Shape Note Singings Schedule
Sacred Harp.mus - shape note singing
Description: Promotes Sacred Harp singing in the State of Texas
music (51843) folk (2899) a-cappella (411) sacred (274) shape-note (20) fasola (13)
Sacred Harp is religious folk music, which is sung with the aid of a unique shape-note songbook, The Sacred Harp , first published in 1844 by B. F. White and E. J. King. Sacred Harp singers produce a quality of sound, which is strangely compelling. Sung a cappella , the music is distinguished by its considerable use of the minor key and its unusual four-part harmony.
The Sacred Harp tradition developed out of the singing school movement which began in New England in the late 1700's, then spread to the rural South and finally to Texas. The early singing schools employed the English solemnization technique, which uses syllables "fa, sol, la, mi" to denote the tones of a musical scale.
Developed in the early 1800's by William Smith and William Little, the shape-note method of writing syllables, in which "fa" is represented as a , "sol" a , "la" a , and "mi" a , made reading notes and recognizing sharps and flats unnecessary. Combined with the "fasola" technique, shape-notes allowed singing masters to teach people who could not read music how to sing. [ more on the shapes ]
Shape Note Singings Schedule
Sacred Harp.mus - shape note singing