OLD CHURCH BANDS AND VILLAGE CHOIRS. 175 



violoncello the bass. The tune "going" remarkably well, in the 

 second verse the clarinet proceeded to play the alto an octave 

 higher ; so for the remainder of the psalm we were in this 

 order : alto (8ve higher), tenor (8ve higher) air, bass an 

 arrangement which apparently did not distress the performers 

 or disconcert the singers. At certain places, presumably in 

 sympathy with the words, the clarinet executed original 

 variations which were themselves varied with an occasional tap 

 on the head of some wayward youngster in front. I think the 

 Winterborne band may be taken as typical of the constitution 

 and methods of these church bands in their later stages ; at any 

 rate, the arrangement, as we saw it, had remained the same for 

 fifty years at least. The absence of the violin was due to the 

 wishes of the parson, who shared the once general opinion that 

 it "savoured of the publichouse." 



A mile along the high road brings us to Winterborne 

 Steepleton, at one time a very musical village and boasting a 

 voluminous composer in Samuel French, the tailor. In his day, 

 before the middle of the last century, the church band consisted 

 of a violin, flute, two clarinets, and a bass, one of the clarinets 

 taking the bassoon occasionally until the instrument was 

 objected to as " not a piece of church music." The band, 

 reduced at last to one bass, disappeared in 1881, giving way 

 to a new American organ. 



But the church most celebrated in this valley for its instru- 

 mental and vocal music was that of Winterborne S. Martin or 

 Martinstown. The singers numbered about 20, with two 

 " counters " or male-altos, of which the village was justly proud, 

 and in 1820 the band consisted of four clarinets, a hautboy, and 

 a "base viol," divided thus: Two clarinets for the air, two 

 clarinets for the counter-tenor, the hautboy for the tenor 

 (playing an octave above the voice), and the violoncello for 

 the bass. The hautboy player, a mason, locally known as 

 "Uncle James," who also blew "the loud bassoon" in the 

 village band, was in these early days leader, and gave out the 

 psalms. The hautboy was not an unusual instrument in the 



