I just looked back at the gospel project & while I think one Sacred Harp tape in a set could make some sense, it really needs to come with the music & not just words. This would involve lots of copying & enlarge your mailing needs considerably.

I will include a book, a Beginners Guide (if I can find my copy), tapes of the 3 recordings I mentioned earlier, probably a couple more convention tapes, a minute book & information on where to order books & recordings. Most of the tapes will be originals, not copies & will come with their associated notes. I don't worry too much about folks making copies since these are non-commercial productions done more for love than money. Two of the convention tapes I'm thinking of are hard, or impossible to get hold of, so copying is the best alternative.

Administratively if it goes to the people on your routing, that would be easier for me. I'm not sure how much overlap of interest there is, though. Have you had a lot of takers on for the gospel tapes?

These tapes are my choices for people wanting to learn, not necessarily my favorites for just listening. They include a mix of tunes that are widely done & some I've heard infrequently. The tempos are almost uniformly moderate & often much slower than they'll be done in coventions (my reason to include some convention recordings) but easier to catch the parts.

Buy CDs to give their local schools' choral programs. THAT would be HOT! Does this already happen?

The experience of others is that there's not much point in doing this kind of thing. The teachers would have to already be interested & even at that they tend to have other things that are more important to them. The October 2000 issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom features a lesson plan for shape-note singing aimed at students in grades 3 to 8. I have no idea how well it's been received. To request one free copy of the issue, write to Smithsonian in Your Classroom, Arts and Industries Building 1163, Washington, DC 20560.