Category: ·Historical & Scholarly Research
-
In early September 1912, Georgia newspapers closely followed a public split within the Sacred Harp singing community, as rival conventions met simultaneously in Atlanta. At issue was not singing style or theology, but the legitimacy of competing songbooks—both rooted in B. F. White’s 1844 Sacred Harp. The following newspaper accounts, published over three consecutive days,…
-
Will Fitzgerald has updated his list of seasonal shape-note tunes by adding The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition. Begun in 2005, this is a terrific resource for quickly finding festive tunes to sing in December or July! We have gathered some of the tunes from the VPH for a list as well. The Christmas text “Hail…
-
“Y’all sing like somebody gone to eat and not hungry.” That was the advice Hugh McGraw gave a group of music majors in North Fulton over 40 years ago. This transcription from a 1979 edition of The Atlanta Journal reminds us that while pitch is important, the spirit is everything. Read on for a classic…
-
I’ve been conducting increasingly deep research into four-shape shape-note tunebooks. As the project has grown, I’ve realized that the sheer volume and granularity of this material requires its own dedicated space. To avoid overwhelming SingLoud.org and to give this research the focus it deserves, I am launching a new, free publication on Substack: sacredharp.substack.com I…
-
Abbreviations and initialisms have long been used when writing about shape-note tunebooks—whether as convenient shorthand among singers (“See you at the NSVAD!”) or as concise references in scholarship and editorial work. My own system draws on several sources, but one of the most influential precedents comes from George Pullen Jackson, whose writings helped standardize how…
-
Publisher of The Trumpet explores the life, theology, and poetry of a foundational hymnist. Will Fitzgerald—compiler of the serialized four-shape tunebooklet The Trumpet, writer at entish.org, and speaker at the recent “Revising The Sacred Harp” Symposium launching the 2025 Edition—has recently published a five-part series exploring the life, work, and theology of Isaac Watts. These…
-
In the mid-nineteenth century, comic songs circulated alongside serious hymns, often poking fun at doctors, preachers, and other figures of daily life. One such piece is “The Botanic Doctor” by Edmund Dumas (1810–1882), printed in The Organ, a short-lived periodical edited by B. F. White, compiler of The Sacred Harp. The song lampoons the practice…
-
The following excerpt is drawn from Utile Dulci. Or, A Joco-serious Dialogue, Concerning Regular Singing (1723), a pamphlet by New England minister and music advocate Thomas Symmes. Symmes (1678–1725), a Congregationalist minister in Bradford, Massachusetts, was one of the earliest and strongest proponents of “Regular Singing”—a reform movement in colonial church music that promoted musical…
-
We’re pleased to share a recent blog post from the Manchester Sacred Harp group, written by regular singer Harriet Monkhouse. The Manchester group has been active in projects such as Laurie Anderson’s ARK, which we’ve written about here on SingLoud.org, and their new blog is already highlighting the deep history of the tradition. While SingLoud.org…
-
Pilgrim Productions’ Voices Across America, originally curated by June Lydic, is being restored by Kyle Johnston on Bandcamp. It offers free access to unique shape-note recordings and preserves their documentary value.