Sacred Harp Singing

A short piece on PGTC about the renewed interest in Sacred Harp singing among younger singers, especially those who live in cities and college towns. Includes footage from "Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp" and its companion CD, "Help Me to Sing".

[@zerochaos1]

This was always referred to as Shape Note Singing in Appalachia when I was a boy. This video does not really bring it to life. It is filled with faith, worship, and a love for the Lord above all. It is simple, powerful, and worshipful.

[@R3tr0humppa]

I think they emphasised on the social aspect of the singing, as coming together to create sth. to enjoy. Faith/ worship is the other part, but you don't necessarily need it to enjoy this, it's still powerful. I'd say they did it justice in that aspect. :)

[@davidmeyer6908]

Thank you Cold Mountain for introducing me to this. Singing the bass line loud and proud in Michigan.

[@rachelchapman6966]

Same!

[@johndavid8815]

My cousins were the singers in the movie. The whole family sings at the family reunion in North Alabama.

[@ashcan1979]

My Grandfather's church (Second Creek Baptist in 5 Points TN) held a singing school when I was 12. I attended and learned to sign shape notes, and went to many singings across the south with him. I still remember the fist song I ever lead (Happy Land 354). I still know all the words and most of the notes by heart to many songs we sang. I will never forget what I learned with him.

[@leanneteachey1508]

Sang for several years with Hoboken, GA sacred harp singers. It was an amazing experience-fun and upliftiing!

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@johng0908]

I love this. It seems to lift my heart and soul. Please keep this form of music alive.

[@rjfoxhovenschannel9303]

God loves you so much more than you'll ever imagine He will never leave you nor forsake you Christianity is not a religion but its the best relationship 💯✝️💙🙏⛪

[@birdstuckinchimney]

I'm from NZ and I while I agree that it's from "American history and culture" I think it is way bigger than that. When I listen to it and sing it I hear the raw struggle and pure emotion of the human spirit facing head-on the juxtaposition of the human journey ie; life, love, joy, hope, human potential, versus, our mortality and ultimate demise...... This is hard to encapsulate in music but Sacred Harp does it for me every time...

[@PaleRider54]

Standing in the center of a shaped note sing is more powerful than you can possibly imagine if you've never experienced it. All those voices singing at maximum volume, all directed at you in the center, gets right down into your bones.

[@AnnaCatherineB]

It's so beautiful! I heard it first in music style class and I fell in love with it in Over the Garden Wall from cartoon network.

[@kirkedney7658]

Sacred Harp singing came into being with the 1844 publication of Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King’s The Sacred Harp. It was this book, now distributed in several different versions, that came to be the shape note tradition with the largest number of participants. B. F. White (1800-1879) was originally from Union County, South Carolina, but since 1842 had been living in Harris County, Georgia. He prepared The Sacred Harp in collaboration with a younger man, E. J. King, (ca. 1821-44), who was from Talbot County, Georgia. Together they compiled, transcribed, and composed tunes, and published a book of over 250 songs. From Wikipedia

[@verdew8181]

It's so very gratifying to see this type of singing coming back, over 50 years ago I used to love it so much up to age 10 in the Church of Christ. Never being a believer in any dogma, singing was the one thing I truly loved about church. Most other churches use musical instruments and modern arrangements, this is so much better. The little girl is right about that harmonious feeling the music inspires.

[@colbysmith81]

Heard Idumea using a smartphone app on tv about amish life in the states. Loved the effect the song had and from someone who likes metal, i found this spine tinkling. Just wish i could sing and there was something like this in london.

[@waltperry5781]

Thrilling! Zulu unaccompanied traditional vocal music sounds like this.

[@macgiollabuide]

@ohsnapitsme59 that’s about it really, it’s a different way to learn music. However there is also a different atmosphere with Sacred Harp to say a choir - you are there to sing for yourself, you own enjoyment. It is not about performance, but participation. And singers put up with all sorts of voices belting it out, if you can’t cope with that then it’s not the place to go. It’s more than just fun, there is also a social element. If you get the chance to try it, go for it! Hope that helps.

[@jimdavis8391]

This moved me.

[@conantheseptuagenarian3824]

man, i wish i would have known about this back in the '00s. would have saved my faith and me a lot of hell.

[@bj.s.7687]

Hope all is well now

[@ninjagoggles]

This is so great! Awesome to see so many of you lovelies! :) Also, that is not footage of WMSHC when she talks about it. :)

[@ClaireConrad]

I wouldn't call this a "short piece"! VERY glad it is NOT short!

[@mh605]

Some of its roots are from West Gallery music in England, and the hymn writers did use some popular tunes that were floating around, some of which might have come over from England or Ireland. But it is, indeed, a truly American musical art form. Most of the writers and composers were American--born and raised here.

[@itsjustrenee1320]

"i , i don't think i've never met anyone who's mean or ugly in sacred harp so, you know, ACT ugly, (titter)" lol

[@grebnecher]

V-E-R-Y helpful video in explaining/promoting Sacred Harp. Thanks for posting!

[@fazbell]

Such a beautiful tradition.

[@sockknitter1308]

I first heard this in 1975 in the Folklore Society of Greater Washington, which had a very active Sacred Harp group (still does).

[@ClaireConrad]

Thank you for uploading this clear educational video and showing how varied the singers are nowadays. You balanced the new full-color with the old sepia frames so well! And you combined different voices in interesting ways. Question: Could you go back into your intro and give the full form of the initialism PGTC?

[@CarolynAnnFarmer]

Thank you for this video!

[@sariahseare3753]

Don't forget about The Southern Harmony! More shape note glory!

[@denniswalters1763]

This is Beautiful music.

[@franklinuroda6474]

Love this. Notes look like Gregorian Chant notation. Great gift of self in song to Jesus (Sacre Heart) I wish my parish congregation would sing as these folks sing.

[@bloodyfrets]

This is so great it gives me goosebumps!

[@LindaGriggsable]

Thank you for making this video. I've found it useful for promoting the music.

[@ChristianHomebirth]

Very well said and done!

[@RobertSlover]

wonderful thanks for sharing!

[@karenschulz6733]

Last comment was 2 years ago. Not good! Is this still going on?!

[@annanicholson5309]

Just learned about it today. A group met in the music space just below my apartment. I had to check it out and wow it's fun

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@fiolakidd9807]

You are cordially invited to the "Kiirtan Hour 2017©" global event . You can find all the information on the event page "Kiirtan for Peace and All Round Prosperity©". This is a free and non-denominational event. Listen to the mantra we are using, Baba Nam Kevalam. The sound is in the "Kiirtan Hour 2017©" document. Please join us and invite anyone you like. Sing the Mantra, enjoy it's benefits, and if you feel like it send us a simple phone video of you singing the Mantra alone or with friends to help inspire others.

[@michaelheintz8853]

FASoLA is here to stay! This is a culture frozen in time which is still alive!

[@85mello07]

It is a fine reason. If the character of this form of song embodies the resistance of Christian faith to the dominant cultural ethos, unlike the accommodation of much of what passes for Christianity, then God bless it. Some may never embrace the faith, but it's not insignificant that the great spiritual renewals have throughout the Common Era been accompanied by song. So some may find the depth so beautifully reflected in these songs.

[@hollysheen6865]

What about Singing Billy?

[@islandbuoy4]

Sacred harps are designed to awaken the Sacred heART within namaste

[@13580863]

These meanings exist in the music on their own terms, not just ours. What I meant by postmodern was the sense that they stop at what's "sufficient to our needs". Isn't it the "uncompromising" meanings which are spiritually attractive to begin with? My basic concern was the nature of words. I don't think one takes only what one wants, how one wants it, from them; their meanings take effect, individually, collectively, despite our efforts. Like a spell, or a prayer. That's their value and danger.

[@AriD2385]

@gnaaaaaman I agree. Sacred Harp singing without the spirituality of it is to miss the essence of the music. William Billings in particular...some the most deeply moving theological verses I've had the joy of hearing. Singing is spiritual fellowship, all the more so in this genre. I'm glad different types of people enjoy it (I wouldn't be considered the typical fan), but I hope people don't try and make it "hip" or as they said, "indie". It is what it is and is beautiful as such.

[@tnielsenhayden]

1. It's silly to fret and argue about the uses singers make of songs. Some of those uses, maybe most of them, are bound to differ from what you think is appropriate, and there's nothing you can do about it. Music, like the Holy Spirit, goes wherever it will, and does what you don't expect. :|||: 2. I notice that some commenters think "young, urban, not necessarily religious" equals "hipster." That's a mistake. Even among city dwellers, hipsters are a small, specialized sub-tribe, and the closer you look, the fewer of them there are. :|||: 3. I did my first Sacred Harp singing a quarter-century ago, introduced to it by my fellow science fiction fans. It's a joy to walk into a party on the last night of an SF convention and find a group of singers tuning up for "Babylon Is Fallen" or "On Jordan's Stormy Banks." So tell me: where does that fit on your maps?

[@13580863]

Makes enough sense that reading about the colonization of other planets could lead to singing about promised land and transmigration.

[@13580863]

Besides, the word "hipster" is not as much for singling out beards and sweaters (though they're there) as singling out an attitude, for instance, xkcd's characteristic of contemporary hipsterdom: "retreat into ironic detachment while still clearly participating in the thing in question". When I see "not necessarily religious" people using overtly religious lyrics, followed by your disavowal of any responsibility to explain that use, I see a "retreat into ironic detachment".

[@fightfairfightfair]

The song is "The Traveler" by Cordelia's Dad. You're welcome.

[@edcew8236]

Alice Parker has arranged many of these tunes for more conventional choirs

[@AbunaMiguel]

Hello, I'm an Episcopal priest from Mexico. Would you please send me some info about Sacred Harp? I have problems to understand English as well as I wish, but I can read much better. Is that a denomination, or a music style, or a cultural association...? Thanks for helping me to understand. Voices at singing are wonderful!

[@JRT5573]

"The Sacred Harp" is a hymnbook first published in the early 1840's. The musical style associated with the book (often called "shaped-note-singing") was a simplified method of writing music so that those who were not musically trained could quickly learn how to read and sing the music. The music is written on 5 line staves like normal music, but the notes have shapes which correspond to which note of any particular chord is to be sung. So, one could read the music according to the shape of the notes, The denomination most closely associated with this style of singing is the Primitive Baptist Church, It might not always have been that way, but they are about the only churches I am aware of that still sing in this style. In the tradition of shape-note-singing, the singers first sing through the music singing the syllables associated with the notes they are singing. So, the first time through the tune, it sounds like gibberish because no real words are being sung. To learn more about shape-note singing, go to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note

[@odovicor]

"In my house there are many mansions." Or something like that. I am happy that any and all, hipsters and hillbillies (me) alike, "make a joyful noise unto the Lord" or whatever. Why do some of you respondees to this music elect to make something ugly out of the beautiful? It boggles the mind--and reason. Sing on!!!!!

[@ernst_junger]

This singing will always be deeply woven in the roots of faith in Jesus Christ, the one it is intended to glorify

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@darkdfa]

What is the name of the track that starts at 3:32?

[@nolawest5183]

@ 5:30 This man looks so much like Val Kilmer the actor @ around that age... I wonder if there is any relation - that he knows of? I want to join the Bay Area Harp Singers. I think it would be a great experience!

[@marfaxa]

faceblind^

[@1fallstaff]

By the way I was raised in cullman alabama mother's fam from bugtussel al.

[@gajda1984]

@gajda1984 who knows what made me write "too" instead of "to".

[@hthr]

I've sung with many of the people in this video!

[@13580863]

To their credit, the singers I know of denounce technical prerequisites with habitual quickness. So I don't foresee ability excluding future participation. There are plenty of virtuosic traditional singers anyway, right? Still, many of us who didn't find it through church found it through our music schooling, having learned certain technique and exactitude which comes out in singing. Sorry for the essay.

[@myaelliot9680]

what is the background track at 2:14?

[@jayc8136]

anyone know the tune at 2:00 ??

[@robertmackie1478]

aka harmonized yelling - I'm wondering if any of the singers wear hearing protection.

[@Elizatori]

sure but i wish the world could really see the heart...

[@mh605]

We can't force people in the door. Attendance is voluntary. People make up their own minds to attend or not. If they walk in the door, they are welcome.

[@TheNeilNeil]

Is that Screech?

[@13580863]

My gist: in past, the SH's words acquired a set of meanings in a rather specific religious narrative. These meanings are not all inclusive. When we sing these words, we invoke these meanings, however actively we otherwise avoid religious confrontation. Socially, is this responsible? Personally, how long can one repeat these words before allowing these meanings and functionally worshiping Christ? I agree that religious differences are not hindering SH's expansion. I'm concerned they *should* be.

[@luzelenacastillo8671]

I sing this in school (I go to a bible school )I know Northfield shurburn David the king and I'm a alto I'm a girl

[@Rudziewicz]

Oh please, please, PLEASE do not take God out of Sacred Harp. I can see the separation of church and state, but not the separation of God and the music written to praise him. Sorry hipsters, but this ain't a trend.

[@bmphil3400]

It's very popular in the Primitive Baptist Church.....(not snake handlers....lol) Old Line Primitive Baptist does not believe in instruments in the church so Acapella is all they do but 4 note " singings" are usually a special event.

[@moonoggin]

Can someone explain to me why there is no melody .. it's all harmony notes

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@13580863]

Further meanings: "the economic prosperity that made the Sacred Harp possible was based on the rich lands of the Native Americans and the arduous labor of enslaved blacks" (Steel 2010). Composers like L. P Breedlove owned plantations, the Denson family took Indian lots, where traversed itinerants like B. F. White. Yet we sing about "heathen lands", the "chosen few", and freedom from earthly bondage like it's just generalities about life. Would we ever sing the music of living human traffickers?

[@kephahor4251]

Instead of sol-fa, where are the lyrics?

[@arxfortis7481]

With shaped note singing, singers learn to read music by the shaped notes rather than learning to read the staff. Once they learn the shapes, they can sight read music and learn the tune of their part (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) for any given song (hence the do-ray-mi). After they learning the tune, they can then read the words without having to look back to the music for every syllable.

[@Apollo1011]

Some of the singers may feel "they are not religious", but there is a part of them that knows God. That's why they are drawn to the music.

[@XoXoJustNikkiXoXo]

And there's a reason they feel "goosebumps"

[@donnaann8943]

You're confusing god with the power and beauty of music, sadly.

[@zogworth]

***** humans?

[@XoXoJustNikkiXoXo]

zogworth Don't mean to burst your bubble, but "humans" just aren't that intelligent or powerful on their own. The only reason you are alive today is because the One true God, Jesus Christ, is giving you the very breath in your body: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).

[@zogworth]

not sure if trolling...

[@13580863]

Intertextuality, such that a text's meaning, instead of residing within, is negotiated through the broader network of related texts? Was that really the intent behind the replacement of pop lyrics with "bitingly uncompromising" psalms?

[@newfful]

Finally a sane voice! Boggles me too but I guess religion does that. Too bad most "Christians" are anything but Jesus-like in this country. Not all Xstrians but a good many. Might as well let the Westboro Church be allowed to say hateful things against anyone who doesn't follow their cult.

[@mh605]

Not really. It took a different path. However, the names of the notes did come from a music teacher monk in the 1100's named Guido d'Arrezzo. The note names were the first syllables of words of a hymn he wrote, wherein each new line started one step higher on the musical scale.

[@Cherubicon]

"Many of these fans aren't religious at all, but they're drawn to the tradition's lack of commercialism." That is the most pathetic reason I've ever heard for reviving a dying art form. I hope the fate of this tradition doesn't hang solely on such stupidity.

[@MondoBeno]

In Jewish congregations, we used to sing everything together (like the song "El Adon"). Then in the late 1800's, German Jews started the annoying institution called the "Cantor." Instead of singing together, we have a trained tenor who yodels and makes the songs take forever, while we sit their looking bored.

[@Nihilatl]

I only like the old hymns!

[@tdbsnr]

Well this is what I have always known as choral music, i.e. a choir, in which I used to sing a lot. Why the fancy name 'sacred harp'?

[@philaphobic]

This is a very specific type of choir music

[@JRT5573]

Some years ago I read that "harp" often referred to a music book. So, the Sacred Harp is a book of sacred music. When "The Sacred Harp" was first published, this particular style got so closely associated with it that the style and the book became one.

[@youtrojaxtube]

Not from the USA - its from the UK

[@Ardepark]

Use it or lose it

[@JTB1956]

@lsdvine I didn't write that the music has native blood, I wrote that WE have native blood. Most of the people I know have as widely varied and inclusive backgrounds as can be imagined. We are a gloriously mongrel people. I've lived long enough not to see "race" in too many things...especially music, and I find it odd when anyone very much my junior seems inclined to dwell on it. For better or worse, this is American music..and as worthy as any other.

[@TheRealMichelleElynHogan]

I agree that Sacred Harp is old and has been strenuously regionalized but I am afraid that its roots began in England with Charles Wesley, one of the Founders of Modern Day Methodism, (circa 1763). Here is a llink to a friend's blog on the topic; therivermenresearcher.blogspot.ca/ As prevalent as Sacred Harp is in North America, not only the USA btw, a brief search right here on KZbin will show that Sacred Harp is shared across a much broader geography than reported here. I do not chide the presenters, not at all. It is the product of the regionalism I mentioned earlier. Personally, I feel it quite heartening that Sacred Heart has such a large following and hope that beyond local / regional and even national conventions, the art may enjoy some international events in the future.

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@Elizatori]

I do too! i cant stand that contemporary stuff! Im 12 and most of the older people in my church dont even agree with me!

[@OscarCommie]

Shape note singing-brilliant Hipsters-wankers

[@__seeker__]

It comes from the British isles so I don’t know if we can call it “truly American music”

[@gajda1984]

too bad most young people aren't attracted to the old school church music. too me, this is much more spiritual than the rock bands they like these days.

[@odovicor]

Thank you, "againstracism1",

[@13580863]

Right, I guess I'm not really concerned about the personal consistency of those adopting foreign styles and mores. I'm more concerned that the styles & mores of 19th c. white America are not benevolent and ought to be taken with great pause. That's something that singles out SH. Further, young singers really do seem to be after the mores, not just the style. AFAIK, schoolchildren don't rap like NWA in their plays, folkies don't try to deal with Soviet politics, a dinner party is not a latin mass, and the white kids didn't sing much about the devil and hoodoo magic (and the Beatles ended the era of racially integrated rock'n'roll). But living SH composers still stick with Isaac Watts and the like. I don't think it's purism to look critically at how musicians deal with the moral/political/cultural/racial content they inherit in adopted music, especially when they turn that music into an international movement. It's part of respecting the material. Lastly, these are all examples of transmission post-gramophone. I'm inclined to see something new in this phenomenon.

[@newfful]

Love harp singing.......even though I dont' believe in god. Sorry if that pisses you theocrats off.

[@havokbaphomet666]

Slaves were singing things like this in plantations way before the landowners.

[@ineffablemars]

They absolutely were not.

[@lsdvine]

@JTB1956 I love this music but i do not believe that there is any element of Native blood, if you can prove it good for you, what i think is sad is that 'America' has only existed for about 600 years and the religion and spirituality of the natives was robbed and traded for guns and alcohol. It is not your fault or any of our faults. Jazz the underground music of a previously enslaved people seems anti-american almost was shunned but now it is accepted is American. America see through your past

[@maintenancetunnels]

inb4 hipsters ruin this

[@MondoBeno]

I did. It was even worse.

[@OK-Take5]

Very bad sound in video

[@Elizatori]

Then u should just go christian ;)

[@boscogump]

psh...Yankees....

[@mh605]

Not in the reform Jewish synagogue I just visited. Try reform Judaism. :-)

[@scionofgrace]

Gorgeous! There's a certain beauty to singing in a choir that has nothing to do with how polished it sounds.

[@Jmasta9]

What’s the song played at 2:00?

[@janeydear]

It's been a tradition that has not died out in the South. My Grandmother's funeral had Sacred Harp singing in 1982 in Alabama. It has been in our family for as long as I can remember.

[@autumnmist3905]

My grandfather lead sacred harp down in Mississippi.

[@jewboy761]

That was 50+ yrs ago, no offense..

[@mamabear4576]

@@jewboy761 38 years ago

[@LisaMaier]

Love this! I had never heard of Sacred Harp till just a few minutes ago. Especially in this age of arms-length social interaction mediated through technology, this is a definitely a more human interaction. So refreshing.

[@loreleih7487]

I have been to a singing in Chicago. Just being in the room, surrounded by other singers, the music vibrates in your lungs and in your bones, even if you aren't singing. The harmony produces a kind of exhilaration.

[@davnkatz]

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade (I'm now 81), in "music appreciation" we learned shape note music and singing. It was fun but challenging. It was only years later that I learned its origin.

[@patmaurer8541]

Intentional singing triggers the vagus nerve, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system--the part of our brain that tells our body: you're safe, relax and enjoy life. :-)

[@brysonkennedy5527]

Hello! How are you doing today! Please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you're a fan!....Stay safe

[@Zadamanim]

"ya'know, ACT ugly" adorable