174 OLD CHtJRCH BANDS AND VILLAGE CHOIRS. 



requested to put on record a few notes gathered together 

 during a short stay in South Dorset, when I had the privilege 

 of worshipping in the church of Winterborne Abbas, six miles 

 from Dorchester, where at that time the church band still held 

 its own. 



I well remember our first introduction to the little edifice and 

 its quaint customs. Unwonted sounds issued from within, and 

 as we entered the reason became apparent; it was the band 

 getting into tune for their immediate duties. There were three 

 performers ; the thatcher (J. Dunford, clerk) played the clarinet 

 and acted as leader ; a farm labourer (R. Tompkins) played the 

 flute, while the bass was in the hands of the shepherd (W. 

 Dunford). They were placed at the west end of the church 

 under the tower on a rising platform, the violoncello and flute 

 playing at a long desk on the lower steps, while the clarinet stood 

 at a desk on the step above, supported on either side by the 

 singers, and in a position to mark the time for all by the swing 

 of his instrument. There was no voluntary, except the " tuning 

 up," and, as the chants to the canticles were not played over, 

 we awaited with interest the first hymn. The worthy rector, a 

 Fellow of an Oxford College and Proctor of his University when 

 Sir Henry Bishop received his Doctor's degree, is now laid to 

 rest. As he gave out the Psalm from his square reading pew, 

 overshadowed by a lofty Jacobean pulpit, nothing else could 

 have been required to complete the quaintness of the surround- 

 ings. "Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the one 

 hundredth Psalm," whereupon the band struck up in unison (or as 

 near it as the warm afternoon would permit) a curious four-note 

 phrase, which, with various elaborations, was played before each 

 psalm or hymn in the key of the piece following, and was called 

 " sounding off the tune." The phrase was evidently based on 

 the old watchmen's refrain, " Past three o'clock." The psalm 

 was not played over, but the opening verse was read through by 

 the minister. Then the singing commenced ; for the first verse 

 our trio of musicians arranged itself thus : The clarinet played 

 the air, the flute the tenor (an octave above the voice), and the 



