![[Line drawing of the Montclair Friends Meetinghouse]](meetinghouse.gif)
Come to the fifth
Garden State
Sacred Harp Singing Convention
May 16 and 17, 1997
at the Montclair Friends Meetinghouse
289 Park Street, Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Friday, May 16
7:30 to 10:00 pm, with
Singing School on tradition and
practice led by Buell Cobb.
Buell is a recognized Sacred Harp singing
master, author of The Sacred Harp -
A Tradition and Its Music, President of the
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, and
National Convention chairman.
Saturday, May 17
9:30 am to 4:30 pm
All-day Singing
with noon pot luck
"dinner on the grounds."
Singers of all levels of experience are welcome. Admission is free.
Tune books will be available for purchase or loan. Child care will
be provided; advance notification helpful.
After the Convention
Stay for our Saturday evening gathering, and to sing at Sunday morning services
and an early afternoon singing at The Unitarian Church in Summit.
Information and Housing
201-779-8290 or 201-746-0940; seiler@viconet.com
Rooms are reserved at the Holiday Inn on Route 46 West in nearby Totowa.
Call 1-800-443-5943 by May 1st and ask for the $72 Sacred Harp rate.
Travel Directions
Travel directions (by car and public transportation) and a map are on
now on the directions page.
Sacred Harp Singing
Sacred Harp
music is sung a cappella using shaped noteheads to indicate intervals.
Participants sing the old way, facing each other in a hollow square, taking turns leading songs from The Sacred Harp, a tune book that has been in continuous publication since 1844. The music is powerful, the sound distinctive: modal, open chords, octave doubling, unusual harmonies. The tunes are usually sung at full volume in an exuberant outpouring of sound and feeling.
The Garden State Sacred Harp singers sing at the Montclair Friends
Meetinghouse on the fourth Sunday of most months throughout the
year. All are welcome to join us in singing.
Consult our
current schedule for more information.
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