Heaven's Really Gonna Shine

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“HEAVEN’S REALLY GONNA SHINE”: AFRICAN AMERICAN

NOTE SINGING IN THE NEW SOUTH

JARED W. WRIGHT

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty

of the University of West Georgia in Partial Fulfillment

of the

Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

CARROLLTON, GEORGIA

2014

“HEAVEN’S REALLY GONNA SHINE”: AFRICAN AMERICAN

NOTE SINGING IN THE NEW SOUTH

JARED W. WRIGHT

Approved:

______Dr. Ann McCleary Thesis Advisor

______Dr. Keith Hebert Thesis Committee Member

______Dr. Larry Rivers Thesis Committee Member

Approved:

______Dr. Randy Hendricks Dean, College of Arts and Humanities

______Date

ABSTRACT

JARED W. WRIGHT: “Heaven’s Really Gonna Shine”: African American Note Singing in the New South (Under the direction of Dr. Ann McCleary)

This thesis project explores various uses and interpretations of shape-note singing in the twentieth century American South. The essay investigates the history of a particular form of shape-note singing practiced by African American groups throughout the twentieth century. A group that still gathers to ‘sing the notes’ in west Georgia, the United Shape Note Singers, serves as an entry point. Oral histories with members of the group reveal a once-wide network of singers supported by songbook publishers and conventions that drew attendees in the thousands.

Though changes in musical taste and church structure mean that the style of singing has faded in popularity, groups like the United Shape Note Singers still meet to sing from their well-worn songbooks for the spiritual pleasure and sense of community that it provides. In doing so, they continue the tradition of a unique singing style that is rooted in sacred hymn singing and influenced by modern gospel, yet cannot be easily classified as either. A few existing recordings that span the course of the twentieth century are used to show how the style changed to suit the needs of singers and chart a vibrant – but often overlooked – history of African American note singing.

The thesis essay is accompanied by an online exhibit produced through a partnership between the University of West Georgia’s Center for Public History the Georgia Music

Foundation. Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi: Shape-Note Singing in West Georgia places African

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American note singing in context with other forms of music that employ shape-notes to teach and sing, including Sacred Harp and Southern Gospel. The exhibit provides a chance to showcase fieldwork collected as part of the thesis project and allows an immersive look into the sights and sounds of shape-note singing that goes far beyond the written word. It is available at http://fasola-doremi.businesscatalyst.com or via the QR codes located in appendix A.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you first and foremost to my family for their generous and unwavering support; to my friends for their encouragement and advice – they now know much more about shape-note singing than they ever expected to learn; to my professors – especially Ann McCleary and Keith

Hebert in the Center for Public History – for their kind guidance over the last two years; and to the many singers who graciously welcomed me into their homes and churches to share their music and stories.

VITA

2006 B.A. History Mercer University, Macon GA

2007-2009 Education and Programs Coordinator Georgia Music Hall of Fame Macon, GA

2009-2011 Curator Georgia Music Hall of Fame Macon, GA

2012-2013 Curator, Regional Music Project University of West Georgia Carrollton, GA

2008-2013 Camp Director Otis Redding Singer-Songwriter Camp Macon, GA

2013-2014 Director of Collections and Exhibits The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House Macon, GA

2013-Present Guest Curator Tubman African American Museum Macon, GA

2012-Present College of Arts and Humanities University of West Georgia Carrollton, GA

FIELDS OF STUDY

History, Public History, Museum Studies, Music in the American South

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... iv

VITA ...... ivi

LIST OF FIGURES ...... viiii

THESIS ESSAY: “HEAVEN”S REALLY GONNA SHINE” ...... 1

Four or Seven?: The Development of the Shape-Note Hymnal ...... 4

Beyond the Notes: African American Interpretation of Shape-Note Hymnals ...... 10

Conclusions ...... 28

PROJECT NARRATIVE: FA-SO-LA AND DO-RE-MI ...... 33

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 40

APPENDIX A: MAIN EXHIBIT HEADING SCREENSHOTS ...... 48

APPENDIX B: EXHIBIT TEXT AND SELECTED ARTIFACTS ...... 54

APPENDIX C: VISUALIZATIONS CREATED FOR FA-SO-LA AND DO-RE-MI ...... 84

APPENDIX D: GEORGIA ROOTS MUSIC FESTIVAL PRESS AND PHOTOS ...... 87

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi homepage ...... 49

Figure 2: “A History Through Songbooks” section homepage...... 50

Figure 3: “Sacred Harp Singing” section homepage...... 51

Figure 4: “United Shape Note Singers” section homepage...... 52

Figure 5: “Gospel Convention Singing” section homepage...... 53

Figure 6: J.L. White’s New Sacred Harp ...... 57

Figure 7: Mason’s Sacred Harp, 1846 ...... 57

Figure 8: Sacred Harp, James revision, 1911 ...... 58

Figure 9: Sacred Harp, fourth edition ...... 58

Figure 10: Sacred Harp, Cooper Revision, 1902 ...... 59

Figure 11: Sacred Harp, 1848 edition...... 59

Figure 12: The Southern Harmony, William Walker’s four-shape songbook ...... 60

Figure 13: The New Harmonia Sacra, Joseph Funk ...... 61

Figure 14: The Christian Harmony, William Walker’s seven-shape songbook ...... 61

Figure 15: The Temple Star, Aldine Kieffer ...... 62

Figure 16: Class, Choir and Congregation by A.J. Showalter ...... 64

Figure 17: Showalter songbooks in the ‘tall’ format...... 64

Figure 18: Showalter songbook catalogs and songbooks ...... 65

Figure 19: James D. Vaughan and Stamps-Baxter songbooks ...... 66

Figure 20: Convention songbooks by James D. Vaughan and Stamps-Baxter ...... 67

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Figure 21: Paine Denson sings in the bass section ...... 69

Figure 22: Paine Denson’s handwritten notation for “Wondrous Cross,” 1932 ...... 69

Figure 23: Chattahoochee Sacred Harp Convention, 1956 ...... 70

Figure 24: Sacred Harpers onstage at Samford University ...... 71

Figure 25: Hugh McGraw leads at the NEA Awards, Washington, D.C...... 72

Figure 26: The 1990 Revision Singing ...... 73

Figure 27: Charlene Wallace leads at the 1990 revision singing ...... 74

Figure 28: Proposed additions to the Sacred Harp 1991 revision ...... 74

Figure 29: Holly Springs historical marker ...... 75

Figure 30: 1978 Sacred Harp singing at Holly Springs ...... 76

Figure 31: United Shape Note Singers songbook suitcase...... 78

Figure 32: United Shape Note Singers at Jackson Chapel Baptist Church ...... 79

Figure 33: Group onstage at a gospel convention...... 80

Figure 34: Showalter’s rudiments in shape- and round-notes ...... 81

Figure 35: Rudiments used in gospel singing schools ...... 82

Figure 36: The many shapes of shape-note singing ...... 85

Figure 37: Shape-note singing’s spread to the South and West ...... 86

Figure 38: Georgia Roots Music Festival schedule ...... 88

Figure 39: Georgia Roots Music Festival map ...... 89

Figure 40: Sacred Harpers at the Georgia Roots Music Festival ...... 90

“HEAVEN”S REALLY GONNA SHINE”:

AFRICAN AMERICAN NOTE SINGING IN THE NEW SOUTH

On select Sundays of the year in rural west Georgia, a scattering of Baptist and Methodist churches that bear familiar names like Zion, Prospect or Bethel play host to a style of a capella singing that coaxes an assortment of sounds out of an amalgamation of seven shapes in place of the more familiar round note heads. The African American group that fills the pews on those days, the United Shape Note Singers, practices what is variously referred to as ‘year-book,’ ‘little book,’ ‘convention book,’ ‘seven-note’ or simply ‘note’ singing. Throughout the year, the group travels as far north as Rome and as far south as Macon to gather at different churches, continuing a tradition of community fellowship and harmony-filled singing based on shape-notes.

Developed as an easier alternative to teach sight-reading, the shape-note system of notation has origins in eighteenth century New England singing schools. However, throughout the nineteenth century, it spread to the rural South and West where it gained enthusiastic support, bolstered by a network of singing conventions and songbook publishers. Preferences for certain notation styles and differing views on the incorporation of new musical forms into existing traditions led to the development of several different styles, meaning that the United Shape Note

Singers exist amidst various other groups that employ shape-notes for their singings. Sacred

Harp singers remain faithful to a four-shape system and a sound that is not too far removed from the solemn – often referred to as ‘haunting’ – style found in New England’s pre-Revolutionary- era churches. Other white groups add instrumental accompaniment to their voices and incorporate modern gospel influences into a seven-shape system of notation. Although these

2 groups often share similar source material and have histories that sometimes move parallel to one another, the African American take on note singing represented by the United Shape Note

Singers that took shape in the years after the Civil War and developed into a widespread cultural activity in the early twentieth century represents a unique blend of gospel energy, spiritual reverence and shape-note skill. Partly performance, partly participatory, but mostly a deeply personal musical and religious celebration, the singing was an integral part of both spiritual and social life for African American communities in the South throughout the early twentieth century. Post-Emancipation, a growing middle class turned to shape-note songbooks and singing conventions for entertainment. These singers took white-penned material and transformed it into a useful spiritual celebration for an African American community that continued to evolve throughout the twentieth century. As the community evolved, so too did the nature of the singing. What once was a group and performance-based activity has moved into the realm of the personal, yet the singing of shape-notes has remained relevant to the participants throughout all the changes.

Note singing was once a widespread activity, with local groups of singers holding practices in private homes and public houses of worship several times a week in preparation for the culminating event of the convention, which was at the height of its popularity in the mid- twentieth century. The best groups would gather to present their favorite songs, learn new songs, and take in performances by popular quartets. However, the style lost much of its popularity after the mid-twentieth century and the Civil Right Movement. It was relegated to the realm of the folklife study or missed altogether by scholars, rendering a once-progressive activity seemingly archaic or primitive. Those studies treat the subject as a dying – or already dead – art

3 form.1 Occasionally, note singing shows up in larger histories of African American and gospel music, yet it is usually no more than a footnote or an unexplainable anomaly. In Eileen

Southern’s exhaustive study, The Music of Black Americans, shape-note singing is only afforded a brief, ambiguous paragraph.2 Furthermore, note singing does not fit nicely into the sometimes-limiting genre terms used by music historians and ethnomusicologists. The singing style is both an outlier as well as a part of the development of gospel music. It borrows some of the qualities of that music, but in many ways it is much different. Many of those differences stem from it being a part of the much older tradition of shape-note singing. Yet, larger studies of shape-note singing often gloss over the more progressive developments in African American music based on shape-notes. Instead, they tend to focus on older – more ‘traditional’ – four- shape styles that were prevalent during a time when blacks and whites often worshipped together at churches in the American South.3 African American note singing throughout the twentieth century was mostly an inclusive affair, largely uninfluenced by outside perspectives or popular musical taste. It was supported by a network of black churches, but mostly practiced outside the

1 John Work, “Plantation Meistersinger,” The Musical Quarterly 1 (1941), 97-106; Joe Dan Boyd Judge Jackson and the Colored Sacred Harp (Montgomery: Alabama Folklife Association, 2002). Work was a song collector and director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group that performed highly arranged and cleaned-up versions of African American spirituals. His very brief study of a group in Southern Alabama treats the music – which was far from the style he advocated with the Jubilee Singers – as an art form of the past, and he writes with a sense of disbelief that such a style could exist, but it was really an important part of African American rural life at that time. Boyd’s later study expands on Work’s research, but by the time he came to the subject, many of Work’s first generation informants had passed away. 2 Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1971), 455. 3 The best source of information concerning racial mixing in a musical setting, pre-Civil War, is Dena J. Epstein, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977).

4 parameters of the church service at singing classes or outside the church’s walls at home practices or conventions.

Despite these omissions from the historical record, the singing style still exists through groups like the United Shape Note Singers. The group, an assemblage of several dozen friends and relatives with deep family ties to note singing’s history, has kept up a modest – but persistent

– schedule of singings throughout the last several decades thanks to the efforts of those who prefer note singing as a medium for spiritual enlightenment. The United Shape Note Singers travel from church to church on Sundays throughout Georgia for their singings, as far north as

Rome and as far south as Macon. As recent as the late 2000s, the group added more dates to their schedule and attendees to their singings as the children of those that practiced note-singing during its heyday of the 1950s and 60s are coming to retirement age, freeing them to dedicate more time to the tradition and sing the old songs that are very different than those presently heard in the African American church. A study through the lens of the United Shape Note

Singers provides a better understanding of how African American interpretations of shape-notes existed as a middle ground between nineteenth century hymns and modern gospel. The group’s choice of songbooks shows a preference for a certain type of content and style. A listen to one of their singings can provide a link to recordings throughout the twentieth century that show the development of that style. And those developments show how the style has changed to remain relevant to those that continue to gather to ‘sing the notes.’

Four or Seven?: The Development of the Shape-Note Hymnal

The development of particular forms of shape-note singing owes much to the songbook publishing business and the allegiances singers feel to a certain type of book or notation.

Publishers created a thriving consumer culture around the books, and singers eagerly took in as

5 much new material as possible. This was especially true of books published specifically for singing conventions at the height of their popularity in the early twentieth century. Lula Arney of the United Shape Note Singers remembers buying each new book as it came out for her collection, sometimes at such a pace that it was impossible to learn all the new songs in each book.4 Many of those books made their way into the suitcases that members of the United Shape

Note Singers bring to each singing.

This booming business of shape-note hymnals began as the eighteenth century drew to a close, when the first shape-note songbook appeared in America as a way to notate pitch, rhythm, and solmization in a simplified method that could easily teach students to read music by sight.5

This book, the Easy Instructor by William Little and William Smith, employed four shapes in place of the typical round note heads to represent the four musical syllables – triangle for fa, circle for sol, square for la, and diamond for mi. The method, which drew upon and improved the

British solmization system, caught on for use in singing schools and spread to the South and

West from its original roots in New England, where the rudimentary style pushed out of popularity by properly trained singing schools masters in the wake of urbanization and the flood of ‘better music’ from Europe. By the estimation of early shape-note historian George Pullen

Jackson, nearly forty books appeared in this four-shape notation by 1855, most originating in the

Southern states, where he contends that the “bulk of shape-note history has been made.”6

4 Lula Arney interview by Jared Wright, November 11, 2012. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA. 5 Solmization refers to the attribution of a particular syllable to each note present in the musical scale. 6 George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singings, and “Buckwheat Notes.” (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1965), 24.

Of those books, the Sacred Harp, published in 1844 by Georgians Benjamin Franklin

(B.F.) White and Elisha James (E.J.) King, was arguably the most popular, due largely to B.F.

White’s diligence in promoting the book through annual conventions and timely revisions.

According to popular legend, the songbook became so widely known that many Southerners would pose for family portraits holding two books – one, the Holy Bible, the other, the Sacred

Harp. Even after White’s death the book continued to see regular revisions, though at times disagreements arose around the content and style of those revisions. The turn of the twentieth century was an especially tumultuous time for the songbook. In those years, there was an almost palpable tension between tradition and progressivism as leaders of the singing conventions – many of them upstanding citizens and exemplars of the New South ideology – struggled to balance their incorporation of the new with their desire to preserve the old. Users of the Sacred

Harp eventually split between a revision of the book by Marion Cooper and one by Joseph James

(another version by B.F. White’s son, J.L., went through several editions but failed to gain any lasting popularity).7 These two versions of the songbook continued to be published parallel to each other through the next century. The Cooper revision gained popularity in southeast

Alabama and southwest Georgia while the James revision, and subsequently the Denson revision

(which was based on the James revision) took hold in west and northwest Georgia.8

With the introduction of Jesse Aiken’s Christian Minstrel in 1846, a seven shape,

European-influenced system of notation gained popularity in America. Aikin’s model assigned a distinct shape to each note of the scale – doe, ray, mee, faw, sol, law, and see. Though it was

7 Cooper’s revision was first published in 1902, the James revision in 1911. J.L. White’s ‘Fifth Edition’ first appeared in 1909. 8 Cobb, Buell, The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1978), 84-98.

7 not the first songbook to employ a seven-shape system of notation, it was the first to provide a

“proper presentation” of the material sufficient enough to usurp the popularity of the English, four-shape system that had gained popularity in the South.9 In his prologue to the Christian

Minstrel, Aikin makes a strong case for the superiority of his new system over the old, claiming that a “radical reform in the mode of writing music is what is required” to teach people to read music rather than learn it by ear.10 Furthermore, he expounds on his reasons for choosing seven shapes over four, claiming that they “have the double advantage of giving to each sound its own name, and to each note or name its own form.”11 William Walker, who had published the popular four-shape songbook Southern Harmony in 1835 but switched to the seven-note system with his

Christian Harmony in 1867, perhaps explains the choice best by posing the question, “Would any parents having seven children ever think of calling them by only four names?”12

However, in the ensuing decades, publishers still disagreed on the exact shape of the seven note heads. No less than ten separate sets of shapes appeared, each vying for prominence, though the systems employed by Aikin in his Christian Minstrel, Joseph Funk in his Harmonia

Sacra and William Walker in his Christian Harmony were the leading contenders.

9 Lee Jack Kaufman, “A Historical Study of Seven Character Shaped Note Music Notation” (PhD diss., University of Virginia, 1970). 10 J.B. Aiken. The Christian Minstrel: A New System of Musical Notation, with a Collection of Psalm Tunes, Anthems, and Chants Selected from the Most Popular Works in Europe and America Designed for the Use of Churches, Singing-Schools and Societies (Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins, 1846), 4. 11 Ibid., 9. 12 William Walker. The Christian Harmony (Philadelphia: Fagan and Son, Stereotypers, 1873), iv. William Walker’s popular four-shape Southern Harmony and Musical Companion was published nearly decade before the Sacred Harp. His brother-in-law, B.F. White, co-authored many of the songs in the hymnal but was not credited. Upon White’s publication of the Sacred Harp, the Southern Harmony began to fade in popularity – perhaps familial tension contributed to Walker’s switch in allegiance to a particular note system.

Begrudgingly, a compromise was reached. With the publication of the Temple Star by Ruebush-

Kieffer and Company in 1886, Aldine Kieffer, Joseph Funk’s grandson, conceded in his preface to the songbook that in order to advance the cause and forward the efforts of those attempting to reform the art of teaching music in the seven-shape system that:

The Union of certain publishers and authors upon one set of Characters, representing the scale names, is a great event in the history of this reform. Prof. Aikin’s characters have been chosen… [F]or the ultimate good of the reform, the editor of these pages acquiesced in their adoption…. This points unmistakably, to greater achievements for character notes.13

Keiffer’s unwavering support and promotion of the seven-shape system would prove influential to the development of shape note singing in western Georgia by way of his protégé, Anthony

Johnson (A.J.) Showalter. Showalter, a native of Cherry Grove, Virginia, was brought up under the tutelage of Joseph Funk and Aldine Kieffer and began his career at an early age as a singing school teacher. He published several songbooks through the Ruebush-Kieffer Company before being sent to Dalton, Georgia for the purpose of starting a branch office of the company.

However, upon arrival, he set up his own music publishing company, which would go on to produce hundreds of songbooks and promote them through a monthly music magazine called the

Music Teacher and Home Magazine. This magazine, based on Kieffer’s very popular Musical

Million, would connect the A.J. Showalter Company to the people of the region and beyond, offering them reports on singing schools, the latest hymn collections and general interest stories, but most importantly, it would sell songbooks for the company.14

Some of Showalter’s early books took the traditional, oblong shape, but most took a ‘tall’ shape – roughly five inches wide by eight inches tall, which condensed the dispersed harmony of

13 Aldine Keiffer, ed. The Temple Star (Dayton: Ruebush, Keiffer and Company, 1886). 14 Joel Francis Reed, “Anthony J. Showalter (1858-1924): Southern Educator, Publisher, Composer.” (PhD diss., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1975), 47-63.

9 four staff notation possible with oblong books like the Sacred Harp into the closer harmony of two staffs. Despite his preference for round notes because of his upbringing in a “cosmopolitan music background,” Showalter, a true businessman, “put away his prejudices” and published in both round and shape-notes for a “rural environment so devoted to that notation.”15 Though he offered both versions, the shaped notation proved to be the overwhelmingly more popular around the South, outselling the round versions by five copies to one, with a total number of sales estimated at five million.16

Other companies like the Stamps-Baxter Publishing Company and the James D. Vaughan

Publishing Company would follow suit, putting out impressive numbers of soft-cover songbooks in the early years of the twentieth century. With the rise of radio, these companies even began to hire gospel quartets in different cities for the purpose of promoting their books. Eventually, some of the most popular songs would make their way into hardback songbooks like the Church

Hymnal, colloquially called the ‘red back,’ which is used ubiquitously by singers – black and white – throughout the South. First published by the Tennessee Music Company in 1951, the book represented the diverse range of religious music popular in the South, including hymns, gospel numbers, and most importantly, convention favorites popularized by publishing company quartets and itinerant salesmen. For the United Shape Note Singers, the book is the only one that could be considered a standard. All of the singers also have a well-worn copy tucked away in carefully curated suitcases full of other personal favorites, along with photocopies of the most popular songs to pass out in case singers do not have a copy of a certain book.

15 George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singings, and “Buckwheat Notes.” (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1965), 363. 16 Ibid., 363.

The Church Hymnal grew in popularity as many of the current members of the United

Shape Note Singers were attending conventions in their formative years, where they learned from their parents about the tradition of shape-note singing. As Richard Backers says, “they kept teachin’ it and teachin’ it and teachin’ it, and it came down, down, down through the generations… The seven notes always been there.”17 He recalls going to conventions as a boy and a man “that came through these parts of west Georgia” teaching the seven shapes.18 Ola Mae

King mentions the use of books by publishing companies like the Stamps-Baxter Music and

Publishing Company and the James D. Vaughan Publishing Company.19 These memories hint at the importance of music publishers and the singing schools they promoted in the region. These publishers were at the height of their popularity around the early to mid-twentieth century, eagerly promoting their songbooks and singing schools in the rural areas of the South. Their prominence during this time period would certainly have influenced the parents of members of the United Shape Note Singers, who in turn would teach the singing styles learned from these songbooks and conventions to their children.

Beyond the Notes: African American Interpretation of Shape-Note Hymnals

Much of the unique quality of shape-note singing lies in how the notes in certain songbooks are interpreted by various groups. Singers relying on these texts are by no means

17 United Shape Note Singers, interview by Dusty Dye, January 22, 2010, Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA. 18 Ibid. 19 Ola Mae King, interviewed by Jerome Danner and Ann McCleary, February 25, 2008, Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA.

11 professional, and the lack of musical accompaniment sometimes allows for a presentation far different from what is actually written in the songbooks. Singers will pitch a song low so it is more comfortable to sing, or they will rely on memory rather than looking to the notation. Often, two groups reading out of the same hymnal – such as the Church Hymnal – will arrive at two very distinct results.

There is a limited amount of scholarly work concerning African American use of seven- shape songbooks, and the majority of the work done on the subject centers around the region of southern Alabama and the Colored Sacred Harp, a four-shape songbook published by Judge

Jackson in 1934. However, certain common traits can be observed between the African

American Sacred Harpers in southern Alabama and the groups like the United Shape Note

Singers. The similarities can be largely attributed to the fact that most African American singers in Alabama use the Cooper revision of the Sacred Harp. While the Denson revision of the

Sacred Harp used most frequently in northwest Georgia and Alabama strictly adheres to the traditional four-shape style of music, the Cooper revision “has added new compositions in a variety of styles by its local composers, reflecting musical tastes in its area. While continuing to include newly written (and old favorite) pieces in pre-1870 styles, the Cooper book also publishes post-1870 or “seven-shape-note”-style songs as well.20 Thus, the Cooper book is very different than the revision used by Sacred Harpers in western Georgia and takes the more progressive approach to revision, including those songs that Denson champion Joseph James would describe as “tainted with operatic, secular and rag-time strains of music forms.”21 Singers

20 Doris Jane Dyen. “The Role of Shape-Note Singing in the Musical Culture of Black Communities in Southeast Alabama.” (PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1977), 191. 21 Joseph James. Original Sacred Harp (1911), preface.

12 in southern Alabama tend to favor those songs that incorporate more of the progressive styles seen in gospel music, and consequently, the Cooper book could be seen as having more in common with the convention books used by the United Shape Note Singers than the Sacred

Harpers who use the Denson revision of the Sacred Harp.

Doris Dyen, in her dissertation, also makes pertinent observations about the performance characteristics of African American shape-note singing that ring true with groups like the United

Shape Note Singers. She describes certain “improvisational elements” that set African American

Sacred Harpers apart from their white counterparts.22 One of these elements is the slowing down in tempo of certain songs – songs that are “sung for spiritual uplift.”23 This drop in tempo can be observed in the way that the United Shape Note Singers perform the well know song, “I’ll Fly

Away.” The song is considerably slower than usually performed, and it sounds almost transposed to a minor key. It proceeds like a dirge, slowly and deliberately, barely able to fly under the weight. Looking at the same songbook, a group of white gospel singers make the song hop. Spurred on by the piano, it’s bright and happy, and accents on the second and fourth beats keep it moving along cheerfully.24

Dyen also describes what she calls “melodic and rhythmic ornamentation,” where in some cases, African American shape-note singers interject phrases or add verses to a song that are not in the written text. Other singers who rely on oral transmission rather than actual note

22 Doris Jane Dyen. “The Role of Shape-Note Singing in the Musical Culture of Black Communities in Southeast Alabama.” (PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1977), 267. 23 Ibid., 265. 24 Performances of this song by both groups can be found on the companion exhibit to this essay, Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi: Shape-Note Singing in West Georgia, fasola- doremi.businesscatalyst.com

13 reading as a method of learning songs might sing slightly different melodies and sing softer than those who are reading the notes. Some singers may also add “physical motions and gestures” as a way of “heightening emotional response.”25

All of these characteristics can be observed at a United Shape Note Singers event. Many times, during the verses, singers will begin stomping their feet or clapping on the down beat of a song. If the singer finds the song to be highly emotional, he will stand and sway back and forth to the rhythm. This response is contagious, as one singer will not remain standing alone for very long. After the verses of a song are complete and the leader of a song makes the circular motion to repeat the chorus of a song, many singers close their books and sing from memory. The song then lasts for an indeterminate period of time, often times continuing well after the leader has returned to his seat. If the song is particularly emotional, a singer will begin to sing the chorus again in the interim between songs as the next leader is preparing for his song. During these times, singers are recalling songs from memory, completely abandoning the text in favor of an emotional response. The song also takes on characteristics of a performance in these moments, as members of the congregation are encouraged to join in with the singers. This usually happens on the better-known songs, emphasizing the fact that some singers learn more through the method of oral transmission rather than through reading the notes. It also highlights the African

American tendency to favor showmanship and improvisation.26

The United Shape Note Singers also mention the influence of Thomas Dorsey, which makes sense given some of these qualities. While his music eventually took on characteristics that were far different than the four part harmonies of note-singing, it’s through him that one can

25 Dyen, “Role of Shape-Note Singing,” 292. 26 Joe Dan Boyd, Judge Jackson and the Colored Sacred Harp (Montgomery: Alabama Folklife Association, 2002), 96-99.

14 find the first semblances of how those notes interpreted by African Americans might have sounded at the turn of the twentieth century.27

Eventually dubbed the ‘Father of Gospel Music,’ Dorsey spent several of his formative years in Villa Rica, Georgia until his family moved to Atlanta in 1910. Dorsey was exposed to shape-notes at Mt. Prospect Baptist Church, the Dorsey family’s choice for place of worship when the elder Thomas was not traveling from town to town as an itinerant preacher. There, his uncle, Corrie Hindsman, taught the local congregation to sing using shaped-notes in contrast to the more improvised, learned-by-rote sound of the spirituals that were popular in rural churches.

Although Dorsey would eventually travel on to Chicago and pioneer an enormously popular style of gospel singing based more on his experiences as a secular songwriter and sideman for

Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, his memories of this early musical education would stick with him throughout life and make a brief appearance in his autobiography:

The shaped note singer didn’t want no accompaniment; they wanted to blend their harmony. They wanted nothing but pure harmony. The shape of the note gave you the tune and the pitch. And I mean every man and every woman knew their place. It was beautiful singing. You wouldn’t hear any better singing now than those folks did in those days.28

Unfortunately, there is no recorded evidence of the singers that Dorsey described, and the choir that bears his name at the current Mt. Prospect church largely eschews the “pure,” tight harmony associated with the shape-note style in favor of a more improvisational, choir-type performance based on Dorsey’s later work in Chicago with singers like Mahalia Jackson.29

27 United Shape Note Singers, interview by Dusty Dye, January 22, 2010, Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA. 28 Quoted in Michael W. Harris, The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 21. 29 Harris, Gospel Blues, 21-22.

It would be several decades before a recording of this African American take on shape- note singing was made available. In 1932, a group called the Middle Georgia Singing

Convention No. 1 cut six songs for the Okeh label in Atlanta, Georgia. Little is known about the group, and even less is preserved about the circumstances of the recording session. Likely, the session was conducted as part of a field recording exercise by one of Okeh’s artists and repertoire men, talent scouts who traveled south from New York to mine the cultural resources of the South for commercial release, in this case for the label’s 8000 series, better known as their race records series, music by African Americans, ostensibly for African Americans.30

The songs are presented with a fury of energy and precision. The singers set the pitch of the song and race through a singing of the its notes, almost barking each syllable, the alto, tenor, bass and soprano parts swirling and colliding, creating those perfect harmonies described by

Thomas Dorsey. At times the singing is uncannily mechanical, even robotic, turning Dorsey’s words that “every man and woman knew their place” into a major understatement. Yet the precision with which the songs are rendered is also strikingly beautiful, and a great deal of preparation must have been undertaken to pull off such a synchronized and syncopated performance. The group does not sound quite as big as the ‘convention’ descriptor implies, but they also don’t sound as small as a quartet. Of course, quartet was often an interpretive descriptor itself, with those groups sometimes allowing as many as six members.31 The name

30 Ralph Peer was the most noted of these A&R men and helped to shape the nation’s early ideas of musical genres with his recording work. For more on Peer’s influence and Okeh Records, see Benjamin Filene, Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 34-46. 31 The two best sources of information regarding early quartet singing are Ray Allen, Singing in the Spirit: African American Quartets in New York City (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991) and Kip Lornell. Happy in the Service of the Lord: Afro American Gospel Quartets in Memphis (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988).

Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 also fits in with patterns in naming groups by region and rank. Their performance also differed from the quartet in that the group pitched their songs and proceeded through a singing of the notes before going on to the words, a practice that was atypical for quartets.32

Speaking of his own history learning to sing shape-notes, Bishop Mathew Norwood of the Associated Note Singers, an Atlanta-based African American note singing group, recalls a fairly rigorous schedule of note-singing practices and performances that certainly would have led to such a spot-on interpretation:

Once a month there would be a note singing at the church all day and then, of course, once a week – a weeknight – they would have what they call rehearsal – singing rehearsal… There were about 12 classes throughout the city of Atlanta, and they would all meet once a week… to rehearse and then they'd have their singing Sunday...and, of course, not only was it here in Atlanta, but they would go to the bordering states. Each year there would be a singing convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee; in Anderson, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee, all of these areas. There would be, once a year, all day note singing where they would all come together and they – what a day it will be – would all be there.33

These recollections also provide clues as to the circumstances of the recording and the scope of participation in note singing. If the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 had not traveled to Atlanta specifically for a recording session, the group likely would have been in the city to attend a regional singing convention, probably having made the trip north with other area groups.

An Atlanta Daily World article from May 17, 1935 sets a scene at such a convention that

32 The only known exception is a quartet called the Fa-So-La singers, also recorded in Atlanta, which can be heard on Black Vocal Groups, Volume 4, 1927-1939: The Complete Recorded Works of Ernia Mae Cunningham, Davis Bible Singers, Diamond Four, Fa Sol La Singers, Fairview Jubilee Quartet, Famous Myers Jubilee Singers, Five Soul Stirrers. Document Records. DOCD-5552. CD. 1997 33 Matthew Norwood interview by Dusty Dye, April 22, 2010. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA.

17 included the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No.1 on the top of the bill.34 Singers journeyed to the city from “all parts of the state” to participate in a semi-annual, four day event originally scheduled for the outdoor venue of Rockdale Park, just northwest of downtown

Atlanta. Over fifteen churches from around Atlanta sent delegates to the event, likely putting attendance close to at several hundred people. Though the singing was moved inside for unknown reasons to the Second Corinth Baptist Church, the public was still encouraged to attend the “presentations.” These presentations were the highlight of the event for participating groups.

They provided a chance to show off proficiency in note reading learned from all the practices at home. The fact that the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 was a popular attraction at various conventions throughout the state and region also hints at their popularity amid the atmosphere of friendly competition associated with note singing. Their distinction as Class No.

1 puts them as the best in the region. For that reason, the Okeh recordings likely are not representative of all groups that typically would perform in such a setting, but they do highlight what could potentially be achieved by learning through shape-notes.

In his work on Thomas Dorsey, Michael W. Harris suggests an environment that may also account for some of the qualities present in the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 recordings that make them so different than African American note-sings as heard presently.

Describing urban, old-line churches of the 1930s, he notes a tendency in worship within black churches to consciously move away from traditional practices, to cut out much of the

‘uncontrollable’ aspects of African American worship in favor of a more staid, white presentation. He notes that while “it is unlikely that any minister, choir director, or anyone else advocating or implementing the new worship standards stated publicly that his goal was to

34 “Middle Georgia Singing Meet In Session,” Atlanta Daily World, May 17, 1935.

18 imitate white churches… [it] was implicit and did occur.”35 Given the fact that Harris’ work is largely based on W.E.B DuBois’ notions of double consciousness, the statement makes sense as a way to explain the position of African American singing at the time, paradoxically trying to be both Negro and an American, of “looking at oneself through the eyes of others.”36 The recordings of the middle Georgia group are very by the book, so to speak, devoid of any flair or rhythmic fluctuation. Despite the obvious energy of the group, the songs march staunchly straight forward. Indeed, they do sound remarkably like white quartets of the time, specifically those hired by songbook companies like Stamps Baxter to tour conventions with the goal of selling songbooks. It is not even out of the realm of possibility that the Middle Georgia Singing

Convention No. 1 was something similar to one of those groups, seeking the elusive and ambiguous opportunity to ‘cross over’ to a more mainstream audience.

However, moving forward, Harris’ theories of white emulation lose their relevancy.

Despite the fact that African American groups do use white-penned songbooks for their singings, the interpretation of that material becomes vastly different than that of white singers as the singing progressed over the century. It seems more prudent to subscribe to Lawrence Levine’s notions that render the authorship of source material irrelevant. He states, “It is not necessary for a people to originate or invent all or even most of the elements of their culture. It is necessary only that these components become their own, embedded in their traditions, expressive of their world view and life style.”37 African American shape-note groups are certainly exemplars of that

35 Harris, Gospel Blues, 111. 36 W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Tribeca Books, 2011), 3. 37 Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 24.

19 description in how they used a set of songbooks to forge a unique culture that helped them move through the American experience, both in the private and public sectors.

Despite the obvious talent of the group, the recordings of the Middle Georgia Singing

Convention No. 1 do not seem to have made any waves outside the note singing community, but one of their songs – “This Song of Love” – curiously resurfaces several decades later as part of

Harry Smith’s canon-defining Anthology of American Folk Music compilation for Folkways records.38 If little was known about the group at the time of the recording, even less survived by the time Smith’s 1952 collection was released. In the liner notes, Smith reports on the progression of the song’s content with the detachment of a decaffeinated DJ reading the early morning news – “Home to heaven. Land where no night. Sins forgiven. Walking on higher way.

Light of heaven surrounds. Song of love in heart. Bells ringing, Hosannas singing.”39 Other than this report, Smith only offers his best guess at the origins of the performance method used by the

Middle Georgia Convention No. 1, using earlier selections from the Alabama Sacred Harp

Singers as a point of reference. His brief claim that the particular reading of notes demonstrated by the middle Georgia group “quite likely preceded the ‘looser’ style” heard in those selections comes with no supporting evidence, and the odd placement within the set only highlights the group’s exceptionality.40

38 The Anthology of American Folk Music compiled rare race and hillbilly records from the dawn of the music industry (ca. 1927-1932), sourced from Harry Smith’s personal collection of 78s into a long-playing format. The Anthology was responsible for the re-discovery of many long-forgotten artists, and Smith’s eccentric esoteric presentation of the material established him as a sort of mythical, cult figure in musical circles. 39 Harry Smith, Anthology of American Folk Music (New York: Folkways Records, 1952), liner notes. 40 Ibid.

Smith was likely incorrect in his dating of the style. Although “This Song of Love” is not credited to any author, nor does it seem to appear in other songbooks, it was most likely penned by a member of the group or learned from observing one of the quartets that frequented singing conventions. The tracks directly preceding the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 on the

Anthology, performed by the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, are part of a white Sacred Harp tradition. Despite a few minor changes in that group and small revisions to the hymnal, the singers that take their inspiration from the Sacred Harp have remained very dedicated to a certain sound since the book’s original publication in 1844, and the members of the group actively shun any sort of gospel intrusion into their singing style. Though the authorship of the song remains a mystery, the performance of “This Song of Love” is certainly influenced by the type of gospel songs that were being newly published in the 1930s, which incorporated livelier melodies and closer harmonies.

Unlike many of the songs and artists on Smith’s Anthology, the Middle Georgia Singing

Convention No. 1 was not poised for a comeback, and the inclusion on the compilation ostensibly did not generate any resurgence of interest in African American shape-note singing.

Its unexplained appearance on the compilation is more of an anomaly, and it was likely listened to without much consideration of its history, especially given Harry Smith’s well-known fondness for oddity. The compilation’s style of presentation “made the familiar strange, the never known into the forgotten, and the forgotten into a collective memory.”41 Rather than help dissect the history of the singing style, it made it inseparable from the whole of an American myth created by Harry Smith.

41 Greil Marcus. The Old, Weird America (New York: Picador, 2011), 93

However, the singing convention was still very much alive and well at the time of the

Anthology of American Folk Music’s publication, now hidden in plain sight. As late as 1960, the

Atlanta Daily World was publicizing the National Gospel Singing Convention in Atlanta, described as “the greatest outpouring of sacred rhythm and harmony ever heard in the Deep

South.”42 The week-long, interdenominational event, which likely drew note singers from throughout the South, featured the nation’s best groups singing in numerous churches across the city, and the opening and closing events of the convention featured performances by prominent gospel groups, including the Soul Stirrers and the Staple Singers.43

But just a few short years later, around the same time the Anthology was enjoying the height of its success during the folk revival of the mid-1960s, influencing artists like Bob Dylan, who gratuitously lifted scenes from what Greil Marcus would call the “old, weird America” of the records, the popularity of the convention seems to have died out. The presence of groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Staple Singers might at least partially explain the decline in popularity.

Through the 1960s, gospel music would enter the strange purgatory that exists between the secular and sacred. Singers who cut their teeth in the church borrowed that religious fervor of the church but applied secular, worldly lyrics to it. The opportunity for ‘crossing over’ took groups like these away from the insular world of the convention and put them in front of popular audiences that enjoyed the raw, pleading sound of gospel, only now featuring lyrics referring to worldly pleasures and pains rather than heavenly aspirations.44 Those worldly pleasures also

42 “National Gospel Singing Convention, August 9-14,” Atlanta Daily World, July 21, 1960. 43 Ibid. 44 Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom (New York: Back Bay Books, 1999), 1-6.

22 proved to be frighteningly real for some. After leaving the Soul Stirrers for a solo singing career,

Sam Cooke shocked the world of gospel music when he was found dead in a hotel room, gunned down by a reported prostitute in a bizarre incident that still leaves more questions than answers.45

Undoubtedly, the news left many fans of gospel music disillusioned and wary of the future of the style of music as it ventured further in to secular territory. The lines between personal devotion and plying song for profit were becoming blurred as the decade moved along, and secular gospel

– or soul music – was proving more popular than traditional worship, leaving older fans of the genre to retreat into private arenas to conduct their worship.46

African American religious musical forms were also consciously being used for political purpose and social activism. The Staple Singers left the convention circuit for a chance at mainstream success, and became well known for their songs that combined the gospel idiom with a message of black self-empowerment. Their record label, Stax, entwined itself with the

Black Power Movement by the end of the 1960s. Spirituals were also being used in the same way

– lyrics of familiar tunes were changed in a way that actively advocated Civil Rights rather than quietly protested the institution of slavery, pushing a private source of worship for some into a very public arena. These events likely took some of the purity out of singing for those singers who saw themselves as aligned with traditional practices. No longer was it simply singing for the joy of singing – the music now has a message attached, imbuing it with a sense of worldly heaviness rather than the light of heaven. Shape-note singing in African American communities seems to have faded into the background in the confusion between the secular and sacred, and

45 Ibid, 47-48. 46 For the most relevant discussion of artists ‘crossing over’ and its implications in the African American musical community, see Arthur Kempton, Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music (New York: Pantheon Books, 2003).

23 instead of following new trends in church worship that included lively instrumentation, some groups – still somewhat supported by the church and convention structure but largely outside of it – continued to perform what singer Joyce Hammock calls the “old” music of their parents.47

In 1967, amidst all this change, a group of singers in Atlanta, led by Deacon Robert

Norwood quietly released a record of “a type of singing rarely heard today” on the Savoy label.48

Billed as the Class No. 1 of the United Singing Convention of the Bible Way Church, the singers came from a variety of churches around the region, bound together by their love of note-singing.

In comparison to the Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 recordings, the Bible Way

Church selection of songs is much slower. The accuracy of the note reading is still present, but the drop in tempo allows for slight vocal improvisations in a few of the songs. Also noticeable is the presence of movement in the recordings. The group claps to the beat stomps time in unison on the floor of the church. Occasionally there is a stray ‘amen’ uttered, making the recording much different than the shape-note songs recorded for Okeh in 1932. Gone is the convention culture that prompted such rigorous practice sessions, leading to a more relaxed atmosphere.

The singers are not directly performing for an audience here; they are part of a group of like- minded singers coming together to record evidence of a tradition that they all value. The liner notes that appear on the back of the record’s sleeve give a brief lesson in shape-note singing’s history before explaining why the singers enjoy the style. Harmony and melody of each individual part is highlighted, and an emotional connection over the song’s message between listener and singer is valued, making the music joyful, allowing the “flood gates of the spirit” to

47 Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music, 353-394; Rob Bowman, Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records (New York: Shirmer Trade Books, 1997), 247-290 48 Robert Norwood, director, Class No. 1 of the United Singing Convention Bibleway Church (Savoy Records. MG-14170. 1967), liner notes. Robert Norwood is Matthew Norwood’s father. See page 16.

24 open up.49 The release seems to be motivated by the desire to preserve a tradition but also partially by aspirations of recognition – the group is self-described as being “recognized as one of the best in this type of singing.”50 This is perhaps their biggest connection to the Middle

Georgia Singing Convention No. 1. Singers still carry a certain pride in their ability to properly harmonize according to the notes, and friendly competition is still present, though it does not bear as much importance as the opportunity for group fellowship and a love of the singing style.

By the time that African American seven-shape singing came to the attention of scholars in the late 1970s and to the public through the release of the Florida Folklife Program’s Drop on

Down in Florida LP in 1981, the singing style was nearly unrecognizable as part of the same tradition that produced the six sides for Okeh in the 1930s. The few songs captured as part of that project – from the very descriptively named Florida-Alabama Progressive Seven-Shape-

Note Singing Convention – sound remarkably similar to a present-day United Shape Note

Singers singing. Without the culminating event of the convention and the well-connected network of singers, the singings took the form of an extended practice session, and the smaller, close-knit community is truly singing for personal pleasure. The clapping and stomping has now become a prominent fixture on the recordings – the listener almost feels the walls of the church shake as the energy of the songs swells.51

The singings on the Drop on Down in Florida compilation are from conventions, but the liner notes also place a great deal of importance on the presence of ‘classes,’ essentially home meetings that took place in singers’ respective towns to prepare for the larger convention. These

49 Ibid. 50 Ibid. 51 Dwight Devane and Blaine Waide, eds, Drop On Down in Florida: Field Recordings of African American Traditional Music, 1977-1980 (Dust-to-Digital, DTD-24, CD, 2012).

25 small local gatherings were at this point becoming the main note singing activity as the convention was slowly fading. Today, the United Shape Note Singers’ Sunday events incorporate elements of a larger convention – most notably the bevy of food and desserts for

‘dinner on the grounds’ – but the performances at the events are probably more in line with what would take place at a practice singing around the time of Drop on Down in Florida’s recording.

The collecting of songbooks was still going on at the time of the Drop on Down in

Florida recordings. The liner notes mention the frequent use of convention songbooks from the

Stamps-Baxter Company transported in suitcases or bags “to have all the currently popular songs available” due to the quarterly appearance of new books.52 However, folklorists Dwight Devane and Blaine Waide note, “Although new songs are constantly coming into the tradition, the style of performance among African Americans seems to have remained stable for a few generations.”53 It is likely that singers favored new songs most reminiscent of ones already committed to memory, embedded in tradition.

Reflecting on the recording of the album in a recent reissue, Blaine Waide, State

Folklorist for the Florida Folklife Program, estimates that the shape-note tradition “faded as the cultural context that supported this community-based activity became less sustainable.

Community leaders passed on, the next generation did not perpetuate the singing style, and the tradition became inactive.”54 He gives a date of the mid-1990s, and states that the spiritual void has been filled by other activities such as anniversary singings.

52 Devane and Waide, Drop On Down in Florida, 178. 53 Ibid., 179 54 Ibid., 118.

Participation in singing classes and conventions did drop off around the middle of the twentieth century, and the singing style faded in popularity, leaving the network of singers fractured and isolated. It did not become inactive, however – just more intentionally private and scattered. The United Shape Note Singers are one of the pockets where at least certain parts of the note singing tradition are being carried on, albeit in a slightly different manner than in the massive convention culture. Singers have modified the events to accommodate advancing age and ill health of participants. Weekly meetings to practice the notes are gone, and most singers do not have the time or energy to attend large conventions, even if a consistent schedule did exist. Other musical events, such as anniversary singings, have also taken the place of shape- note gatherings.55 In a 1994 inventory of still-active conventions for the Center for the Study of

Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, Chiquita Wills - herself a lifelong singer – notes, “research has shown that less than half of the singers are interacting with each other. Many conventions are unaware that other conventions exist.”56 Other participation issues have to do with age – Ms. Wills goes on to say, “a universal complaint among the shape note singers is the lack of interest and participation of young people.”57 Members of the United Shape Note Singers express the same concern. Sons and daughters have no time for note singing because of other musical pursuits or general lack of interest in church culture, and the singing style doesn’t seem to be sustainable. Proficiency at reading the notes has also declined. The singers have a base repertoire of material, and certain individuals are associated with particular songs. On the odd

55 Trevor Lanier, “’Sing All I Can’: The History of a Musical Tradition in the African- American Churches of West Georgia” (Master’s thesis, University of West Georgia, 2007), 1-6. 56 Chiquita Willis, “The African American Shape Note and Vocal Music Singing Convention Directory,” Mississippi Folklife 27 (1994): 3. 57 Ibid., 2-3.

27 occasion that a new or lesser-known song is called, the group sometimes struggles through the first pass at singing the notes.

However, conventions do still take place infrequently – as recent as 2000, the Associated

Note Singers visited the curiously named “All State Shape Note and Sacred Harp Singing

Convention” in St. Louis, where they “presented a spectacular Convention Program.”58 The next year the singers were praised for their “inspirational diversions,” suggesting that the desire to travel and present songs in that atmosphere is at least partially extant.59 The communal experience has also remained strong, and the pleasure of singing together in harmony is still there. Even in the heyday of the singing convention, the community atmosphere was perhaps most prized by the singers, no matter how much emphasis was placed on the accuracy of note reading and impeccable performance through diligent practice. Many convention attendees didn’t even sing, but they still looked forward to attending the events because it provided the opportunity to socialize with friends far and near. Children who were reluctantly obliged to attend conventions with their singer parents found time to play or flirt. Others simply enjoyed the relaxation that came with sitting in the room simply taking in the harmonies of the professional quartets and regional groups. All enjoyed the seemingly endless food and treats from vendors at the convention.60

58 Helen McCollum, “Californians Visit Note Book Singing,” The Lamar Democrat and Sulligent News, October 25, 2000. 59 Helen McCollum, “Lamar County News,” The Lamar Democrat and Sulligent News, October 17, 2001. 60 Clarice Hammock, Lula Arney, and Joyce Hammock, interviewed by the author, November 11, 2012, Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia.

Conclusions

Investigating the changes in African American note singing over the course of a century reveals much about the meaning of the music to the ones who sing as well as what the singing meant to the outside world. It is also telling of the larger African musical experience in America.

Looking back on her work for the Drop on Down in Florida project in the reissue’s expanded liner notes, folklorist Doris Dyen describes a transcendence of influences that happens between singing groups, both synchronically and diachronically. She especially focuses on those occurrences within the African American traditions and argues that song content has remained thematically similar over the course of African American note-singing’s history. Her research is mainly concerned with African American interpretations of the Sacred Harp, but it translates to those singers who use the more progressive, gospel-influenced books as well. Religious song content has remained very similar throughout the African experience in America, from orally passed on spirituals to modern gospel. Lawrence Levine’s research for Black Culture and Black

Consciousness would argue that the outward meaning of that content has shifted as black consciousness has evolved and adapted to life in America, but nevertheless, certain themes remain strong across the board. The sense of a heavenly home in the near future is popular in songs chosen by the United Shape Note Singers, as is a belief that worldly trails and tribulations will not last. These themes chart a path over the course of a century, from the Middle Georgia

Singing Convention No. 1 walking on the road to heaven, to the “Glory Road” of the Bible Way

Church group and the Florida-Alabama singers arriving “Inside the Pearly Gates.” Dyen makes a connection back as far as the late nineteenth century to at least a few of the songs present in

William Francis Allen’s Slave Songs of the United States, suggesting that this consistency in

29 content is likely why some African Americans were drawn to note singing. And with the content already familiar to the singers, “they could focus on learning the harmony parts.”61

More recent research has taken that notion of connections over time and space even further. In The Power of Black Music, Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. describes unconscious and conscious consistencies in African American music that have persisted over the years since their roots in

Africa, such as the ring shout or the call and response patterns. United Shape Note Singers’ events have those qualities. The group begins each singing with a selection of ‘warm-up’ songs.

These songs are not included in the bevy of songbooks that the note-singers bring to singings, rather, they are songs that the entire group knows by rote like “This Little Light of Mine” or

“Come and Go to That Land.” Several songs are led in the familiar call-and-response format, the congregation echoing the leader until he segues into an opening prayer. These opening songs are the most overt presentations of the call and response pattern, but other songs that the group favors from the convention books resemble it as well. The chorus sections of songs – especially those led by the bass section – like “In God’s After While” take on a call and response quality when interpreted by the United Shape Note Singers. Taylor also notes the presence of the ring shout in throughout the African musical experience in America. As a shape-note song reaches its peak and singers are out of their seats, books down, repeating the chorus from memory and the leader of the group is walking the time to the congregation’s stomping and clapping, one cannot help but think of the similarity and continuity.

To Floyd, these consistencies form a sort of overarching cultural memory and manifest themselves in various forms and genres, playing a large part in the continued survival of the race in America and the overwhelming ability of African American music to not only survive, but

61 Dwight Devane and Blaine Waide, eds, Drop On Down in Florida, 157.

30 break down barriers as well. The African American take on note singing certainly falls within his framework, and over the last century it has returned to that cultural memory as the community of singers has become separated and the singing has become a more private expression of faith within the community.

It is hard to say what the future holds for the style of singing practiced by the United

Shape Note Singers. Other interpretations of shape-notes are fairing well – with the rise of the

Sacred Harp’s popularity in the cities like Atlanta and its recent appearance in films like Cold

Mountain and Lawless, it seems that a younger generation may pick up that tradition and keep it alive in the decades to come. The continuation of Southern Gospel singing lies in the churches and conventions that support it. Some of the members of the United Shape Note Singers, however, are pessimistic about the future of their traditions.

Members of the group like Ola Mae King echo Chiquita Wills’ observations that the younger generations are just not as interested in singing, preferring other outlets for their social time.62 Clarice Hammock also explains that younger singers prefer the newer, faster, instrument- based gospel music that has taken hold in African American churches, and they’re often unaware that a note-singing tradition even exists.63 Her statements hold true; the United Shape Note

Singers often set up their hollow square under the speakers of a modern PA system and next to a well-worn set of drums. These elements are a stark contrast to the a capella singing of the group, and they are also reflective of major changes that have happened in the structure of the black church since the Civil Rights Movement.

62 Ola Mae King interview by Jerome Danner, February 25, 2008. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA. 63 United Shape Note Singers interview by Jared Wright, November 11, 2012. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA.

Although note singing is not specifically tied to a particular denomination and takes place outside normal worship hours, these changes in the church have no doubt had an impact on the survival of the style. Members of groups like the United Shape Note Singers are adamant about keeping traditions and have not changed with the larger African American religious community.64 The United Shape Note Singers also lack the network of conventions that played such a strong role in pulling regional singers together. The support of those events was crucial to the strength and survival of the tradition, and without it, the singing has faded into a local, rural experience, carried on by small groups of close-knit friends.

This closeness and fellowship is what keeps the United Shape Note Singers coming together week after week. The dinner on the grounds is a weekly reunion, and it, when the singing resumes with bellies full of fried chicken, collard greens, and casseroles, the songs slightly slow down and many sleepy eyes are seen around the group – some singers even fall asleep listening to the still-pure harmonies. Little arguments break out over the pitch of a song, especially if it is deemed to be pitched too high by the sopranos. It is the kind of atmosphere that one might find in a family living room after Thanksgiving dinner.65

But the singers’ fears that tradition might be fading are perhaps not as serious as they seem at first glance. Joyce Hammock, along with her sisters Clarice and Priscilla, are relative newcomers to the tradition of shape-note singing. Like many singers, they were around the

64 Robert M. Franklin, Another Day’s Journey (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), 53- 82. Franklin notes several important changes to the black church, including lack of attendance, the rise of a ‘congregational consumerism’ when choosing to identify with a church, a rise in ‘afrocentrism,’ and a re-identification with African religious practices. 65 Clarice Hammock, Lula Arney and Joyce Hammock interviewed by the author, November 11, 2012. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia. Lula Arney has never sung with the United Shape Note Singers, nor has she learned to read the notes. However, she fondly recalls conventions as an important part of her upbringing, and she still attends nearly every singing just to listen to the music.

32 singings as children, but it wasn’t until later in life that they became involved at deeper level.

Much like Matthew Norwood, whose duties as pastor of the Bible Way Church did not allow him the time to practice note-singing despite a close proximity to it, the Hammock sisters simply didn’t have the free time to devote to learning the notes – as Joyce Hammock emphasizes, it’s an activity that takes devotion and serious study to perfect. Though they always saw the importance of keeping the African American note-singing traditions alive, they were not able to devote the time to actively advocate the singing style until after they retired. This story is not uncommon among members of the United Shape Note Singers. Most of the participants describe a similar situation in which they attended the singings with their families when they were young, but didn’t properly realize the importance of the tradition until later in life. In the relatively short time that the Hammock sisters have been involved with the singings, they have done much to promote it. Perhaps their efforts will be seen by a younger generation, and in turn, encourage them to participate in the singings, even if they don’t come fully to it until retirement age.

Though Lula Arney won’t reveal her age, she observes – perhaps with only slight exaggeration – that her peers “were around a hundred years ago, but they didn’t sing notes. This is something they learned to do after they reach their sixties and seventies, so actually…” As her sentence trails off, she looks at the younger Hammock sisters and a sly, knowing smile comes to her face.

Joyce smiles back and finishes her sentence – “we’re right on time!”66

66 Clarice Hammock, Lula Arney and Joyce Hammock interview by Jared Wright, November 11, 2012. Regional Music Project Collection, Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA.

FA-SO-LA AND DO-RE-MI:

SHAPE-NOTE SINGING IN WEST GEORGIA

The project component for the thesis project contains two parts. First, an online exhibit takes a look at a wide range of shape-note singing in west Georgia, putting the United Shape

Note Singers in context with other groups that use shape-notes to sing. Second, a public shape- note singing was organized for the Georgia Roots Music Festival, an event that celebrated the end of New Harmonies - the Smithsonian roots music traveling exhibit – in the state.

Fasola and Doremi is an online exhibit that highlights sacred and gospel music in the region of West Georgia. Several groups in the area use shaped-notes to read music, but all of them have very distinct stylistic differences. The online exhibit presents these styles – Sacred

Harp singing, African American shape-note singing (via the United Shape Note Singers) and

Gospel Convention singers – in a way that the viewer can compare one against the other and trace the development of the different styles through their songbooks and singings. Through audio, video, text and images, the exhibit aims to immerse the visitor in the experience of a shape-note singing, and importantly, it dispels the commonly held belief that ‘shape-note singing’ and ‘Sacred Harp’ are synonymous. Sacred Harp singing is shape-note singing, but not all shape-note singing is Sacred Harp.

Funding for the research and construction of the exhibit was a collaborative effort between the University of West Georgia’s Center for Public History and the Georgia Music

Foundation, which “works to foster an appreciation for the state’s rich music heritage through programs of preservation, education and outreach.” The Foundation is also seeking to increas

34 its digital presence in the wake of the closure of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 2012, the

Georgia Music Foundation donated the sacred and gospel collection from the Hall of Fame to the

Center for Public History, and much of that material was digitized and put to use in Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi.

Original research for the website was conducted through the fall, winter and spring of

2012-13, and materials from the Center for Public History and the Sacred Harp Museum in

Carrollton, Georgia were selected for inclusion during that time. From the Center for Public

History, much of Dusty Dye’s work with the United Shape Note Singers was very valuable as the site was constructed. In working to produce the Center’s latest CD release, God Was in Us’

Cause We Sung, she interviewed several singers and recorded audio and video of the singings.

Additional interviews were also conducted specifically for the exhibit, and audio and images were captured at United Shape Note Singers events in the fall of 2012 and spring of 2013.

Hugh McGraw was also very instrumental in gaining access to the extensive collections at the Sacred Harp Museum. He provided a key and unlimited access to the building, which allowed ample time to do high-resolution scans of songbooks, photos and documents. The museum has songbooks that represent the entire history of shape-note singing, even those traditions outside of the Sacred Harp style. Private access to the museum and freedom to dig through the uncataloged collection greatly fortified the Sacred Harp section of the exhibit and supplied many of the images of rare songbooks for the ‘A History through Songbooks’ section.

Material for the ‘Gospel Conventions’ section of the site came from previous interviews, images and video captured for the center by Jessica West. Her interview of June Walker was very informative, and an edited version appears on the site. Personal conversations with June

Walker, Duane McBrayer, Billy McElroy, Maxine House and Mary-Beth Goyer at Bremen

Middle School’s ‘Living History Day’ were also instrumental in writing text for the section, and a video of the quartet, supported by Maxine House on piano, appears in the exhibit.

Admittedly, the exhibit is heavy with information on the Sacred Harp tradition and a bit lacking in its presentation of the United Shape Note Singers and the Southern Gospel singers.

Much of the reason for this is the strong emphasis that Sacred Harp singers place on tradition and the keeping of the history of their tradition. As the separate singing styles evolved, it is the one that, on the surface, most adamantly resisted change, keeping to a specific set of ideals. Singers in the United Shape Note singers are not as actively engaged in keeping their history, and no real collection of materials exists that documents their history beyond the recollections of singers and the books they carry with them to each singing.

For the construction of the website, Adobe Muse, a program that bills itself as web development tool for designers, was used. There initially were some misgivings about using proprietary software to create the site, but in the end, it turned out to be the best option. A great advantage to the program is the interface that works similarly to Adobe InDesign. This allows more creative freedom in dealing with the aesthetics of the website without having to deal too much with editing HTML. For those with more experience in print design, it is a more intuitive platform. It also works very well with Photoshop – buttons can be directly imported and edited from that program, saving time and space wasted from exporting several files. Adobe Muse also contains pre-programmed navigational and presentation widgets that make organization fairly easy. The overall site organization is handled in a simple flow chart that incorporates master templates for each section of the site.

All the emphasis on spatial design does have its disadvantages, though. Adobe Muse doesn’t allow for as much editing of code as other programs do. Inserting outside code from

36 websites like YouTube or Soundcloud can be a bit difficult and cumbersome and seems to slow up the operation of the program. Many of these issues probably stem from the fact that the program is just out of its beta testing phase. As users submit feedback, the program will likely change – it is already updated every month.

There is also a cost to the program - $15 a month. This site was created on a free, month- long trial version of the program, and there will have to be a decision made about whether or not to purchase additional access to the program. For all the advantages that it offers to someone who is used to designing for print, $15 a month doesn’t seem too expensive, especially if it’ll be used in a number of projects, personal and professional.

Overall, the program made the development of the online exhibit a bit easier. The constrictions of using template-based design is one of the major disadvantages of a program like

Wordpress, especially to someone who is new to web design. With enough knowledge of code, this can be overcome, but designing can be a frustrating experience without it. The freedom to spatially place objects and text eliminated a great deal of stress, especially for a first experience with designing for the web. The experience did bring to light many of the difficulties involved with designing for that use, including considerations for screen size, browser type and operating systems. It also taught the dos and don’ts of web design. Probably the biggest lesson learned is the value of organization on the back end of a site. The better the organization, the easier the project, especially as it becomes more involved. Pages and files can add up quickly, and without proper planning, it’s easy to create a mess. Moving forward with other projects, this experience will help greatly. One of the biggest impediments to working with websites seems to be the fear of getting started. Now that this site is done, others will come much easier.

After overcoming the problems of designing for the web, the process of building Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi in many ways mirrored the construction of a physical exhibit. A concept and organizational structure was determined, artifacts were selected, and text was written to support those artifacts. Care was taken not to inundate the visitor with text. Rather, interviews, visualizations, audio and video were put front and center, with the text simply filling in the gaps.

This sort of interpretation seems to work best for a web-based exhibit, as visitors aren’t able to have any sort of tangible interaction with objects. The interviews especially helped showcase the singers’ enthusiasm for their particular singing styles, and the audio helped to illustrate differences in those styles that are difficult to capture with the written word. By presenting content in this way, the exhibit overcomes the often two-dimensional experience of online exhibits.

In addition to the online exhibit, a public shape-note singing was also organized for the

Georgia Roots Music Festival, held on January 18th at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta. The

Roots Festival was designed as a celebration of Georgia roots music to coincide with the end of the Smithsonian’s New Harmonies exhibit, which was completing its two-year journey through a dozen communities around the state. Presented by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Georgia

Humanities Council, the free festival featured a variety of artists and styles, including gospel, old-time, bluegrass, country, blues, R&B, folk, and immigrant music on two stages. Visitors were also able to tour the New Harmonies exhibit during the festival.

The 2:00 p.m. time slot in the Center Space room, billed as a “Public Shape-Note Singing,” saw a group of thirty five Sacred Harp singers joined by dozens more festival attendees for a brief singing school and hour-long singing session from the Sacred Harp hymnal. The modern architecture of the Woodruff Arts Center and the floor to ceiling windows that looked out on a

38 bustling Peachtree Street made for an odd setting for the centuries-old singing style, but judging by the sound of the room, the singers were right at home.

Planning for the program was difficult. Originally conceived as a showcase for the Fa-So-

La and Do-Re-Mi exhibit along with a twenty minute lecture and representation from each of the singing styles featured in the exhibit, it eventually ended up as a participatory singing featuring only Sacred Harp singers. From the onset of the planning process, it was fairly obvious that it would be difficult to get members of the United Shape Note Singers to participate. The group does not have one central location, and their age makes travel difficult, especially in Atlanta.

Additionally, the group had recently traveled to the city to sing prior to receiving a Governor’s

Award for the Arts and Humanities. Planning two major events within months of each other proved too difficult for the group, and they declined to participate.

Logistically, the inclusion of Sacred Harp and Gospel singing within the same one hour program would have been difficult (the two styles vary greatly in sound and setup), and the lecture and question and answer format would have been odd with participation of only two of the three groups. At that stage in the planning process, the festival was also moving toward a focus on participation rather than scholarly presentation. Therefore, the decision was made to focus solely on Sacred Harp singing for the Roots Festival due to the proximity of singers around the Atlanta area and the willingness of the singers to participate in the festival. Organization of the group would not have been possible without Jesse Pearlman Karlsburg, who serves as the secretary of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company.

With a large enough group of singers confirmed to participate and others likely to drop in, the planning turned to fine tuning details of the day of the event. As the festival gave out the maximum 1500 tickets allotted for the event, the week before was spent hammering out details

39 for parking and admission for the singers, who had not registered through the garoots.org website.

Everything was worked out in time, and the day of the event went smoothly. To the joy and surprise of the Sacred Harp singers, the program was well attended and a large number of festival attendees stayed for the entirety of the hour-long session.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Dissertations

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Reed, Joel Francis. “Anthony J. Showalter (1858-1924): Southern Educator, Publisher, Composer.” PhD diss., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1975.

Ricks, George R. Some Aspects of the Religious Music of the United States Negro: An Ethnomusicological Study with Special Emphasis on the Gospel Tradition. New York, Arno Press, 1977.

APPENDIX A: MAIN EXHIBIT HEADING SCREENSHOTS

Figure 1: Fa-So-La and Do-Re-Mi homepage.

Figure 2: “A History Through Songbooks” section homepage.

Figure 3: “Sacred Harp Singing” section homepage.

Figure 4: “United Shape Note Singers” section homepage.

Figure 5: “Gospel Convention Singing” section homepage.

APPENDIX B: EXHIBIT TEXT AND SELECTED ARTIFACTS

Homepage and Introduction

In the region of west Georgia, a wealth of traditional sacred and gospel music can be found – Sacred Harp singing thrives at churches like Holly Springs Baptist thanks to the efforts of Bremen resident Hugh McGraw; the United Shape Note Singers travel from church to church on most Sundays of the year with suitcases full of songbooks to sing and worship; Southern

Gospel singers draw crowds in the hundreds to their singing schools and conventions. These groups all have their own distinct styles, but one character remains constant – they all use shape- notes to learn and sing their music.

Funding for this exhibit is provided by the Center for Public History at the University of

West Georgia and the Georgia Music Foundation, and all content comes from collections at the

Center for Public History and the Sacred Harp Museum in Carrollton, GA.

Section 1 – A History through Songbooks

Beginning in the mid 19th century, a wide variety of songbooks were published in and around the west Georgia region. These books, from the Sacred Harp to the seven-shape, soft- cover convention songbooks, influenced the way singers in the area performed their music, and they became part of the traditions carried on by each group of singers.

Four Shape Songbooks and the Sacred Harp

As the 18th century drew to a close, the first shape-note songbook appeared in America as a way to notate pitch, rhythm and solmization in a simplified method that could easily teach students to read music by sight. This book, the Easy Instructor by William Little and William

Smith, employed four shapes in place of round note heads to represent four musical syllables –

56 triangle for fa, circle for sol, square for la, and diamond for mi. The method caught on for use in singing schools and rapidly spread to the south and west from its original roots in New England.

Early shape-note historian George Pullen Jackson estimates that nearly forty books appeared in this four-shape notation by 1855, most originating in the Southern states.

Of those books, the Sacred Harp, published in 1844 by Georgians B.F. White and E.J. King, was one of the most popular. In fact, the songbook became so popular that many Southerners would pose for family portraits holding two books – one, the Holy Bible, the other, the Sacred

Harp. Even after the death of B.F. White, the book continued to see regular revisions, though at times disagreements arose around the content and style of those revisions. Users of the Sacred

Harp eventually split between a revision of the book by Marion Cooper and one by Joseph James

(other revisions by B.F. White’s son, J.L. were attempted but failed to gain any lasting popularity). The Cooper revision gained popularity in southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia while the James revision took hold in west and northwest Georgia. Hugh McGraw, from

Bremen, Georgia, led the most recent revision based on the James book in 1991, and it is used universally in singings throughout west Georgia.

Figure 6: J.L. White’s New Sacred Harp.

Figure 7: Mason’s Sacred Harp, 1846.

Figure 8: Sacred Harp, James revision, 1911.

Figure 9: Sacred Harp, fourth edition.

Figure 10: Sacred Harp, Cooper Revision, 1902.

Figure 11: Sacred Harp, 1848 edition.

Seven Shape Songbooks

With the introduction of the Jesse Aiken’s Christian Minstrel in 1846, a seven-shape,

European-influenced system of notation gained popularity in the country. This book assigned a distinct shape to each note of the scale – doe, ray, mee, faw, sol, law, and see. Aiken claimed that his notation was superior to the old four-shape system because it gave each note of the scale a unique sound and form. William Walker, who had published the popular four-shape songbook

Southern Harmony in 1835, switched to the seven-note system with his Christian Harmony in

1867, explained his choice of the seven notes by posing the question, “Would any parents having seven children ever think of calling them by only four names?”

Figure 12: The Southern Harmony, William Walker’s four-shape songbook.

Figure 13: The New Harmonia Sacra, Joseph Funk.

Figure 14: The Christian Harmony, William Walker’s seven-shape songbook.

Figure 15: The Temple Star, Aldine Kieffer. In his introduction to The Temple Star, Keiffer advocated for the standardization of a seven-shape system of notation.

A.J. Showalter Comes to Dalton

A.J. Showalter, a native of Cherry Grove, Virginia, was from the same musical family as

Joseph Funk and Aldine Kieffer and began his career as a singing school teacher. He published several songbooks through the Ruebush-Kieffer company before being sent to Dalton, Georgia for the purpose of starting a branch office of the company. However, upon arrival, he set up his own music publishing company, which would go on to produce hundreds of songbooks and promote them through a monthly music magazine called the "Music Teacher and Home

Magazine." This magazine connected the A.J. Showalter Company to the people of the region and beyond, offering them reports on singing schools, the latest hymn collections and general interest stories, but most importantly, it would sell songbooks for the company.

Some of Showalter’s early books took the traditional, oblong shape, but most took a ‘tall’ shape – roughly five inches wide by eight inches tall, which condensed the dispersed harmony of four staff notation possible with oblong books like the Sacred Harp into the closer harmony of two staffs. Showalter also offered his books in round- and shape-notes, but the shapes proved to be overwhelmingly more popular around the South, outselling the round versions by five copies to one, with a total number of sales estimated at five million.

Figure 16: Class, Choir and Congregation by A.J. Showalter, in the ‘oblong’ format.

Figure 17: Showalter songbooks in the ‘tall’ format.

Figure 18: Showalter songbook catalogs and songbooks

Stamps-Baxter, Vaughan and Gospel Quartets

Other companies like the Stamps-Baxter Publishing Company and the James D. Vaughan

Publishing Company would follow the example of Showalter, putting out impressive numbers of soft-cover songbooks in the early years of the 20th century. With the rise of radio, these companies even began to hire gospel quartets in different cities for the purpose of promoting their books. Eventually, some of the most popular songs would make their way into hardback songbooks like the Church Hymnal, which is used by the United Shape Note Singers and

Southern Gospel singers in West Georgia.

Figure 19: James D. Vaughan and Stamps-Baxter songbooks

Figure 20: Convention songbooks by James D. Vaughan and Stamps-Baxter

Section 2 – Sacred Harp Singing

As the name implies, Sacred Harp singers in west Georgia use only one songbook for their singings – the Sacred Harp. Based on the James, and later Denson, editions of the book, the maroon-covered 1991 revision led by Hugh McGraw is the edition most seen at singings.

McGraw has been instrumental in the preservation and promotion of Sacred Harp traditions, traveling around the world to teach and sing. The annual singings in his hometown of Bremen,

Georgia, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist church, have grown into events not to be missed for those involved in the Sacred Harp tradition.

Interview: Hugh McGraw

[This section contains an interview with Hugh McGraw conducted by the author]

Paine Denson and the Sacred Harp

After purchasing the rights to the book from Joseph James, brothers Seaborn and T.J.

Denson began revising his 1911 edition of the Sacred Harp. Though both died before the work was done, T.J.’s son, Paine, shepherded the project to completion in 1936. The Denson revision, published until 1987, remained popular in west Georgia and was the basis for the last revision of the Sacred Harp in 1991.

Figure 21: Paine Denson (wearing bow tie, to the right of the leader) sings in the bass section

Figure 22: Paine Denson’s handwritten notation for “Wondrous Cross,” 1932

The Chattahoochee Musical Convention

The lasting popularity of the Sacred Harp can partly be attributed to the strong support of singing conventions like the Chattahoochee Musical Convention. The group was established by

B.F. White, and in 1904, the members pledged to use no other book but the Sacred Harp for their singings. This image shows the convention gathered at the State University of West Georgia in

1956, two years after its move to the location.

Figure 23: Chattahoochee Sacred Harp Convention at the State University of West Georgia, 1956

The First National Sacred Harp Sing, 1980

In June 1980, Sacred Harpers traveled to Birmingham, Alabama for four days of fellowship and singing at the First National Sacred Harp Sing at Samford University. As secretary of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Hugh McGraw was instrumental in organizing the event. The convention is still in existence today and is attended by singers from across the globe.

Figure 24: Sacred Harpers onstage at Samford University

NEA Award for Hugh McGraw, 1982

For his tireless efforts in keeping the traditions of Sacred Harp singing strong, the National

Endowment for the Arts recognized Hugh McGraw in its first class of Nation Heritage Fellows.

The 1982 class also included musicians Bessie Smith, Bill Monroe, Sonny Terry, Brownie

McGhee and Dewey Balfa.

Figure 25: Hugh McGraw leads at the NEA Awards, Washington, D.C.

Singing School

[This section contains a clip of Hugh McGraw teaching a singing school in Winston-Salem,

NC on October 6, 1986]

1990 Revision Singing

The latest edition of the Sacred Harp was published in 1991, but before being sent to press, a group of Sacred Harpers – including those who had written songs for the new addition – gathered in Birmingham, Alabama to sing the proposed selections for the new book. Hugh

McGraw served as the Chairman of the Music Committee for the new edition.

Figure 26: The 1990 Revision Singing.

Figure 27: Charlene Wallace leads at the 1990 revision singing.

Figure 28: Proposed additions to the Sacred Harp 1991 revision.

Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church

Each year, on the first Sunday (and the Saturday before) in June and again on the first

Sunday of November, Sacred Harp singers gather at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church for an all-day singing out of the Sacred Harp hymn book. The singings regularly draw visitors from across the United States, as well as internationally. The singing is split up into morning and afternoon sessions, and is divided by a dinner on the grounds where visitors share homemade dishes and desserts laid out on tables under an awning outside the church.

Figure 29: Holly Springs historical marker. In 1990, Holly Springs was honored with this marker commemorating the importance of the church to the Sacred Harp community. .

Figure 30: 1978 Sacred Harp singing at Holly Springs.

Section 3 – The United Shape Note Singers

African American shape-note singers in west Georgia arrange themselves in the same hollow square as Sacred Harp singers, and they also ‘sing the notes’ before proceeding to the words of a song. However, the United Shape Note Singers have a decidedly different feel to their singings. For one, they use the seven-shape system of notation. Their songs are also slower and the singers allow for more improvisation in performances.

Clarice Hammock, Lula Arney and Joyce Hammock Discuss the History of the United

Shape Note Singers

[This section contains video of an interview conducted by the author]

A Variety of Songbooks

Members of the United Shape Note Singers use a variety of songbooks for their singings.

Not all members of the group use the same selection of books, so photocopies are made to pass out for certain songs. These books and copies are carried to each singing in suitcases like the one seen here. Although not all singers carry the same selection of songbooks, one book that is consistently seen is the maroon-covered Church Hymnal. The book is a collection of popular songs from different regional music publishers, including Stamps-Baxter and J.D. Vaughan.

Figure 31: United Shape Note Singers songbook suitcase.

At a Singing

Before opening their songbooks and singing the notes, the United Shape Note Singers go through a selection of warm-up songs in a call-and-response pattern. Here, they perform a version of the popular “Come and Go with Me to That Land.” Each song at a USNS singing begins with a singing of the notes, followed by the words of a song. Often, the chorus of a song is repeated at the end of a song as well as between songs.

Figure 32: United Shape Note Singers at Jackson Chapel Baptist Church, Buchanan, GA.

Section 4 – Gospel Convention Singing

Southern Gospel singers that call West Georgia home are also influenced by the convention songbooks that regional music publishers so heavily promoted in the early part of the

20th century as well as by the many gospel quartets that were traveling the country during that time. They use the same seven-shape system of notation and often utilize the exact same books used by the United Shape Note Singers. However, their translation of the material found within those books is often quite different. Gospel singers mainly use the notes to learn music in their singing schools, and they often add instrumental accompaniment to their music.

Figure 33: Group onstage at a gospel convention.

Songbooks and Rudiments

Rudiment books published by A.J. Showalter were used extensively throughout West

Georgia to learn the notes in singing schools. Showalter, a classically trained musician, published each of his books in shape-note and round-note styles, but the shape-note versions were much more popular. Singers at the Haralson County School of Gospel Music still use similar books like the ones seen here published by Stamps-Baxter and Jeffress/Phillips Music.

Figure 34: Showalter’s rudiments in shape- and round-notes

Figure 35: Rudiments used in gospel singing schools

Section 5 – Same Notes, Different Styles

The United Shape Note Singers and Haralson County Gospel singers perform “I’ll Fly

Away” and “I’m Living in Canaan Now.” Though both groups are using the maroon-covered

Church Hymnal for their singings, there are noticeable differences in the translation of the notes.

“I’ll Fly Away,” as sung by the United Shape Note Singers, has a minor-key, almost bluesy feel.

APPENDIX C: VISUALIZATIONS CREATED FOR FA-SO-LA AND DO-RE-MI

Figure 36: The many shapes of shape-note singing. Before a notation system was standardized, all these shapes were used by different compilers of seven-shape songbooks. The blue shapes represent current four-shape notation, and the green shapes represent standard seven-shape notation.

Figure 37: Shape-note singing’s spread to the South and West from roots in New England.

APPENDIX D: GEORGIA ROOTS MUSIC FESTIVAL PRESS AND PHOTOS

Figure 38: Georgia Roots Music Festival schedule

Figure 39: Georgia Roots Music Festival map

Figure 40: Sacred Harpers at the Georgia Roots Music Festival