176 OLD CHURCH BANDS AND VILLAGE CHOlRS. 



church music, and the people of this Dorset valley called it the 

 "Vox umaner" a title which modern orchestral players have 

 also given it. It was, however, a hard instrument to blow (though 

 not so impossible as the famous "brazen serpent"), and the 

 appalling example of a man in a neighbouring village who blew 

 himself blind by playing it deterred others from attempting it. 

 After "Uncle James" had retired from the conductorship the 

 village blacksmith, John Norman by name, became leader and 

 composer ; he was a good musician, and his settings of psalms 

 and anthems appear in many of the tune books. Under his 

 direction the church band consisted of two flutes, a clarinet, and 

 a bass, which Norman himself played in the church, while for 

 " out-a-door work " he performed on the serpent an instrument 

 of wood and leather which in this valley was considered like 

 its namesake an unclean beast. The band and choir were 

 installed in the western gallery, in front of which was suspended 

 a rude and ancient painting of David playing on the harp. 

 About 40 years ago this gallery was taken down and the band 

 accommodated in a big square pew in the aisle a transplanta- 

 tion which soon terminated its existence. From a musical 

 standpoint it appears strange that no real tenor instruments were 

 used in all these bands ; at Abbotsbury, it is true, there was a 

 "tenor viol " (viola), but it apparently played the alto part, and 

 in another village a trombone was in use, but it supported the 

 bass. It seems to have been the general practice to play the 

 tenor part on a treble instrument an octave above the voice 

 a relic probably of the old " plainsong" days. 



Now as to the music played. I have had the opportunity of 

 examining many of the old MS. tune books, and of these the 

 largest and most complete is a Martinstown book, dated 1831. 

 In it the tunes are written in four-part score and often preluded 

 by symphonies, mostly in three parts, for the instruments. The 

 vocal solos are accompanied by the violoncello only. Here is a 

 Te Deum by James Norman, son of John Norman, and many 

 pieces by Samuel French, the Steepleton tailor. The tunes are 

 set to Tate and Brady's version of the Psalms, and must have 



