![[NEW]](../pix/new.gif)
Shapenote Singing Intro
Shapenote Singing with David Lee
Shapenote Singing Hoboken
Shapenote Singing Meaning
Hoboken-Style Sacred Harp
Note: The first two Web sites described below are good places to start learning about the world of Sacred Harp and related shape-note music. Both sites should be consulted, because eachpresents much worthy and nonoverlapping material.
Note: Web pages primarily devoted to regional singing schedules are listed in chapter 3.
Sacred Harp Singing by Professor Warren Steel at the University of Mississippi Department of Music. This resource is actively maintained by Prof. Steel, a foremost authority on early American psalmody and the Sacred Harp tradition. It includes the following important resources:
Of particular value are Mr. Steel's hyperlinks to tremendous music resources on the WWW, to be found by clicking on "-Warren Steel" to get his own homepage.
fasola.org: Sacred Harp and Shape Note Singing, developed initially by Keith Willard and revamped and managed by Chris Thorman, is currently under the auspices of the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association. This Web site provides access to many important resources and has the following main sections:
The Sacred Harp Online Index by Chris Thorman. This important online resource is an integrated set of indices of all lyrics, words, phrases, titles, page numbers, poets, composers, and meters in the The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition. All of the indices are hyper-linked with the song lyrics and vice-versa." For example, one can look up a word in the concordance, find a list of songs using the word, and then click on the name of a listed song to reveal the complete lyrics and information of that song. There is also a list of the 200 most common words in the tunebook. This series of indices is reached through Fasola.org. This Web resource replaces the printed Sacred Harp Concordance, although printed copies may still be available from Mr. Thorman (see chapter 2).
Cooper Book Tunes (online index) prepared by Martha Henderson and Tim Slattery, assisted by Robert Vaughn and webmaster Miriam Kilmer, is an integrated set of indices to all of the songs in the B.F. White Sacred Harp Revised Cooper Edition 2000 Revision. The tunes can be selectively sorted and displayed in the order of page number, tune name, composer, tune date, author, lyric date, meter, first line, or name of the same tune in the Denson Revision/1991 Edition. Optionally, all of these fields can be displayed in a spreadsheet. This project was the brainchild of Martha Henderson, who typed all of the data. Robert Vaughn supplied the song meters. Tim Slattery wrote the sorting program, and Miriam Kilmer provides Web space.
Comparison Tune Index Between the 1991 Denson Revision and the 2006 Cooper Revision by Gaylon Powell, assisted by Robert Vaughn, Karen Willard, and Berkley Moore. This highly useful index compares the tunes that are found in both the "Denson" book and the Cooper Book. The main comparison is with respect to page numbers; in addition, any differences in the tune (tenor part) are noted. (The alto part is different between the books for most songs and therefore is not notated.) Tunes which appear in one but not the other book are also listed.
Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings. The minutes of singings from The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition from 1995 through the year before the current one have been compiled electronically by Shelbie Sheppard, Pam Nunn, Carolyn Deacy, Chris Thorman, Keith Willard, David Ivey, and others. This database is available on the World Wide Web. One can browse the full directory or search by song number or full names of singers. Song numbers are hyperlinked to the title and lyrics. An added feature (to be used only if really needed) is downloadable zipped PDF files of the Sacred Harp Minutes Online Edition, which includes the Minutes, Directory of Singings, and Deaths sections of the annual printed minutes books.
Shape Note Bibliography, compiled by John Bealle. Extensively expanded in 1998, this is a most impressive and useful guide to books, journal articles and other materials on shape note singing, compiled by an historian/folklorist/sociologist who has sung Sacred Harp music for decades. The listings are classified under the following headings: bibliographic sources, concepts, culture groups, geographic regions, influences, musical forms, tunebook compilers, and tunebooks.
Shape Note Recordings Index, compiled and frequently updated by Berkley Moore. This very useful resource lists essentially every audio recording of Sacred Harp and Sacred Harp-style music that is or has recently been in print and distributed to the public, including field recordings and performances by amateur and professional groups. Many recordings of English West Gallery music are also listed. The index consists of two sections: (1) an index of tunes, which lists all albums in which each tune is found, and (2) an index of albums which lists all tunes on each album.
Maps to Shape-Note Singings, produced by Karen Willard and Tim Slattery. The remarkable site on the Fasola.org Page contains two very high-quality maps (large and small format) with driving directions and information on singings for each of many singing locations, with emphasis on the hard-to-find locations in the rural South. Over 280 singings at over 210 locations were included as of last count, and additional ones are being added as work proceeds and as new singings are established. Karen Willard researched and created the maps and driving directions, while Tim Slattery did the CGI programming.
Shape-Note Pages of Ishmael the Fiddler, aka F. Ishmael J. M. Stefanov-Wagner. Ishmael the Fiddler has several informative pages on his Web site at MIT. One is entitled Shape-Note Historical Background, and explains the history of the shapes in shape-note singing. It has informative photos of pages from the Bay Psalme Book, John Tufts's Introduction to the Singing of Psalm-Tunes, and Andrew Law's Musical Primer.
Links to Web Pages for Regional Singings and Conventions and Special Events and Publicity, compiled by Warren Steel. The many Web pages describing regional singing activities, schedules, and conventions are listed. A recently added section provides links to many news articles and radio programs about Sacred Harp singing.
Chronological Index of The Sacred Harp (1991 Edition) compiled by Duncan Vinson. This page, now on the Fasola.org Web site, lists the tunes (page numbers only) in the order of the date of the composition of the music, as published in the tunebook. Mr. Vinson was an ethnomusicology student at Brown University.
Colored Sacred Harp Web Site compiled by Steve Grauberger and Janice Jackson. This Web site, described as unfinished by Mr. Grauberger, contains a short biography of Judge Jackson (compiler of the Colored Sacred Harp), recent and historical photos of the Jackson Family and the Wiregrass Singers, and photos of singing at the annual Judge Jackson Memorial Singing in Ozark, AL.
Christian Harmony Web page now for both editions, maintained by Mary Baumeister and others. Information, schedules, and minutes of singings from both the 1873 Walker edition of Christian Harmony in western North Carolina and the Deason-Parris Christian Harmony in Alabama and Mississippi (information on Al-MS singings supplied by Tim Cook). There is also sections presenting recipes, ordering information for tunebooks and CDs, and verses that are not in the tunebooks.
The Harmonia Sacra Web site by James Nelson Gingerich. Dr. Gingerich compiled the 25th edition of the important Mennonite tunebook The Harmonia Sacra (see chapter 1 of this guide). There is information about the tunebook, the Harmonia Sacra singing tradition, and, most valuable of all, a link to the online version of The Harmonia Sacra Handbook by James Nelson Gingerich and Matthew Lind, described in chapter 2 of this guide.
The Online Southern Harmony, by Harry Plantinga. This Web site, which is the brainchild of Prof. Plantinga of Wheaton College and appears to be under construction, is an index of William Walker's Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1854 edition). Each song is accompanied by an image of the original score, complete song text, tune attributions, and printable GIF images. Some songs also have MIDI sound files contributed by Peter B. Irvine. There are indices and a search engine as well. This resource is in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Wheaton College.
Northern Harmony Online Index. This index contains information about songs in the Northern Harmony, Fourth Edition (see chapter 1). The format is exactly the same as that of the Sacred Harp Online Index by Chris Thorman but is being maintained by Robert Stoddard.
Rising Dove Bookstore of Miriam Kilmer. This Web page lists conveniently most or all shape note music-related books and recordings sold by or through the online stores Amazon.com, Borders.com, Alibris.com, and American Book Exchange. It contains links to the informative Amazon pages for each item.
Practical Guides to Sacred Harp Singing by Virginia W. Ely and others. Ginnie Ely is a noted Boston-area shape-note singer who has had many years of experience in singing and leading Sacred Harp music in the North and South, in observing and participating in successful traditional practices at Southern singings, and in organizing the New England Sacred Harp Convention. These essays are found in Prof. Warren Steel's Web site at the URLs indicated below:
"First time at a Sacred Harp singing?" is a two-page handout adapted by Lisa Grayson from her beginner's guide described in chapter 2. It is an ideal handout at singings and conventions. Sections are entitled "Where should I sit?," "Shape notes," and "Seven frequently asked Sacred Harp questions." Ms. Grayson has placed it online as a PDF file for free use by anyone.
Miss Grace Notes' Advice on All Things Sacred Harp.. In the 1990s, the Chicago Sacred Harp Newsletter (no longer published) featured a column (written in the style of Miss Manners' column and books) providing advice to novice Northern Sacred Harpers on the proper etiquette of Sacred Harp singings. Although the identity of Miss Grace Notes was not disclosed, the advice reflects extensive knowledge of Southern Sacred Harp practices. Now Karen Willard has provided many of the columns on the Pacific Northwest Sacred Harp Web site "so that an entirely new crop of Sacred Harp singers may benefit from her wisdom and graciously imparted knowledge of Sacred Harp ways."
Sacred Harp tune listings organized by Pat Keating. Prof. Keating, a Sacred Harp singer, has created "for fun" some spreadsheets of tunes which should be useful to others. Current information includes the following:
Analyses of Sacred Harp tunes and texts by Will Fitzgerald. Dr. Fitzgerald, a Sacred Harp singer, has prepared a growing number of analyses and posted them on his Web site. These include the following:
Entrances for Fuging Tunes in The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition tabulated by Annie Grieshop. Ms. Grieshop, a singer and pianist, lists fuging tunes (as defined by Karl Kroeger) and the order of entrances of the parts for each tune.
Chronological Biography of B. F. White by Donald Stephen Clarke. B.F. White, originally from South Carolina, was the principal compiler of The Sacred Harp (first edition 1844). This interesting biographical resource was placed on the Web by the author's cousin Prof. Charles Wells.
A Check-List of Shape-Note Hymnals in the Rare Book Collection of the Alderman Library, University of Virginia, compiled by Mary Bhame Pope, 1980. This list provides interesting information about a large number of shape-note tunebooks and hymnals (including shape-note gospel hymnals).
Web site with search engine for the Hymn Tune Index: A Census of English-Language Hymn Tunes in Printed Sources from 1535 to 1820 by Nicholas Temperley, assisted by Charles G. Manns, and Joseph Herl. The description by the publisher of the four volume print version of The Hymn Tune Index states: "This unique reference is the first systematic guide to the history of the English-language hymn tune, as represented in printed sources from the earliest (Coverdale's Goostly Psalmes) to 1820. Using a simple numerical code to represent the first two lines of each melody, the book allows the reader to look up any of nearly 20,000 British and American hymn tunes without advance knowledge of the composer, name, or text. The online search engine can be used to query the Hymn Tune Index database for specific information, including tune name, incipit (beginning of melody), composer, and attribution, as well as hymn texts (first two lines). For example, one can find all listed tune(s) having a given incipit, all listed tunes by a given composer, or all listed tunes associated with a given text. Information on musical sources in which a given tune appeared can subsequently be obtained. See the description of the four-volume print version in chapters 2 and 14. The Web site's main entry URLs is http://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. This is an extensive resource with a subsection on hymns and hymnology. Listings under Hymns and Hymnology appear after the Non-Fiction and Fiction sections.
Voices Across America, is a project of June Melton, who travels around the U.S. in search of musicians performing Christian music such as traditional hymns, gospel, spirituals, bluegrass, and Sacred Harp. There are now many interesting shape-note singing field recordings in the Sacred Harp category. For example, there are audio files from recent Chattahoochee (Georgia) and Minnesota Sacred Harp Conventions, a monthly singing at the Antioch Baptist Church in Ider, Alabama, a Harmonia Sacra singing in Indiana, several New Harp of Columbia singings in Tennessee, and songs from a shape-note singing school in Mississippi during which well-known songs were sung in the Choctaw (Indian) language. In addition, there are audio files of songs performed by several performing ensembles.
Christian Harmony Recordings produced by Thomas Malone. Tom Malone, editor of The Christian Harmony and Songster's Companion by Jeremiah Ingalls, Bicentennial 2005 Edition has produced over four CD field recordings of singing of the songs from the bicentennial edition (see Chapter 5). He has also produced in 2007 a CD of less popular songs from this book in which he sings all four parts (See Chapter 6). Will Fitzgerald has placed streaming audio files of most or all of the tracks of these five recordings on his Web site at http://www.entish.org/ch/.
Podcast Recordings of the Shiloh Sacred Harp Singers in Springdale, Arkansas. In September, 2006, Heather Marie Wells of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale recorded the Sacred Harp singers who meet monthly at the Museum. Both songs and interviews with singers were recorded, and two MP3 programs were placed on the Internet for downloading to computer or MP3 recorder such as an iPod. Episode 6 on the general list of the Museum's podcasts is entitled "The Songs of Sacred Harp" and has 49 minutes of the group's favorite songs. Episode 7 is entitled "The Singers of Sacred Harp" and has 36 minutes dealing with the history of the tradition and interviews with group members.
"Amazing Grace" Web site of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress launched in 2007 an extensive Web site devoted to the history of the most famous hymn sung to a tune withshape-note origins, "Amazing Grace." The site features the Chasanoff/Elozua Amazing Grace Collection of published recordings of the hymn by various musicians. It is a joint venture of several divisions of the Library as well as the American Folklife Center. Of interest to shape-note singers are several early and unpublished recordings. These include the earliest known (1922) recording of of "New Britain" by the Original Sacred Harp Choir, a 1929 recording by the Allison Sacred Harp Singers using the tune "Jewett," a previously unavailable 1942 recording of "New Britain" by Alan Lomax and George Pullen Jackson at the Alabama Sacred Harp Convention, and a 1986 recording of "New Britain" by the Boston Camerata (from a live concert). Of further interest is a 1942 interview by Alan Lomax of the dynamic Sacred Harp great Paine Denson, in which he praises the authenticity of the music in TheSacred Harp and derides new harmonizations of "Amazing Grace/New Britain" and "The Promised Land." The Web site also has a useful timeline and several examples of early printed versions of "Amazing Grace" (see image file section below).
"Sacred Harp.mus": Audio files of songs in The Sacred Harp and other shape-note tunebooks prepared by Terre Schill. As described by Ms. Schill, "This page offers audio .mus files of songs in the 1991 Revision and Cooper book of The Sacred Harp [and now Southern Harmony, Christian Harmony (Alabama and North Carolina editions), New Harp of Columbia, and Harmonia Sacra]. These files are not intended to be an entirely realistsic representation of Sacred Harp songs as sung, but rather to be useful to singers in learning new songs, or new parts to already-familiar songs. To play these files you must have the Myriad Plug-In, freeware, 1553 kb. This will enable you to play songs at this Web site in either the default piano or the synthetic "virtual singer" voice or to download them to be played on one's own Melody/Harmony Assistant program to enable one to play only one or two parts in isolation for easier learning."
Will Fitzgerald has created a Web page linking the lyrics of songs in the 1991 Edition compiled by Chris Thorman on the fasola.org site with the music files on Sacred Harp.mus.
Sacred Harp recordings of John Work in 1938 . The Library of Congress's American Memory Project has a section featuring audio files of six songs sung from the Cooper Sacred Harp in 1938 probably in Dothan, Alabama and recorded by John Work. (Thanks to Will Fitzgerald for discovering these.)
Music from The American Vocalist Web site, compiled by John Kay. The American Vocalist was published in Boston in 1848-49 by D.H. Mansfield. It contains many early 19th century singing school tunes, published in standard round notation, and is long out of print. John Kay has an ongoing project to post online MIDI files and scanned pages for all songs in the book. He is also adding MIDI files and scans from other out of print tunebooks as well.
The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection at Lyon College. Folklorist John Quincy Wolf, Jr. collected and recorded folksongs of the South and recorded over 60 Sacred Harp singings in northern Mississippi and Alabama in the 1960s. His collections are maintained by Lyon College in Arkansas. The Wolf Collection Web site has a page on Sacred Harp where one can download at this time 18 audio files of songs recorded in 1961 at a fine traditional singing at Salem Church near Fulton, Mississippi. Hopefully recordings of additional singings will be added to the online collection in the future. The Web site also contains many transcriptions and audio files of other folksong genres such as Ozark folksongs and Memphis blues.
"The Good Old Way": MIDI files of shape-note hymns/songs prepared by Michael Moore. Mr. Moore, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, has generated synthesizer/instrumental performances of many shape note tunes from The Sacred Harp (1991 and Cooper Editions), The Southern Harmony, Christian Harmony (1873), The Harmonia Sacra, The Easy Instructor (1818), Ingall's The Christian Harmony (1805), Wyeth's Repository Part 2 (1820), tunes by Stephen Jenks, Methodist Harmonist (1822), and more. He has placed these MIDI files online on his home page. He writes, "Please keep in mind that midis in no way come close to the beauty apparent in these tunes when a whole room full of people sing them with love and gusto." Having said that, listening to these MIDIs can be moving and enlightening, because the songs sound refreshingly different when "performed" with instrumental tones rather than voices and words in a relatively peaceful and quiet style. Furthermore, these MIDIs can introduce singers to unfamiliar but beautiful shape-note tunes.
"The Other Old Way" is another growing collection of MIDI files prepared by Michael Moore. It features tunes from mainstream books of compilers and composers like Lowell Mason, Thomas Hastings, William Batchelder Bradbury, Luther Orlando Emerson, and George Root. Mr. Moore writes: "Many of these writers' tunes really were written for beginners and sound somewhat ordinary, but quite a few have very interesting ideas and sounds."
MIDI files of hymntunes in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library This is a collection of around 200 MIDI and Quick-time Movie files of a sizable number of well-known hymn tunes. With appropriate software, one can play recordings of these hymntunes performed in standard harmony by a synthesizer. Included are a few hymns of shape-note and New England singing school origin, including such unlikely ones as the fuging tunes "Northfield" and "Evening Shade."
Apple's iTunes Music Store. A number of Sacred Harp songs found on CDs described elsewhere in this guide are currently available for download as MP3 files for $0.99 per song, and several entire albums are available for $9.99. The number of Sacred Harp offerings is increasing with time. To see what is available, one needs to download the free iTunes software (for PC or Mac) from http://www.apple.com/itunes and then search the database with this software.
NRP program "Sacred Harp Singers," 1979. Cleve Callison, then of WLRH Public Radio, Huntsville, AL, produced an award-winning documentary of close to one hour in length on Sacred Harp singing which was aired on National Public Radio's "Options" series in October, 1979. Twenty-five years later he has recently placed on the Web MP3 files of all segments of this program for listening over the Internet. The program includes the singing of 22 songs and interviews of singers at the 1978 United Sacred Harp Convention in Arab, AL, and the 1979 Holly Springs Singing in Bremen, GA. Interviewed are: Hugh McGraw of the Sacred Harp Publishing Co., author Buell Cobb, Mack Wootten, Lisa Wootten, Carl Hughes and others. The remarks of Mack Wootten about the fellowship and joy of singing are particularly memorable. Currently each of 46 segments must be downloaded separately.
South Georgia Folklife Collection radio archives and photo exhibit. Brief programs on Sacred Harp singing in the area of Hoboken, Georgia were produced by Laurie Kay Sommers and aired on Georgia Public Radio in 1998 and 2000. Three of these (including one on hymn lining) were part of the 13-part Wiregrass Ways series produced by WWET in Valdosta and supported by the Georgia Council for the Arts. Five more short programs were produced for the Pulse of the Planet series and feature interviews with members of the Lee family and Hoboken-style Sacred Harp singing. Listening to the archives over the Internet requires up-to-date free RealPlayer software. The Web site also has an exhibit of photographs of Sacred Harp singing and explanatory legends. The programs in the Radio Archives related to Sacred Harp and hymn lining are as follows, where the first three are from the Wiregrass Ways and the latter five (meant to form a single unit) are from Pulse of the Planet:
Shapenote Singing Intro
Shapenote Singing with David Lee
Shapenote Singing Hoboken
Shapenote Singing Meaning
Hoboken-Style Sacred Harp
Alabama State Council on the Arts Radio Series. The Web site features audio files of many "Alabama Arts" radio programs, each 28.5 minutes long. The files are in MP3 format, with some also in the smaller WMA format for faster downloads. Of interest to Sacred Harp singers are the following programs:
The Alabama Folkways Radio Series produced by Anne Kimzey several years ago has some productions of interest to Sacred Harp singers:
Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp singing on New York city radio . An archived audio file of a radio program (called Airborn Event with Dan Bodah) on April 17, 2002 on WFMU-FM (New York City area) has three hours of spirited singing from the 2002 Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Convention, along with six interviews with singers including Tim Eriksen, Peter Irvine, Cath Oss, and Richard DeLong. The URL is http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/3155. According to Mary Ann Daly, one needs to go in about 40 minutes into the audio file to reach the Sacred Harp singing. It is not certain how long this archive will remain on the Web.
Web sites of the Library of Congress's American Memory Project containing images of all pages of important early American shape-note tunebooks:
The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the American Theological Library Association has scanned and made available online seven shaped-note tunebooks and hymnals from the Bowld Music Library of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The set of 2981 images can be accessed by going to the Browse the Collections page and checking "Shape-note tune books." Most of the tunes appear to be in the "better music" category. The tunebooks scanned (with hyperlinks to the first page of each) are listed below. (However, with some browsers under some circumstances the ATLA server fails to process the URL and directs you to their general search page.)(Thanks to Barbara Swetman for providing these links):
"Amazing Grace" Web site of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress launched in 2007 an extensive Web site devoted to the history of the most famous hymn sung to a tune withshape-note origins, "Amazing Grace." See the initial description of this Web site above in the audio-file section. The Web site has digital images of all pages from The Virginia Harmony printed in 1831, which is the first tunebook known to use the tune later associated with the "Amazing Grace" text, and the 1847 edition of The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by William Walker. The Web site also has a useful timeline and audio files of recordings by shape-note singers (see audio file section above).
The Northeast Ohio Sacred Harp Singing Page, maintained by Prof. Charles Wells. Some shape-note music is found under a subheading of this page.
The North Carolina Shape Note Singing Web Page has tune scores in the section entitled Local Music Collection.
Fasola.org hosts two distinct and very active mailing lists (now Google groups) for shape-note music singers and enthusiasts as well as scholars and performing artists. Both are moderated lists, and each serves a different purpose. Extensive information on both lists may be found at the Fasola Mailing Lists web page at http://fasola.org/community/lists/.
There are several ways to subscribe to these lists -- by e-mail, the Google Groups Web interface, or Fasola.org, all explained in detail on the Fasola List web page. The simplest way is to just send an email message to one of these addresses: fasola-singings-subscribe@googlegroups.com or fasola-discussions-subscribe@googlegroups.com. You'll receive a confirmation request e-mail (to prove your identity)--you should reply to the confirmation request from the same e-mail address you used to subscribe. Then wait for a second confirmation that you have been added.
Fasola Questions GoogleGroup. This is an open forum for the general public to ask questions about Sacred Harp music, hymns, history, traditions, or any other questions not answered on the Sacred Harp Singing web site at http://fasola.org/. No membership is required to post a question. Sacred Harp singers expert in various aspects of the subject will receive the posted questions and will hopefully reply.
Shapenote@yahoogroups.com is an unmoderated list set up by Chuck Neville of Lennoxville, Quebec. It is a discussion group for people everywhere who sing or are interested in Sacred Harp music. It is designed to be a less restrained counterpart to the moderated discussions@fasola.org, although nastiness is not tolerated. To subscribe, go to http://groups.yahoo.com and search under "shapenote". The archives are public.
Region-specific e-mail lists. Several e-mail listings have been set up for announcements and discussion regarding singing in a particular region. Only subscribers can post to these lists or, for some lists, access archives.
Blogs (Web logs): There is at least one blog devoted entirely to Sacred Harp singing, the UC Berkeley Sacred Harp Blog which has multiple authors. An increasing number of Sacred Harp singers have started personal blogs dealing with multiple subjects including but not limited to Sacred Harp. One place to search for them is
Google Blog Search. These include the Will.Whim blog by Will Fitzgerald, Sacred Harp Alto blog by Sharona Nelson, Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths blog by R. L. Vaughn, Showers of Blessings blog by Paul L., and Boundless Stores of Grace blog by Linda.