Sacred Harp singing is the largest surviving branch of traditional American Shape Note Singing. "Sacred Harp" refers to The Sacred Harp, a book first published in 1844 and continuously updated since. Along with other hymn books from the era, its repertoire of 550 4-part a cappella hymns, odes, and anthems is part of the foundation of a vibrant oral tradition handed down since Colonial times and still practiced at hundreds of annual singing meetings, conventions, and local singing groups throughout the country.
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Windham Mear Wondrous Love Lover of the Lord Montgomery Northfield Mount Zion Milford Stratfield Evening Shade Ballstown Edom Fillmore Sardis Mission Vain World Adieu Heavenly Vision David's Lamentation Sherburne |
This album of Sacred Harp ("shape note") singing presents a cross section of a tradition which was born centuries ago in the British Isles, crossed the Atlantic with the early colonists, took on the colors of the eighteenth-century singing school, and, after the Revolution, spread into the remotest parts of the Southeast.
| 3024 CD $14.98 |
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Singing school Jolly Soldier Buonaparte Marion Musgrove Wake Up The Beggar Heavenly Meeting Raymond Good-by Zion's Walls O Save the Royal Band Few Days Weeping Mary Come, Tell me of Your Ship Heavenly King The Traveller To the Land Lisbon |
Leading Sacred Harp singers from Georgia and Alabama, led by Hugh McGraw, perform songs from the 1855 work The Sacred Harp. This collection by John Gordan McCurry (a farmer and singing master rom upper Georgia) was neglected for over a century. This album is one of the few in which any of the 19th century shape note compositions can be heard in their original three-voice settings.
| 8669 CD $15.98 |
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The Happy Sailor Blooming Youth Weeping Pilgrim There We Our Jesus Shall Adore Bound for Canaan Cuba, Firm Foundation Florida Desire for Piety Ragan Struggle On Ninety-fifth Psalm Fallen by the Way Happy Home Coronation The Dying Boy The FatherÕs Boundless Love The ChristianÕs Flight Give Me Just A Little More Time |
An invaluable document of a musical tradition stretching back to the Civil
War that is on the verge of disappearing forever, Desire for Piety is a rare
example of black Sacred Harp singing from rural southeast Alabama. The songs
are from the B.F. White Sacred Harp, the hymn book primarily used by the seven
million shape-note singers in this country. Liner notes by Henry Willett, an
acknowledged authority on shape-note singing.
| 2836 CD $14.98 |
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Prayer/Come To Jesus Now Alone The Signs of The Judgement Florida Storm Shout and Sing Jesus Lives In My Soul My Friend Call Upon The Lord Welcome Address My Mother's Gone Rejoice and Sing Prosperity Am I a Soldier of The Cross It Is Finished |
African American Sacred Harp singing conventions in southeastern Alabama began near the last third of the 19th century. While singing, for the most part, the same repertory of Sacred Harp music as their Anglo American counterparts, a vocal stylistic difference is clearly apparent. During a typical convention singing the participants arrange themselves in a square according to voice part, the basses facing the trebles, and the tenors facing the altos. A song leader stands in the middle of the square leading the singers first through the notes to the songs and then through the lyrics, a practice emanating from the traditional singing school classes, where singers are taught to sing the notes and then the words.
| 2837 CD $14.98 |
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The Heavenly Port Bound for Canaan The Old Ship of Zion Exhilaration Antioch Sweet Rivers Hallelujah The Golden Harp Traveling Pilgrim Jewett Pisgan Sweet Prospect Weeping Pilgrim Sweet Canaan Penick The Morning Trumpet Ester I'm a Long Time Traveling Away from Home I Belong to This Band Sweet Morning Heaven's My Home |
The 1927-1928 recordings by J.T. Allison's ensemble are rare instances of the convergence of two important cultural movements of the southeastern U.S.—the emerging country music recording industry and the tradition of singing religious folk music from shape-note tunebooks. The Allisons recorded music directly from "The Sacred Harp," compiled in Georgia in 1844, which used musical notes in 4 shapes, representing degrees of the musical scale, to aid in learning and reading religious music. The emphasis of this music is large public gatherings, where throngs of singers gather for an intense musical and spiritual experience—everyone comes to sing and there is no discernable audience. 21 songs, lightly accompanied, richly harmonic and sincerely sung by non-professional, but certainly competent, singers: "The Heavenly Port," "The Old Ship of Zion," "Sweet Rivers," "The Golden Harp," "Jewett," "Pisgah," "Sweet Prospect," "The Morning Trumpet," "Ester," "I'm A Long Time Traveling Away From Home," "I Belong to this Band," "Sweet Morning" and "Heaven's My Home." Although its use declined over the 19th century, we love "Home" and the other shape-note recordings we've heard. Rich history and photos in the extensive liner notes booklet.
| 3034 CD $15.98 |
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Hallelujah (Daniels-Deason Sacred Harp Singers) Long Sought Home (Allison's Sacred Harp Singers) Rocky Road (Alabama Sacerd Harp Singers) Calvary (Dye's Sacred Harp Singers) I'm on My Journey Home (Denson's Scare Harp Singers) Happy Land (Allison's Sacred Harp Singers) Relgion Is a Fortune (Alabama Sacred Harp Singers) Happy on the Way (Fa-So-La Singers) Land of Beulah (Dye's Sacred Harp Singers) Pleyel's Hymn (Daniels-Deason Sacred Harp Singers) Journey Home (Allison's Sacred Harp Singers) Edom (Okeh Atlanta Sacred Harp Singers) Relgion Is a Fortune (Wells, Lee Sacred Harp Singers) Not Made With Hands - 2:39 (Allison's Sacred Harp Singers) Odem (Roswell Sacred Harp Singers) Ragan (Denson-Parris Sacred Harp Singers) Ninety-Fifth (Okeh Atlanta Sacred Harp Singers) Promised Land (Prioneer Sacred Harp Singers) |
An important collection of original recordings of some of the earliest Sacred Harp singing groups. Extensive liner notes makes this compilation a must have for people interested in the Shape Note tradition.
| 3032 CD $15.98 |
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Northfield Soar Away Cowper Evening Shade Daniel Read Elder Edmund Dumas Eternal Day Sweet Prospect North Port Greenwich Wondrous Love Peace and Joy Parting Friends Weeping Mary Alabama Milford New Jerusalem The Better Land attr. Elkanah Kelsey Dare Morning |
Shape-note music refers to a particular system of notation and part singing popularized in the nineteenth century through a series of songbooks, of which the "Sacred Harp," compiled in 1844, was one. Typically sung in four parts, these spirited folk-derived tunes are rough-hewn, having emerged from the English Colonies that were their soil; their subject matter, the sacred and the secular. These songs were sung by and for the people, though displaying a fine musical sensibility; the "Word of Mouth Chorus" (from Plainfield, Vermont) is in top form, singing "Greenwich," "The Better Land," "Northfield" and eighteen others.
| 9725 CD $14.98 |
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Montgomery Windham Sweet prospect China Soar Away The better land Weeping Mary White Mortality Eternal Day Heavenly Union Expression Evening Shade Kedron Love the Lord Condescension All is Well Africa Traveling on Happy land New Jerusalem Primrose Peace and joy Schenectady |
Tudor founder Doug Fullington directs the 17-strong Seattle-based mixed choir in a wonderful collection of 18th and 19th century American Shapenote songs, in this their 2nd CD. The composers who wrote and taught Shapenote songs sought ways for the melody to crop up in all of the vocal parts, or at least for each vocal part to have an interesting musical line, as opposed to all the lower parts supporting the sopranos. 24 spirited songs are here, some of the most melodic, upbeat Christian hymns we've heard. It's obviously more fun to sing Shapenote, because the singers are just singing their tails off! "Montgomery," "Sweet Prospect," "China," "Soar away," the joyous "The better land," the welcoming "Weeping Mary," the dynamic "Eternal day," "Heavenly union," "Evening shade," "All is well," "Africa," "Traveling on," the upbeat "Happy land," the glorious fugue "New Jerusalem," "Hallelujah"É These are amazing songs, very blue collar, not designed to be sung in cathedrals. One rarely suspects of cathedral choirs that they are having too much fun singing, but we are certain of it here! Extensive liner notes. Recommended!
Listen to "Weeping Mary" in RealAudio.
| 6814 CD $15.98 |
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Shepherd's Star Shiloh The Cherry Tree Antioch Sherburne Emanuel for Christmas Redemption S.M. Anthem for Luke Joys Seven Bethlehem C.M Redemption L.M. Boston for Christmas Bonnie Doon Star in the East Oxford Judea New Bethlehem London I Saw Three Ships Raymond Convoy Distress Milford |
The 17 mixed voices of Seattle's Tudor Choir, founded by Doug Fullington in 1993, have a focused repertoire dedicated to historically informed concerts and recordings with an emphasis on Renaissance, early American and English choral music. While putting together 1996's "The Shapenote Album," the Choir came across "An American Christmas Harp," a shapenote collection, and were inspired to record "An American Christmas. We won't go into defining shapenote, referring you to the 28-page liner notes, but we will say that it's intensely harmonic and spirited, and often includes fugues. 23 songs, some of which we know by other names, "Antioch," for instance, we know as "Joy to the World." Some favorites: "Shiloh," "Sherburne," "Emanuel, For Christmas," "Redemption, S.M.," "Anthem from Luke," "Joys Seven," "Boston, For Christmas," "Bonnie Doon," "Judea," "London," "Raymond" and "Milford." These now obscure songs were once as familiar to rural Americans as "White Christmas." Shapenote is joyous, celebratory music, fun to sing and fun to hear.
Listen to "Shiloh" in RealAudio.
| 6947 CD $15.98 |
This hardbound treasure is a goldmine of hundreds of historic hymns rendered in the traditional shape note style. Essentially, shape notes consist of four shapes - triangle, square, oval and diamond - which correspond with a syllable: fa, sol, la and mi. These shapes and syllables are then associated with notes on a scale. This system, and the Shape Note singing books such as the Sacred Harp (which was originally published in 1844), were ubiquitous, particularly in the South, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Music was an integral part of the camp meetings and revivals of the period, and the shape note method was intended to simplify the reading of music, so that anyone so moved could participate. The thematic content is almost exclusively religious in nature, reflecting the predominant attitude of the composers, as well as the publishers, of the time. The polyphony of the shape note is characterized by lively chordal movement, and dyadic harmony based on fourths and fifths, often in parallel. Contemporary renditions, sung in the shape note style, can be heard on the soundtrack to the Civil War film, "Cold Mountain." The book also includes an introductory section entitled the "Rudiments of Music," a thorough primer in the fundamentals of theory. Updated in 1991 with the addition of 62 songs, "The Sacred Harp" will keep a group of part-singers entertained for years. Can also be used by those accustomed to conventional notation.
| 7078 SONGBOOK $24.98 |
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Introduction The Tunes Biographies And Notes Selected Bibliography Extra Texts For Hymns And Psalms Index Of Titles Index Of First Lines Index Of Composers |
Northern Harmony has always been a singer's collection. These tunes have been taught to singers of every age, ability, background and musical taste. They work. There is, perhaps, no other easily accessible choral music that is as much fun to sing. The music is stark, rhythmic, frequently modal, and very distinctive, set to the fierce rhymed poetry of Issac Watts and others. We recommend this volume to singers and conductors everywhere, first and foremost because it is a collection of powerful and exciting music. In the last two decades, there has been a tremendous resurgence of shape-note singing all over the country. This shape-note revival has inspired an outpouring of splendid new songs by young singer/composers. Over a third of this edition is accounted for by contemporary compositions.The largest part of this volume presents a selection of plain tunes, fuging tunes, and anthems written by American composers during the years 1770-1810, most of them hitherto unavailable in modern editions.
| 8411 SONGBOOK $19.95 |
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Almighty Maker, God My Thoughts, That Often Mount the Skies When Some Kind Shepherd from His Fold Ye Boundless Realms of Joy How Pleased and Blessed Was I From Deep Distress and Troubled Thoughts What Is Our God, or What His Name My Soul, Triumphant in the Lord To God, in Whom I Trust Hear Me, O Lord, nor Hide Thy Face My Soul, the Great Creator Praise How Short and Hasty Is Our Life How Soft the Words My Savior Speaks Through Every Age, Eternal God Return, O God of Love, Return My God! The Spring of All My Joys Brethren, We Have Met to Worship |
The 17 varied early American shape note hymns found in songbooks published between 1790 and 1830 in "Sweet Manna" give us a glimpse of the musical life of the early settlers and the changing modes of Christian worship as the country developed. The rich variety of lyrics and tunes include cheerful gathering songs like "My God, the Spring of All My Joy;" slow, reflective moods as in "Deep Distress and Troubled Thoughts;" sprightly dances: "When Some Kind Shepherd from His Fold;" and joyous marches: "My Soul, Triumphant in the Lord." Fuguing tunes like "How Pleased and Blessed Was I" and "Through Every Age, Eternal God" release their energies; while more modal melodies like "Return, O God of Love, Return" shed a quiet grace. The mixed a cappella voices of MMA are strong and soaring, and these powerful songs are sung with spirit and feeling, and it is easy to imagine being in the congregations where they were first sung, joining in wonderful choruses of praise.
| 6867 SONGBOOK $15.98 |
| 6867 CD $15.98 |
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