“That all should learne to sing,” William Byrd, 1588
William Byrd
First it is a Knowledge easely taught, and quickly learned where there is a good Master, and an apt Scholler.
2. The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature & good to preserve
the health of Man.
3. It doth strengthen all the parts of the brest, & doth open the pipes.
4. It is a singular goode remedie for a stuttering & stammering in the speech.
5. It is the best meanes to procure a perfect pronunciation
& to make a good Orator.
6. It is the onely way to know whether Nature hath bestowed the benefit of a good voyce: which gift is so rare, as there is not one among a thousand that hath it: and in many, that excellent gift is lost, because they want Art to expresse Nature.
7. There is not any Musicke of instruments whatsoever, comparable to that which is made of the voyces of Men, where the voyces are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.
8. The better the voyce is, the meeter it is to honour and serve God therewith: and the voyce of man is chiefly to be employed to that ende.
Omnes spiritus laudet Dominum.
Since singing is so good a thing
I wish all men would learne to sing.
Mesocosm 
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