Note 1 — Chapter XVIII · AMERICAN HYMNODY

The condition of congregational singing at this time is reported by Rev. Thomas Walter as follows: “Our tunes are left to the mercy of every unskilful throat to chop and alter, to twist and change, according to their infinitely diverse and no less odd humors and fancies. I have myself paused twice in one note to take breath. No two men in the congregation quaver alike or together; it sounds in the ears of a good judge like five hundred tunes roared out at the same time with perpetual interferings with one another.”