William Little

William Little was an American music printer and compiler of tune books active in Philadelphia between 1798 and 1805, although only these dates of activity are known with certainty. His name figures in the history of American music through his involvement in one of the most widely circulated works of sacred song in the country.

In 1801, together with William Smith, he published in Philadelphia The Easy Instructor, or A New Method of Teaching Sacred Harmony. The volume used a notation based on fasola solmisation and was the first system of shape notes to gain acceptance. The first edition was almost entirely American: of its 105 pieces, 100 were by authors from the country. Little contributed four of them and Smith one.

That Smith should be identified with the musician born in Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1761 and who died in 1808 is a hypothesis rather than a established fact; Smith later published a second part of the book on his own account. Neither Little nor Smith was associated with the later editions. By around 1831 the work had reached 35 editions and had exerted a considerable influence throughout the country.