Ninth Garden State Sacred Harp Singing Convention & Fifth "Unconventional Sunday"

Convention details

Friday: Singing from The Sacred Harp, with a look at its roots in the music of the English parish church

Sheila Girling Smith and Edwin Macadam, of Oxford, England, are longtime members of the flourshing U.K. Sacred Harp community. They have also been active in the ongoing revival of Britain's indigenous "West Gallery" music, the music of country parish churches that gave birth to both New England psalmody and Sacred Harp singing. (You did know that the fuging tune was a British invention, didn't you?) Sheila and Edwin are co-editors (with Rollo Woods) of the recently published West-Gallery musical psalter Praise and Glory. In September 2001 they will be hosting the U.K. Sacred Harp Convention in Oxford (that would be the one in Oxfordshire, not Mississippi).

We have prevailed upon them to sing a few songs from West Gallery sources with us on Friday night, to give us both a taste of current West Gallery singing and a glimpse of the roots of many of our own Sacred Harp traditions. (Copies of the songs will be provided in 4-shape notation.)

We shall of course also be doing a great deal of singing from the Sacred Harp on Friday evening, so don't let any latent xenophobic tendencies keep you away!!

Saturday: All-day singing with dinner on the grounds

Sunday: Our fifth "Unconventional Sunday"

Singers who so desire are welcome to join the 9:00 am Sunday worship services. We'll try to get some copies of the congregational hymns printed in shapes for your convenience.

Following the service, our 11:30 am singing session will include singing from The Sacred Harp 1991 edition while also particularly encouraging the singing of new songs and music from other shape-note books, including the Cooper revision and Eclectic Harmony. Please supply 60 copies of any new songs or songs from any other shape-note books that you wish to lead. Please observe copyright restrictions and obtain permission before copying where required.

From 2:30 to 5:00 pm we will join the newly established Manhattan monthly singing, singing mostly from the Sacred Harp, but admitting other music as demand warrants.

Logistical details and information

Books

Copies of The Sacred Harp tunebook (1991 edition, 585 pages, hardbound) will be available for loan or for purchase.

Kids

Children are welcome and encouraged to sing! Childcare for young children may be available; please inquire.

Getting there

The convention venues are located in metro New Jersey and in nearby New York City, with easy access by highway or by public transportation from all points. For map and detailed travel directions, please see our directions page.

Housing

Information about hotel accomodations will be announced here shortly. Please check back or call 973 779-8290 for an update.

To inquire about housing with local singers, call 973 779-8290 or e-mail to smbjoyous@aol.com

What is Sacred Harp singing?

It is a uniquely American music with roots in colonial New England congregational singing and a continuous tradition preserved by both black and white churches in the rural South. Since the 1970s it has been sung in all parts of North America by people of remarkably diverse musical and religious backgrounds.

Our tunebook, The Sacred Harp (first published in 1844 and most recently revised in 1991), is written in "shape notes": standard musical notation supplemented with variously shaped noteheads that make it easier for beginners to learn the notes of the scale and to learn to read music. But you don't need to read music to join in singing with us!

We sing in the traditional way, sitting in four sections facing each other around a hollow square, beating time together, taking turns leading from the center of the square. Three- and four-part counterpoint--whether devised by largely self-taught "folk" composers or by disciples of the classical masters--is enriched and expanded to six parts by octave doublings. Some songs are lively, some sober; a strongly felt rhythmic pulse governs both.

We sing early versions of standard hymns such as Amazing Grace, Old Hundred, Wayfaring Stranger, and Wondrous Love, but much of the music in The Sacred Harp will be unfamiliar even to experienced choral singers: majestic ancient English and European psalm tunes, spirited 18th-century New England "fuging tunes," anthems, folk and gospel hymns, camp-meeting songs from the 19th-century frontier, and compositions in all of these traditional genres by the women and men who have preserved The Sacred Harp and its music through all the years of the 20th century.

For more information about Sacred Harp singing and Sacred Harp resources on the Internet, we recommend starting with Warren Steel's Sacred Harp page at the University of Mississippi.

Call or write us!

More information about Sacred Harp in New Jersey

Want to sing some more? Or get a head-start before the convention? Do you live in our area? Are you visiting? You are always welcome at our monthly Sacred Harp singings in Montclair, New Jersey.

You can also view our archive of pages for previous conventions and other past events.