The songs associated with these tunes evoke the American patriotism, religious fervor, and/or national pride of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some of the tunes were borrowed from the British Isles and set to new texts.
In these arrangements, some of the customary harmonies were altered and keys transposed to accommodate the lever harp and flute together. Lever changes appear between the staves by octave number and diamond-shaped notes; pedal changes appear below the bass staff. (There are only six lever changes in the entire book.)
Guitar chords are included so that the melody may be played by any C instrument, accompanied by chords on harp, lute, guitar, or keyboard.
The total range needed to play the harp part of this entire book is 26 strings (3 and 1/2 octaves) – from low C to high G.
