My books printed around 1800 were done with a particular process. My band conductor having a PHd and knowing such things explained it to me 2 weeks ago, but we were in a bar and I was watching hockey and having an adult beverage. The notes end up with weird tails or some such thing.

None the less, some are hilarious, The Tidy Wife, Damaged Jack, and 2 versions of the American National Anthem with other words, along side hymns, canons, rounds, and lots of other stuff. Parlour music. Pub songs, and some more serious stuff. All great fun. I buy these books here and there, and then donate them to collections or Masonic Libraries, if they fit that usage.

I still think people should be gathering and singing.

I spent the first 2 years in high school in the 60's at a Business / Tech high school. Lots of Italians, Scots, etc. Then | changed to another school, in a rougher area, but full of descendants of British Tradesmen. They had a singing assembly every Friday. This was the ducktail pointy boots and leather jacket era, and I thought NO WAY. But even the tough guys went, and we sang Lily Marlene, Stout Hearted Men, Rule Britannia, 76 Trombones etc. One hour a week, a tradition at that school that lasted 100 years until it closed. I sang bass, we had parts, 500 kids in the auditorium, and it remains one of my favorite memories of high school, except perhaps for Karen who was 6'2 and sat beside me in a micro-mini...stop no no....lol

John Conley
Musica est vita