IN OLDEN DAYS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 15, 15 December 1937, Page 17

IN OLDEN DAYS

WHEN WAITS WERE WATCHMEN PART IN REJOICINGS. We moderns connect the waits with Christmas, like carol-singers and pantomimes. The present-day waits make a transient and embarrassed appearance a week or two in advance of December 25 and display varying degrees of proficiency in their musical performances. But to the waits of olden times the festive season was just the same as any other, says the London Times. They played all the year round. In 1762, Oliver Goldsmith noted that “on a stranger’s arrival at Bath lie is welcomed by the voices and music of the city waits.” That expression, “the city waits,” is significant. It means much ; as for centuries the waits were municipal officers, and highly-thought-of officers, too. Every town had its waits, as had each wa.rd of the City of London. Of a special celebration in the fair and ancient city of York, it is recorded, “the sheriffs are preceded by the

city waits in their scarlet liveries and silver badges, playing all the way through the streets.” This was in 1736. The liveries and badges were, of course, provided at the town’s expense, and after a, morning of blowing ana drumming, the musicians were glad of a meal. This, too, was provided by their appreciative fellow-citizens. In many a municipal record occurs the word “waitmeat,” meaning the viands supplied to the municipal music makers.

A foreign observer visiting England notes that “the cities maintain waits, who play at noon every day in the principal place of the city, and at all public feasts.” It will be seen that the association of waits with Christmas alone is of quite modern origin. The London waits were certainly active m the early part of November, for a record of 1553 tells us that “the new Lord Mayor went to Westminster, with waits playing and trumpets blowing.” These, waits were notable players; and there is an amusing reference to them in Ben Jonson’s comedy, “The Silent Woman.” One of the characters speaks of a timid citizen who is terrified when he hears brazen and martial music, and adds: “The waits of the city have a pension from him not to go near his house.” The cities were very jealous of their waits and did not allow them to entertain other places. In a municipal decree, dated 1487,\ a certain town ordered that the waits were to remain within the town, but were allowed to visit the abbeys and priories within 10 miles of the said town. We do not find that these communities maintained their own waits, but great nobles and kings undoubtedly did. In Royal palaces and aristocratic mansions musicians patrolled the corridors and passages in the night, marking the passing of the hours with soft music. These were called “waits.” MUSIC IN ENGLISH LIFE. This kind of keeping check on the time was much pleasanter than the use of a strident alarm clock. But in those days music played a much greater part in the lives of the people than it does now.

Right up to the time of Cromwell we were a musical nation. Children were taught to sing correctly and to play some musical instrument as a matter of course. A young man or girl, whether gentle or simple, would haVe been ashamed to avow ignorance of flute, pipe or viol de gamba. The very inns and taverns had an instrument hanging up, so that any guest who felt inclined could entertain the company with his playing. Citizens met at

each other’s houses of an evening and rendered concerted music.

Rich men kept their own bands of musicians—witness the “minstrels’ galleries” in so many old country mansions and in the halls of the London Guilds. To see how music permeated English life one need only read Chaucer. Every one of his characters in the “Canterbury Tales” is an amateur musician of some power of accomplishment. So it went on from Chaucer’s time through Plantagenet, Tudor, and Stuart days until the Puritans came. OCCASIONS OF FESTIVITY. Music thus being so much a part of the people’s very life, it follows that the waits were important functionaries and esteemed according to their importance. Even the learned universities kept their waits, and when a certain monarch went to Oxford “the waits cheerfully and melodiously welcomed Her Majesty to the City with their best voices.” From the reference to voices it will be clear that the oldtime waits were vocalists as well as musicians, unlike their modern descendants. The modern waits do not attempt to sing, leaving voca.l efforts to the children, who treat us to “Hark! the Herald Angels” and “Christians Awake” in sundry keys for about six weeks before Christmas, and to the various bodies who go out carol-singing for charity or to raise funds for some church. This reminds us that in bygone days the city waits would reinforce the church choirs on special occasions. They were in great demand for weddings. The waits not only played and sang during the service, but also at the subsequent festivities. In fact, at any time of rejoicing, whether public or private, these popular music-makers were prominent. At Christmas time, of course, when the seasonable festivities lasted all through to Twelfth Night, they were very busy, and were proportionately rewarded. Nowadays, alas, the Christmas season is the only time when the successors of the original waits are heard. OLD-TIME INSTRUMENTS. The moderns do not play on the same kind of instruments as their predecessors, These were skilled executants on the sackbut. on the hautboy, on the pipe, on the flute, on the lute, on the harp, on the fiddle and on other musical instruments of which the modern generation does not even know the name. To-day’s waits are content with “brass,” and do not play stringed instruments, as of old. The old “wind” was softer and more mellow in tone than modern horns and trombones, and the use of percussion instruments, like drums and tabors, added considerable variety to the ensemble. ,