The Rest of . . . the story
| Isaiah Thomas of Thomas and Andrews, publishers of William Billings and recognized as the most important American publishing house of the Federal Era, had this to say about Billings: |
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For the progress of Psalmody in this country, the publick are in great measure indebted to the musical abilities of Mr. William Billings, of Boston. It is but doing him justice here to observe, that he was the first person we know of that attempted to compose Church Musick in the New-England States; his music has met with great approbation. |
| The Boston of Billings’ day was a thriving seaport of 15,000 inhabitants, the largest city in the British American Colonies and a major center for commerce and trade. It was also regarded as the very center of sacred music and of great influence throughout the rest of the Colonies. |
| Most of the words for Billings’ music were taken from Isaac Watts, Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins (prolific Metrical Psalm writers), from Nicholas Brady and Nahum Tate’s New Version of Metrical Psalms, or from George Whitefield, the fiery preacher of the Boston Colonies whom Billings greatly admired. Sacred words were taken with the utmost seriousness in the Colonies. Billings himself, the most prominent "Singing-School" teacher of his day, had this to say to his students: |
| The perfection of singing, is to pronounce the words and make the sounds as feelingly as if the sentiments and sounds were our own. If singers, when performing a piece of music, could be as much captivated with the words and sounds as the Author of the music when composing it, the foregoing directions would be almost useless. They would pronounce, accent, swell, sing loud and soft where the words require it, make suitable gestures, and add every other necessary grace to glorify the great name of Jesus among the Colonies. |
| The music was sung mostly with voices alone or with the addition of a limited number of instruments available. It was sung in churches, taverns, on street corners, homes and businesses and for all kinds of community events. These songs, among others of the period, were compiled into the first Tune Books printed in America and were used for teaching music, learning Biblical truth, English grammar, spelling and vocabulary and were sung for 100 years until Hymns began replacing Psalms as a basis for congregational worship. Billings also seems to have invented the subscription series by keeping a record of advance sales to convince the publisher to continue printing his books. He also advanced the cause of copyrights for writers that has carried down to our present day. |
