A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Greeting, Thomas

GREETING, Thomas, was a teacher of the flageolet in London in the latter half of the 17th century, when the instrument appears to have been played on by ladies as well as gentlemen, as we gather from Pepys's 'Diary,' which informs us that in 1667 Mrs. Pepys was a pupil of Greeting. He also taught Pepys himself. In 1675 Greeting issued a thin oblong small 8vo. volume entitled 'The Pleasant Companion; or, New Lessons and Instructions for the Flagelet,' consisting of 8 pages of letter-press containing 'Instructions for Playing on the Flagelet,' signed by Greeting, followed by 64 pages of music printed from engraved plates. The music is in a peculiar kind of tableture, dots being placed in the spaces of a stave of 6 lines to indicate which holes of the instrument were to be stopped to produce each note. The duration of each note is shown above the stave in the same manner as in tableture for the lute. The music consists of the popular song and dance-tunes of the day. The work was reprinted in 1680.

[ W. H. H. ]