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The National Music of America. 47
fencing-school is allowed." But in 1717 we find a singing society begun in Boston, "to practice singing by note."
In 1712 the Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, brought out a collection of psalm-tunes ; about two years later he followed it with a second volume. The ice was broken, and from this time on there followed a succession of sacred collections in sufficient profusion to prove that New England was musical in at least one direction.
The next step forward was the establishment of choirs. We have seen, in the preceding chapter, that Martin Luther believed in a combination of choir and congregational singing; the Congregationalists of New England (for the name was now applied to the churches of the colony) came to this result about 250 years later than the German reformer. The strife between the adherents and opponents of the " new way " had led to a revolution in music; a lesser revolution |
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