{"id":22044,"date":"2025-05-30T18:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T00:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-sacred-harp-singers-are-revamping-an-iconic-pre-civil-war-hymnal\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T00:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T00:37:27","slug":"why-sacred-harp-singers-are-revamping-an-iconic-pre-civil-war-hymnal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-sacred-harp-singers-are-revamping-an-iconic-pre-civil-war-hymnal\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Sacred Harp singers are revamping an iconic pre-Civil War hymnal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah
Sarah George, who met her husband through Sacred Harp singing, holds their son while leading a song from the hollow square at a Sacred Harp gathering in Bremen, Georgia, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church on March 22. (Jessie Wardarski\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jessie Wardarski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

BREMEN, Ga. \u2013 Singers at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in West Georgia treat their red hymnals like extensions of themselves, never straying far from their copies of \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d and its music notes shaped like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds.<\/p>\n

In four-part harmony, they sing together for hours, carrying on a more than 180-year-old American folk tradition that is as much about the community as it is the music.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no accident \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d is still in use today, and a new edition \u2013 the first in 34 years \u2013 is on its way.<\/p>\n

Since the Christian songbook\u2019s pre-Civil War publication, groups of Sacred Harp singers have periodically worked together to revise it, preserving its history and breathing new life into it. It\u2019s a renewal, not a reprint, said David Ivey, a lifelong singer and chair of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company\u2019s revision and music committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s credited for keeping our book vibrant and alive,\u201d said Ivey.<\/p>\n

First published in 1844 by West Georgia editors and compilers Benjamin F. White and Elisha J. King, revisions of the shape-note hymnal make space for songs by living composers, said Jesse P. Karlsberg, a committee member and expert on the tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a book that was published before my great-grandparents were born and I think people will be singing from it long after I\u2019m dead,\u201d said Karlsberg, who met his wife through the a cappella group practice, which is central to his academic career. It\u2019s also his spiritual community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s changed my life to become a Sacred Harp singer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sacred
Sacred Harp singers sit among the headstones at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church for a midday potluck in Bremen, Georgia, on March 22. (Jessie Wardarski\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jessie Wardarski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Cuts, additions and other weighty decision making<\/div>\n

The nine-member revision committee feels tremendous responsibility, said Ivey, who also worked on the most recent 1991 edition.<\/p>\n

Sacred Harp singers are not historical reenactors, he said. They use their hymnals week after week. Some treat them like scrapbooks or family Bibles, tucking mementos between pages, taking notes in the margins and passing them down. Memories and emotions get attached to specific songs, and favorites in life can become memorials in death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book is precious to people,\u201d said Ivey, on a March afternoon surrounded by songbooks and related materials at the nonprofit publishing company\u2019s museum in Carrollton, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Sacred Harp singing is a remarkably well-documented tradition. The small, unassuming museum \u2013 about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Atlanta near the Alabama state line \u2013 stewards a trove of recordings and meeting minutes of singing events.<\/p>\n

The upcoming edition is years in the making. The revision, authorized by the publishing company\u2019s board of directors in October 2018, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It now will be released in September at the annual convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Ivey hopes singers fall in love with it, though he knows there is nervousness in the Sacred Harp community. For now, many of the changes are under wraps.<\/p>\n

Assembled to be representative of the community, the committee is being methodical and making decisions through consensus, Ivey said. Though most will remain, some old songs will be cut and new ones added. They invited singer input, holding community meetings and singing events to help evaluate the more than 1,100 new songs submitted for consideration.<\/p>\n

\"In
In this photo provided by the State Archives of Florida, M.L. Long leads sacred harp singers at the S.E. Alabama & Florida Union Sacred Harp Sing in Campbellton, Florida, on Nov. 24, 1980. (Peggy A. Bulger\/State Archives of Florida)<\/span>Peggy A. Bulger<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Singing unites generations of family and friends<\/div>\n

Sarah George, who met her husband through Sacred Harp and included it in their Episcopal wedding, hopes his compositions make the 2025 edition and their son grows up seeing his dad\u2019s name in the songbook they will sing out of most weekends.<\/p>\n

More so, George is wishing for a revival.<\/p>\n

Her hope for \u201cthe revision is that it reminds people and reminds singers that we\u2019re not doing something antiquated and folksy. We\u2019re doing something that is a living, breathing worship tradition and music tradition,\u201d said George, during a weekend of singing at Holly Springs.<\/p>\n

Dozens gathered at the church for the Georgia State Sacred Harp Convention. Its back-to-back days of singing were interrupted by little other than potluck lunches and fellowship.<\/p>\n

Sharing a pew with her daughter and granddaughter, Sheri Taylor explained that her family has sung from \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d for generations. Her grandfather built a church specifically for singing events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised in it,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also known songwriters. Her daughter Laura Wood has fond childhood memories of singing with the late Hugh McGraw, a torchbearer of the tradition who oversaw the 1991 edition. While her mother is wary of the upcoming revision, knowing some songs won\u2019t be included, Wood is excited for it.<\/p>\n

At Holly Springs, they joined the chorus of voices bouncing off the church\u2019s floor-to-ceiling wood planks and followed along in their songbooks. Wood felt connected to her family, especially her late grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can feel them with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A 1911 edition of \u201cThe Sacred Harp,\u201d a shape-note hymnal from the 1800s, opened to song No. 43, \u201cPrimrose Hill,\u201d at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Georgia, on March 21. (Jessie Wardarski\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jessie Wardarski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Fa, sol, la, mi and other peculiarities of shape-note singing<\/div>\n

Like all Sacred Harp events, it was not a performance. \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d is meant to be sung by everyone \u2013 loudly.<\/p>\n

Anyone can lead a song of their choosing from the hymnal\u2019s 554 options, but a song can only be sung once per event with few exceptions. Also called fa-sol-la singing, the group sight-reads the songs using the book\u2019s unique musical notations, sounding first its shape notes \u2013 fa, sol, la and mi \u2013 and then its lyrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea is to make singing accessible to anyone,\u201d said Karlsberg. \u201cFor many of us, it\u2019s a moving and spiritual experience. It\u2019s also a chance to see our dear friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shape-note tradition emerged from New England\u2019s 18th century singing school movement that aimed to improve Protestant church music and expanded into a social activity. Over time, \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d became synonymous with this choral tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d was designed to be neither denominational nor doctrinal, Karlsberg said. Many of its lyrics were composed by Christian reformers from England, such as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, he said. It was rarely used during church services.<\/p>\n

Instead, the hymnal was part of the social fabric of the rural South, though racially segregated, Karlsberg said. Before emancipation, enslaved singers were part of white-run Sacred Harp events; post-Reconstruction, Black singers founded their own conventions, he said. \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d eventually expanded to cities and beyond the South, including other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d is still sung in its hollow square formation. Singers organize into four voice parts: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Each group takes a side, facing an opening in the center where a rotating song leader guides the group and keeps time as dozens of voices come from all sides.<\/p>\n

\"Trees
Trees encircle Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church, which has been a historical meeting site for Sacred Harp singers for generations, in Bremen, Georgia, on March 22. (Jessie Wardarski\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jessie Wardarski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Christian or not, all singers are welcome<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a high. I mean it\u2019s just an almost indescribable feeling,\u201d said Karen Rollins, a longtime singer and committee member.<\/p>\n

At the museum, Rollins carefully turned the pages of her first edition copy of \u201cThe Sacred Harp,\u201d and explained how the tradition is part of her fiber and faith. She often picks a Sunday singing over church.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the fact that we can all sing \u2013 no matter who we are, what color, what religion, whatever \u2013 that we can sing with these people and never, never get upset talking about anything that might divide us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though many are Christian, Sacred Harp singers include people of other faiths and no faith, including LGBTQ+ community members who found church uncomfortable but miss congregational singing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the good part of church for the people who grew up with it,\u201d said Sam Kleinman, who stepped into the opening at Holly Springs to lead song No. 564 \u201cZion.\u201d He is part of the vibrant shape-note singing community in New York City, that meets at St. John\u2019s Lutheran Church near the historic Stonewall Inn.<\/p>\n

Kleinman, who is Jewish but not observant, said he doesn\u2019t have a religious connection to the lyrics and finds singing in a group cathartic.<\/p>\n

Whereas Nathan Rees, a committee member and Sacred Harp museum curator, finds spiritual depth in the often-somber words.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems transcendent sometimes when you\u2019re singing this, and you\u2019re thinking about the history of the people who wrote these texts, the bigger history of just Christian devotion, and then also the history of music and this community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At Holly Springs, Rees took his turn as song leader, choosing No. 374, \u201cOh, Sing with Me!\u201d The group did as the 1859 song directed \u2013 loudly and in harmony like so many Sacred Harp singers before them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no other experience to me that feels as elevating,\u201d he said, \u201clike you\u2019re just escaping the world for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation U.S., with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this conten<\/em>t.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Matt
Matt Hinton, a shape-note singer, leads a song at a Sacred Harp singing event held at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Georgia, on March 22. (Jessie Wardarski\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jessie Wardarski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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