Shape note singing

[cowtime]

Anyone here know shaped note singing? Sacred Harp?

It is some powerful stuff, and I want to learn. I grew up playing piano out of an old shaped note hymnal but have never actually heard it done live.

Check out this site- be sure to have your speakers on- this stuff just blows me away....

http://awakemysoul.com/

[MTGuru]

Yes, it's an amazing sound. You really do have to experience it live -- preferably as a participant -- to get the full impact. In grad school there was a regular shaped note sing that I went to sometimes. I never did get the hang of the Fasola syllables, but would join in reading from the music when the words came in.

Back when I worked at a music store in New York, there was a gruff old piano teacher from western Virginia who used to come in, and who regarded me as the northern hippie scum I was. Then one day, I happened to be reading through my copy of The Southern Harmony when she showed up, and her eyes went wide. And from then on I was definitely OK in her book.

I still have my copy, and there are online editions of The Southern Harmony and The Sacred Harp here:
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html

And here's a national listing of shaped note sings:
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/regular.html

Maybe there's one near you? There are several here in San Diego, but I haven't been yet. So much music, so little time ...

[SteveK]

I have sung in informal shape note groups several times. I think the most amazing was at the fairgrounds in Marshall MI at a festival. The singing took place in a building called The Floral Hall. The building had four wings and is shaped like a + sign. In the area where the wings intersect there was a small cupola. One section of the singers stood at the end of each of the four wings and the cupola caught the sound. If you stood directly under the cupola you could hear all the parts raining down on you. Amazing! Another great place is Hallihurst Hall on the campus of Davis and Elkins College in Elkins WV. There is a large rounded window which reflects the sound back at the singers.

I was looking for my copy of The Christian Harmony a couple of weeks ago and couldn't find it. So thanks for those links.

[carrie]

Chicago has a very vital shape note singing group which I had the great pleasure to take part in some years ago. The basics were actually taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music. I gather that the authentic locations of shape note singing are disappearing and that the urban groups, even though they are made up of people like me who do not have shape note singing in their traditions, are keeping Sacred Harp music alive.

There really is nothing quite like standing in the "hollow square" amidst all those voices, each person getting a turn at conducting and at getting to hear the glorious blend of sounds in the middle. I've sung in some great places for acoustics but none comes close to what you describe, Steve. Those must have been soaring experiences.

[cowtime]

Interesting that those who have experienced this are not from the south. Just goes to show the power of music to travel.

I asked my mom (who's 83) if she ever heard any of this style singing. She said she went to plenty of "all day singin' and dinner on the ground" meetings, but never one where this was done. But, she said my dad, who was from western NC, was taught shaped note singing in church singing school. Wow, I can't believe he could do this stuff and I never knew. Dang, another reason to wish he was still around.

I've ordered the video and a couple of friends and I are planning a road trip to a singing!

Good links- I've found several regular sings that are only a few hours away from me.

[Key_of_D]

This probably shows how young I am, or maybe just uneducated... but I don't even know what shape notes are!

[MTGuru]

More shaped note goodness ... with mp3s!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/ushma
http://www.pilgrimproduction.org/sacredharp1.html
http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/sacred.htm

Those last 2 links are from Wikipedia, with several interesting articles and good links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Harp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Sacred ... ic_is_sung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note

Interesting that those who have experienced this are not from the south. Just goes to show the power of music to travel

That's for sure. I'm definitely a Yankee. But southern Indiana where I attended grad school (Bloomington) is arguably culturally southern in some ways. And although admittedly most of the singers there were folkies or fellow travelers from the Folklore Institute, some were from Appalachia, or Alabama, etc. and had both organic ties to the tradition and enough ethnomusicology smarts to create an authentic experience.

That's a neat story about your father. I hope you make it to a gathering sometime soon! I wonder what it would sound like with whistles?

[Wombat]

I love traditional gospel music, black and white. I recently purchased this wonderful recording of sacred harp singing:

http://dust-digital.com/sacred-harp.htm

The Dust to Digital label is generally very reliable for anybody looking for great gospel recordings. Their box set Goodbye Babylon is the most awesome collection of vintage gospel I have ever heard.

[fearfaoin]

Pinecone, our local folk music promotional society, has a shape
note singing night. I never knew what that was... Guess I'll have
to try it once.

[hathair_bláth]

I'm amazed. I've hear this type of singing quite often, but I never knew that it had a a special name or that there was anything special about it.

[crookedtune]

Pinecone, our local folk music promotional society, has a shape
note singing night. I never knew what that was... Guess I'll have
to try it once.

I've served on that organization's board of directors for about eight years now. (In fact, I'm VP at the moment, not that it means very much). One of the other board members is very involved with the Shape Note group, but I've never attended an event.

The name derives from a shorthand method of musical notation that associates a shape with each note of the major scale. Without reading standard notation, singers can get the gist of their required tones from a set of simple shapes. And, of course, it's built around simple lines that harmonize into a whole that's far greater than the sum of its parts. Ingenious stuff!

[carrie]

Brother Walden knows a lot about this tradition and his written a short history. I think he has more pages on the subject somewhere--anybody have a link?

[Walden]

I think he has more pages on the subject somewhere--anybody have a link?

Online Textbook for Aiken-System Shapenote Singing. Unfortunately some files seem to be missing from this Internet Archive of it.

[AaronMalcomb]

We listened to some field recordings of shapenote singing in an Ozark Folklore class. It sounds very similar to Gaelic Free Kirk services from the Hebrides. It also reminded me of the Bulgarian women's choirs. It's that polyphonic thing that really raises the hairs.

[fearfaoin]

Online Textbook for Aiken-System Shapenote Singing

Good lord, Clay Aiken has his own shapenote system.
I just can't get away from that guy.