tunebook

Music shops were stocked with classical standards—works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel, Pergolesi, Scarlatti, and Thomas Arne—but America had also produced a notable composer in William Billings, whose New-England Psalm-Singer 1770 was the first published collection of all-American music as well as the first tunebook produced by an American composer.

Angel in the Whirlwind Benson Bobrick 1997

Music shops were stocked with classical standards—works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel, Pergolesi, Scarlatti, and Thomas Arne—but America had also produced a notable composer in William Billings, whose New-England Psalm-Singer 1770 was the first published collection of all-American music as well as the first tunebook produced by an American composer.

Angel in the Whirlwind Benson Bobrick 1997

It is perhaps the most popular tunebook ever printed.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

Harmony, his post Civil War tunebook in seven-shape notation, is far more widely used in singings than his Southern Harmony.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

In addition to its use as a textbook for singing schools, Walker's tunebook furnished music for congregational singing of hymn texts already published in words-only hymnals.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

Walker also published Wondrous Love in his 1867 tunebook, The Christian Harmony.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

Southern Harmony, for he stocked and sold copies of Walker's tunebook.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

It is perhaps the most popular tunebook ever printed.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

In these areas it became practically impossible to get a tunebook published unless it was in shape notes.

The Southern Harmony 1809-1875 1966

As far as conventional tunebook / CD sets go, some of my favorites include:

Mandolin Cafe News 2009