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19 Dec 06 - 03:33 PM (#1913999) Subject: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: MMario I had someone ask me this the other day -- and hadn't the foggiest idea of an answer: Are there any "Christmas Carols" in the Sacred Harp tradition - or anything similar? |
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19 Dec 06 - 03:43 PM (#1914011) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear Sherburne is a wonderful setting of the "while shepherds watched their flocks by night" passage. I'll get you a link in a minute... |
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19 Dec 06 - 03:49 PM (#1914017) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear OK, I'm not really this obsessive, but I recently sent all this info to my choir director so I had it handy: There is sheet music online at this site. There's even a reasonably good MIDI that plays when you open the page. I think the speed is a bit slow for this song, though. Track #1 here is a fairly good-sized sound clip and at a good speed, too; my only issues are that the choir is trying a little too hard to sound pretty and that they seem to think the melody is in the soprano. For a hint (though only a brief one) of what the song actually sounds like "in the vernacular," check track #16 on this Lomax cd. |
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19 Dec 06 - 03:51 PM (#1914020) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: MMario Thanks ClairBear! |
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19 Dec 06 - 03:54 PM (#1914023) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear You're welcome. Try the fish stew yet? It's perfect for Christmas Eve! |
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19 Dec 06 - 04:47 PM (#1914062) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: GUEST http://www.entish.org/sh/sacred-harp-christmas.html is Will Fitzgerald's list of seasonal items....... |
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19 Dec 06 - 11:27 PM (#1914390) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: Zhenya Babe of Bethlehem is in the Southern Harmony book: Babe of Bethlehem in The Southern Harmony And there's a nice recording, with all the harmony, on this album: Babe of Bethlehem - recording It's a beautiful song, and I've heard it just done as a carol around Christmas time without any Sacred harp context. Oh – and here it is, right in the DT. (Always helps to try the obvious first…!) Babe of Bethlehem lyrics |
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20 Dec 06 - 04:37 AM (#1914487) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: GUEST,Cats Northfield is a Christmas carol. |
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20 Dec 06 - 05:35 AM (#1914531) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: GUEST I notice on that Lomax CD mentioned above that Charley Bate of Padstow is down as singing The Gower Wassail. I think that's unlikely, it's more likely that he would sing a Cornish Wassail or it might be The Gower Wassail by Phil Tanner. |
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20 Dec 06 - 06:20 AM (#1914548) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: GUEST,Cats If it's Charlie, he'll be singing the Bodmin Wassail. |
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20 Dec 06 - 10:14 AM (#1914752) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear It certainly sounds like the Gower Wassail to me, but then I'm from California and easily confused. And I can't speak to whether or not it's Charlie, of course. However, if you double-click on the track name, you should be able to hear the sound clip yourselves and settle the question! |
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20 Dec 06 - 10:29 AM (#1914774) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: BanjoRay It IS the Gower Wassail, and it's NOT Phil Tanner, so I assume it's Charley Bate. Excellent recording of Sherburne on the Lomax CD. Ray |
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20 Dec 06 - 11:05 AM (#1914821) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: leeneia Research this song, "Shepherds, rejoice" which is also from the shape-note tradition, but I don't know which book exactly. our church choir did it a few years back. The melody was in the tenor line. Shepherds Rejoice 152Shepherds Rejoice 152. Tune: Leonard P. Breedlove, 1850 Lyrics: Isaac Watts Meter: Common Meter Double (8,6,8,6,8,6,8,6) |
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20 Dec 06 - 11:10 AM (#1914833) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear Leenia, here's the pertinent page in the 1860 Sacred Harp: Shepherds Rejoice |
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20 Dec 06 - 11:24 AM (#1914844) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear This is a short clip from The Story of the Sacred Harp 1844-1944: How the Sacred Harp Came to Be and How It Grew (a page maintained by Texas FaSoLa). Breedlove is mentioned as a crony of the original publisher in the last paragraph I clipped: The Sacred Harp was widely used from the start. It was the official song book of the Southern Musical Convention (organized at Huntersville, Upton County, Georgia, 1845), The Chattahoochee Musical Convention (organized at Macedonia Church, Coweta County, Georgia, 1852), the Tallapoosa Singing Convention (organized in Haralson County, Georgia, in 1867), and of countless other conventions organized during the following decades in the territory including Georgia and stretching westward with the tide of migration as far as Texas and Oklahoma. Sacred Harp singing has never spread, as a real country institution, farther north than the southern reaches of Tennessee and Missouri. In the Carolinas the Southern Harmony and other books seem to have offered stiff competition. The most recently organized convention, one which is at the same time the farthest north, is the Tennessee Sacred Harp Singing Association, organized in 1939 and meeting in Nashville. Major Benjamin Franklin White (he gained this title in the Georgia militia before the Civil War) died in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1879, and is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in that city beside his wife under a beautiful memorial stone set by kindred and Sacred Harp singers. James says that just before he died he sang plainly and distinctly "Behold, the morning sun begins his glorious way" (Sacred Harp, p. 391). Among the offspring of B. F. White who carried on after their father ceased to labor were J. L. White, D. P. White, W. D. White, R. H. White, B. F. ("Frank") White, Jr., Mary Caroline (White) Adair, Nancy Ogburn (White) Byrd, and Mrs. E. H. Clarke. And these were followed in the work by large numbers of White's grandchildren and great-grandchildren, some of whom are still active singers today. Among those prominently associated with the Whites were James R. Turner (b. 1807), J. P. Rees (b. 1828), H. S. Rees (his twin brother), I. M. Shell (b. 1826), Absalom Ogletree (b. 1819), Edmund Dumas, Leonard P. Breedlove, S. R. Pennick, R. F. M. Mann, E. L. King, E. T. Pounds, R. F. Ball, J. T. Edmonds, and Marion Patrick. |
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20 Dec 06 - 11:52 AM (#1914875) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: GLoux In addition to The Babe Of Bethlehem mentioned above, Southern Harmony also includes: Star In The East (p16) Messiah (p97) Derrick (Christmas Hymn) (p199) Joy To The World (or Paxton) (p281) The Shepherd's Star (p310) -Greg |
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20 Dec 06 - 11:56 AM (#1914882) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: MMario Thank you all! Keep the references coming - I'm going to print this and give it to the person who asked the question. Of course, that means I'm probably going to have to SING a lot of this next Dicken's season - but hey,,,, |
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20 Dec 06 - 12:21 PM (#1914904) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear MMario, there's a book called An American Christmas Harp edited (I presume) by Karen E. Willard of Puyallup, Washington in 2000. I wish I had contact information as I would like one myself, but I've had no luck so far. Perhaps you can dig it up? Here's a page that lists the contents: clicky Claire |
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20 Dec 06 - 12:34 PM (#1914913) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: MMario it's out of print - but a new printing hoped for in 2007. There is a CD available on Amazon with a number of the carols from it though. |
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20 Dec 06 - 12:39 PM (#1914919) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: ClaireBear Thank you! If you hear about the new edition before I do, would you kindly post the info to Mudcat? I would be ever so grateful. |
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20 Dec 06 - 06:08 PM (#1915176) Subject: RE: Sacred Harp and Christmas From: leeneia Thanks, ClaireBear, for the link about Shepherds Rejoice. Now I can learn more about the song. |