Author: Kevin Isaac

History

“Social Harp” story from 1974, well illustrated…

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I stumbled across a story about the then new facsimile edition of The Social Harp that was published in the Atlanta Journal on March 1st, 1974. I thought it was so nicely illustrated I would transcribe and post the article and corresponding photos.

Songbook ‘Sings’

by BILLIE CHENEY SPEED
Atlanta Journal Religion Editor

Staff Photos by Bill Mahan

Assembled in the traditional hollow square and using the “Social Harp” songbook more than 30 singers performed the vocal music of America’s oldest days.

“Their music has both the rugged quality of the American frontier and the haunting beauty of British folk melodies” said John F. Garst who was among those who gathered for the second annual singing in the Memorial Hall ballroom of the University of Georgia in Athens.

The shaped notes with which the music is printed in “The Social Harp” and “The Sacred Harp” and other books were invented in 1800 by New Englanders according to Garst. The note heads in the music books are in shapes of squares triangles diamonds and ovals and they match the names of the notes “fa sol la ” serving as aids to sight reading.

Traditionally each piece is sung through once using the notes rather than the words and so from this practice the term “fasola singing” is derived.

Last year’s singing at the university was held in celebration of the republication of John Gordon McCurry’s “The Social Harp” by the University of Georgia Press.

Garst a chemistry professor at the University of Georgia became interested in sacred harp singing when he came to Georgia from California ten years ago. He was instrumental in getting the book originally published in 1855 reprinted.

“The Social Harp” is a singing textbook.

Garst said that singing schools in the 18th century were a weapon of war against the slow embellished congregational singing style that had developed in the colonies by 1700.

Until 1800 the singing school tradition flowered and flourished and then fashion changed and much of the populace rejected the native American music of many of the singing school manuals in favor of European music of the day said Garst.

But the singing schools lived on in rural areas and school texts compiled by the Georgia and South Carolina singing masters include “The Southern Harmony” (1844), “The Social Harp” (1855), “The Christian Harmony (1866), “The Sacred Harp” (1844), “The Hesperian Harp” (1846), and “The Olive Leaf” (1878).

McCurry, who authored “The Social Harp,” was a farmer and singing master from Hart County Ga, and was founding father of Bio Baptist Church, which is located between Hartwell and Bowman.

His book currently available in a new edition was edited by Garst and by Daniel W Patterson.

At this year’s singing at the university a group of traditional Sacred Harp singers from South and West Georgia participated.

They usually sing from “The Sacred Harp,” another’ Georgia book which has been in use continuously since 1844.

The present publisher of “The Original Sacred Harp” (Denson revision) is the Sacred Harp Publishing Co at Bremen.

Numerous singings from this book are held throughout Georgia including the Georgia State Sacred Harp Singing which is always held “the fourth Sunday of March and the Saturday before.”

This year it will be held at Old Valley Grove Primitive Baptist Church five miles southwest of Ocilla off Ga 313 (Ocilla to Tifton).

The singing open to participants as well as visitors starts about 10 am and runs to mid-afternoon with a midday dinner-on-the-grounds.

The Sacred Harp Cookbook? Which one?

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There have been a few times I’ve seen someone on Facebook ask for a recipe, and in response someone said “It might be in The Sacred Harp Cookbook”. This information is almost always met with exuberant confusion that such a thing exists and THEY DON’T HAVE IT!

But there’s not just ONE, I know of THREE different “Sacred Harp Cookbooks”, which I will give information about below, in order they were published. Because of copyright reasons I won’t post more, but I believe the first two are out of print, but the last is still available. Are there MORE? Let me know: baltimoreshapenote@gmail.com

Blessings At Noon: The Sacred Harp Cookbook

by Karen Isbell & Shelly Robbins, Fundcraft Publishing, 1999

This was a comb-bound and professionally printed of about 100 pages. The front matter before the table on contents features photos from the years leading up to publication of “dinner on the ground” at various southern singings. The rest of the book is made up of many recipes from around the country. The publisher of the book specialized in printing fundraising books.

There is a page at Warren Steel’s website on the book containing recipes: “Blessings at Noon” .

A Sacred Feast: Reflections on Sacred Harp Singing and Diner on the Ground

by Kathryn Eastburn, University of Nebraska Press, 2008

Of the three books featured here, this is the only one published by a publisher and made available through major booksellers. The book is part memoir, park recipe book. The chapters are broken down by region: Southwest Texas; Birmingham; Henagar; Seattle, Boulder, and Colorado Springs; Hoboken; and Benton to Birmongham.

East Texas Sacred Harp Convention Book of Recipes

by Kim Vaughn, East Texas Sacred Harp Convention, 2010

The East Texas Sacred Harp Convention has a long history and many members of the Vaughn family appears to have been making contributions to documenting the history of Sacred Harp singing in that area, and in general, for many generations! This wire-coil bound 140 page book is a simple laminated covered book, probably prepared at a local print/copy shop.

Interspersed with the many recipes are short notes and photos related to Sacred Harp.

Sacred Harp

Nate Green’s Southern Sacred Harp Videos, 2005–2017

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I have “ripped” DVDs of singings filmed by Nate Green and uploaded some of them to YouTube (with is permission). I used the publicly posted “Minutes,” published by Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, to give a track listing for the videos. These videos are from the personal collection of Mary Wright, passed on to me by the Richmond Shape Note Singers.

Mary Wright leading a song.
Mary Wright of Virginia leads 148 Jefferson at the Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church on Sunday, June 15, 2008.

Videos listed in chronological order:

Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church — Sunday, June 19, 2005
* The video itself states “Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church Annual Sacred Harp Singing Section, Alabama” “Chairman Jarrod George” and then it begins time/date stamped “Jun 19 2005 9:10:13am”. A handwritten “sticky note” on the plastic DVD case states: “I did not reset the clock and this camera from a Georgia singing. You will need to add an hour to all time shown. Also, you will notice some Distortion at about the end of the second hour. It will only last about 2 minutes. Nate” No minutes are recorded in the Minutes Book for this event.

Salem United Methodist Church — Saturday, June 25, 2005

Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church — Sunday, June 18, 2006

Lookout Mountain Convention — August 25, 2007
*Unlisted until filmographer determined. You can click through here to view the video, but it is not openly listed on YouTube. The DVD had no name credited, and the handwriting is different than many of the Nate & Norma Green DVDs I have. It is similar to handwriting on a DVD by Bill Windom, thought it is not online in the Sacred Harp Museum collection of Windom’s videos.

Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church — Sunday, June 15, 2008

Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church — Sunday, June 20, 2010

Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church — Sunday, June 20, 2010 (silent slideshow)

Henagar-Union Convention — Saturday, July 1, 2017

Henagar-Union Convention — Sunday, July 2, 2017

March Lesson: The Easy Instructor

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At our March singing we reintroduced “lessons”. Some will be about the history of shape note singing, some will be based on rudiments. The goal is to present enjoyable information that can make the group enjoy singing and feel they have a better understanding of the traditions and technics.

When appropriate, we will post lessons on the blog as well, as we have below.

Just like song leading, any singer is welcome to give a lesson, though you need to arrange in advance, as we will only have one lesson per sing. Email us at: baltimoreshapenote@gmail.com with your idea.

The Easy Instructor

Given by Kevin Isaac, March 26th, 2024

In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear, his antagonist Edmund says “O, these eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol, la, mi.”

These four note sounds from Elizabethan England made their way to America with the Pilgrims and settlers. It was here, in 1721, that John Tufts had the inventive idea to use the initials of each solmization in place of the round note heads on the musical staff. F S L M for Fa Sol La and Mi. He published the short work An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes. It’s credited as being the first musical textbook written in the new world. 

The stage was set for a real revolution in musical pedagogy when William Smith and William Little took the idea further and replaced those letters with the symbols we use, the triangle, the circle, the square and the diamond. The tunebook they compiled, titled The Easy Instructor. Or. A New Method of Teaching Sacred Harmony, was the predecessor to our Sacred Harp and Shenandoah Harmony tunebooks, not just in the shapes, but in structure of the book and musical idiom it presented.

We’re going to sing three songs from our tunebooks that were first printed in shape notes in The Easy Instructor. Our voices will join with those who have sung the shapes to these very tunes for 222 years.

We’ll start with page 192 in the red book:  Nehemiah Shumway’s fuging tune Schenectady, with poetry by Isaac Watts. Shumway was a living American Composer at the time this was published.

192 Schenectady – Exeter Regular Sacred Harp Singing 1/28/18

Like many tunebooks, The Easy Instructor was revised and expanded over the course of numerous editions. While the first edition was apparently represented wholly by American composers, the subsequent editors wanted to “keep up with the musical fashion” and slowly removed American composers and replaced them with popular European composers. This reflected the larger reformist movement that ended up suppressing shape notes in the north all together.

If we can turn to page 84 for Amsterdam, a tune not found in the early editions of The Easy Instructor. The poetry was by Englishman Robert Seagraves, who was born in 1693 and was believed to have died around 1759. The melody adapted from a German tune Sei willkommen, and first appeared in a 1754 tunebook.

I want to complete this ternian of tunes with one that made it’s way to our tan book. Open Shenandoah Harmony to 67 for Lewis Edson’s “Greenfield”. Edson was a blacksmith in Woodstock New York that became a Singing Master and one of America’s first composers. You can find his tune Bridgewater in the red book.

Thank you.

The Sacred Songs Roll Like Thunder · 1959 United Sacred Harp Musical Association Convention, Fyffe Alabama

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“United Sacred Harp Musical Convention in Fyffe, Alabama”

“The Sacred Songs Roll Like Thunder” reads the title of an article by Ted Strongin that appeared in the “Chattanooga Times” of September 20, 1959. The kind of singing the article described often leaves even the best writers grasping for words that do justice to it, but invoking the sound of thunder is a good start. Strongin was writing of a two-day meeting, or “convention,” of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, held in Fyffe, Alabama, the previous weekend, that drew a few hundred singers ranging in age from 12 to 90, singing beloved hymns full bore all day long.

… In 1959, Lomax had another opportunity to record Sacred Harp singing, thanks to a contract with Atlantic Records to produce a series of albums of southern field recordings. Armed with an early portable Ampex stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder and two RCA ribbon microphones, and assisted by English folksinger Shirley Collins, Lomax came to Fyffe to record the United Sacred Harp Musical Association’s 46th annual convention.

… Lomax and Collins arrived in the late morning of the second day. They recorded 32 hymns in the 90 minutes or so before the lunch break. Then, over the course of about five hours, a further 130 hymns were sung and recorded before the convention adjourned in the early evening.

… Three hymns from the 1959 convention were included in Atlantic Records’ seven album series “Sounds of the South,” which included three hymns from the Sacred Harp. In 1962, the Prestige Folklore label released an entire album of 18 hymns recorded by Lomax and Collins in its “Southern Journey” series. A revised version of this album that included words and notation for the songs was released on vinyl by New World Records in 1977 and then on CD in 1992. In 1997, two full CDs with many previously unreleased songs were released in Rounder Records’ expanded reissue of the Southern Journey series.

–Matthew Barton, “United Sacred Harp Musical Convention in Fyffe, Alabama“

Baltimore Editor’s Note

The preceding paragraphs, excerpted from a linked essay about the recordings, gives larger context to the following news report of a singing that Alan Lomax recorded. The past grows before us. While we venture further away from that event, it is more approachable now than the seconds and hours and days after it completed.

In addition to transcribing the article, I’ve included recordings of the entire convention, available for the first time, I believe, when the Lomax Figital Archive put them online and then Jeremiah Ledbetter put them on YouTube in 2022, stitched together with a timestamped track listing.

The Sacred Songs Roll Like Thunder

By TED STRONGIN

THE SUN was shining. The church door were open. Inside all the benches were filled. Up front In the church one man stood beating time. He was surrounded on four aide by tenors, trebles, altos, and basses arranged in sections.

Outside across the street dry cornstalks were rustling. The singing rolled and thundered out over the green. In front of the church Two men were out there listening.

One of them talked between tunes and phrases a sort of running commentary. He kept Interrupting to point out a note or a verse or to sing along with a favorite line.

He was T.C. Bailey from Arab, Ala. The church was the Corinth Baptist on top of Sand Mountain in Fyffe Ala.

“My granddaddy was a great treble singer,” Bailey said. “A fellow once asked him In a small town ‘Why do you sing those old songs over and over again every year?’

“‘It’s like this Joe’ my granddaddy said ‘when better songs are made we’ll sing em’

‘‘I love baseball about as well as anything In the world” said the Arab man. “But I’m sacrificin’ television all weekend just to hear the singing.”

Uncle Tom Denson, a famous Sacred Harp leader, expressed everybody’s opinion a while ago.

“If some of you don’t like this music” Uncle Tom said, “all I’ve got to say to you is you’d better get out. If you stay here, it’s going to get a-hold of you and you can’t get away”

There are many Sacred Harp groups singing around the South. All do not use the same tunes but they resemble each other in style. The one at Fyffe last weekend was the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, with members in most Southern States even over to Texas.

The book used by United is “Original Sacred Harp” published at headquarters in Haileyville, Ala. All the songs they sing hundreds of them are in the book.

“There’s a song In this book for every human idea” said Bailey “If you can’t find It I’ll find it for you In other words It’s based on life.

“Members of all denominations wrote these songs.

“To me the sacred singing la really dear” Bailey said on the green knoll outside the church.

“I love music the birds too Sacred singin’ means more to me than any other kind.

“Listen to that” he said “It’s ‘The Church’s Desolation.’”

THE HYMN rolled out of the open church doors, leathery and intense, with a penetrating edge to the sound.

“Well may thy servants mourn my God,
The Church’s desolation.
The state of Zion calls aloud
For grief and lamentation.”

It thundered over the knoll. It was not like opera-singing. It was deep and moving.

“Listen to the woman” said Bailey.

“Once she was all alive to Thee
And thousands were converted
But now a sad reverse we see
Her glory is departed.”

“They were wrote back centuries ago,” Bailey said, “as far back as the 16th and 17th Centuries.

“This one here is an old funerial song,” he said “They don’t sing it so loud at funerals.

“They don’t have to have an organ, do they?” The songs went on:

“At Thy command the winds arise
And swell the tow’ring waves
The men astonished mount the skies
And sink in gaping graves.”

The broad band of sound that Sacred Harp singers make is solid and fundamental. It grips the stomach. Harmonies are rough and open. Words are hit with force.

There were a few hundred singers present at Fyffe. A committee had picked leaders, each one of whom took two songs. Over two full days of singing that’s a lot of leaders of all ages teen to ninety.

“We had 400 in Arab In 1956,” said Bailey of an earlier convention.

“One flew In here today from Texas, a doctor. He got up and led a while ago.”

Singers sing most weekends all year “They come to conventions to take part not to listen .

“No money is involved other than the expense,” Bailey said. “No one Is paid. They come on their own.

“They take up a little money for what they call the minutes of singing. They keep track of the numbers they sing. They like to know what their buddies are singin’.

“Never did go to a singin’ school. I’ve been goin’ at it 40 years now,’’ said Bailey.

I go to those old fasola singin’s” He pronounced it “fossil-la”.

“Listen to that high note there”.

It swelled over the countryside:

“Remember you are hast’ning on
To death’s dark gloomy shade
Your joys on earth will soon be gone
Your flesh in dust by laid.”

“There’s another mountain they call Lookout Mountain across here,” Bailey said pointing. “It’s near Chattanooga. They sing there too.

“Makes the grass on the mountains and corn in the valleys grow,” sang Bailey.

“Ain’t no more truer words They’re wrote by inspired people.”

The songs went on:

“Oh let us meet in heav’n
The Christian’s happy home
The house above where ail is love
There’ll be no parting there”

“This is pretty country up here,” Bailey said. “Corn is surroundin’ the churches. There’s three churches here in a row.

“A bunch of singers went’ up to New York” he continued. “A New York newspaper sent for them and paid everything. Forty of them, some of them here today. They went over to a big music hall m New Jersey. They sang at the Waldorf Astoria.

“One of them went to sing. He was so staled that when lie whacked down on the first note his voice wouldn’t even squeak”

Coy Putnam, the man with the squeak, was at Fyffe during the convention last weekend. Putnam remembers that the power of the old songs drove the squeak away. His voice returned in time.

They sang all during the trip on the train everywhere It was the New York Herald Tribune that brought them up in 1932 to a forum.

Earlier another group was brought to New York by Columbia University where it was the wonder of a folk music festival.

The music went on.

“Now that song there,” said Bailey, “believe it or not I don’t believe I ever heard it before.”

“Farewell my dear brethren, the time is at hand
When we must be parted from this social band
Our several engagements now call us away
Our parting is needful and we must obey”

“They’ll spread dinner today,” the Arab man said.

“We want you to enjoy yourself. Everybody’s welcome

‘‘I’ve been to places where you couldn’t eat a 10th of what was put out” he said.

“… to see the wicked things on high” he sang.

“At 3:30 pm tomorrow evenin’ they’ll be going just as strong as right now,” Bailey said. “They’ll be a bit hoarse.

“Come on up and meet Brother Brown,” said he. “He’s president.”

“SACRED Harp is non-sectarian and non-denominational,” said Leman Brown, retiring president “Anyone can sing.”

Sacred Harp came over with the Pilgrims, most people agree. It was sung through New England and then migrated down the mountains with the early settlers.

Now it exists mainly in the Southeast.

Up north, it was gradually overwhelmed by the importation of high class “European” music: Handel, Haydn, and so on, at the turn of the 18th-19th century.

It did not depart unmourned, however.

Benjamin Franklin, more than once in letters, spoke of the “old tunes” that he was sad to see disappearing.

And he described vividly the sound of congregation singing during his boyhood in Boston.

Franklin felt that this music had a special power, its harmonies were exciting, it had crude ranging energy it should have been allowed to develop. It was not “wrong” except by arty European standards said Franklin.

There seems little doubt that Franklin was talking about Sacred Harp or music much like it.

Indeed many of the names In “Original Sacred Harp” are those of New England hymn writers of Revolutionary times.

The hardy stock of early amateur composers included William Billings, Timothy Swan, Nehemiah Shumway, Daniel Reid, Jeremiah Ingalls.

Up north Billings is now famous again. He was rediscovered in the 20th Century. Several composers have used his hymn tunes as the basis for contemporary works.

Genuine Billings, as he wrote the notes himself, is still sung in the Southeast as passed down from generation to generation.

Tape recorders spun busily at Fyffe. Tape is rescuing “Original Sacred Harp” from the threat of oblivion due to radio and TV. And young people are getting interested too in greater numbers according to many at Fyffe.

“Sacred Harp is a-growin’,” said R.H. Burnham, an 89-year-old veteran from Jacksonville, Ala.

One high school student wrote a thesis, Sacred Harp.

“Sacred Harp remains unchangeable” he said “It is like a rock in a desert…

“My maternal grandfather N.E. Denney,” continued the student “taught a Sacred Harp singing school for many years. He was a good teacher and I loved to sit on his knee while he patted his feet and sang his favorite hymn. I still love to hear his bass voice as he lets those notes roll out.”

Carrying on the mighty tradition of Sacred Harp today are thousands of countryfolk scattered over the Southern Highlands.

Among these are famous families of singers and composers: the Densons, Odems, Cagles, all represented at Fyffe last weekend.

Though the tradition is mighty, it is not awesome awful or overbearing. On the contrary Sacred Harpers groups are surelv among the most democratic music groups going.

Practically everyone has a chance at being a leader, as said. Even the Times photographer when he arrived at Fyffe was offered the job (he refused).

The spirit of Sacred Harp is as sturdy and independent now as it was in 1798, when Deacon Janaziah composed an “Ode to Science.”

“The British yokes the Gallic Chain,” wrote the deacon.
“Was surged upon our neck in vain
All haughty tyrants we disdain.”

The Ode is still sung, as it us one of hundreds, new and old, in “Original Sacred Harp”.

The Raw Alan Lomax Recordings

Recordings from the 56th Annual Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins at Corinth Baptist Church in Fyffe, Alabama on Saturday September 12, 1959.

Recordings from the 56th Annual Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins at Corinth Baptist Church in Fyffe, Alabama on Sunday September 13, 1959.

Local

Our new loaner books!

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Thank you to all the sponsors of our Sacred Harp loaner book buy. We’re excited to have more people showing up to fa-so-la along with us.

One thing we’ve recently done is add a page on the inside front cover with a few “quick reference” items, including a quick overview of the shape notes, the hollow square, the four parts of the tune, helpful links and, most useful, a short list of some relatively easy and popular tunes to call for folks who are completely new to singing.

UPDATE: We’ve had a few singers ask if they can download this for their loaner books, so I made a version that wasn’t Baltimore specific. Print it out on 8.5×11″ sticker paper and cut the dotted line. The “Thank you” text beneath the graphic I cut out and put on the inside back cover, otherwise that’s just wasted paper! I’ve also included a statement that the design is placed into the public domain, so you can feel free to use any of the text or graphics for your own group without asking permission.

InsideBookIntroductions-Universal-1Download

Here is the text on the first panel:

GOOD TUNES FOR BEGINNERS TO CALL

Everyone has a chance to call a song, but it might be hard to figure out what to pick. Some options:
Use a lucky number. Open the book to a random page. Roll dice. Select a good and easy tune from the list below. All tunes with a “*” at the end have a “Learn to Sing Sacred Harp” video on YouTube.

34b St. Thomas
39 Detroit
40 Lenox*
45t New Britain*
47b Idumea
49t Old Hundred
59 Holy Manna*
62 Parting Hand
65 Sweet Prospect
101t Canaan’s Land
142 Stratfield*
146 Hallelujah*
155 Northfield*
159 Wondrous Love*
162 Plenary
178 Africa*
209 Evening Shade
277 Antioch
282 I’m Going Home
354 Lebanon
425 Golden Streets
457 Wayfaring Stranger
448t Consecration

History

Sacred Harp Singers (1984)

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Sacred Harp Singers
Directed by Mark Brice
Summary: A moving portrait of harp singers Leonard and Maxine Lacy. Sacred harp music is a kind of harmonised plainsong practised in rural America. This film was shot in Sand Mountain, Alabama, and is recommended for ethnomusicology in particular.

Ethnomusicology, Fall 1987 | Film Reviews


Sacred Harp Singers. Produced and directed by Mark Brice and Chris Petry.
Video, color, 85 minutes, 1984. Distributed by the National Film and
Television School, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, U.K.

The title of this film is well chosen, for it is largely about the lives of Leonard and Maxine Lacy, two Sacred Harp singers from Sand Mountain, Alabama. There are numerous scenes shown of their daily life-farm work in particular-as well as their more social activities, which include picnics and Sacred Harp singing sessions, the latter usually in church but sometimes also in the living-rooms of fellow-singers.

“This is not a listeners music,” Leonard remarks early on, well-aware that to the uninitiated, these religious hymns, sung with the aid of a reduced solfeggio system by untrained voices, do not sound exactly mellifluous. In a scene filmed in his kitchen, Leonard explains that Sacred Harp music has only “got four notes-fa so la mi” and that these are repeated up a scale: fa so la mi fa so la mi fa. Such a system makes it possible to sing in any key, once one has picked the beginning “fa.” A T-shirt Leonard proudly wears later in the film further demonstrates the music. The top line of the shirt reads “I love Sacred Harp Music,” the middle line shows a musical scale, and the bottom line shows the elements this scale is composed of

fa so la mi

Several singing sessions are shown, usually with 15-20 singers seated by voice (SATB) on benches or pews in a square facing each other. A singer stands up, suggests a hymn to sing out of the hymnal (which is called the Sacred Harp, though this is not mentioned in the film), and leads through the song, first using the solfeggio pattern, then the words. Many hymns are no more than a page (2 long staffs), and partial repeats are common. The leader uses a simple up-and-down beat, often copied by the women singers in the film with their free hand, and when the hymn is done, another singer takes his or her place.

Very little information is provided on the music itself, other than that the Pilgrims sang sacred songs and that “more than 400 years ago, William Shakespeare mentioned sacred music sung with four notes.” The connection with Sacred Harp music is then not made, and one is left wondering whether this is Pilgrim music which wandered south, or whether there is some connection, given the shape of the notes, with medieval plainsong. Even non-musicologists can observe that this system simplifies intervals all “fa” notes are a fifth apart-to something even the musically illiterate can master. In the Sacred Harp hymnals I am familiar with, the hymns are all carefully dated, composers and arrangers are given, one often can tell
when voice lines are added (alto, in particular), and a lengthy introduction is given to this particular form of notation. That Billings frequently appears as a composer perhaps speaks for some Pilgrim connection; that lines are added to create four-part harmony perhaps speaks for some plainsong connection. None of this appears in the film.

Indeed, this film is more microethnography than ethnomusicology. The above commentary about possible origin, not to speak of the paucity of discussion about the “Shape-Note” form (as this notation is also called), indicate that this film is meant more for those who already know something about Sacred Harp singing than for neophytes. One can tell that the filmmakers are rather taken with the Lacys, and lovingly dwell on scenes of Leonard musing in a cemetery, Leonard discussing rabbits, Leonard examining a burnt-out house. One can also tell that Leonard is somewhat embarrassed and unsure of what to make of these filmmakers, especially when they ask him to “Tell us something about nature.” The filmmakers are unsure of their own focus, and seem to vacillate between a portrait of two people who are singers, a depiction of a musical form, and showing daily life in the South. The connection between Sacred Harp singing and the Lacys’ life in the end gets lost, for it remains unclear whether non-Sacred Harp singers
would not in fact provide a very similar kind of picture.

One has the impression from this film that Sacred Harp music is a very white-oriented pleasure for middle-aged and older Southerners that has something to do with religion. How widespread this musical form is, or what the religious connection is, remains obscure. If Leonard Lacy early on states that Sacred Harp music is “a good way to worship the Lord,” then this is a clue to be pursued, not buried. For improving this film, I would suggest that either a booklet be provided, or voice-over commentary be added to the film, to flesh out both the ethnography and the musicology. Judicious editing, particularly of the farm scenes, is also in order: its present length makes it unusable for classroom instruction. Viewers are not likely to know anything, not even what the hymnals look like, much less the notes, and they should be led by the hand through the material.

John Bendix
Lewis and Clark College
Portland, Oregon

Local

Sponsor a Sacred Harp loaner book!

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In recent singings, we’ve run out of loaner books due to increased attendance!

To address this, singers have two options: for $25 you can sponsor a new loaner book for the group or purchase your own book (freeing up a loaner!). We’re planning a bulk order of at least one dozen Sacred Harp 1991 books on Feb. 12th.

If you’re interested in sponsoring or buying, let us know by emailing baltimoreshapenote@gmail.com with “SPONSOR a tunebook” or “BUY a tunebook.” We’ll respond with payment options, and purchased books can be picked up at our regular fourth Tuesday singings. Payment can be made upfront through PayPal or at our regular singing.

WE HAVE A MATCHING SPONSOR! A member of the local group will MATCH 1 to 1 any SPONSORS of tunebooks, up to 6 books! Sponsoring one book gets us TWO.

Cheese Notes

LPs issued by the Sacred Harp Publishing Co.

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We have taken the text from “Chapter 7: Older Recordings (Pre-1977) of Traditional Singers Reissued on CDs and Internet” found on Steven L. Sabol’s terrific internet resource, and I have inserted the appropriate YouTube videos of the albums he describes.

We have appended the track listing provided by Jeramiah Ledbetter, who uploaded the videos into a playlist.

LPs issued by the Sacred Harp Publishing Co.

Recordings from 1965-1975 by the Sacred Harp Publishing Co. currently on YouTube. An historic series of LP record albums were produced by the Sacred Harp Publishing Co. from 1965 through 1975. Five out of the six original LP recordings featured a select group of the finest traditional Sacred Harpers, many now deceased, singing representative songs in a studio under the direction of Hugh McGraw. Although these were not the first recordings of Sacred Harp singing, Buell Cobb points out that they “stand above the rest in scope and consistency.” The six LP albums were numbered 101-106. In the early 2000s, they were combined into three compact discs (and three cassette tapes) by Morning Trumpet Recordings headed by Ted Mercer and Richard DeLong. Extensive sound restoration and digital remastering were performed. The CDs featured liner notes written by Buell Cobb and graphics by Lisa Grayson. However, when the CDs were sold out, reprinting was not done and Morning Trumpet ceased operation. Hopefully the CDs will be reissued somehow in the future. In the meantime, the original LP recordings have been placed by Sacred Harp singer Jeremiah Ledbetter on his YouTube channel. Photos of the back sides of the LP record jackets are also provided. The recordings are as follows:

Vol. 101: “Original Sacred Harp Singing in Traditional Style” presents 13 tunes.

143 Pleyel’s Hymn 00:00 218 Mount Pleasant 02:44 85 The Morning Trumpet 05:43 532 Peace And Joy 07:24 268 David’s Lamentation 94 Never Part 12:53 146 Hallelujah 15:59 455 Soar Away 18:30 144 Jubilee 21:47 171 Exhortation 23:51 329 Vain World, Adieu 25:49 274t The Golden Harp 27:57 120 Chambers 29:59

Vol. 102: “Fa Sol La Music Album Sung in Traditional Style by Sacred Harp Singers of the Southland” presents 15 tunes. Volumes 101 and 102 (28 songs) were combined and reissued as a CD in 1990 by Bibletone listed on Amazon.com. The entire Bibletone album and individual tracks are also on YouTube.

45t New Britain – 0:00 36b Ninety-Fifth – 2:30 410 The Dying Californian – 4:50 235b Long Sought Home – 6:52 147t Boylston – 9:54 420 Bishop – 13:20 149 The Trumpet – 15:09 282 I’m Going Home – 18:28 358 Murillo’s Lesson – 20:25 129 Heavenly Armor – 22:53 186 Sherburne – 24:58 161 Sweet Home – 26:45 294 Rocky Road – 29:56 122 All is Well – 32:53 62 Parting Hand – 35:15

Vol. 103: “Sacred Harp at the Old Country Church” presents 15 tunes.

64 Nashville – 0:00 40 Lenox – 1:48 99 Gospel Trumpet – 3:39 445b Passing Away – 5:56 460 Sardis – 8:05 569b Sacred Throne – 9:55 288 White – 11:49 213t The Good Old Way – 14:29 392 Manchester – 16:50 126 Babel’s Streams – 19:07 326 Weary Pilgrim – 20:33 236 Easter Anthem – 23:26 290 Victoria – 26:15 512 The Spirit Shall Return – 29:07 388 The Happy Sailor – 31:49

Vol. 104: “Sacred Harp Singing with Dinner on the Ground” presents 16 tunes.

283 Sabbath Morning – 0:00 318 Present Joys – 2:14 500 Living Hope – 4:35 373 Homeward Bound – 6:52 432 Cheves – 8:34 365 Southwell – 10:23 328 Praise God – 13:34 68B Ortonville – 15:30 75 I Would See Jesus – 17:37 39b Sharpsburg – 19:19 128 The Promised Land – 20:45 101t Canaan’s Land – 22:17 361 Loving Jesus – 24:10 422 Burdette – 26:05 523b Pleyel’s Hymn – 27:38 506 The Ark – 29:27

Vol. 105: “Fa-Sol-La Is Here to Stay” presents 15 tunes, mostly of Southern origin, including ones by A.M. Cagle and Ruth Denson Edwards, who headed the company at that time and sang in the group.

63 Coronation – 0:00 192 Schenectady – 2:03 462 Faith and Hope – 4:20 316 New Hope – 7:00 77t The Child of Grace – 8:58 70t Gainesville – 11:06 57 Christian Soldier – 13:01 394 The Messiah’s Praise – 15:13 446 Infinite Day – 17:15 45t New Britain – 19:16 314 Cleburne – 21:46 543 Thou Art God – 23:45 383 Eternal Day – 26:17 528 Showers of Blessing – 29:16 518 Heavenly Anthem – 31:39

Vol. 106: “Sacred Harp Bicentennial Celebration” presents 14 tunes. It was issued in 1975-76 at the time of the U.S. Bicentennial and thus fourteen popular New England tunes and anthems, including five each by Billings and Read. CHESTER is sung with Billings’ original patriotic words. The singing on the this recording is generally very strong because of the larger number of singers at this “open” singing.

36b Windham – 0:00 107 Russia – 1:55 186 Sherburne – 3:17 280 Westford – 5:12 300 Calvary – 7:05 137 Liberty – 9:04 220 Mount Zion – 10:50 299 New Jerusalem – 12:28 155 Northfield – 14:21 91 Assurance – 15:39 236 Easter Anthem – 17:05 268 David’s Lamentation – 19:50 479 Chester – 22:20 254 Rose of Sharon – 23:58