{{Redirect6|the American singer-songwriter|Tom Waits|the computer operating system|WAITS}}
[[File:A band of modern waits (York, 2006).jpg|thumb|right|300px|A band of modern-day waits]]
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Their instruments also varied, but were for the main part loud and penetrating [[wind instrument]]s such as the [[shawm]], which was so closely associated with them that it was also known as the wait-pipe. Waits were provided with [[salary|salaries]], [[livery|liveries]] and silver chains of office, bearing the town's [[coat of arms|arms]].
As a result of the [[...|Municipal Corporations Act]] of 1835, waits were abolished, though their name lingered on as [[Christmas Waits]], who could be any group of singers or musicians who formed a band in order to sing and play [[carol (music)|carols]] for money around their town or village at night over the [[Christmas]] period. It is these largely [[amateur]] musicians who have today become associated with the name 'waits', rather than the historical [[civic officer]]s and accomplished musicians who represented the original waits.
Most European countries had their equivalents of waits. In Holland they were called Stadspijpers, in Germany Stadtpfeifer and in Italy Pifferi. See [[alta capella]].
== External links ==
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
** {{Cite EB1911|short=x|noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Americana|noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Collier's|Wait|noicon=x}}
}}=== Scholarly research ===
* [http://www.townwaits.org.uk The Waits Website] (designed to accumulate and disseminate historical information on Waits, and to advertise the growing number of revival bands, as well as their equivalents throughout Europe).
* [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/staff/richard_rastall.htm Professor Richard Rastall] Professor of Historical Musicology, University of Leeds. Includes downloadable copy of his thesis "Minstrels and minstrelsy in medieval Britain".
* [http://www.lincolnwaits.com City of Lincoln Waites ]: A history of the Waites of Lincoln.
