of genuine devotion heightened by the charms of singing, we participate in the most pure, rational, noble and exquisite enjoyments that human nature is capable of receiving: - The soul forgets the confinement with the body, is elevated beyond the cares and tumults of this mortal state, and seems for a while transported to the blissful regions of perfect love and joy: And it is worthy of remark, that sacred writings delight to represent the heavenly felicity under this image: And though such language be allowed to be figurative – though eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which god hath prepared for them that love him, yet our most natural – our most just conceptions of the happiness of the heavenly world, is that which we have been describing, viz. sublime devotion, accompanied with rapturous delight.

The human mind is not only capable of extensive knowledge, but it is incapable of being entirely in a state of supineness: This thirst for happiness implanted in the human breast, must have some object for its pursuit; therefore the Almighty has made us capable of enjoying pure and intellectual pleasures; and we find if improvements are neglected among young people, those who wish to promote civilization, will see the importance of bending the young mind to something that will ornament and refine society, even if they have a separate design in it. The funds of knowledge in the minds of most young people, are not sufficient to carry on a discourse to any considerable length: therefore, we find that their evenings are often spent in a very simple manner; nothing more will be heard than insignificant jokes, and vulgarism seems to be the highest entertainment; but when they have tasted the more pure pleasures, such as flow from music, the young circle seems to look with contempt on the former manner in which they spend their time, which then seemed to hover them over the summit of bliss. But besides the more immediate propriety and use of divine song in the ordinances of religion, its indirect advantages have a claim to our regard. It is not only in itself delightful and profitable, but it gives animation to the other parts of public worship – it revives the attention – recruits the exhausted spirits and begets a happy composure and tranquility. It is peculiarly agreeable as a social act, and that in which every person may be employed. Nor is it the least of its benefits, that it associates pleasing ideas with divine worship, and makes us glad when we go into the house of the Lord. It is also a bond of union in religious societies, promotes the regular attendance of their members, and seldom fails of adding to their numbers: But there seems to be something more in music to unite with our own experience and the wisdom of past ages. The early Christians found their account in remarkable attachment to psalmody, and almost every rising sect have availed themselves of its important delights and advantages. It must be confessed, that where pleasure is the sole attention, the motive is of an inferior nature. But is it not a commendable policy to promote regular attendance upon places of worship, by any means that are not reprehensible? Will not the most beneficial consequences probably ensue? Is there not every reason to expect that persons who frequent the house of God with this view alone, will not be uninterested in the other services of religion? – That they who come to sing may learn to pray – that they whose only wish it was to be entertained, may find themselves instructed and improved? Such is the happy tendency of well regulated song in the house of God: but alas! how seldom is this part of the service accompanied with its proper effect. It was the remark of an eminent writer, too applicable to the present time, that “The worship in which we should most resemble the inhabitants of heaven, is the worst performed on earth.” His pious labors have greatly enriched the matter of song, and hereby contributed to remove one cause of this complaint – too often are dissonance and discord substituted for the charms of melody and harmony, and the singing performed in a way so carelessly and indecently, that as the same writer observes, “instead of elevating our devotions to the most divine and delightful sensations, it awakens our regret, and touches all the strings of uneasiness within us.” But is this owing to causes which cannot be removed, or doth it not imply reproach and blame? Will not truth oblige us to confess, that the fault rests not in a want of natural taste and abilities, nor of sufficient leisure, but in a great carelessness and neglect? Moderate attention and application would surmount every difficulty, and lead to a suitable proficiency in this happy art. An exercise so pleasing and attractive, seems only to want regulation and method.

Appendix C: Comparison Table for Tunes and Sources

(see table below)

[1] M. Halsey Thomas, ed., The Diary of Samuel Sewall 1674-1729 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973), 538.

[2] Ibid, 885.

[3] John Tufts, An Introduction to the Art of Singing Psalm-Tunes, (Boston: Samuel Gerrish), 4.

[4] The first edition of The Easy Instructor was published in 1801.

[5] See Appendix B for the transcribed text of the introduction to the 1816 edition of Easy Instructor.

[6] See Appendix C for other sources of the Easy Instructor and for the full references for the Addison, Bayley and Boyd sources.

[7] Tunes meters that have been slightly altered to reflect the use of repetitive text are put in the category of the basic underlying meter they represent.

[8] Old 100^th also appears in all five, but the pervasiveness of this hymn warrants the lack of further discussion in this context.

Appendix C: Comparison Table for Tunes and Sources

Key:

(This key will be repeated at the end of the table for ease in use)

Rav = Ravenscroft, Thomas. The Whole Book of Psalmes (London, 1621)

Bay = Bayley, Daniel. The American Harmony (Newburyport, 1774)

Add = Addington, Rev. Stephen. A Collection of Tunes for Publick Worship (London, 1792)

Hol = Holden, Oliver. The Union Harmony (Boston, 1793)

Boy = Boyd, Henry. A Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (Glasgow, 1793)

Lit = Little, William. The Easy Instructor (Philadelphia, 1801)

Jen1 = Jenks, Stephen. The American Compiler of Sacred Harmony (Northampton, 1803)

Bro2 = Brown, Bartholomew. Columbian and European Harmony: or Bridgewater Collection of Sacred Music (1804)

Atw = Atwill, Thomas. The New York and Vermont Collection of Sacred Harmony (Albany, 1804)

Jenb = Jenks, Stephen. Delights of Harmony (New Haven, 1805)

Bro3 = Brown, Bartholomew. Bridgewater Collection of Sacred Music (Boston, 1810)

Bap = The Baptist Hymnal (1991)

1982 = Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal)

Lut = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

Met = The United Methodist Hymnal (1989)

Pre = Hymns, Songs and Spiritual Songs (1990, Presbyterian)