The American tradition of shape-note singing goes back to the "singing schools" of Colonial New England. Teachers, whose qualifications more often than not were enthusiasm and self-instruction, travelled the countryside, staying a week or two in each town to of instruct young men and women in part-singing.

These itinerant masters taught a musical scale represented by the sequence of syllables "fa sol la fa sol la mi fa" which was widely popular in England at the time. (The European "do re mi fa sol la ti do" system so familiar to us today didn't become common in the New World until the mid-1800's.)

Two singing school teachers, William Smith and William Little, published The Easy Instructor in 1801, which introduced a system of shaped note heads devised to make sight reading easier. They assigned a triangle to fa, a circle for sol, a rectangle for la, and a diamond for mi; the intervals between shapes are unchanging, enabling singers to dispense with the mysteries of key signatures.

Following the great success of The Easy Instructor, numerous other such "songsters" appeared; but it was The Sacred Harp, a collection of four-part songs in shape note notation, first compiled and published in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White and E.J. King, which achieved the most widespread and deep-rooted acceptance, especially in the rural South. But though other shape note songsters followed, it is The Sacred Harp which is still in print, and in use, in a flourishing national network of weekly, monthly and annual sings unbroken for 150 years.

Many of the texts of The Sacred Harp are verses of 18th century English hymnists Isaac Watts, John Newton, Charles Wesley and William Cowper; other favorites came from camp meetings and revivals. The tunes themselves come from many sources, including the ballads, airs, dance and fiddle tunes of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Shape note singing has always been first and foremost for the participants; it is not concert music. At a sing, the singers form a "hollow square," facing inward. In classic democratic fashion, singers take turns serving as leader for a song or two of their choice, standing in the center of the square, keeping the beat and motioning in each part with hand movements varying from simple up-and-down to more demonstrative gestures.

The singing style is exuberant and full-throated, producing a powerful sound coming from all directions. At an all-day sing, the dinner hour - "dinner on the grounds" - is usually a great communal feast and a time for eager socializing. By the end of the day, everyone has experienced a unique sense of fellowship with each other.

Four part shape note music consists of treble, alto, tenor and bass, with the melody always in the tenor line. Traditionally, men sing bass, women treble, and both may join in the inner parts, an octave above or below the written staff as appropriate.

Sacred Harp music is an unaccompanied vocal form, so why are we playing instrumental versions? Our dream of making an album of instrumental shape note music has been brewing for some time. It became especially fervent when, in 1992, Shelley founded the Shape Note Society of Santa Cruz, California - naturally, the tunes we sing every week became the basis for the arrangements of this album.

The tunes and harmony in The Sacred Harp sound wonderful on instruments, we think - we love them. We're certainly not suggesting that what we're doing here is traditional shape note performance. If you want to hear that, come to one of our sings! On the other hand, it's not unusual for beautiful songs to be done as instrumentals, and with great respect and sincere appreciation of the old customs, we offer our interpretations.

We happily affirm the glorious tradition of The Sacred Harp: it's to be sung and not just listened to, so if you know the tunes - or get to know them as you listen here - join us and sing along!

The 1911 edition of The Sacred Harp offered lengthy and colorful notes on the tunes, and all the quotations below are from that source. We cite them not so much for the absolute accuracy of the information - though they're probably mostly true - but rather to give you the flavor and set you in the right mood for the shape note experience.

Oxford probably takes its name from the town in which it was written (see Northfield below). The composer, John Massengale, was one of the editors of the early versions of The Sacred Harp.

The Saints Delight: "This precious hymn is held in high esteem wherever the English language is spoken." The words are by Isaac Watts, one of the most beloved 18th century English hymnists; but, as for the music, "no trace can be found of its author, F. Price."

Kedron, whose music is credited to John Wyett, appears in a number of other shape note songsters; "it is one of the old melodies of the nineteenth century." In addition to the Sacred Harp version, we also use Kedron as found in the Episcopal Hymnal.

Cowper: "From the best information we can get, this tune was named in honor of the celebrated poet, William Cowper ... We, however, have not been able to find this poem in any of the Hymnologies, but have added another verse to it."

Northfield is a setting of one of Isaac Watts' hymns which begins "How long, dear Saviour, O how long/Shall this bright hour delay?" The story is told of composer Jeremiah Ingalls, that "during his travels as a singing teacher, he stopped at a tavern in the town of Northfield for dinner. His dinner was very slow coming. He kept thinking, 'how long?' He fell into the rhythm of Watts' sacred lines and the tune came with it. He named the tune Northfield."

The lyrics to Eternal Day were written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, founder of the English Methodist Church; they were set to music by Professor J.P. Rees, author of several other tunes in The Sacred Harp.

The Hebrew Children: "Peter Cartwright was a minister of the gospel, and used this tune in his camp meetings long before it was ever placed in notation. It is one of the old melodies of America, and has a long time been quite a favorite of many of the older people in their younger days who are now living."

Elder Edmund Dumas composed White in honor of Benjamin Franklin White, one of the original compilers of The Sacred Harp in 1844. Its beautiful refrain begins "I'm a long time trav'ling here below/I'm a long time trav'ling away from home..."

John G. McCurry published The Social Harp in 1855; of his Parting Friends, the editors of the 1911 Sacred Harp tell us only that "the Author, when eight years old, learned the air of this tune from Mrs. Catharine Penn."

The Dying Californian is attributed to Ball and Drinkard. Ball was one of the revisors of The Sacred Harp; "we have no history of Mr. Drinkard." It is the poignant testament of a forty-niner to his loved ones."

William Walker and his brother in law, Benjamin Franklin White, compiled a songbook, finishing it in 1835. Walker published it as The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, without (for reasons not entirely clear) crediting White as co-author. Hallelujah is Walker's setting of one of Charles Wesley's hymns.

Wondrous Love is a classic example of the transformation of a worldly ballad into a sacred hymn: the words most commonly sung to this beautiful tune told the tale of an infamous pirate: "My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed ... /God's laws I did forbid..." In The Sacred Harp, it celebrates the wondrous love "that caused the Lord of bliss/To bear the dreaded curse for my soul."

The 1911 Sacred Harp tells us that the words to North Port were written by John Cennick and the music by Dr. R. Osborne, who "belonged to the Southern Musical Convention, was a very fine singer, so reported; further than this, we are unable to get any data concerning him..."

Benjaman Franklin White's Melody is a setting of the text "And must I be to judgement brought/And answer in that day/For ev'ry vain and idle thought/And ev'ry word I say?"

William Walker set words by Samuel Stennett, a Scottish Doctor of Divinity, to the tune Sweet Prospect. "Stennett was one of the most influential and highly respected ministers of the Dissenting persuasion in England, and was a confidant of many of the distinguished statesmen of his time."

Samuel Stennet also wrote the words for My Home; "nothing is known of C. F. Letson, the person to whom credit is given as being the author of this tune. No trace can be obtained when he composed it."

David's Lamentation is a fuging tune by William Billings, who in the latter half of the 18th century gave up his trade as a tanner to devote his life to music. He was a prolific composer who published several collections of anthems, hymns and fuging tunes. Billings' setting of David's cry "Would to God I had died for thee, O Absolom, my son, my son!" is stirring; his anthem Rose of Sharon also takes a biblical text, the Song of Solomon.

Evening Shade is an old melody which appeared in songsters earlier than The Sacred Harp; the words are attributed to John Leland, who was "a Baptist minister, and was a great friend of President Thomas Jefferson."

The words to Ecstasy are again by John Leland; the music by T.W. Carter. "But little is known of Prof. Thomas W. Carter outside of the music credited to him in Sacred Harp. He was a member of both the Southern and Chattahoochee Musical Conventions from the time of their organization until after the war. We have been unable to learn the place of his birth or death, or secure a sketch of his life."

Few will fail to recognize New Britain as the perennially popular Amazing Grace. "John Newton lived in wickedness a long time, but finally turned to the work of his Lord and Master, and entered the ministry, and was a power as a preacher, poet and hymn writer. He expresses his feelings at the time he wrote the hymn, 'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!' ... "

For copies of The Sacred Harp songbook, or to find out about singing groups in your area write:
The Sacred Harp Publishing Company, P. O. Box 551, Temple GA 30179

Further Reading:

Jackson, George Pullen, The Story of the Sacred Harp 1844-1944, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1944.

Jackson, George Pullen, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, New York: Dover, 1965.

Chase, Gilbert, America's Music, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987.

Cobb Jr., Buell E, The Sacred Harp, A Tradition and Its Music, The University of Georgia Press, Athens & London, 1989.

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