Bull, William. Music, Adapted to Language, containing Rudiments of Music, with a Choice Collection of Sacred Harmony, in a New and Simple Notation, Prefixed and Adapted to Select Hymns; The Music, by a New and Easy Method of Variation, is made always to Conform to Language, in whatever is required by the Laws of Prosody and Elocution. Greenfield, Mass.: Published by the Author. Denio & Phelps, Printers, 1819. [12404]
Leather spine with marbled paper over card, very scuffed and worn yet with good joints, 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, tight. The text is counted and complete with 123, [1] pages. Foxing and old light stains in the text. Good. Hardcover.
Tunes, instructions, hymns, and an index, are all printed herein. "Some of the hymns set to music; others with tunes indicated by letter notation." - WorldCat.
Contents: Rudiments of Music, pp. 3-32; Hymns, pp. 33-82; Hebrew Melodies, pp. 83-102; Prose Psalms, &c., pp. 103-123.
"Another type of letter notation is found only in William Bull's Music Adapted to Language. This system, evidently invented by Bull and used by no other compiler, was based upon the fixed do system and used the letters D, R, M, F, S, L, and I (si) to represent the scale." - Perrin, Systems of Scale Notation in Nineteenth-Century American Tune Books, Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Autumn, 1970), at JSTOR.
William Bull (1762-1842), b. Deerfield, Mass.; d. Shelburne, Mass. He was the son of a gunsmith and served in the militia during the American Revolution, as a private in Colonel Elisha Porter's Hampshire County Regiment, and as a fifer in Colonel Murray's Regiment.
"His father sent William Bull to Yale and then he apprenticed with a physician in Lanesborough, where his Uncle Nehemiah Bull was a justice of the place, and became a doctor. Dr. William Bull was much interested in music, and published the following work: 'Music, adapted to Language, containing Rudiments of Music, with a choice collection of sacred harmony, in a new and simple notation, prefixed and adapted to select hymns. Greenfield, 1819.' William Bull was a blacksmith, gunsmith, metal worker and a doctor. Most likely, he learned gunsmithing trade from his father. His account book from 1783 to 1808 as well as from 1810 to 1835, as well as his Daybooks from 1799 to 1820, have been preserved and can be viewed at the PVMA library in Deerfield." - American Firearms dot com.
