Books

As well as producing sheet music, Ancient Groove Music publishes books on music and literature written by musicians and others.

If you would like to make a donation to support our free books, you can do so here:

The Play of Wit and Science: (180 Kb) A morality play, written c. 1540 by John Redford, organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, for the choristers to perform in front of Henry VIII. Available as a PDF to be freely downloaded.

In Praise of Music: (416 Kb) An informative book, published anonymously in 1586, detailing the history, mythology, virtue, and necessity of music, particularly exploring arguments in favour of having music as part of church services. Edited into modern English by Ben Byram-Wigfield.
Available as a PDF to be freely downloaded.
Available as an ebook on the Apple iBook Store.

Allegri's Miserere: A Quest for the Holy Grail? A more thorough and detailed version of the essay that appears on this website, including musical examples. Written by Ben Byram-Wigfield. 27pp. 148 x 210mm.

Reasons to persuade everyone to learn to sing by William Byrd (1542-1623). Oft-quoted advice on the benefits of singing from the Elizabethan master.

Piers Plowman: (1.8 Mb) An edition of the famous Middle English allegorical poem by William Langland. The text has been edited into a more standardised English, that will hopefully be of benefit to anyone wishing to study the work. No musical connection, really, but both the author and editor grew up around the Malvern Hills.

Ecclesiastes: A digital recreation of the book of Ecclesiastes from Johannes Gutenberg's 42-line Bible of 1456.

Ancient Groove Music is also proud to announce the publication of a complete edition of A Plain and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke by Thomas Morley. Published in 1597 by one of England's greatest Tudor composers, it was the first book to be written in English on the subject of music. Please ask for details.

COMING SOON: We plan to offer these and other works in ebook format.