Shape Note or Sacred Harp

Subject: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 07:43 PM

I first discovered this wonderful singing at Old Songs last June. In fact, I was so impressed with the Amidons that I hired them to come to Branford, Connecticut on November 12, 1999 (8pm at the First Congregational Church on the Green) to lead a shape note and gospel community sing. It's a fundraiser for a music scholarship, so unlike most shape note sings, it will cost $10 -- a donation -- at the door.

This thread is a shameless plug for the benefit (COME ON DOWN!), but it's also to get some discussion going about this music.

What are some of the real crowd-pleasers? Wondrous Love has to be one. What else? Where can I find some midi versions of them?

And who likes this music? Is it just folkies? Is it the fundamentalist religious community? I haven't gotten ANY response from the local traditional churches about my publicity, so I'm wondering if they think it's something I don't know about.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: RiGGy
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 07:57 PM

Warren Steele was my mentor nearly 30 years ago in Cambridge MA.

His website: http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html

Also my first link I ever posted to Mudcat: English Gallery Music http://ep.open.ac.uk/wgma/index.html The English Musical form that became the Sacred Harp In America

RiGGy

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: RiGGy
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 08:14 PM

ooooooooops ~ that link "404's" !!

Try another:

http://www.sgpublishing.co.uk/gm/groups/groups.html

Worth it !

RiGGy

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 09:50 PM

Barbara, best wishes for your concert. As I recall it was you who responded to my question here a couple of years ago as what this strange notation was that I had found on the Web. As I recall I was looking for Angel Band. The whole subject has had me intrigued ever since - I suspect that my curiosity may take some time to be satisfied. Please let me know when you get something organised for Brisbane. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 11:24 PM

Different groups of singers have their own favorites. Some of ours: Northfield, Amsterdam, Lenox, David's Lamentation, Africa, Mear, Shelburne. . . but everybody will EXPECT you to do Amazing Grace, so ya better do it. (As the sign in the brothel says, The Customer Always Comes First)

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 11:25 PM

Barbara, here is a link to the Southern Harmony on-line. It has midi files of many (or all) of the contents of the 1854 SH.

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: harpgirl
Date: 18 Oct 99 - 11:28 PM

...interesting juxtaposition of thoughts, Dr. Peterson...harp

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 07:54 AM

T in Oklahoma, thanks for that great site. I'm in big trouble now, because I should be going to work instead of playing midi files. Now I want to go listen to all the songs that Pete Peterson listed...

RiGGy, good site for background information.

John, you may have me mixed up with Blessings, Barbara, although I do know the song Angel Band, as done bluegrass style.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:06 AM

"Amazing Grace" would be referred to as "New Briatin" or 45t in Sacred Harp circles. Sacred Harpies tend to gather in groups even more tight than Mudcat, and all know each other. Contact Neely Bruce in Middletown, CT; Wally Olson in Norwalk, CT; or Susan Garber in Terryville, CT to plug into the Connecticut Sacred Harp communities.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:10 AM

Actually, go immediately to www.fasola.org for everything you ever needed to know about Sacred Harp music or its community.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:11 AM

BTW....Rick Fielding has a really great song on his new album written by Shelly Posen, a folklorist in Ottawa and member of the "Finest Kind".......The song is called "Fa Sol, La" and I guarrantee you'll love it.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:41 AM

Barbara,

Folks who like Wondrous Love are likely to enjoy the metrically identical, but melodically different, "Captain Kidd".

The Episcopal Church's Hymnal 1982 includes a number of tunes that appeared in shape-note books, such as Birmingham, Charlestown, Coronation, Foundation, Holy Manna, Kedron, Light, Middlebury, Morning Song, Nettleton, New Britain, Pleading Savior, Tender Thought, Resignation, Restoration, Star in the East, Vernon, and Wondrous Love. (This isn't all of them, either). This might be a very rough indicator of which tunes have a chance of being well-known beyond regular attendees at shape-note singings. (The Episcopal Hymnal doesn't set them always to the same words that were in the old shape-note books, however.)

Some of my personal favorites which have not yet been mentioned on this thread are "Pilgrim" (I prefer the Missouri Harmony version to the Southern Harmony version. The English variant is known as "King's Lynn"); and "Springhill"/"Garden Hymn".

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:53 AM

Oops. Once again I had trouble closing an italic zone. T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Nancy-Jean
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 04:41 PM

One of my fondest memories is attending a Shape Note Convention. It was in Wellesley, Mass. a few years ago. The experience of hearing hundreds of people singing, parts positioned in a square so that the sound soars into the center of the room, just about blew me away. You've never seen fevor like Shape Note fevor!--there are no rules about volume. It can get LOUD! But look at the faces of the singers. That's JOY.

My father, then 90 years old, got us to go. I hace never sung this kind of music before. He wore his high top red sneakers, proud as he could be. As we went through the food line for lunch, I noticed a little old lady and she too was wearing high top red sneakers. Eventually they found each other and I got to take a photo of their feet.

So there's more to Shape Note Singing than meets the eye!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 07:36 PM

This is something I have been very curious about for a very long time. Are there any shape-note groups in the Denver area? Can someone suggest a recording that gives an essential impression of this music?

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 08:09 PM

Nancy-Jean, that's a great story! My husband and I wandered into our first (only) shape note workshop at Old Songs Festival at the Altamont Fairgrounds, and we were completely dumbfounded by the power of the music. It was a square of about 300 voices, each one singing with gusto, some with arms waving, 4-part harmonies hitting that tin roof in the sheep barn and just enveloping all of us.

I still don't know how to read the shapes, so I just followed along with the standard music notation as best I could. (The shapes are written as the note head on standard music). The emphasis is on participation, not performance.

It's not something I'd want to do every day (I AM a BLUEGRASSER, after all, and we never do anything the same way twice!) but it was an experience I'll never forget and intend to repeat in November.

Lonesome EJ, find a group and go experience it. There's no way a recording can adequately show the effect, viscerally, spiritually, musically.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Nancy-Jean
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 08:34 PM

I believe at the Getaway there was for sale a CD of Shape Note singing done by Washington Folks. (Some one can give you more specifics.) There are lots of recordings around, mostly sold where there's a convention or big supply of music.

Gotta tell ya, if I had to pick the perfect background music for housecleaning with fervor and inspiration, I would go for Sacred Harp. It blows all resentments right through the vacuum tube.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 08:52 PM

Call up Sandy Paton at Folk Legacy and ask him what he has and recommends. 1-800-836-0901.

I bought a CD from him with sacred harp as well as Hobart Smith and other singers. It's called "Southern Journey: Brethren, We Meet Again," which is what he happened to have with him in his booth at the time. I don't think the sacred harp music on this CD is as good as what I heard in person, but I really love the CD for the Hobart Smith songs!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:09 PM

Barbara, you may have noticed that there are two competing shape-note systems, the four-shape and the seven-shape systems. Which of these was most appropriate was the subject-matter of heated controversy at the end of the 19th century. There are also at least two philosophies of melody-placement: the air-in-the-tenor school and the air-in-the-treble school.

I have never heard of the "Amidons". Can you tell me a little about them ?

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:15 PM

No, I didn't know there were different shape note systems. Sounds like there's a whole lot I don't know about this music.

You can find out all about the Amidons at their web site: http://www.amidonmusic.com/

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:35 PM

Nancy-Jean.....Your comment makes me think about the last verse to the song I mentioned above on Rick's album:

"My friends if you should ever find
This world is not your home
You've lost your faith in God and Man
And think you're all alone
Or else you've met such happiness
That music fills your heart
No matter if its joy or woe
Sing from the Sacred Harp"

BTW...Barb Shaw...it would be a good song for you to add too...you'll like it.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 09:36 PM

Barbara, thanks for the info on the Amidons! They remind me of another ensemble you might be intersted in, the Western Wind.

Thanks again,

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Susan A-R
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:34 PM

There is also a wonderful book called Northern Harmony, which collects New England sacred harp as well as many works that have been written recently (It is still happening) Village Harmony is the source for this one. They have a website, and I believe that if you try searching for Village Harmony, you'll get to it pretty quickly. Vermonters tend to travel for their sacred harp, so leave a message with Larry (Gordon, the person who has taught much of the Sacred Harp up here, through Word of Mouth Chorus, Bayley Hazen, and Village Harmony choruses and camps) and he will probably spread the word. Larry's various groups have also done recordings of Sacred Harp music.

I have a fondness for Roslin Castle, Harmony, Showers of Blessings, As Pants the Hart, Africa (mentioned before) and Garden.

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: WyoWoman
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:39 PM

Barbara-- If I were a newspaper editor in your neck of the woods, I'd be really interested in something called "shape-note singing," particularly if I had someone write a press release that explained it, and particularly if that person had some examples I could scan in and use as a graphic element on a newpaper page with a story.

I don't know about your friendly neighborhood features editor or arts and entertainment editor, but this is the kind of thing I just eat up.

Let me know if I can help you figure out how to get the word out.

Best, WyoWoman

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 19 Oct 99 - 11:51 PM

If you're ever in Seattle around Memorial Day, go to the Northwest Folklife Festival and look for a performance by the Sacred Cow Harmogenizers. I was a Cow when I lived there, and it was a whole lotta fun. We sang traditional shape note (four shapes, the scale goes fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa), I believe from the Southern Harmony, but it may have been another book, my memory is fading fast. We were mildly irreverent at times, had potluck rehearsals (food is a wonderful glue for informal musical groups), and generally only performed once a year, at Folklife. Shape note harmonies are generally referred to as "primitive", with lots of open fourths and fifths, and lots of dissonance. They are generally sung with lots of enthusiasm (loud). Even though I come from a different tradition, I had an absolute blast singing this stuff. If there are any Cows or ex-Cows out there in Mudcat land, I'd like to know.

Aloha,
Mark Cohen

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 10:17 AM

Since somebody mentioned "Northern Harmony" I will jump back in. A lot of people in CT have heard of the Morgan horse-- (which, when I was married, I used to help raise, train and show; my job was mostly to write checks. But I digress) Justin Morgan's OTHER profession was traveling singing-master; he would go around from town to town, teach a three-day course in how to read music by looking at the shapes and by the end of the weekend all the people in that church were singing. Like most other early singing-masters, he wrote several tunes of hiw own which appear in the Sacred Harp book most everybody uses - Montgomery, which I believe is #190, is one of his. Barbara-- if, as WW as suggested, you try for some newspaper publicity for your upcoming Sing, this might be a good angle which a newspaper reporter might go for. I'm so glad the Amidons are going to do this-- they're GOOD. (In fact, you might hear them say "this is the way it was done 200 years ago; first teach by rote, then learn to associate shapes with notes of the scale, then sing the words") As you get more familiar with the music you will notice the difference between the Southern open 4ths and 5ths and their archaic sound (as Mark Cohen has pointed out) -- from the Northern music of Morgan, Billings Ingalls, etc., which sounds more like what we're used to. But it"s ALL fun.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 01:12 PM

I've spoken to the Arts & Entertainment editor and sent numerous press releases to the local paper. They have been totally ignoring the subject. If I were the editor, it would seem like an interesting subject that has never before been covered or even found in this area. That was one reason why I asked about background on the music. I thought maybe there was some sort of controversial stigma attached or something like that! (WyoWoman, wish we had an editor like you around here!)

Anyway, thanks everyone for the support and ideas. I will press on.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 02:34 PM

Good for you! The day will soon be over and digging will be done
No more gems to be gathered, so let us all PRESS ON
When Jesus come to save us and says "It is enough"
Those diamonds will be shining no longer in the rough

not from the Sacred Harp book but the Carter Family

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: bobby's girl
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 05:58 PM

The shape note tradition is more commonly referred to in UK as West Gallery music. If anyone is coming to Whitby festival next year, we usually have a great week of West Gallery workshops led very often by Dave Townsend, who is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country about the tradition. I also find the power of the music totally awesome when you are standing in a square and really letting fly!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Stewie
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 07:14 PM

Barbara, you mentioned Vol 6 of the Lomax Southern Journey series - 'Brethren, We Meet Again'. Volumes 9 and 10 of the 13 volume series are devoted specifically to Sacred Harp singing: Vol 9 'Harp of a Thousand Strings: All Day Singing from the Sacred Harp' Rounder CD 1709 and Vol 10 'And Glory Shone Around: More All Day Singing from the Sacred Harp' Rounder CD 1710. Rounder also has another fine CD in The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture series: 'Sacred Harp Singing' Rounder CD 1503 - these are earlier recordings from 1943.

Cheers, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Stewie
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 07:27 PM

Sorry, 'Brethren' is volume 4 (not 6) of the Lomax series - slip of the pinky.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: WyoWoman
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 11:52 PM

Barbara -- I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble getting the editor interested. How big is the paper?

(We can move this to our personal email if you want. I'm interested in this, but don't know if others want to be involved in a discussion about local journalism. Sometimes when something is so far out of an editor's realm of experience it's hard to get it to penetrate their consciousness. Shouldn't be that way, but it often is. Anyway, I'd be happy to visit with you more about this if you're interested. I get so frustrated by these kinds of stories of people trying unsuccessfully to deal with newspapers. I mean, what the hell are we here for if not to tell the stories of people in our communities???)

WW

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 12:08 AM

Actually, Sacred Harp music has gotten covered before in the press in Connecticut, often in conjunction with the annual New England Singing Convention (which rotates between Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, but is in Middletown, Conn. every third year), and the Connecticut Sacred Harp Conventions, and the shape note performances by Connecticut Valley Harmony (with which I used to sing). But it's been a while, and it's time to tell the story again.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 12:28 AM

Love this thread...Never have much to add, but I'm really enjoying it........lots of memories of my grandparents..........anyway,

The PR talk reminded me----I think there was a Bill Moyer's PBS piece on shape note, but I'm thinking it may have been part of his "Amazing Grace" series thing. Did someone already bring this up and I missed it? Does anyone recall the piece I'm talking about?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 08:13 AM

Spaw, I remember the Bill Moyers piece, and it WAS part of that great "Amazing Grace" program. In fact, I think that was the first time I'd ever heard of shape note singing.

WW, your 1st posting prompted me to call the editor again. We talked quite a bit, and I think I convinced her that this would be an unusual and interesting subject. She became enthusiastic about running my press release and listing the event (a start).

However, the features editor (who refused my e-mail article, wanted it the TRADITIONAL way, by FAX!!) hasn't come around yet. When I asked if she had received my fax last week, and why hadn't she mentioned the event in the twice-weekly paper yet, her response was "You're just now following up on last week's fax?" -- Yes, she did get the fax, but not the point.

Charlie, Middletown (and Wesleyan) is quite a way from the shoreline, far enough to be another planet in some minds.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 10:28 AM

WyoWoman, I'd be very interested in your exchanges with Barbara on local journalism, so don't go off-list for fear of being boring to everyone else.

Charlie Baum, if I remember right, at least four different editions of The Sacred Harp were issued in the years 1901-1915: Cooper's The Sacred Harp, Revised and Improved, White's Fifth Edition, White's Expanded Fourth Edition, and James's Original Sacred Harp. Then there are the other shape-note books, such as the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, and Cayce's Good Old Songs. Do you know if the New England singings you mentioned confine themselves to a specific book and a specific edition, or if they draw from several ?

T.

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 01:42 PM

Most of the Sacred Harp singings in New England today use the 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp, which supplements the old favorites with peices written by singers alive today. Many New Englanders also use the most recent editions of Vermont Harmony (versions 3 or 4, although 4 is really more like 3.1) and also. sometimes, Christian Harmony. Other books get used in different parts of the country, including Old Columbia Harp and Southern Harmony. And some singings encourage original pieces, newly composed and brought in by the regulars. Writing the material is quite an ongoing, alive treadition. If you go to one of the listings of all of the singings in the country (start at www.fasola.org and follow the links), you'll find that each singing lists the books it commonly uses. But the 1991 edition is the most common these days.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: JB3
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 03:00 AM

Favorite Shape-Note songs: Idumea, Babylon is Fallen, David's Lamentation, Samanthra, Greenfields, Evening Shade, Watchman, Parting Hand. I first learned the seven-shape system from the Christian Harmony Book with Richard Moss at the Berea Christmas Country Dance School. It makes the most sense to me, with a different shape for each of the notes; do, re, mi, fa, so, etc. The four-shape system is much more widely used here in Texas, but it doesn't make sense to me. Luckily the songs are the same, for the most part.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Susan A-R
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 10:59 PM

B'lieve that the book mentioned by Charlie as Vermont Harmony is actually Northern Harmony. It's worth acquiring.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 11:21 PM

Oops--yes, I meant Northern Harmony, but the book is so associated with Vermonters that it's a logical mistake. One of them (my 3rd edition?) was actually funded in part as a Vermont Bicentennial project.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 09:32 PM

I'm happy to report that the local newspaper finally ran a listing of our Nov 12 event in their "Bulletin Board" section. The editor gave us quite a bit of ink and used most of what I sent in.

However, the features editor did not manage to fit it into the "second section" which goes into several area newspapers. When they run out of space, it seems that the music listings are always the ones to get cut. We always hear about the art, theatre and literary events, but music is iffy.

Not for me...

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 09:24 AM

Barbara, what is the Newspaper's name ? Does it have an on-line edition ?

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 01:26 PM

All is well. The second paper of the week came out today, and our event is listed in both the Bulletin Board and the Arts & Entertainment (2nd) section. The first paper (Wednesday) had no music section, although it WAS in the on-line edition. Complaints withdrawn.

This address is sometimes not accessible: http://www.ctcentral.com/jrc-html/papers/localnews_p7.html
Thanks, everyone. If you're in the southern Connecticut area on 11/12, come sing!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 13 Nov 99 - 04:47 PM

Just want to share with you how the Shape Note Sing went. It was truly wonderful.

There were babies as young as 11 months old, old-timers as old as 92, teenagers and middle-agers and everything in between. Grandmothers with granddaughters, whole families, neighbors. There were some older people who used to be in choirs many years ago, and hadn't sung for decades, singing with joy. There were nose-ringed high-schoolers cheering and laughing with delight at the thundering chords of the assemblage. Folkies and choir directors, classical musicians and spectators, all types. Truly a community event, probably like it was done about 200 years ago in Connecticut, but looking very much like today.

Everyone was amazed at the power of music when that many voices (around 165) are formed into a square and led by great singing leaders like the Amidons. If you ever get the chance to go to one, try it: you'll like it.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: WyoWoman
Date: 14 Nov 99 - 01:31 AM

That sounds like Heaven to me! I'm so glad you gave us the rest of the story. What a thrilling experience it sounds like it was. Wish I could have been there.

Thank you so much -- I'm so encouraged by stories like this.

ww

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Susan A-R
Date: 14 Nov 99 - 04:29 PM

For folks who are interested, the Amidons will be co-leaders of one of those Village Harmony music camps this summer. Check out the Village Harmony website at http://www.northernharmony.pair.com I'm not sure, but think that I'll probably be the cook again at one of these camps (probably the June one, although I may run off to Bulgaria with 'em instead.) They also run some fabulous camps for teenagers. Check it out!!

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Penny S.
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 02:00 PM

There was a program on BBC Radio 4 today about Sacred Harp and Shape Note singing, with recordings of singing. Fortunately I heard it in my car which has four speakers. It is stunning. They gave a phone number for further information (the usual radio information line) about it in the States and over here. I'm so glad I already knew of it from this thread, and that my knowledge has now been given the sound to go with it.

Penny

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Elizabeth
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 12:29 AM

You all might be interested to know that the two primary web sites for Sacred Harp information are www.fasola.com and Warren Steele's shape note pages at www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html

Sacred Harp is certainly good stuff, especially the "conventions", which are weekend affairs. Potluck is a traditional part of conventions, too!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Alice
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 12:36 AM

um... Elizabeth, that fasola.com address takes you to the Fasola off road motor bike website. I think you meant .org, not .com. Here it is: http://www.fasola.org/

Subject: Lyr Add: DAVID'S LAMENTATION (William Billings)
From: GUEST,MiriamKilmer
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 03:10 PM

Nancy-Jean
Date: 19-Oct-99 - 08:34 PM wrote:

"I believe at the Getaway there was for sale a CD of Shape Note singing done by Washington Folks. (Some one can give you more specifics.) There are lots of recordings around, mostly sold where there's a convention or big supply of music."

I am the "Someone!" who was selling "Present Joys/Blessings Past" at the Getaway. Sorry I didn't find this thread until today, when I was looking for the origin of the "second verse" of "DAVID'S LAMENTATION" (see below)

The two-CD set I was selling is "Present Joys/Blessings Past" - produced by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington (perpetrators of "The Getaway"). If you don't see me at a Singing, you can order on directly from my website:
http://www.shapenotes.com/sale/presentjoys.asp

From there you will find links to many other shape note recordings, and a database where you can look up the song you want and find out who recorded it. Almost all the songs in The Sacred Harp are so listed. In some cases, my site tells you where to purchase the recording on line. After you have searched using my website, write to me if you still need help finding something specific.

[e-mail]

Here's the URL for the database (which still has some bugs in it, but we're working on it):
http://www.shapenotes.com/shapenotes/recindex.html

Please keep reading. since "RW said he probably won't answer email questions:


DAVID'S LAMENTATION
(William Billings) [He's the composer - but did he also write the words?]

David the king was grieved and moved;
He went to his chamber, his chamber and wept,
And as he went, he wept and said, "Oh my son!
Oh my son! Would to God I had died!
Would to God I had died for thee!
Oh Absalom, my son, my son!"

Vict'ry that day was turned into mourning
When the people did see how the King grieved for his son.
He covered his face, and in a loud voice cried, "Oh my son!
Oh my son! Would to God I had died!
Would to God I had died for thee!
Oh Absalom, my son, my son!"

RW wrote:
William Billings, c. 1800. An almost verbatim use of 2 Samuel 18:33, 19:2. Absalom, the oldest living son of David, had rebelled against his father. When the final battle between the two sides came, David gave orders for Absalom to be spared, but Joab, David's general, had the prince killed. This was David's response when he heard the news. Found in many shape note hymnals, but usually with only the first verse. Sally Rogers recorded it (with "When Jesus Wept") on "The Unclaimed Pint;" the full text is found on The Watersons' "Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy."

USUALLY only the first verse? Where can I find one with the second verse? (The 1958 Christian Harmony has a different second verse that doesn't scan and doesn't fit into the story properly.)

Tim had the words stuck into his Sacred Harp Book. Somebody gave them to him years ago. We're trying to find out who wrote the lyrics. Yes, I know it's a paraphrase of Scripture; I want to know who wrote the paraphrase, where it first appeared, etc.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,MiriamKilmer
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 03:15 PM

Sorry I forgot to make those URL's into blue clickies. http://www.shapenotes.com/sale/presentjoys.asp
Shapenote Recordings Index

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 05:07 PM

There was a really nice feature about Sacred Harp on All things Considered just now. Here's the link (NPR)

I really like the pictures they have there as well. Almost everyone has folks with thier mouths wide open singing.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 05:10 PM

I should proof better: Almost every picture has folks with their mouths wide open singing.

I should also add that male pattern baldness seems to be endemic in the traditional singing community. :-)

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 05:36 PM

I heard the beginning of that story also. Thanks for posting the link.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 10:01 PM

Nice to see this thread refreshed.

In fact, I've been thinking shape note lately because we're planning to do "Star in the East" at a church service during this Christmas season. Problem is there are four of us (2 men, 2 women) and only three parts to the music, as far as I can find. We're going to double one of the parts by having one of the guys sing the same part as I do but an octave lower.

Are the two treble clefs soprano and alto? Is the bass clef bass or tenor or what? Which one is considered melody? I'm calling melody the 2nd treble clef down, and that's what we're doubling. (Besides, I can always use the help...)

Does anyone know if "Star in the East" notation exists somewhere in four parts?

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 10:12 PM

The melody is in the tenor part in traditional shape note notation, and originally there were only three parts; the alto was added later. In Shape note gatherings, both men and women will sing the various lines, picking their favorite octave.
The tenor is written in treble clef and is sung an octave down (by the guys, anyway) and the bass is bass. No tenor clefs or such. Let me look and see if I have a 4 part "Star in the East"
If we can't find one, you could just have one woman do the tenor as written. The alto parts tend to be boring, filling in the third, as they are wont to do. Let me look.
Blessings,
one of the other Barbaras

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 10:33 PM

Thanks, Barbara. That's just how we're doing it, but I didn't realize I was singing the tenor part. We picked the key of Dm (rather than Am as written in the Southern Harmony) based on how low my husband could sing. He's normally a tenor, but I grabbed that part first, having found the song and learned that part previously. Then a soprano came along and had no trouble with the high part. The last guy to join our little ensemble ended up singing the tenor part with me but an octave lower, apparently just as the music was intended!

I'd be very interested to see a fourth part if you find one, but I'm wondering who would get "stuck" singing it. Probably that last guy to join us!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 09:51 AM

I'm pretty sure I have a 4 part arrangement of this; I may have 2. I think one version was in American Vocalist. It was reprinted in An American Christmas Harp, compiled by Karen Willard. Follow that link for info on contacting the compiler. I'll try to remember to look when I get home.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 12:09 PM

Barbara Shaw - regarding the key, it's traditional to pick the key based on what the voices you have can handle. Being an entirely vocal tradition, usually you don't pick a "key", per se, since it matters not a whit what it might come out to on an instrument, but the song leader (or group, by consensus) finds the tonic fa or la that makes it work for all the parts.

The part of the NPR program that I found particularly interesting was the traditional singers' discussion of their feelings about folkies using their tradition -- and the folkies feelings about it as well. (By folkies, I mean those who've come to shape note singing other than thru their church or community's tradition. Many (like me) are not in it for the religion, but for the music, though many also find the spirit comes through somehow anyway, though not necessarily as intended.)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 12:54 PM

I find it rather strange that several people have mentioned "Northfield" while "New Jerusalem" (Which is another Jeremiah Ingalls setting of the same Isaac Watts text)is conspicuous by it's absence. Perhaps singing it at Larry Gordon's speed has scared people off !

I once read that Ingalls originally composed "Northfield" while he and his friends were waiting rather a long time for their dinner and sang a parody of the Isaac Watts text "How long dear saviour, oh how long, wil our repast be delayed".

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 07:12 PM

Both Northfield (155) & New Jerusalem (299) are popular. Northfield was probably been metioned because it's often a 1st fuging tune for people. Northfield may also be done a bit more because it's easier & beginners like to lead it.

I checked the online minutes for 2001 & 2002. Northfield was reported 115 & 136 times; New Jerusalem 97 & 106. Anything @100 or higher is very popular.

"Will our repast be displayed" does not scan, but the basic story you heard is the commonly accepted one. It may have been "Will supper (dinner) be delayed"

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 21 Dec 03 - 12:36 PM

Update on "Star in the East." Burke tells me that s/he has a 4-part arrangement, which I hope to see sometime. Not in time for this morning, however, when we did it during the regular Sunday service at church!

Turns out our soprano came down with laryngitis, so the guy who was doubling my tenor part QUICKLY learned the soprano part and sang it an octave lower. That filled the three parts, with me singing tenor, one male voice singing bass and one male voice singing - what would you call soprano an octave lower?

It actually worked very well.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Dec 03 - 07:20 AM

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 22 Dec 03 - 05:56 PM

The top line is treble & is traditionally sung by both men & women, as is the tenor (lead). What you did was rearrange it into a more modern sort of STB with the Soprano having the lead. If you had taken the top line, you would have had a more traditional arrangment.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 04:57 PM

Barbara, C. H. Cayce's Good Old Songs (1914) has a 4-part setting with the air in the soprano line, at song #618, page 354.

T.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:40 PM

The inclusing of Sacred Harp music in Cold Mountain has resulted in a host of good newspaper articles & radio programs on Sacred Harp.

Today's Here & Now is especially good. (about 10 minutes)
Cleve Callison has posted a program first aired on NPR's Options series in 1979.

Jan. 5 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jan. 4 the Chicago Tribune

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 04:35 PM

May have been noted in another thread, but a 1929 recording of "Cuba" and "Religion is a Fortune" by The Alabama Sacred Harp Singers is available at "Honking Duck."
Cuba Religion

Also at Honking Duck is the hymn, "We will gather with the Lord today," Sunday Evening at Seth Parker's, sung by Phillips Lord & Company, 1929

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 04:58 PM

TAPES AVAILABLE ON LOAN

If you have just been bitten by the shape-note bug and aren't able to lay out cash moolah for a CD-- Burke was kind enough to donate a set of shape-note materials to the Gospel Tape Lending Library project, and they are at my house ready to be lent out. There are several different tapes and one copy of the singer's book. Since she sent me the book, I believe an online edition has been located. So it would be cheapest to send out just the tapes, which are live-recorded sings from various places. PM me for details if you're interested.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 07:49 PM

W, anyone who uses the tapes really needs the book as well. There are lots of tunes that are not in the online 3rd edition. The book is heavy, so whoever borrows should plan on helping with the postage.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 07:50 PM

OK. Thanks for the guidance.

~S~

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: pavane
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 05:41 AM

Two Sacred Harp songs were recorded by Young Tradition on their Galleries album, c1968

Wondrous Love
Idumea

I have no idea how their treatment compares with the 'standard' practice though.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 06:41 PM

I don't usually announce individual conventions because there are so many in different places. The one I'm going to this weekend is particularly good & worth getting to.

The United Convention begins its 2nd century on Saturday:
Formed in 1904 in Atlanta, GA, the convention returns to the Atlanta area and will be held:

September 11 and 12
9:30am-3:00pm (both days)

Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church
Dunwoody, GA
(Ebenezer is located at the corner of Spalding Drive and Roberts Road, just off GA. 400. Exit at Northridge, cross over Northridge from exit ramp onto Roberts Road.)

More information HERE

Also this weekend is the 9th UK Convention in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. Details here

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: open mike
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 12:57 AM

lots of links here..
http://fasola.org/
and here:
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 21 Nov 04 - 01:43 PM

Here are some down-loadable songs from Sacred Harp:
www.callistc/SacredHarpSingersintro.html

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 21 Nov 04 - 01:50 PM

Sorry about the above:
I got: callistc/sacredharpsingersintro.html
from Google.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Burke
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 10:49 AM

Here's the link Sheila was trying to give. The corrent domain was missing.

It was mentioned by WILLIAM HOGELAND in a Nov. 21 New York Times column:
Sacred Harp
At homepage.mac.com/callistc/SacredHarpSingersintro.html, you can download 22 free MP3 performances by some of the best singers of the roof-raising hymn style known as Sacred Harp, recorded in the 1970's in Bremen, Ga. (File names, worth browsing in themselves, include "145 Sweet Affliction" and "Arbacoochee.") Revivalists sometimes can't help crisping up the Sacred Harp sound, but these singers were full of unpretty enthusiasm. And the recordings let you hear the timbers groan and buzz.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 01:12 PM

Yes, Burke. Thanks for correcting me.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: open mike
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 02:06 PM

I posted in the Tim Eriksen thread about the shape note singers at the
newport folk festival in 2006. Tim_Eriksen_And_The_Shape_Note_Singers on mvy radio
check this out...from martha's vineyard radio archives.

the group singing starts about 6 minutes into the clip.
As Tim states, this is a 200 year old community singing tradition.
not usually seen as a performance, but as an group involvement
tradition.

Fa so la!

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 22 - 02:16 PM

I don't read music very well. If I want to learn something from sheet music or a hymnal, I sometimes transcribe the parts to a MIDI that I can play as a ringtone on my phone. But that's tedious. I really have to want to learn a song to take the effort to learn four parts - or even one of the four parts.

So today I was looking at "Babylon Is Fallen," and I wondered if there might be a resource for the parts of Sacred Harp songs. Sure enough, Sacred Harp Bremen has transcribed all the songs in The Sacred Harp:

https://sacredharpbremen.org

The music has a strange, electronic sound. I wonder how it was reproduced. But it's a quick, easy way to see how a Sacred Harp hymn sounds, with all the parts separated for easy learning.

„The Sacred Harp“ ist der Name des Buches, aus dem wir singen. Vor ca. 160 Jahren wurde es das erste Mal publiziert, in einer Tradition, die noch weit älter ist. „Sacred Harp“ – die heilige Harfe – ist ein Begriff für die menschliche Stimme! Diese Art der Musik wird auch Shape Note Music genannt – Was das heißt, soll im Folgenden erklärt werden. Man nehme sich dazu am besten einen Song zur Hand, damit es verständlicher wird. Beim Zuhören fällt wahrscheinlich als erstes auf, dass wir alle keine ausgebildeten Sänger sind (auch wenn sich ab und an trainierte Stimmen zu uns verirren). Sacred Harp erinnert an die Tage, als Kirchenmusik noch von der Gemeinde gesungen wurde und nicht von einem Chor. Wir singen, weil es uns Spaß macht! Zwar sind auch Zuhörer willkommen, aber wir verstehen Sacred Harp nicht als eine Aufführung – jeder ist dazu eingeladen, mitzumachen.

"The Sacred Harp" is the name of the book we're singing from. It was first published around 160 years ago, in a tradition that is even older. "Sacred Harp" - the holy harp - is a term for the human voice! This type of music is also called shape note music – what that means is explained below. It is best to take a song to hand so that it becomes easier to understand. When listening, the first thing that probably strikes you is that none of us are trained singers (although trained voices occasionally stray to us). Sacred Harp is reminiscent of the days when sacred music was sung by the congregation rather than a choir. We sing because we enjoy it! While listeners are also welcome, we don't see Sacred Harp as a performance - everyone is invited to join in.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Guest Joan F
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 09:55 AM

Joe, that stuff from the Bremen group *is* electronically produced & is awful. They are not much better singing with people doing it. They sound very classical, straight-jacketed, formal, which is *not* Sacred Harp.

Traditional, that is people who grew up doing it, SH singers don't tend to record parts separately for educational purposes.

I can pick out my part, alto, from recordings but of course I already know the songs.

The best way to learn an SH song is singing it next to singers.

If you get a recording of "Babylon", for instance, recorded by people in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Texas, North Carolina in the 60s, no later than the 70s, so without a lot of Northern visitors,what you get from the composite song will be pretty close to the tenor part, 3rd line down from the top in the songbooks, which is the lead.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 10:46 AM

Many recordings on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Sacred+Harp+Singing+top+tracks

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: cnd
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 10:54 AM

Joan, I understand where you're coming from, being a North Carolinian myself, but there is a certain sort of irony in your complaint since Sacred Harp is after all, a Northern import which took hold more prominently southward, much like football.

The electronic mixes are a good learning tool, but of course, are not beautiful.

I would agree that trying to be too prim and proper with sacred harp tends to ruin it. Whenever I listen to, for example, Last Words of Copernicus (thread), I always enjoy the "flyers" and gravelly voices which would never sit in a trained setting. I've heard sacred harp described as a patchwork quilt of voices, and to me it's most beautiful if they're not too neat and organized. It's good to have a little rough around the edges.

That being said, singing it is the best way to learn it, and if you haven't had formally learned the "dots" then sacred harp could be a good way to start. I won't belabor the point too much, but (depending on the system you learn) it's all made to be either 4 or 7 sounds based on the musical scale, with the shape of the note (hence, shape-note singing) determining the exact sound. Of course, you still have to learn the half, quarter, whole, and eighth notes, etc, but it's a simple primer.

I looked into learning it on my own, but to echo Joan, learned immensely more in about 30 minutes at a single Sacred Harp teaching session at Merlefest one year.

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Guest Joan F
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 07:30 PM

Just to clarify, what you learn in reading the shapes in shape-note singing is the *interval* between any two notes.

You start wherever you want (well, where the group wants) regardless of where the song is pitched in classical notation.

Then build your scale from that tonic note, which in a major mode song will be a "fa", a triangle on its side. Thats "do" in the doremi scale. But we're using the fasola scale.

"So", the next note, is oval, is a major 2nd, "re" in doremi.

"La", the next note, is a rectangle, a major 3rd from your tonic "fa", "mi" in dor we mi.

"Fa", the next note, triangle again, but written higher than the tonic "fa" starter note, is a major 4th, also "fa" in doremi.

"So", comes next, written higher than the 1st "so", oval again, major 5th from tonic.   Also "so" in doremi.


"La" next, higher than 1st "la", rectangle again, higher than 1st "la", is major 6th from tonic. Also "la" in doremi.

"Mi" next, is diamond-shaped. Equilateral triangles joined at their bases, points up, down, left & right. MAajor 7th from tonic. "Ti" in doremi.

The 8th note is "fa" again & completes the octave. A major 8th if you will.

If you know the distances between any 2 notes in a sung scale (that's solfege) you've got it.

Minor scale starts on the "la" below your tonic "fa", but when you get to the 6th scale degree, a "fa", you raise it a little.

You're in sorta-Dorian mode. Because most of the minor SH songs were taken from or at least inspired by Celtic-land songs.

Oh yeah, ignore all sharps & flats you see. The system wasn't built telling you you have to, but we do,

Subject: RE: Shape Note or Sacred Harp
From: GUEST,Guest Joan F
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 07:38 PM

The Wright family gives tutorials, pointing at the shapes on whiteboard, which should be archived on NEFFA's site of on-line NEFFAs as "Singing School".