Last week I told you about learning that my grandfather, Wilburn Bass, was a leader in the Sacred Harp singing community in south Alabama. I’m still trying to deal with that surprise. I cannot believe that no one ever told us this about Grandpa. It could be that our mother didn’t even know as her father passed when she was just seven years old. Since I recall attending Sacred Harp sings with his widow, my Granny, I have to wonder why we never knew this information.
I’m sure some of you know what I mean when I say Sacred Harp singing, but many more of you likely do not. While I’m no expert on the subject, I do know a bit about it. If you saw the movie Cold Mountain, you may recall the scene in the church where they were singing and raising and lowering their arms in the rhythm of the music. That was Sacred Harp.
The Sacred Harp
The Sacred Harp is the name of the collection of tunes first published in 1844 by B.F. White and E.J. King. The tunes included were hymn tunes, psalm tunes, anthems, and also contrapuntal fugues. America’s earliest composers, such as William Billings, Daniel Read, and Timothy Swan had tunes included within the book. Most of the lyrics are religious in nature and were written by men such as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, but even some women were included within the books. Most hymnals in use today still have hymn-tunes set to words by these men and women.
If you are fortunate enough to get to attend one of these singings, you will use one of the oblong books. There are a couple of different ones out there and your area of the country is the main determining factor in which book you will use. When you open the book, if you’ve never seen it, you may wonder why the music notation looks so different from the hymnal you are accustomed to seeing. That’s because the music is written in what is called shaped notes. That is, the note heads had geometric shapes such as squares, diamonds, or triangles, rather than the traditional rounded notes in our hymnals.
I won’t go into all of the technical musical information here. It gets too much into music theory and how one reads music. It’s just too complicated for a simple blog post.
Time For Being Square
Some pretty basic rudiments of Sacred Harp singing include the arrangement of the room. Singers sit in a hollow square facing one another with the leader in the middle of the square. There is no instrumental accompaniment. The sections are tenor, who almost always sings the lead, alto, bass, and trebles.
The singing is loud and robust. There is little attempt at making a beautiful sound, but I think you will agree that it is a joyful noise. The enthusiasm is such that the floor actually shakes beneath one’s feet during the singing.
Music, The Universal Language
If you do a search for Sacred Harp singings near you, you will likely find at least one or two within a fairly easy drive. While this music has died off in the past, I am happy to say that it is currently surging in popularity. In fact, it has become so popular that you will find singings in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Australia, Norway, and France, as well as here in the United States. If you know of other countries, please let me know.
Have you ever attended a Sacred Harp sing? What did you think? Where was it? Please add your comments below.
Jesus Follower, wife, BoyMom, DD, author, blogger, musician, southern cook, amateur genealogist, amateur artist, living life with an accent on Southern.
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