Sacred Harp Singers, Professor Stephen A

Home , Allen Britton, Ananias Davisson, Benjamin Franklin White, Daniel Read, Fuguing tune, Sacred Harp

―IF I CAN REACH THE CHARMING SOUND, I‘LL TUNE MY HARP AGAIN‖: THE FASOLA TUNEBOOK PUBLICATION RENAISSANCE

A. MITCHELL V. STECKER

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

There are many individuals and groups whose support has facilitated the undertaking and completion of this document. First, I sincerely thank Dr. Laura Ellis and Dr. Jennifer Thomas for their time and energy spent not only on my thesis committee, but for all they both have invested in me over the better part of the past decade. I also wish to express my gratitude to the individuals and groups who gave of their time in answering questionnaires, giving interviews, and having informal conversations about this fascinating musical phenomenon, including the St.

Louis Sacred Harp Singers, Professor Stephen A. Marini, and Micah Walter. I thank my parents for their unflagging support of my educational endeavors for the entirety of my life, and Sarah, whose love, encouragement, and strength are continual sources of inspiration. And finally, I would like to thank my singing friends everywhere, without the friendship and hospitality of whom I likely never would have discovered and been taken by this incredible music.

How sweet the hours have passed away/Since we have met to sing and pray; How loath we are to leave the place/Where Jesus shows His smiling face. Oh could I stay with friends so kind,/How would it cheer my drooping mind! But duty makes me understand/That we must take the parting hand.

Verse 2, 62 PARTING HAND, Sacred Harp, 1991 Denson Revision

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 3

LIST OF TABLES ...... 7

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 8

LIST OF EXAMPLES ...... 10

ABSTRACT ...... 12

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...... 14

Review of the Literature ...... 16 Traditional Shape-Note Practice ...... 16 Shape-Note Music, Collections, and History ...... 20 Structure ...... 25

2 A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE 19TH-CENTURY FASOLA TUNEBOOK ...... 27

Introduction ...... 27 An Immaterial Precursor: The Singing School ...... 28 Physical Disposition ...... 33 Shaped Notation ...... 33 Rudiments ...... 42 Performance Practice as Encoded in the Rudiments ...... 44 Tone Quality of the Voice as Encoded in Rudiments ...... 45 Stylistic Implications Encoded in Rudiments ...... 49 A Case Study in Fasola Transmission: ―General Observations‖ ...... 52 Repertoire ...... 58 Folk Hymnody ...... 62 Genre ...... 64 Number of Parts ...... 69 Ordering and Sorting of Content ...... 71 Naming Conventions ...... 74 Tune naming ...... 74 Collection naming ...... 75 Historical Import of the Tunebook ...... 77

3 THE 20TH CENTURY SHAPE-NOTE REVIVAL ...... 86

Introduction ...... 86 The Academic Revival ...... 88

The Folk Music/Sacred Harp Revival ...... 96 The New England Revival ...... 98 The Midwestern Revival ...... 101 Connections and Divergences between the New England and Midwestern Revivals ..104 The Continuing Sacred Harp Revival: 1990 - Present ...... 108

4 THE TUNEBOOK PUBLICATION RENAISSANCE ...... 109

Introduction ...... 109 Case Studies of New Tunebooks ...... 113 Northern Harmony (2nd Ed., 1984; 1991 Printing) ...... 113 Genesis of the collection ...... 113 A description of the book and its contents ...... 115 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content...... 115 Repertoire...... 117 The Norumbega Harmony (1st Ed., 2003) ...... 120 Genesis of the collection ...... 120 A description of the book and its contents ...... 121 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content...... 122 Repertoire...... 123 The Missouri Harmony (Wings of Song ed., 2005) ...... 129 Genesis of the collection ...... 129 A description of the book and its contents ...... 131 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content ...... 131 Repertoire ...... 133 A Dividing Point: The Early Tunebooks versus the Later Tunebooks ...... 137 The Georgian Harmony (2nd ed., 2012) ...... 137 Genesis of the collection ...... 137 A description of the book and its contents ...... 140 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content...... 141 Repertoire...... 143 The Trumpet (2011-2015) ...... 147 Genesis of the collection ...... 147 A description of the collection and its contents ...... 148 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content ...... 148 Repertoire ...... 148 The Shenandoah Harmony (3rd printing of 1st ed., 2014) ...... 151 Genesis of the collection ...... 151 A description of the book and its contents ...... 152 Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content ...... 153 Repertoire...... 155 Other New Collections ...... 160

5 TRENDS OF THE NEW TUNEBOOKS...... 175

The New Tunebooks Dissected ...... 175 Physical, practical, and extra-musical considerations ...... 175

Illustrations, photographs, and other artwork included in the collections ...... 177 Rudiments ...... 178 Repertoire ...... 180 Preferences for major compared to minor tonalities ...... 181 Key ...... 181 Number of parts ...... 183 Tune naming conventions ...... 185 Text preferences ...... 188 Amount of textual material printed in the book ...... 190 Historical versus contemporary repertoire in the new tunebooks ...... 191 A Deeper Stylistic Interrogation of the Contemporary Repertoire ...... 192 Revision and Re-edition Processes ...... 198 Indices ...... 199 Motivations Driving the Compilation of the New Collections ...... 200 Core Composer Cohort ...... 210

6 CONCLUSIONS ...... 220

Revelations from the Survey of Singers and Tunebook Catalogue ...... 220 The Survey of Singers ...... 220 The Tunebook Catalogue ...... 225 The Tunebook Publication Renaissance as the final stage of the fasola revival ...... 233 Valuation of Composition and Compilation in the Tunebook Publication Renaissance ...... 240 Revisiting the understanding of the Sacred Harp ...... 244 A New Class of Singer: the ―New Traditionalist‖ ...... 245 Parting Comments ...... 248

APPENDIX

A SAMPLE SURVEY...... 255

B TUNEBOOK PROFILES ...... 257

C TUNEBOOK CATALOGUE ...... 277

LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 335

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 340

6 LIST OF TABLES

Table page

4-1 A catalog of fasola collections, 1980–2018...... 111

5-1 Historical versus contemporary repertoire in the case study tunebooks...... 192

5-2 The core cohort of contemporary fasola composers as revealed in the repertoires of the case study collections...... 211

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure page

2-1 Title pages from a diverse selection of tunebooks, published between 1770 and 1889. ...83

2-2 A number of the seven-shape notational systems in use in 19th century collections, as documented by W. Thomas Marrocco in ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections,‖ Plate IV...... 84

2-3 A depiction of William Walker with his tuning fork superimposed, as included in Jackson‘s White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands (page 58[b])...... 84

2-4 The contents of the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp, broken down by genre...... 85

2-5 At left, a scatterplot of the number of tunebooks produced in a given year, 1800- 1900. At right, the data at left represented as number of tunebooks produced per decade, with a line of best fit applied...... 85

4-1 ―Map of Composer Birthplaces‖ from Northern Harmony (2nd ed., p. 112)...... 163

4-2 Two pages from Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), depicting Crompton‘s illustrations...... 164

4-3 An example tune commentary, in this case, the one provided for Lucius Chapin‘s LIBERTY HALL. (The Norumbega Harmony, p.286) ...... 164

4-4 The typical hollow square arrangement, described and diagramed on p. vii of Shenandoah Harmony...... 165

4-5 The sketched portrait of McGraw and Hamrick, included on page [v] of The Georgian Harmony...... 165

4-6 146 SAMANTHRA from The Shenandoah Harmony (2012), depicting the standard page layout of the book...... 166

5-1 A physical copy of The Trumpet sitting atop other fasola tunebooks, from the now- defunct SingTheTrumpet.org ...... 211

5-2 Excerpts from Continental Harmony (William Billings, ed., Boston: Garrish and Thomas, 1794) (A) and Northern Harmony (2nd ed.) (B), depicting their ornate visual flourishes...... 212

6-1 Three self-reported metrics from the survey of singers: broad age demographics (A), years of experience singing Sacred Harp music (B), and the regions in which the respondent both learned to sing, and in which they sing currently (C)...... 250

6-2 The number of singers who own copies of (at left, in blue) and who have sung from (at right, in red) selected fasola collections...... 251

6-3 Number of fasola editions published per decade, 1800-2010...... 251

6-4 One component of a tunebook‘s ―musical genome‖: a comparison of age of the repertoire in each case study collection by date of composition. The graphs depect the number of pieces in each book‘s repertoire composed per decade...... 252

6-5 A comparison of the same page‘s appearance in the 1971 (top) and 1991 (bottom) Denson Sacred Harp revisions...... 253

9 LIST OF EXAMPLES

Example page

2-1 An example of John Tufts‘ letter notation: OLD 100 from Tufts‘ Introduction, (as depicted in Lowens, ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes‘‖, p. 96)...... 80

2-2 The use of the distinctive fasola syllables memorialized in a song, THE SCALE, from William Hauser‘s Hesperian Harp (Philadelphia: S.C. Collins, 1848), page 488...... 80

2-3 Variants of the same tune, MEAR, as printed in Law‘s Musical Primer (above) and Little and Smith‘s Easy Instructor (below), demonstrating the differences in their shaped notational systems...... 81

2-4 Above, an excerpt from ―GREAT IS THE LORD‖, an anthem from Samuel Jackson‘s 1848 Sacred Harmony. Below, the title page and a musical excerpt from J.S. James‘s Sacred Tunes and Hymns (1913)...... 82

4-1 WINTER from the preface to Northern Harmony (p. xv) with the typical text replaced with spelled-out fasola syllables...... 166

4-2 A comparison of two compositional approaches to meter changes...... 167

4-3 An example of the paired-voice technique in 230 Woolman Hill from The Norumbega Harmony, which begins in the repeated B section...... 169

4-4 A page of CHESHUNT from the 1846 edition of the Missouri Harmony, showing what are presumably instrumental interludes. This tune was omitted from the 2005 edition. .170

4-5 94 BRADFORD (The Georgian Harmony, 2012) displaying the atypical text setting, with individual words split across voice parts in their sequential entries...... 171

4-6 The fuging sections of 116 LIBERTY HILL (A) and 86 CEDAR CREEK (B) from The Georgian Harmony (2012), with the textural changes and bass solo technique that composer-compiler Raymond Hamrick frequently utilized in his compositions...... 172

4-7 285 ETERNITY from The Shenandoah Harmony, illustrating the expressive text setting on ―Wide as the world...‖...... 173

4-8 The first page of Rebecca Wright‘s tune PARRISH (The Shenandoah Harmony, p. 322), depicting the F clef in the alto part and the voice entries outlining the tones of the tonic triad...... 173

4-9 John Bayer‘s tune MADNESS, (The Shenandoah Harmony, p. 101) depicting the atypical treble treatment of the treble voice in the fuging section...... 174

10 5-1 The measures THE BETTER LAND, depicting the atypically chromatic harmony used by Parris. From the Denson Sacred Harp (1991), p.454...... 213

5-2 Two conservatively experimental tunes from The Trumpet. At top (A), 84 PAGE STREET, a three part tune, and at bottom, 118 PLAC UNII LUBELSKIEJ, (B) a fuging tune in triple meter...... 214

5-3 246 ARINELLO from The Norumbega Harmony, illustrating the double fugue...... 215

5-4 An excerpt from 36 MALONE (The Trumpet) depicting the order of voice entries in the fuging section...... 216

5-5 86 LEXINGTON, a formally complex fuging tune from The Trumpet...... 217

5-6 Excerpts of the same piece, 236 EASTER ANTHEM in the Denson Sacred Harp (A) and (B) 39 AN ANTHEM FOR EASTER in The Norumbega Harmony...... 218

6-1 Three tunes from the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp, 178 AFRICA, 49 MEAR, and 503 LLOYD...... 254

Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music

―IF I CAN REACH THE CHARMING SOUND, I‘LL TUNE MY HARP AGAIN‖: THE FASOLA TUNEBOOK PUBLICATION RENAISSANCE

A. Mitchell V. Stecker

May 2019

Chair: Jennifer Thomas Major: Music

Since the mid-20th Century, the once-dying musical tradition known as fasola singing has made a remarkable recovery. With stylistic roots in Colonial-era New England, fasola music enjoyed widespread adoption throughout the United States in the early 19th century. However, the style waned in popularity as the century wore on, sharply declining after the American Civil

War, and by 1900 the tradition lived on in only a few, relatively isolated Southern communities.

By the 1930s, scholars had begun to pay attention to this old American music, and by the 1970s, the tradition had begun to gain traction again; by 2000, fasola singing communities had taken root throughout the United States.

The revival had spread primarily under the banner of The Sacred Harp, a fasola collection with a continuous publication heritage dating to the 1840s. However, in 1980, a new era dawned with the arrival of Northern Harmony–the first fasola tunebook published outside the

South since the antebellum period. From that time to the present, some 60 editions of more than

30 collections have been published.

This study comprises a multimodal investigation into the tunebook publication renaissance. A historical framework is established in Chapter 2 with an anatomical study of the

19th century tunebook. Following a concise overview of the 20th century fasola revival in Chapter

3, Chapter 4 comprises in-depth case studies of six contemporary tunebooks. The insights gleaned from the case studies are hashed out in Chapter 5. Two ancillary resources augment the main study: a catalog of fasola tunebooks from 1800 to the present, and a survey of fasola singers, revealing information about the singing and tunebook-owning habits of the contemporary singing community.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Dr. Barton described one of the fasola ―singin‘-all-day-and-dinner-on-the- grounds‖ conventions which he had observed in Texas and told of the singers‘ claims to an art of song which had come down in direct line from the earliest music of the world, as that earliest music had been revealed in the Bible and by subsequent history. He also told of their strange notation and of a music theory, singing schools, teachers, and song books which are exclusively the rurals‘ own, making these people, in effect, … a sort of ―lost tonal tribe‖.

—George Pullen Jackson White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands1

When George Pullen Jackson re-introduced shape-note music to the American academy and urban society in the 1930s, he could not have envisioned the vigor with which the music would spring back to life in the ensuing decades. The music he described—not completely alien, but certainly not familiar —was a bricolage of distinctive characteristics amalgamated over the course of several centuries. These characteristics included the peculiar oblong formatting of the tunebooks containing the printed music, a curious, seemingly idiosyncratic system of notation and solmization, and a repertoire of music that eschewed many of the compositional mandates of the artistic elite. The music itself favors a contrapuntal, a cappella idiom which prizes perfect consonances and dyadic harmony – an idiom more closely resembling the centuries-old style of

John Bull and Thomas Morley than anything in the common repertoire of early 20th century

American church music.

Despite the arresting musical effect of the fasola style, Jackson was pessimistic about its future. Lamenting the accelerating trend of urbanization that continues even at present, he

1 George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singing and Buckwheat Notes (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1933), 3.

14 remarked that ―the first fact that strikes us as fundamental is that city folk do not sing.‖2 Because

Jackson died in the 1950s, he did not live to see fasola music, under the auspices of the Sacred

Harp, reclaim its territory in the urban northern United States in the latter half of the century; neither did he get to see its more recent spread to Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, eastern Asia, and elsewhere. More than all of this, what may have proven most surprising to Jackson is that people have not only begun to sing this historical music again, but have even begun to compose, compile, and publish new collections in this traditional idiom.

This unexpected compilation renaissance began around 1980. Until that time, no new3 fasola tunebooks had been published since before the Civil War. However, since the publication of Northern Harmony in 1980, there have been nearly 60 new editions of some 27 distinct compilations. This thesis explores the historical underpinnings of the modern fasola tunebook tradition by examining a half-dozen modern tunebooks as case studies. In an attempt to shed more light on these tunebooks, I have examined their content, musical repertoire, and general dispositions. To provide a fuller picture of how these new collections fit into the broader fasola framework and relate to the Sacred Harp, I have also conducted an online survey of nearly 350 shape-note singers. The singers were asked about their shape-note singing habits and preferences, including their views on tradition, the regions in which they were introduced to the music and where they sing it presently, and about the number of tunebooks they own and use on a regular basis.

2 Jackson, White Spirituals, 426.

3 By ―new‖ here, I exclude editions of tunebooks in the Sacred Harp lineage, which has a continuous publication lineage stretching to 1844. These include the Cooper edition lineage beginning in 1902, the James lineage beginning 1911, the Colored Sacred Harp of 1934, the Denson lineage beginning 1935, etc. This figure does, however, include books that had fallen out of publication and were revitalized, such as The Missouri Harmony of 2005.

Review of the Literature

The literature on shape-note music germane to this study falls into two broad categories: literature on the practice of shape-note singing, and literature on shape-note music itself and the collections that contain it. Given the highly regional provenance of contemporary shape-note practice, much of the literature focuses on local or regional realizations of the music.

Furthermore, because the contemporary fasola revival has largely centered around the music and practices of one tunebook, the Sacred Harp (and in particular, the Denson revision lineage of that book), the literature demonstrates a corresponding slant. George Pullen Jackson‘s White

Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, published in 1933, was among the earliest academic inquiries into the history, origins, and practice of the so-called ―fasola folk‖ of the south. Because

Jackson‘s work was the foundation for the ensuing scholarship on shape-note music, his focus on the James revision of the Sacred Harp laid the groundwork for the continuing bias toward the

James/Denson revisions.4

Traditional Shape-Note Practice

The highly social nature of the shape-note music-making idiom creates an intricate web of practices and interactions. These networks are of keen interest to scholars, who have largely bifurcated the study of the practice into that surrounding ―traditional‖ practice, defined loosely as that found throughout the Southern United States, and ―revival‖ practice, which is how the music

4 The most widely-used editions of the Sacred Harp belong to one of two lineages: the Cooper edition (dating to the 1902 revision by Wilson M. Cooper, most recently revised in 2012) and the James/Denson Lineage (dating to the 1911 revision by Joseph S. James, later revised by Thomas and Paine Denson, 1935, and most recently revised in 1991). The interaction between the two will be more deeply explored later in the document, but for now it will suffice for the reader to know that the two camps have not always had an ideal relationship.

Kahre says the following of the situation: ―Jackson‘s description of the [Sacred Harp] revisions cannot help but be incomplete, as the process was ongoing and his text [White Spirituals] predates the first Denson edition. In addition, because he first made contact with James book singers, the Cooper book publishers would not speak with him, and he was unable to learn much about the Cooper book before publishing.‖ See Sarah Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp: The Formation of the Twentieth-Century Tunebook Lines, (PhD diss.: Florida State University, 2015): 3.

16 is practiced elsewhere. Scholars have widely explored fasola singing and singers in Alabama and

Georgia, the two principal historical hotbeds of Sacred Harp activity. Jonathon Smith investigated the singers of the traditional Sacred Harp stronghold of northern Alabama‘s Sand

Mountain region in his master‘s thesis;5 Buell Cobb underscores the deep roots and dynastic character of the Sacred Harp tradition in Sand Mountain in his 1995 article on the Wootten family.6 The monumental educator, academic, and choral director John W. Work documented the historic activities of black Sacred Harp singers in Alabama, mostly concentrated in the south of the state,7 and Henry Willett‘s contributions complement the Work‘s study with a contemporary perspective.8

Sacred Harp9 singing in Georgia has been equally well explored. Kiri Miller‘s 2002 book collects source material on the historic Chattahoochee Convention – the oldest convention of

Sacred Harp singing still in existence, annually convening in west Georgia since the 1850s – including minutes,10 photographs, news clippings, and other historical writings and musical

5 Jonathon Murray Smith, "―We‘ll All Shout Together in that Morning‖: Iconicity and Sacred Harp Singing on Sand Mountain, Alabama" (master's thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009).

6 Buell E. Cobb, ―Sand Mountain's Wootten family: Sacred Harp singers,‖ in In the Spirit: Alabama's Sacred Music Traditions (Montgomery, AL: Black Belt, 1995).

7 John Work, ―Plantation Meistersinger,‖ The Musical Quarterly 27, no. 1 (January 1949): 97-106.

8 Henry Willett, ―Black sacred harp singing from Southeast Alabama,‖ in From jubilee to hip hop: Readings in African American music, ed. Kip Lornell (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2010).

9 When italicized, as ―Sacred Harp,‖ I am using the term to refer to the tunebook itself; when written in Roman typeface, as here, I use ―Sacred Harp‖ to refer to the communities, customs, traditions, practices, etc. that have developed around the tunebook.

10 Minutes serve largely the same role in Sacred Harp practice as they do in the practice of any parliamentary organization. In Sacred Harp convention tradition, those who wish to lead – that is, to select a song from the book and lead it by ―beating time‖ (or conducting) the piece, setting the tempo, selecting which verses will be sung, making performance decisions about repeats, etc. – submit their names to the organizers of the convention at the beginning of the day. Each singer on the list is called successively to lead one or more songs from the book. These leaders and their choices are recorded, along with other actions such as announcements and invocations; these minutes are often published.

17 excerpts about the convention.11 Like Alabama, Georgia is also home to families with dynastic

Sacred Harp connections spanning a century or more, such as the Lees of Hoboken. Over time, the Lee family singers developed several unique musical practices that diverge from commonplace Sacred Harp singing, owing to their historical isolation from the rest of the Sacred

Harp community. Laurie Sommers documented many of these attributes and provided a general overview of the family in 2010.12 The roles of other southern states in the transmission and development of shape-note practice have not been ignored, with John Quincy Wolf documenting the Sacred Harp in Mississippi,13 and Lisa Hardaway14 and Donald Ross15 investigating the

Sacred Harp tradition of Texas. In addition to the Sacred Harp, scholars have examined the broader shape-note tradition in other parts of the south, such as the historical shape-note traditions in North Carolina16 and Kentucky.17

Because of the music‘s social character, many of the inquiries into the modern revival practice of shape-note singing naturally focus on one specific community or region of singers.

11 Kiri Miller, ed., The Chattahoochee Musical Convention: A Sacred Harp Historical Sourcebook (Carrolton, GA: Sacred Harp Museum, 2002).

12 Laurie K. Sommers, ―Hoboken Style: Meaning and Change in Okefenokee Sacred Harp Singing,‖ Southern Spaces, August 17, 2010, accessed March 17, 2018, http://www.southernspaces.org/2010/hoboken-style- meaning-and-change-okefenokee-sacred-harp-singing.

13 John Quincy Wolf, ―The Sacred Harp in Mississippi,‖ Journal of American Folklore 81, no 322 (December 1968): 337-341.

14 Lisa Carol Hardaway, ―Sacred Harp Traditions in Texas‖ (master‘s thesis, Rice University, 1989).

15 Donald R. Ross, ―Black Sacred harp singing remembered in East Texas,‖ in Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African- American folklore, ed. Francis E. Abernethy, Patrick B. Mullen, and Alan B. Governar (Denton, TX: University of North Texas, 1996), 15-20.

16 Joel F. Reed, ―Shape-note singing at 2500 feet,‖ in Hymnology in the service of the church: Essays in honor of Harry Eskew, ed. Paul R. Power (St. Louis, MO: MorningStar Music, 2008).

17 Terry E. Miller, ―Old time shape-note singing schools in eastern Kentucky,‖ The Southern Quarterly 20, no. 1 (Fall 1981): 35-45.

Deborah C. Loftis, Big Singing Day in Benton, Kentucky: A Study of the History, Ethnic Identity and Musical Style of Southern Harmony Singers (Ph.D. dissertaion, University of Kentucky, 1987).

These studies generally utilize an ethnographic or anthropological methodology, and as a result, also commonly focus on demographics and motivations of singers, as well as on topics pertaining to the unique social and cultural aspects of the practice of the music. Mark Johnson‘s

1996 dissertation documented the spread of Sacred Harp singing and practices to the urban north by examining the two earliest camps of northern singers – the Midwesterners and the New

Englanders – and compared the characteristics of these ―revivalist‖ practices to his observations of traditional southern singings.18 A later study by Laura Clawson follows a similar pattern, investigating and comparing traditional Sacred Harp singing in Georgia and Alabama with revivalist practices in Chicago and Minneapolis.19 Academics have also conducted localized studies of Sacred Harp singing in Maryland,20 Indiana,21 California,22 and Ottawa, Canada.23 On the other hand, Kiri Miller‘s work represents a broader, more philosophical take on Sacred Harp music, including her dissertation focused on the role of nostalgia in Sacred Harp singing,24 as

18 Mark Johnson, The ‗Sacred Harp‘ in the Urban North: 1970-1995, (DMA dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1996).

19 Laura Clawson, I Belong to This Band, Hallelujah!: Community, Spirituality, and Tradition among Sacred Harp Singers (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).

20 Brigita Lee Sebald, ―The Performance of History: Motivations for Revivalist Participation in Sacred Harp of the Chesapeake Bay Area‖ (master‘s thesis, University of Maryland, 2005).

21 Stephanie L. Fida, ―Different Sides of the Square: Pluralism and Sacred Harp Singing in Bloomington, Indiana‖ (master‘s thesis, Indiana University, 2011).

22 Janet Lyn Herman, Sacred Harp Singing in California: Genre, Performance, Feeling (PhD dissertation, UCLA, 1997).

23 Julie Aalders, ―‗I‘ve Learn‘d to Sing a Glad New Song‘: Singing Sacred Harp with the Ottawa Shape Note Chorus‖ (master‘s thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), 2011).

24 Kiri Miller, A Long Time Traveling: Song, Memory, and the Politics of Nostalgia in the Sacred Harp Diaspora (PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 2005).

19 well as an article exploring the role oral tradition plays in the music‘s practice and interpretation.25

Shape-Note Music, Collections, and History

The history of shape-note music, and of the fasola tunebooks that contain it, has held the attention of scholars since the earliest academic inquiries into the music. Much of the work in this category focuses on one specific collection or individual; for instance, in one of the early and foundational studies of the tradition, Irving Lowens and Allen Britton documented the very first tunebook to use the distinctive fasola system, called The Easy Instructor.26 Like the scholarship on the practice of fasola singing, investigations on the music itself shares the bias toward the

Sacred Harp tunebook. Charles Ellington‘s 1969 dissertation marks the first substantial academic inquiry expressly into the Sacred Harp,27 and has since been followed by a significant number of studies of the Sacred Harp, with a particular focus on the Denson revision lineage of that collection.28 A few noteworthy examples include Buell Cobb‘s The Sacred Harp: A

Tradition and its Music,29 John Bealle‘s Public Worship, Private Faith,30 and Warren Steel‘s

Makers of the Sacred Harp.31 The former two contain only prose, while Steel‘s Makers of the

25 Kiri Miller, ―‗First Sing the Notes‘: Oral and Written Traditions in Sacred Harp Transmission,‖ American Music 22, no. 4 (December 1, 2004): 475-501.

26 Irving Lowens and Allen P. Britton, ―The Easy Instructor (1798-1831): A History and Bibliography of the First Shape Note Tune Book,‖ Journal of Research in Music Education 1, No. 1 (Spring 1953): 30-55.

27Charles Linwood Ellington, The Sacred Harp tradition of the south: Its origin and evolution (PhD dissertation, Florida State University, 1969).

28 The two revision lineages of the Sacred Harp are typically called the Cooper and Denson editions, after their editors, Wilson M. Cooper (whose first revision was published 1902), and Paine and Thomas Denson (whose first revision was published 1935, continuing in the lineage of Joseph S. James‘s 1911 revision). Due to the colors of their covers, the Cooper book is sometimes called the ―blue book‖, and the Denson the ―red book‖.

29 Buell Cobb, The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and its Music (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1978).

30 John Bealle, Public Worship, Private Faith: Sacred Harp and American Folksong (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1997).

31 Warren Steel, Makers of the Sacred Harp (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2010). 20

Sacred Harp is more encyclopedic in character. Steel‘s book includes biographical sketches of every composer in the 1991 Denson edition of the Sacred Harp, as well as an informational entry for each song in the book, documenting their titles, poetic meters, composers, text authors, and any available further information. Steel‘s resource fills a role somewhat akin to the hymnal companions found in modern denominational hymnody.

Some scholarship focuses on revisions outside the Denson lineage, such as Joe Boyd and

John Bealle‘s exploration of the Colored Sacred Harp tradition.32 Among the most recent work on the Sacred Harp is Sarah Kahre‘s 2015 dissertation, which sheds light on all of the revision lineages of the Sacred Harp. Her work includes the previously underexplored Cooper and James

Landrum White revisions, and also provides a cogent synopsis of the evolutions of the various lineages and their interactions with one another.33

Although the thoroughness of the scholarly work on the Sacred Harp is impressive, the collection represents only a single tradition out of the many 19th century fasola tunebooks.

Accordingly, musicologists have investigated other influential 19th century tunebooks such as the

Missouri Harmony34 and Southern Harmony for both their written35 and performance36 traditions. The literature also sheds light on a number of other, more minor 19th century fasola

32 Joe Boyd and John Bealle, Judge Jackson and The Colored Sacred Harp (Montgomery, AL: Alabama Folklife Association, 2002).

33 Sarah Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp: The Formation of the Twentieth Century Tunebook Lines (PhD dissertation, Florida State University, 2015).

34 Shirley Ann Bean, The Missouri Harmony, 1820-1858: The Refinement of a Southern Tunebook (PhD dissertation, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 1973).

35 Harry L. Eskew, ―William Walker's Southern Harmony: Its Basic Editions,‖ Latin American Music Review/Revista de musica Latino Americana 7, no. 2 (1986): 137-48.

36 Deborah C. Loftis, Big Singing Day in Benton, Kentucky: A Study of the History, Ethnic Identity and Musical Style of Southern Harmony Singers (PhD dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1987).

21 collections, including the Tennessee Harmony (1818),37,38 Mason‘s Sacred Harp (1834),39 Union

Harmony (1837),40 Eclectic Harmony (1847),41 and the Southern Minstrel (1848).42

Individuals also feature prominently in the literature. Music historians have paid much attention to the 18th century singing school masters, and have produced documents about the life and work of Timothy Swan,43 Jacob French,44 and Daniel Read,45 among many others. However, of all the 18th century figures, William Billings features most prominently. Scholars have studied his influences,46 his fuging tunes,47 the texts he employed,48 the word painting techniques he used,49 and the performance practices surrounding his music,50 as well as the influence he

37 David W. Music, ―Alexander Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony,‖ Current Musicology 37-38 (Spring-Fall 1984): 59-73.

38 Maria Ellen Maples, A study of the theory and practice of four-shape tunebooks of the nineteenth century with a detailed analysis of Alexander Johnson's Tennessee Harmony (DMA dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1997).

39 Christina Mennel, ―Timothy B. Mason and the Sacred Harp (1834),‖ The Hymn 49, no. 2 (April 1998): 30-34.

40 David W. Music, ―William Caldwell‘s Union Harmony (1837): The first East Tennessee Tunebook,‖ The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song 38, no. 3 (July 1987): 16-22.

41 Harry Eskew, ―Andrew W. Johnson‘s Eclectic Harmony: A Middle Tunebook in Middle Tennessee,‖ Notes 58, no. 2 (December 2001): 291-301.

42 David W. Steel, ―Lazarus J. Jones and The Southern Minstrel (1848),‖ American Music 6, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 123-157.

43 Sterling E. Murray, ―Timothy Swan and Yankee Psalmody,‖ The Musical Quarterly 61, no. 3 (July 1975): 433- 463.

44 Marvin C. Genuchi, The Life and Music of Jacob French ( PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, 1964). 45 Vinson Bushnell, Daniel Read of New Haven (1757-1836): The Man and His Musical Activities (PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 1978).

46 Charles M. Hubbard, Early New England Psalmody and Its Effect on the Works of William Billings (master‘s thesis, Boston University, 1949).

47 Allen McCain Garrett, William Billings and the Fuguing Tune (master‘s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1949).

48 J. Murray Barbour, ―The Texts of Billings' Church Music,‖ Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts 1 (1959): 49-61.

49 Karl Kroeger, ―Word Painting in the Music of William Billings,‖ American Music 6, no. 1 (1988): 41-64.

50 Richard Crawford and David P. McKay, ―The Performance of William Billings' Music,‖ Journal of Research in Music Education 21, no. 4 (1973): 318-30.

22 posthumously exerted on the southern fasola tradition.51 Likewise, the midatlantic and southern fasola singing school masters and compilers of the 19th century – the spiritual successors to the

―yankee tunesmiths‖ – have also been the focus of individual study, including Ananias

Davisson,52 Lucius and Amzi Chapin,53 Andrew Johnson,54 and William Hauser.55

Scholars have also focused on the musical material itself. Academics have examined the transmission of the music from its stylistic roots in Britain to the American Colonies,56 and later from its singing school origins in colonial New England to its surrogate home in the South,57 with later scholars revising some of the errors and oversights of earlier work.58 Musicologists and music theorists have documented the common repertoire in the tradition,59 and have also

51 David W. Music, ―William Billings in the Southern fasola tunebooks, 1816-1855,‖ The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song 47, no. 4 (October 1996): 14-25.

52 David W. Music, ―Ananias Davisson, Robert Boyd, Reubin Monday, John Martin, and Archibald Rhea in East Tennessee, 1816 – 1826,‖ American Music 1, no. 3 (Fall 1983): 72-84.

53 James W. Scholten, The Chapins: A Study of Men and Sacred Music West of the Alleghenies, 1795-1842 (EdD dissertation, University of Michigan, 1972).

54 Marion J. Hatchett, ―The shape-note tunebooks of Andrew W. Johnson of Tennessee,‖ in Hymnology in the service of the church: Essays in honor of Harry Eskew, ed. Paul R. Power (St. Louis, MO: MorningStar Music, 2008), 35-51.

55 Daniel W. Patterson, ―William Hauser‘s Hesperian Harp and Olive Leaf: Shape-Note Tunebooks as Emblems of Change and Progress,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 101, no. 399 (January - March 1988): 23-36.

Joseph Dennie Scott, The Tunebooks of William Hauser (The Hesperian Harp, the Olive Leaf) (DMA dissertation, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987).

56 Ralph T. Daniel, ―English Models for the First American Anthems,‖ Journal of the American Musicological Society 12, no. 2 (Spring 1959): 49-58.

57 George Pullen Jackson, ―Some Factors in the Diffusion of American Religious Folksongs,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 65, No. 258 (Oct. – Dec. 1952): 365-369.

58 Kay Norton, ―Who Lost the South?‖ American Music 21, No. 4 (Winter 2003): 391-411.

59 Dorothy Horn, Sing To Me of Heaven: A Study of Folk and Early American Materials in Three Old Harp Books (Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1970).

David W. Music, ―Seven ―New‖ Tunes in Amos Pilsbury‘s United States‘ Sacred Harmony (1799) and Their Use in Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks of the Southern United States before 1860,‖ American Music 13, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 403-447.

23 interrogated numerous aspects of the music‘s theoretical underpinnings, including the contrapuntal style in the early three-part repertoire,60 the pentatonic theory underlying much of the repertoire which has a folk provenance,61 the development and evolution of the alto part,62 and the origins of staple genres63 such as the fuging tune64 and anthem.65 Music historians have documented the development and use of various notational systems found in early American collections,66 and have explored the historical diversity of the music‘s practice according to region.67 Recently, researchers have also begun to the music as it existed within specific periods of time that had previously been neglected by academic interest, such as the period between

Reconstruction and the First World War.68

60 Charles Seeger, ―Contrapuntal Style in the Three-Voice Shape-Note Hymns,‖ The Musical Quarterly 26, no. 4 (October 1, 1940): 483-493.

61 Dorothy Horn, ―Quartal Harmony in the Pentatonic Folk Hymns of the Sacred Harp,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 71, no. 282 (October – December 1958): 564-581.

62 Wallace McKenzie, ―The Alto Parts of the ‗True Disguised Harmony‘ of the Sacred Harp Revisions,‖ Musical Quarterly 73, no. 2 (1989): 153-171.

63 A full explanation of the genres common in this style may be found in Chapter 2.

64 Irving Lowens, ―The Origins of the American Fuging Tune,‖ Journal of the American Musicological Society 6, no. 1 (Spring 1953): 43-52.

65 Wallace McKenzie, ―Anthems of the Sacred Harp Tunesmiths‖ American Music 6, no. 3 (Fall 1988): 247-263.

66 W. Thomas Marocco, ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections,‖ Acta Musicologica 36, Fasc. 2/3 (Apr. – Sep. 1964): 136-142.

67 Stephen A. Marini, ―The New England Singing School: Ritual Change and Religious Culture in Revolutionary America,‖ Religion Compass 5, no. 6 (June 2011): 247-259.

Joshua Rush Barnett, ―The Brandstetter Tunebook: Shape-Note Dissemination and the Germans of Western Maryland,‖ American Music 33, no. 2 (Summer 2015): 176-218.

68 Gavin James Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used Instead of New‘: Shape-Note Singing and the Crisis of Modernity in the New South, 1880-1920,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 110, no. 436 (April 1, 1997): 169-188.

Duncan Vinson, ―‗As Far from Secular, Operatic, Rag-Time, and Jig Melodies as Is Possible‘: Religion and the Resurgence of Interest in the Sacred Harp, 1895-1911,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 119, no. 474 (October 1, 2006): 413-43.

Although few studies make more than a passing mention of modern tunebooks that lie outside of the Sacred Harp publication lineages,69 there is one document with a very similar scope to my own investigation: C.R. Davis‘s 2016 dissertation entitled Beyond Revival:

Composition and Compilation Amidst the Sacred Harp Revival.70 Although Davis also focuses on the recent flurry of activity in regard to shape-note music, his study and this diverge in salient ways. First, Davis espouses a highly ethnographic framework to interrogate the music, including many interviews with individuals, whereas this study employs a methodology with a stronger emphasis on viewing the contemporary phenomenon through a historical lens. Davis‘s study focuses primarily on the shape-note revival at the compositional level, rather than the compilational level, and asserts that the new tunebooks should be viewed as subsets of the

Sacred Harp tradition. My study reconsiders both of those perspectives. Furthermore, this study includes the data from a survey of nearly 350 contemporary shape-note singers to provide a more fully informed picture of the demographics, attitudes, and practices of the shape-note tradition‘s modern iteration.

Structure

This thesis is structured in five chapters. Chapter 2 is an overview of stylistic components of historical fasola tunebooks. As organic entities shaped by processes of accretion and culling spanning generations, a full appreciation of the nuances of style and convention in the shape-note tunebooks demands a thorough understanding of the music‘s historical traditions. The chapter

69 There are some exceptions to this generalization, but most scholarship affords little more than a listing of a handful of titles. One notable exception is ―Sacred Harp Singing‖ by Stephen Marini, in his Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture (Urbana, IL: University of Ilinois Press, 2003). Marini mentions a dozen or so late 20th century tunebooks, including Northern Harmony, The Sacred Harper‘s Companion, and his own Norumbega Harmony. He devotes about a page and a half to discussing this new phenomenon in the context of the 20th century shape-note revival.

70 Clinton Ross Davis, Beyond Revival: Composition and Compilation Amidst the Sacred Harp Revival (PhD dissertation, University of California San Diego, 2016).

25 documents the components of historical fasola tunebooks and the traits they share, including an investigation of common characteristics found in the musical repertoire and theoretical prefaces of the collections, titling patterns and conventions, performance practice, and the ways in which the tunebook and its distinctive characteristics developed over time. Chapter 3 offers a brief overview of the 20th century revival of shape-note singing, how it spread, and how it laid the foundation for a proliferation of new fasola collections, ending a century-long publication drought. Chapter 4 analyzes case studies of six contemporary tunebooks: Northern Harmony

(1980), The Norumbega Harmony (2003), The Missouri Harmony (2005), The Georgian

Harmony (2010), The Trumpet (2011-2015), and The Shenandoah Harmony (2012). Chapter 5 comprises a dissection of the tunebooks following the pattern of Chapter 2, with subsections describing each case study in light of the historical hallmarks, and concludes with a discussion of the trends exhibited by the modern tunebooks, as well as a brief discussion of some other notable contemporary tunebooks. The final chapter, Chapter 6, discusses the ancillary work supporting this investigation—namely, the tunebook catalogue and the survey of singers—as well as the conclusions of the study.

CHAPTER 2 A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE 19TH-CENTURY FASOLA TUNEBOOK

Gould‘s ―dark age‖ (he did not have the democratic slant on music) was one of steadily increasing development of singing schools and song books. The Revolutionary War and its accompanying antipathy to all things British lent impetus to the tendency to desert the old imported tunes and to substitute for them the newly fabricated domestic article. Hence many a singing-school teacher became a maker of tunes, and tune books multiplied.

—George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands1

Introduction

Although the principal subject of this thesis is the 21st century fasola tunebook, the significance of the modern phenomenon must be understood in light of its original 19th century pattern. This historical overview of fasola music, tunebooks, and practice is presented in the framework of an anatomical exploration of the historical fasola tunebook. Accordingly, this overview is organized topically, rather than chronologically. Each topic heading focuses on a single integral component of the 19th century fasola tunebook, exploring the historical background of each, documenting the diversity of ways in which each characteristic was manifest in the 19th century collections, and illustrating the subtle shifts in tradition and convention that occurred over the course of the music‘s development. The dissection of the 19th century shape-note tunebook presented here provides a picture of fasola music‘s evolution as encoded in the books as material objects. A topical approach to this material mitigates the temptation, on the part of both reader and writer, to oversimplify the complex history of this music. This approach also helps clarify the individual provenances of the components of the tunebooks, as well as the purposes these components served. This chapter also provides a more

1 Jackson, White Spirituals, 9.

27 detailed backdrop for the historical features maintained in the contemporary tunebooks, described in their respective case studies in Chapter 4.

An Immaterial Precursor: The Singing School

The earliest colonial precursors of shape note music predate the invention of the distinctive notation by about 80 years. The state of religious music among the Anglo-American colonists in New England in the first decades of the 18th century was apparently quite bad.

According to Thomas Walter,

Once the tunes [of the church] were sung according to the rules of music but are now miserably tortured and twisted. ... There are no two churches that sing alike. …For want of exactitude, I have observed in many places one man is upon a note, while another a note behind, which produces something hideous and beyond expression bad.2

In the 20th century, George Pullen Jackson re-echoed the sentiment:

It is a sorry picture that the historians of music have painted of the sacred-musical side of early New England colonial life. In the seventeenth-century church they used few tunes, and the few they did use were tolerated rather than prized and fostered. The spoken gospel was the thing. ‗Part singing‘ sank to one part, the droned melody which church folk could sing … without any musical instruction at all. The words were ‗lined out‘ by the leader…and the singing of the dozen or so possible tunes proceeded in a sort of everybody-for-himself manner much like the responsive readings in some churches today. 3

This poor state of affairs is unsurprising, due to the colonists‘ lack of access to each of printed musical repertoire, music education, and musical instruments. The lack of instruments was the least troubling of these contributing factors, given the long-standing use of a cappella music in historic Christian worship. Furthermore, many strains of Reformation theology forbade the use of instruments in worship, so the absence of instruments in worship was not a cause for concern for most of the earliest American Protestants. However, the lack of music education and notated

2 Thomas Walter, The Grounds and Rules of Music Explained (Boston: Samuel Gerrish, 1746), 2-5.

3 Jackson, White Spirituals, 6.

28 repertoire ultimately lead to a widespread musical ineptitude – a serious problem for a people whose scriptures instructed them to ―sing unto the Lord a new song.‖

In an effort to rectify the poor state of church music, John Tufts, a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts, endeavored to provide a resource of musical repertoire combined with an instructional text designed to teach the common people to sing. The resulting 23 page work,

An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes, was published in Boston no later than 1721,4 and holds the distinction of being the first music textbook published in North America.5 Tufts use of a non-standard notation highlighted his pedagogical aims. Recognizing the unrealized semantic potential of noteheads, Tufts‘ replaced the typical round noteheads with the letters F, S, L, and

M, placed on the staff (ex. 2-1), each standing for a solmization of scale degrees (fa, so, la, and mi).6 This four-note fasola solmization, also known as ―Lancashire solfege‖, reduced the complexity of the ut-re-mi based seven-note solmization by emphasizing the whole tone intervals between the pairs of fa-so and so-la (the latter being identical pitch relationships to ut-re and re- mi), with the leading tone being accounted for with a dedicated syllable, mi. The system was in widespread use in rural areas of England by time of Queen Elizabeth‘s 16th century reign,7 and is still used by modern practitioners of Sacred Harp music (reflected in the moniker given them by George Pullen Jackson, the ―Fasola Folk‖), an enduring indication of the music‘s deep Anglo-

American roots.

4 The exact date of the first edition is unfortunately lost, as the earliest extant edition is the fifth, published 1726. Lowens states that it is ―extremely doubtful‖ that the first edition appeared before 1721. For further detail, see Irving Lowens, ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes‘ (1721-1744): The First American Music Textbook‖, Journal of Research in Music Education 2, no. 2 (Autumn 1954): 90.

5 Alan C. Buechner, ―Lowell Mason: Not the ‗Father of Singing Among the Children‘,‖ The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 3, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 41.

6 Lowens, ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction‘‖, 91.

7 Jackson, White Spirituals, 4.

Although the concept behind Tufts‘s character-notehead idea was novel,8 the book experienced tepid sales. A competing collection, Thomas Walter‘s Grounds and Rules of Music, was also published in Boston in 1721. Walter‘s collection contained a similar instructional preface, intended for the musical novice, but was printed in standard notation, with round noteheads. Perhaps owing in part to the alien notation in Tufts‘ collection, Walter‘s Grounds and

Rules of Music quickly eclipsed the Introduction in popularity.

The most enduring contribution of this cohort of Early American music educators was an intangible one: the institution of the singing school. Born out of the same desire to musically educate the public, competent individuals called ―singing masters‖ set up temporary, semi- formal ―singing schools‖ to teach interested individuals how to improve their capability to read and sing music, with an ultimate aim of bettering the quality of music in worship. Singing school masters were itinerant musicians, who often also practiced a non-musical trade for income.

Singing masters generally held their singing schools in the summer months, after the ―laying by‖ of crops; these schools would be held in any suitable location, most often a church or a schoolhouse. Although the drawbacks of ―learning by rote‖ were plain, given the general discord heard in early 18th century New England congregations that resulted from a poor knowledge of the tunes, there was still a reticence by some to adopt the new approach of ―learning by note‖. In an argument for the merits of teaching the laity to read musical notation, Massachusetts-born

Congregationalist minister Thomas Symmes stated his position thus:

And are we not all perswaded [sic], That the singing the praises of the most High, will be the employment of saints and angels in glory, thro‘ eternal ages? Shall it not then be the hearty wish and sincere endeavor of every child of GOD [sic] that this duty may be more universally and better practiced in the Churches of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the families of His servants? …Where would be the

8 Or, at least, it was novel in the Americas – attemps to encode noteheads with musical information date back as far as Guido d‘Arrezzo (see W. Thomas Marrocco, ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections‖: 136).

difficulty, or what the disadvantages, if people that want skill in singing would procure a skilfull person to instruct them, and meet two or three evenings in the week, from five or six a clock, to eight, and spend the time in learning to sing? Would this not be an innocent and profitable recreation, and would it not have a tendency (if prudently managed) to prevent the unprofitable expence [sic] of time on other occupations? Has it not a tendency to divert young people (who are most proper to learn) from learning idle, foolish, yea, pernicious songs and ballads, and banish all trash from their minds?9

While Mr. Symmes‘ arguments underscore the betterment of congregational song in worship as the raison d‘être of the singing school, and while this aim was certainly achieved, the singing school quickly developed secondary functions, many of which were social and secular in nature. In addition to providing a place of interaction that brought together all age groups from children to the elderly, the singing school held a particular draw for adolescents: it represented a rare occasion for male and female youth to interact at closer distances – both in the social and physical senses of the word – than the strict religious society of the time would generally tolerate.10 The status of singing school music as a social endeavor naturally is reflected in the tunebooks themselves. Many tunebooks include references to ―social worship‖, ―singing societies‖, or other verbiage to indicate the compiler‘s intent for the collection to be used outside of the church or formal singing school environments.11 The repertoire of the tunebooks also underscores their multifaceted nature; in addition to the spiritual texts found in singing school

9 Thomas Symmes, The Reasonableness of Regular Singing, Boston (Green for Gerrish, 1720): 3; 20.

10 Stephen A. Marini, ―The New England Singing School: Ritual Change and Religious Culture in Revolutionary America,‖ Religion Compass 5, no. 6 (June 2011): 251.

11 Some examples include Andrew Law‘s Harmonic Companion and Guide to Social Worship (1807), J.H. Hickock‘s The Social Lyrist: A Collection of Sentimental, Patriotic, and Pious Songs (1840), John G. McCurry‘s Social Harp (1850). Many more collections include references to the utility of the book as concerns the trifecta of ―Christian churches, singing schools, and private societies‖, including such well known collections as Wyeth‘s Repository (1810), Kentucky Harmony (1816), Missouri Harmony (1820), Southern Harmony (1835), the Sacred Harp (1844), and many others.

31 and fasola tunebooks, it was also common to find patriotic odes,12 settings of texts featuring

13 classical or naturalistic subjects, and even self-referential songs, such in William Hauser‘s THE

SCALE (ex. 2-2).

The singing school as a commonplace religious and social activity persisted in rural areas through the end of the 19th century. Practices developed in the 18th and 19th centuries both in vestige and in toto among shape note singers today. Singing schools of various degrees of formality take place today, and their prevalence seems to be growing. Southern fasola tradition- keepers such as Terry Wooten, David Ivey, and the late Hugh McGraw have hosted singing schools across the country, and many local singers have begun to teach singing schools themselves. In fact, the interest in the music and the traditional singing school format has grown so strong that there is now a series of multi-day singing schools known as Camp Fasola. Keeping with history, the event takes place over the summer, in a fairly typical overnight summer camp format, with various camp sessions either having a focus on a specific age demographic, or being open to people of all ages. While the original event has taken place each year since 2003 in

Anniston, Alabama, a biennial Camp Fasola Europe was established in 2012. The Camp Fasola events have become major confluence points of shape note singing and education, with the singing school pattern as its foundation. Even in contemporary ―regular‖ or ―practice‖ singings – that is, shorter singings of just a few hours, in contrast to all-day singings which last from

12 Some examples include 130 ODE ON SCIENCE in Wyeth‘s Repository (1810); 141 HAIL COLUMBIA in the Missouri Harmony; 346 AMERICAN STAR in the Sacred Harp (first included in the 1860 revision; maintained through the most recent 1991 Denson revision).

13 An example of the former is mentioned by David Music, found in Johnson‘s 1818 Tennessee Harmony : ―The most striking secular text in the book is a lament for Corydon who ‗sleeps in the clay,‘ leaving ‗sad Caroline‘ to bewail the loss of her love (p.49).‖ In David W. Music, ―Alexander Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony,‖ Current Musicology no. 37-38 (Spring-Fall 1984): 63.

The latter category includes pieces like 98 SPRING and 123 THE SEASONS MORALIZED from Davisson‘s Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (1825).

32 morning until mid-afternoon – much of the terminology used reflects the historical singing school origins of the music.14

Physical Disposition

Each of the 102 fasola tunebooks catalogued for this study are in an oblong disposition, where the book is bound on the shorter edge, vaguely reminiscent of the Renaissance partbook

(fig. 2-1). The format is motivated by several factors. As a practical musical consideration, the layout on the page allows the singer to see a longer snippet of their part at a glance, in turn decreasing the frequency of page turns. In polyphonic music, the landscape layout also provides a clear view of what the other voice parts are doing – a particularly useful attribute when singing fuging tunes, anthems, and other rhythmically complex genres of shape note with staggered entries across voice parts. Furthermore, the format is ergonomic, allowing the singers, and especially the leader, to hold the book open in one hand while beating time with the other.15 For this reason, nearly all historical tunebooks also have rigid covers.

Shaped Notation

Although certain elements of both the musical style and practice of shape note singing were common during the colonial era, the hallmark four-shape notational system only dates to the turn of the 19th century. A number of individuals have claimed to be the original conceivers

14 Thomas Malone presents and defines a number of these terms in the preface to his dissertation. Some examples include the use of the term ―class‖ (xiii) to refer to the assembled group of singers (regardless of whether or not the singing is occurring under the auspices of a singing school), the term ―class songs‖ (xiv), used to refer to fuging tunes and other music having a higher-than-average difficulty level, and the term ―lesson‖ (xviii) to refer to the songs called and to the general span of time spent by one leader in the middle of the square.

Thomas B. Malone, The Rudiments as ―Right Action‖: Pedagogy and Praxis in the Traditional Sacred Harp Singing School, (DMA dissertation, Boston University, 2009).

15 ―Beating time‖ is the term used to refer to the gesture the leader of a tune uses to control the tempo of the singers. The leader, standing in the middle of the hollow square of singers, moves his or her arm – typically, the right – up and down, by bending it at the elbow, which is tucked relatively close to their side. Many singers will do a more modest iteration of this motion from their seated position, in an effort to reinforce the tempo kept by the leader.

33 of the four-shape system, in which each syllable of fa, so, la, and mi are assigned distinctly shaped note-heads, though the strongest historical case is made for William Smith and William

Little.16 Smith and Little printed The Easy Instructor, a pedagogical tunebook compiled by the two singing school masters, in the familiar four-shape ―fasola‖ system in Philadelphia in 1801.17

Although Andrew Law conceived of a similar system in 1798, the modern fasola singer would find Smith and Little‘s system to be the more familiar, as Law‘s Musical Primer not only reversed the shapes of fa and la, but also did away with the five-line staff (ex. 2-3).18 The four- shape system found favor with singing school masters immediately. This is illustrated by the fact that by the beginning of 1815, 17 new tunebooks had been published using Smith and Little‘s system, and that by the end of 1820, this number had increased to 33.19

Although explosively popular for a time, the fasola system quickly attracted competitors and detractors. Although they are often (and rightly) associated with the later 19th century Gospel music movement, expanded notational systems that included shapes for seven syllables were devised and in use as early as 1810 by Nathan Chapin and Joseph Dickerson, both of

Philadelphia. In fact, this represents a fascinating point of divergence between the four- and seven-shape tunebooks as regards their notation. While virtually every four-shape tunebook employs a system identical to the one first used by Smith and Little in 1801, practically every

16W. Thomas Marrocco, ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections,‖ 139.

17Irving Lowens and Allen P. Britton, ―The Easy Instructor (1798-1831): A History and Bibliography of the First Shape Note Tune Book,‖ Journal of Research in Music Education 1, No. 1 (Spring 1953): 30.

The four shapes used for noteheads, each corresponding to one of the syllables of the fasola solmization paradigm, are: a right triangle for fa; a round note for sol; a rectangle or square for la; and a diamond for mi.

18 Although I suspect most modern fasola singers would be surprised at how little they depend on the lines of the staff themselves (due to the fact that heightened notes with shaped noteheads still communicate a precise pitch), I also suspect that most singers have become accustomed to the presence of the lines and that they are necessary, if only for the sake of consistency.

19 See Appendix C, ―A Catalogue of Fasola Tunebooks, 1801 – 2018‖.

34 compiler of a seven-shape tunebook saw fit to try his hand at inventing a new system, especially at the outset of the seven-shape trend (fig. 2-2). It is not clear why this is the case, though a reasonable conjecture is that the seven-shape compilers saw the marketing opportunity represented by the ability to advertise a novel system of notation.

By the 1830s, fasola notation had begun to fall out of favor with those in more urban areas. Two of the primary drivers of this trend were the brothers Lowell and Timothy Mason.

Timothy and Lowell – who has been hailed, perhaps hyperbolically, as the ―Father of American

Music Education‖ – travelled throughout New England and the inland north teaching music.

Eventually, they found themselves at the vanguard of the so-called ―Better Music Movement‖, a push to conform American music to what they viewed as a more civilized European standard.

Facilitated by the ever-improving economic standing of the average American, and the increasing availability of instruments like the violin, fortepiano, and reed organ, the Better Music

Movement aimed to eliminate the barbaric influence of the dyadic, dispersed folk hymnody and the crude, home-brewed style of the fuging tune in favor of proper, close-voiced European hymn tunes and the loftier counterpoint of Handel and Haydn.

The Masons saw the four-shape fasola notation as being backward and provincial, and as inhibiting, rather than promoting, good musical taste and technique. In 1834, they published a pedagogical tunebook of their own, entitled The Sacred Harp.20 At the insistence of the book‘s publishers and contrary to the wishes of the Mason, the first editions of the book were printed in four-shape notation. 21 Despite the book‘s early success, with 75,000 copies sold in 1834, the

Mason brothers evidently revisited the notation debate with their publishers. By 1836, the

20 Despite the similarities in name, this collection is only distantly related to the 1844 compilation by B.F. White and E.J. King

21 Mennel, ―Mason and The Sacred Harp,‖ 30.

35 following advertisement ran in the Cincinnati Journal and Western Luminary: ―[The publishers announce a new edition of Mason‘s Sacred Harp] printed in round notes; the patent note [fasola] system being a miserable device, a mere shift to clothe ignorance and laziness with the look of science.‖22

Although the Masons‘ 1834 Sacred Harp and White and King‘s 1844 Sacred Harp are similar at first blush –oblong tunebooks with compositions from an of composers, printed in fasola notation, even sharing the same title – closer inspection reveals considerable differences.

Opposed to the homegrown, rough-hewn style exemplified by compilers like John Wyeth,

Ananias Davisson, and William Walker, the Masons polished tunes by composers such as

Handel, Haydn, Tallis, Purcell, and Luther in their book, omitting the subpar (in their estimation)

American contributions.23 The character of the book‘s content underscores the deeper stylistic rift between the compilations published in round notes and those published fasola notation. That rift in taste and sensibility continued to deepen, and the Masons‘ conquest swept through the northern United States. In the realm of mainstream American hymnody, the round note advocates prevailed in relatively short order; by the last decades of the 19th century, fasola notation, along with the bulk of its repertoire, was largely becoming relegated to the Southern backcountry.

A further assault on fasola music came in the wake of the Civil War, in the form of the

Gospel music movement. Fueled by the proliferation of new music produced out of the Second

Great Awakening and camp meeting movement, and facilitated by the more ready availability of printing presses in the more urban Northern United States, the Gospel music movement began to

22 Bealle, Public Worship, Private Faith, 46.

23 Mennel, ―Mason and The Sacred Harp‖, 30.

36 build momentum by the 1860s. Although not all of the adopters of seven-shape systems were familiar with the fasola idiom, several of them were, including Joseph Funk and William

Walker.24 Although Walker was responsible for the compilation of the Southern Harmony (1835)

—a tunebook revered by many contemporary shape note singers for being steeped in the old styles of folk hymnody and the other old-fashioned genres, and for having a major influence on the Sacred Harp (1844)25 —he became an early proponent of the Gospel style, as well as the seven-shape notation that typically accompanied it. ―Would any parents having seven children‖,

Walker rhetorically asked in his seven-shape collection Christian Harmony (1866), ―ever think of calling them by only four names?‖26

The shifting publication trends represented the acceptance of the seven-shape system.

Although no new fasola tunebooks were published after the Civil War, seven-shape doremi books were flourishing. The collections containing this repertoire existed in several forms. Some collections bore repertoire that had originally been published in fasola notation but were later re- issued in doremi notation. Others were brand-new tunebooks published in seven shapes,27 and still others were musical periodicals published in seven-shapes, such as Aldine Kieffer‘s Musical

24 Funk was compiler and editor of the Harmonia Sacra (1832, Winchester, VA), which was printed in fasola shapes until its fifth edition in 1851, at which point he adopted the three additional shapes. William Walker compiled the influential Southern Harmony (1835, New Haven, CT; later, Spartanburg, SC) in four-shapes, and published his Christian Harmony (1866, Philadephia, PA) in seven-shapes.

25 Walker and B.F. White, compiler of the Sacred Harp, were brothers-in-law, married to a pair of sisters from South Carolina by the maiden name of Golightly. In fact, the story goes that White had assisted Walker to a considerable extent in the compilation of the Southern Harmony, and was shocked to find that the book had been published not only without White‘s knowledge or consent, but also without any credit given to him. At that point, White picked up the family and departed Spartanburg, South Carolina, for Hamilton County, Georgia, which would become his base of operations for the residue of his days. It is said that he and Walker never spoke again. Jackson recounts this story on pages 83-84 of White Spirituals.

26 Gavin James Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used Instead of New‘: Shape-Note Singing and the Crisis of the New South, 1880-1920‖, The Journal of American Folklore 100, no. 436 (Spring 1997): 172.

27 Examples of books from the former two categories, respectively, include Joseph Funk‘s Harmonia Sacra (Singer‘s Glen, VA, 1832), switching to the seven-shape system in its fifth edition, published 1851, M.L. Swan‘s New Harp of Columbia (Nashville, 1867).

Million. Kieffer, a descendent of Virginia tunebook compiler Joseph Funk, began his publication in Singer‘s Glen, Virginia in 1870. Musical Million was primarily intended as a periodical musical publication, but also offered general interest content, including literature for the family, selections of poetry, quotations, and anecdotes, alongside advertisements for the other musical publications of the Ruebush-Kieffer publishing house. More than simply a tool for teaching music, Kieffer saw the seven-shape system as emblematic of the New South, rising from the ashes of war to its new reconstructed glory. As a result, he disparaged both the ―round head‖ devotees of plain notation as well as the old-fashioned types still clinging to their four-shape system. Evidently, Kieffer had an attractive message, as his Musical Million had 10,000 subscribers as of 1903, and enjoyed publication from its start in 1870 until 1914.28

The content of the more conservative29 seven-shape books did not represent nearly as dramatic a departure from the four-shape tunebook style and conventions as did the round-note books of the Mason brothers and Better Music Movement cohort. On the contrary, where the

Masons aimed for the complete erasure of the folk character that pervaded the fasola repertoire, the Southern advocates of doremi seven-shape notation largely sought to use the old fasola idiom and repertoire as a foundation for the way forward.30 As an illustration, the folk-provenance hymntunes KEDRON and WONDROUS LOVE, Oliver Holden‘s famous Revolutionary-era tune

CORONATION, and William Billings‘ EASTER ANTHEM are found in M.L. Swan‘s seven-shape

New Harp of Columbia (1867) as well as the four-shape Sacred Harp (in the 1860 revision, as

28 Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used‘‖, 172-174.

29 While M.L. Swan‘s, William Walker‘s, and Kieffer‘s publications embraced seven-shape solmization and notation, and Gospel-style to an extent, they still remained largely tethered to stylistic elements of fasola music, such as keeping the melody in the tenor voice, and publishing in the familiar oblong hardcover format used by nearly every fasola publication. On the other hand, the most progressive gospel publications had compositions in close harmony with the melody in the uppermost voice, and were typically published in upright or portrait format, and often found in paperback, particularly for publications sold by subscription.

30 Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used‘‖, 173.

38 well as the most modern Denson (1991) and Cooper (2012) revisions). The main criticism against fasola music leveled by these doremi advocates was not that it was of low quality, as the

Better Music Movement had asserted, but rather that it was too conservative in not admitting new styles and technologies, especially the seven-shape notational system.31

The reputation of the Sacred Harp as stylistically rigid was not completely undeserved.

In the preface to the fourth edition of the Sacred Harp (1869), B.F. White defends the continued use of the fasola system. Sarah Kahre identifies this apologia as being a reaction against a particular competing tunebook. The book in question was the seven-shape Christian Harmony, compiled by William Walker and published in 1867.32 In the Christian Harmony, Walker embraces change in the content and style of his book, in a similar way as Kieffer and Swan, and ostensibly in response to the same cultural moment. In contrast to his earlier collection, Southern

Harmony (1835), Walker included very few fuging tunes in Christian Harmony. 33 This is particularly notable given that the Southern Harmony had not only adhered to that aspect of the

Southern stylistic status quo, but even holds a place as one of the vanguard Southern collections in including fuging repertoire.34 Of those that were included, the heavy alteration of many of the included examples to the point that they were effectively converted into plain tunes.35 Doing so

31 Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used‘‖, 174.

32 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 37.

33 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 39-40.

34 John Wyeth, on the other hand, eschewed the genre entirely.

35 One drawback to a topical grouping of this historical discussion is that it impedes the linearity of the discussion. Many readers will not be familiar with this term; for a brief overview, the reader may wish to read the pertinent section beginning on page 61 before resuming reading here.

39 can be read as a means of compromise, a way to appeal to a more diverse and modern clientele, to ―balance the rural past and an urban present‖, as Kahre puts it.36

By Benjamin Franklin White‘s death in 1879, he had seen five successful editions of his

Sacred Harp, never straying from four-shape fasola notation. By that point, however, the day of the four-shape tunebook was decidedly past. There had been no completely new four-shape tunebook since John G. McCurry of Hart County, Georgia, published his Social Harp in 1855, and publications of new editions of existing books had dwindled to a trickle. It must have seemed obvious to James L. White and his brother B.F., Jr. that the way forward was to follow in the steps of M.L. Swan and William Walker and their successful new tunebooks: to adopt the seven-shape system. They elected to do so, and in 1884, the brothers published The New Sacred

Harp. The White brothers adopted an idiom of close harmony for the collection, in keeping with the trend as embraced in the Gospel music movement and in contrast to the dispersed harmonic idiom that characterizes the fasola repertoire. The brothers must have also shared Walker‘s estimation of the fuging tune as too difficult or too out-of-fashion for modern singers, as the New

Sacred Harp largely abandoned the fuging tune, as Walker had done in his Christian Harmony

(1867).

All of these alterations were likely attempts to appeal to the tastes of urban folk, who had exploded in numbers in the years following the Civil War; however, the White brothers apparently did not intend the New Sacred Harp to completely replace the old, as they announced their intent to continue publishing the old book in its original four-shape notation.37 In spite of the innovative character of the new book – or more likely, due to that innovative character – it

36 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 38.

37 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 46.

40 was very poorly received by the traditionally-inclined Sacred Harp singing community. Although the edition had garnered the enthusiastic endorsement of fellow seven-shape publisher Aldine

Kieffer, staunch devotees of the old book rejected the New Sacred Harp out of hand, with one

Texas Sacred Harp singer writing a letter to the editor of Kieffer‘s Musical Million in 1884 contesting that ―nothing but the old Sacred Harp will answer.‖ The author continued, expressing his concern for what the East Texas singers would do after their copies of the old 1869 edition

(the most-recent fasola notation edition of the book at the time) wore out beyond usability, as the

White brothers had ceased printing the fasola notation version at some point.38

These sentiments of dissatisfaction were apparently widely held, as the New Sacred Harp soon faded into obscurity, eclipsed by the early 20th century Sacred Harp revisions, such as the

Cooper revision (1902), the J.L. White revision (1909), and the Joseph S. James revision (1911).

Although each of these took a slightly different approach to the music and espoused different curatorial ideologies,39 they retained a constellation of factors such as the traditional fasola notation, a dispersed harmonic idiom, the inclusion of fuging tunes and rudiments, and other elements of the older 19th century fasola tradition.

38 Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used‘‖, 175.

39 These differences would eventually form rifts grave enough to lead to vitriol and even legal proceedings between former friends. James L. White and J.S. James were at one time close friends; Kahre includes a quote about White in James‘ publication A Brief History of the Sacred Harp (1904) reporting that White ―composed the popular song book, The New Sacred Harp, in seven shaped notes,‖ and that the book offered ―a large number of valuable and beautiful tunes.‖ He continues, describing J. L.White as, ―a jolly fellow and …a great favorite among the singing public and all who love good music. Everybody loves Jim White and he numbers his friends by the thousands.‖ Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 96.

His outlooked had changed by 1911, at which point both the J.L. White Sacred Harp (1909) and the James Sacred Harp (1911) were on the market, calling White‘s character and intentions into question: ―If Mr. White was so in love with Sacred Harp music and about preserving it for future generations, why did he try to destroy it in 1879 [1884], by getting out what he called the ―New Sacred Harp,‖ composed in seven shaped notes[?]…So far as [J.L. White] was concerned, the Sacred Harp was put out of use. He said that it was out of date and could not be used any more as a song book, that it was improperly composed and was a back number.‖ (Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 97). Court cases would later be fought between W.M. Cooper and J.S. James over the intellectual property of the alto lines in the book. See Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 115-116 for more detail.

Rudiments

The presence of rudiments in tunebooks is perhaps the most tangible link between shape note tunebooks and their singing school origins. The inclusion of a pedagogical and theoretical introduction stretches to the very beginning of the singing school tradition, as the Rev. John

Tufts included such material in his Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes (1725), which the reader will recall was the first singing school tunebook. The subjects Tufts touched upon included explanations of his letter-notehead notation, solmization, transposition, time signatures,

―Lessons for Tuning the Voice‖, and other instruction for singing and reading music. However, given the short length of the book at less than 30 total pages, the explanations were necessarily terse.40 Given that the later New English singing school masters largely followed the pattern instituted by Tufts, it is a logical consequence that Revolutionary-era figures like William

Billings, Timothy Swan, and Daniel Read included similar pedagogical material in their collections. This trend continued, and rudiments steadfastly embraced by the early 19th century tunebooks, particularly among the collections targeted at singing school masters.41

The community created by singing master-compilers and their collections facilitated such an efficient framework for the exchange of musical ideas and repertoire that the rudiments came to develop an organic heredity unto themselves. Virtually all of the early American tunebooks followed a similar paradigm, consisting of topical discussions on the gamut, the names of notes, characters used in musical notation, the rhythmic characteristics of musical meter,42 keys,

40 Lowens, ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction‘‖, 95.

41 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 68.

42 It is contentious to use the word meter here, as the emic terminology for what I‘m referring to is ―mood‖ or ―mode‖ of time, in accordance with what is found in southern shape note rudiments; the explanation is that meter refers to the poetry of the piece, and musical time is organized into moods, which entails not only the number of beats in a measure (or bar, in emic terminology), but also the accent/stress patterns and tempo that are implied. 42 transposition, and ―lessons for tuning the voice‖.43 Even the format of the rudiments in these early collections set trends that were imitated by later collections. For instance, the rudiments in

Daniel Read‘s The Child‘s Instructor in Psalmody of 1790 included an imagined catechetical- style discussion between two individuals. This technique was imitated by Read‘s contemporaries, such as Billings in his Continental Harmony (1791), as well as by his further- flung musical progeny, such as by B.F. White in the rudiments to his Sacred Harp (1844).44

While useful to the would-be singer in the absence of the singing school master, the rudiments are even more valuable for the compilational, pedagogical, and often even compositional insight they afford. For instance, some rudiments attest to the practice of duplexing parts, in which some of the female singers sing the tenor part and some male singers sing the treble, which creates, in effect, six-part harmony. A practice still common in contemporary Sacred Harp practice, rudiments provide evidence that such a duplexing technique has been common since the 18th century, thanks to detail about the practice in the theoretical frontmatter of Billings‘ Continental Harmony (1794).45 Billings also affords insight to the use of dynamics46 and provides the reader with some notes on harmony and composition.47

The inclusion of basic guidelines for composition was common in tunebooks from the time of Billings onward, appearing in such collections as Freeman Lewis‘ Beauties of Harmony

However, I use meter to be understood by the reader in this circumstance, who is likely not a traditional practitioner of shape note music.

43 Malone, The Rudiments as ―Right Action‖, 13.

44 Malone, The Rudiments as ―Right Action‖, 15.

45 William Billings, The Continental Harmony, Containing A Number of Anthems, Fuges, and Chorusses in Several Parts, (Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, 1794): xv.

46 Billings, Continental Harmony, xxix.

47 Billings, Continental Harmony, xxxi.

(Pittsburgh, 1814), William Walker‘s Southern Harmony (2nd edition, compiled in Spartanburg,

SC, and printed in Philadelphia, 1845), John G. McCurry‘s Social Harp (compiled in

Amandaville, GA and printed in Philadelphia, 1855), and the J.L. White edition of the Sacred

Harp (5th ed., Atlanta, 1909). Due to the fact that the repertoire may seems to be mostly fixed, because of the music‘s historical bent, it might seem strange to the contemporary shape note singer singing school masters of earlier times would have been eager to get their pupils to compose. However, in addition to being a useful pedagogical exercise, composers also realized the potential that this represented for including those tunes in new tunebooks, thereby broadening the body of novel and exclusive repertoire that the compilers were able to offer in their collections.

Performance Practice as Encoded in the Rudiments

Prescriptions for performance practice are commonly found in 19th century fasola rudiments. For the researcher, these instructions provide an invaluable resource for attempting to reconstruct the historical sound ideal of this music. Two aspects central to modern Sacred Harp practice have been commonly addressed in rudiments from the earliest examples; the first of these is the action of beating time. In shape note singing, the leader – whether that be a singing school master, as in former times, or in the more common modern system where singers take turns leading – sets and controls the tempo with a movement of his or her arm. Free from the flourishes of the choral conducting style typically found in art music, the leader in shape note music will use a simple up-down movement of the arm, with a few variants of that pattern dictated by the various meters, or ―moods of time‖, used by the music.

Though simple, there are some best practices involved with beating time to ensure that the gesture is unambiguous and communicates the intent of the leader clearly. This is particularly

44 important at the beginning and ends of tunes, at moments where there are ―holds‖,48 or in pieces where it is conventional to repeat a section one or more times.49 The necessity for nuance here is illustrated by the fact that virtually all sets of rudiments in singing school/shape note collections include a section on the proper way to beat time. These prescriptions remain remarkably similar from the time of Billings to the present, and modern shape note practice of virtually every stripe follows the same simple up-and-down pattern of ―beating‖ time with the right hand, typically while the left holds the tunebook.50

Tone Quality of the Voice as Encoded in Rudiments

A second characteristic found in historical rudiments, and one central to the identity of modern Sacred Harp practice, is the timbre of the singing voice. Given that the sound of shape note music as dictated by traditional performance practice is full-voiced and produced with the vocal tract in a more natural configuration than, for instance, that of the bel canto style, the sound of shape note music as found in Sacred Harp singing and related practices is distinctive.

Due to the pervasiveness of bel canto and related styles in contemporary art music, as well as derivative styles found in popular music, the full-throated sound often proves to be among the more distinctive and jarring aspects of the music for first-time listeners. The scholarly literature reflects the commonplace shock at the nature of the sound. One initiate described the vocal style

48 A rather self-explanatory emic term, a ―hold‖ is analogous to (and indicated by the same symbol as) the fermata in art music.

49 This is particularly common in fuging tunes, where the leader may choose to repeat the fuging section – almost invariably the B section of a simple binary tune – on the last verse of text.

50 A certainly non-exhaustive list of rudiments that include such instruction are those in Billings‘ Continental Harmony (1794, vii-ix), Henry C. Eyer‘s Die Union Choral-Harmonie (1836, viii), Timothy and Lowell Mason‘s Sacred Harp, or Eclectic Harmony (1850, pp. 7-8), John G. McCurry‘s Social Harp (1855, p. 15) J.S. James‘ Union Harp (1909, p. 17 and 45), and in nearly all contemporary tunebooks.

While the basic paradigm for duple time is the same, there are slight variations on triple time – some, like the Masons, suggest a pattern similar to the art music triple time pattern of down-left-up, while more rural sources, such as McCurry, suggest a linear down-down-up gesture. Similar variations are found for quadruple and compound ―modes of time‖.

45 as a ―loud, aggressive sound. The unrestrained, unselfconscious singing style.…sound[s] as if the singers are singing at the upper edge of their range and strength.‖51 One 1980 journal article metonymized the Sacred Harp as ―the tunebook that roars‖ in its title.52 Though the sound of the music seems to fall prey to hyperbolization rather frequently,53 the musical effect of fifty experienced shape note singers in a small wooden church is indeed formidable, and the vocal technique of the Sacred Harp tradition undergirds the impact. George Pullen Jackson expresses his views on this matter after attending the 1930 Interstate Sacred Harp Convention in Mineral

Wells, Texas.

The effect of this singing on the singers is one thing, the most important thing indeed. But the impression made on the mere listener is quite another matter. The person of standardized urban-musical background who hears casually his first Sacred Harp music is apt to judge it harshly. He will be impressed unfavorably by the shrill voices of some women, by the trotting movement of the songs, which will strike him as being at variance with their religious aspects, by the harmonic effects (he will call them ―discords‖ that are strangely different from those to which his ear has been accustomed, by what seems to be an absence of melody or tune, and by the fact that all songs sound much alike to him.54

It follows that this central aspect of vocal music making would be covered in the rudiments. The rudiments in historical shape note tunebooks did not always advocate for the unrestrained sound that is a hallmark of contemporary fasola music. In the 1845 edition of his

51 Jenelle Louise Westerbeck, Sacred Harp Singing In Practice: A Bridge To Choral Performance (DMA thesis, University of Southern California, 2005), 58-59.

52 James Scholten, ―The Tunebook that Roars: The Sound and Style of Sacred Harp Singing,‖ Music Educators Journal 66, no. 6 (February 1980): 32-38.

53 One pervasive myth is that there is no dynamic contrast in traditional Sacred Harp practice, and that the music is always sung as loud as possible. This seems to be a favorite warhorse for outsiders who seek to overly exoticize Sacred Harp practice. Consider the case of LONG SOUGHT HOME, a tune found in both the modern Denson and Cooper editions, on pages 245 and 343, respectively; common practice is to sing the final iteration of the chorus considerably more softly than the rest of the tune. This practice is common, despite not being notated or suggested in the printed music. The author has witnessed it at singings throughout Florida; given that it is also captured in recordings, ranging from one made in Alabama in the 1960s by the Original Sacred Harp Publishing Company to one made of the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Convention in 2001, it appears that this is a widespread practice.

54 Jackson, White Spirituals, 122.

Southern Harmony, William Walker concludes his hearty 29-page long pedagogical preface with a set of 27 ―General Observations‖. Unlike the more extensive theoretical and notational instruction that comprise the bulk of Walker‘s rudiments, these are short paragraphs containing

―a few plain hints, and also a few general and friendly observations‖ about singing and ancillary topics; some examples of the topics touched upon include appropriate behavioral conduct during singing,55 ornamentation,56 health of the voice,57 and prescriptions on tone quality.

The very first observation has to do with taking care to pitch the tune at a correct level.58

The second observation Walker includes follows:

2. It is by no means necessary to constitute good singers that they should sing very loud. Each one should sing so soft as not to down the teacher‘s voice, and each part so soft as will admit the other parts to be distinctly heard. If the teacher‘s voice cannot be heard it cannot be imitated, (as that is the best way to modulate the voice and make it harmonious,) and if the singers of any one are so

55 ―21. There should not be any noise indulged while singing, (except the music,) as it destroys entirely the beauty of harmony, and renders the performance very difficult…and if it is designedly promited is nothing less than a proof of disrespect in the singers to the exercise.‖

William Walker, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion: Containing a Choice Collection of Tunes, Hymns, Psalms, Odes, and Anthems, …Stereotype Edition, Corrected and Improved [2nd. Ed.], (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1845), xxxviii.

56 ―22. The apogiatura [sic] is placed in some tunes which may be used with propriety by a good voice; also the trill over some notes; but neither should be attempted by anyone until he can perform the tune well by plain notes…‖

Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xxxviii.

57 ―15. Too long singing at a time injures the lungs.*

*A cold or cough, all kinds of spirituous liquors, violent exercise, too much bile on the stomach, long fasting, the veins overcharged with impure blood &c. &c. are destructive to the voice of one who is much in the habit of singing…‖

Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xxxviii.

58 Given that it is an a cappella music, shape note singing is generally practiced without use of any instrument or implement (pitch pipe, tuning fork, etc.) to find a pitch. As a result, one or more ―pitchers‖ are typically employed in a singing to give the starting notes of the singers. Due to the a cappella nature of the music, tunes may be freely transposed, and the pitch sung does not necessarily correspond to be the pitch notated. There are extremes, though, and Walker notes that if a tune is pitched ―too high, [then] difficulty and perhaps discords will be the consequence; if too low, dulness [sic] and languor.‖

Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xvii.

loud that they cannot hear the other parts because of their own noise, the parts are surely not rightly proportioned, and ought to be altered.59

In the next paragraph, Walker describes sound ideals for each voice part. He suggests that the bass ―should be sounded full, bold, and majestic, but not harsh; the tenor regular, firm, and distinct; the counter clear and plain, and the treble soft and mild, but not faint.‖ In fact, the observation even suggests that both tenor and treble singers ―consider the German flute; the sound of which they may endeavor to imitate, if they wish to improve the voice.‖60 This genteel, refined quality is underscored again in a later observation, with the instruction that

we should endeavor to cultivate the voice so as to make it soft, smooth, and round, and so that when numbers are performing in concert, there may on each part (as near as possible) appear to be but one uniform voice. Then, instead of confused jargon, it will be more like the smooth vibrations of the violin, or the soft breathings of the German flute.61

Far from an outlier in this regard, a number of other 19th and 20th century tunebooks give a prescription for ―soft‖ voices. In fact, collections such as Allen Carden‘s Missouri Harmony and editions of the Sacred Harp from the original 1844 edition through the J.L. White 1909 edition include identical verbiage;62 the reason for the exact duplication will be discussed in an ensuing section. Other collections, such as the 1921 James revision, included directions on posture while singing, breathing techniques, and ―delivery of the voice.‖63 These new rudiments,

59 Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed.,xxvii.

60 Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xxvii.

61 Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xxviii.

62 The verbiage may be found in Carden‘s Missouri Harmony on page x; in both the 1844 and 1909 editions of the Sacred Harp, it is found on page 23.

63 It is interesting to note that this late collection boasted that ―new rudiments have been composed, arranged and so compiled as to embrace all the old features, and at the same time to get all material improvements‖ (p. vi of the frontmatter). James had a notably conservative and historical philosophy about the music, as illustrated by his inclusion of biographical and historical information at the bottoms of the pages of music; even so, it is surprising to 48 written in the same catechetical ―question-and-answer‖ format pioneered by Billings, endorse a particular means of voice production:

15. On what does the correct delivery of the voice depend?

A good delivery of the voice in singing not only depends on a correct position of the body and a complete control of the breath, but also upon favorable adjustment of the throat and mouth and a firm action of the glottis.

16. How about the throat and mouth in reference to the pitch of tone?

For every pitch there is a certain position of the throat and mouth which is most conducive to the formation of a pure tone. [emphasis original] … Be careful not to direct the sound into the nose cavities.64

Stylistic Implications Encoded in Rudiments

Rudiments are valuable historical guideposts not only insofar as what they include, but also in what they omit. For instance, in the theoretical introduction to the second edition of

Ananias Davisson‘s hugely successful Kentucky Harmony, Davisson mentions that ―the Author, in order to abbreviate the rudiments, has taken the liberty of dismissing seven characters, viz. the accidental flat, sharp, natural; the hold, the staccato, the direct, and the counter, or C Cliff

[sic]‖.65 This reflects the qualities of music that Davisson prizes most highly. The folk hymn, an idiom embraced in Davisson‘s collection, often utilizes a pentatonic or gapped scale (most commonly, six-tone diatonic scales omitting either scale degrees 4 and 7, or 2 and 6). The use of these scales pervades the Kentucky Harmony, in tunes such as IDUMEA, a melody which omits the second and sixth scale degrees, and CONDESCENSION, a melody that omits the seventh scale degree. This relatively simple harmonic idiom precludes the need for chromatic alterations, and see that he endows the rudiments with the same historical import by insisting that his rudiments ―embraced all the old features‖.

64 Joseph James, ed., Original Sacred Harp, Revised Corrected, and Enlarged (Atlanta: United Sacred Harp Musical Association, 1921), 17.

65 Daniel Taddie, ―Solmization, Scale, and Key in Nineteenth Century Four-Shape Tunebooks: Theory and Practice,‖ American Music 14, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 42.

49 so in his rudiments, Davisson dispenses with the discussion of the topic. Daniel Taddie quotes at length from Davisson‘s introduction to the second edition, highlighting Davisson‘s ―combative tone and colorful style‖ in railing against the use of accidentals:

We shall first notice the accidental flats and sharps, these characters we are told, stand in direct opposition to each other, the one pulling up, and the other down; from this stiffnecked contrast we beg to be releas'd, believing them to be of no other use, than to destroy the ease and freedom of pronunciation, and convert the beauties of nature into a kind of sonata, that is not only more unpleasant, but almost impossible to perform with accuracy. I say almost impossible, because, when acquiring our first principles of sound, we are taught to pronounce the semitone between me and faw, and law and faw, and no where else…in performance[.] … But a third character is presented to us call'd a natural, (for my part I call it unnatural,) this character we are told restores a note to its primitive sound; here we would un doubtedly need a scale of contradiction, or something else, that would learn the pupil to say one thing, and mean another, or in other words name one note, and sound another, for we are commanded not to change the name, but the sound. For my part I have thought it advisable where restorations were necessary, to make them myself, rather than leave them to the scholar; having learned from experience that when left to the latter, it remains undone. As there are four concords which can be advantageously used in composition; I think it better to remove a dissonant, and place it where it will harmonize, than to trouble the learner with a train of useless characters. … Now I do not wish to be understood, to entirely curtail the authority of the natural; far from it, I use it as a restorative, in certain pieces where the key is transposed, and requires to be restord [sic] to its natural standing, as in the Prodigal Son; but in no other case. …Thus I have gave [sic] my reasons for turning six characters out of office, believeing [sic] them to have no other tendency, than to swell the rudiments, and perplex the learner with a crowd of mysteries…66

As Davisson clarifies, he does believe that these characters have a function, if a limited one. This quote also illustrates that Davisson finds transposition within a piece of music to be acceptable, at least between minor and major modalities, while still rejecting chromatic harmony as being

―unnatural‖ and too difficult to teach to pupils.

66 Taddie, ―Solmization, Scale and Key‖, 49-50, quoting from Ananias Davisson, Kentucky Harmony, 2d ed. Harrisonburg, Va.: Ananias Davisson , 1817, 3-5. In his endnotes, Taddie relates the following: ―[This book is held in] the Collection of Special Collections and Archives, King Library, University of Kentucky. I quote this passage at length since the edition is unavailable in modern reprint or facsimile.‖

However, tunebook compilers had not always betrayed this sentiment in their rudiments.

For instance, William Billings includes discussion of accidentals in his 1791 Continental

Harmony because these were necessary for the conservative chromatic alterations peppered throughout Billings‘ compositions, such as raising the fourth scale degree to create a V/V (64

WASHINGTON STREET), raising the leading tone in a minor-mode tune (66 THOMAS-TOWN), and in modulating to different keys in some of his anthems (such as the anthem 138 VARIETY, WITHOUT

METHOD, which goes through quite a range of keys, starting in g, then proceeding to c, to C, to c again, to C, to F, to f, to C, and finally ending in F). Each of these transpositions requires the use of accidentals and the movement of the melodic center,67 which therefore necessitates the teaching of those concepts.

While the rudiments can afford some indication of style and practice, they cannot be understood as being an exact, true-to-life encapsulation of fasola practice. Indeed, rudiments must be understood as the reflections of the style and ideals of a single editor or editorial committee, and as reflecting the specific, idealized conception of one individual or group insofar as how singers ought to sing, and not necessarily singers do sing in actuality. To revisit the case study from the 1845 edition of the Southern Harmony above, immediately after the ―observer‖ extols the ―smooth vibrations of the violin, or the soft breathings of the German flute‖, a verbal sigh of frustration follows: ―Yet how hard it is to make some believe soft singing is the most melodious, when at the same time loud singing is more like the hootings of the midnight bird

67 I use this unwieldy phrase of ―melodic center‖ to avoid the less-desirable and inaccurate phrase of ―tonal center‖; while it is clear the theoretical underpinnings of the harmonic idiom of Davisson and others was not fully tonal, there is an undeniable harmonic center of gravity, almost invariably centered around the first scale degree. While Davisson‘s idiom does not have the harmonic framework to relocate that harmonic melodic center in the same way that Billings‘ does, it does not preclude the transposition to and from the parallel major and minor modalities. 123 rd THE SEASONS MORALIZED, composed by Davisson and found in his Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (1825, 3 ed.) which begins in a minor modality on D, and concludes in a major modality on D.

51 than refined music.‖68 This is a clear suggestion that in the experience of the individual who penned these observations, singers would be better off if they sang more lightly, but that, in the music‘s practice, the violation of this particular guideline is commonplace.

A Case Study in Fasola Transmission: “General Observations”

A further consideration which limits how precisely the rudiments reflect the historical situation lies in the fact that compilers of fasola collections often freely borrowed their pedagogical material from existing collections, not unlike the free borrowing that occurred with the musical repertoire itself. The ubiquitous ―General Observations‖ as found in the 1909 J.L.

White Sacred Harp evidently originated in the 1814 Beauties of Harmony, compiled in the

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area by Freeman Lewis. From southwestern Pennsylvania, these observations consequently entered the mainstream of tunebook compilation and wound up in

Allen Carden‘s highly influential 1820 Missouri Harmony. From there, the guidelines continued filtering through the networks of the fasola community, eventually also being found in the

Southern Harmony and Sacred Harp later in the century. Given the widespread success that both

Beauties of Harmony and the Missouri Harmony enjoyed in their prime, it follows that ensuing tunebooks would bear the marks of their influence in this way. That such a considerable amount of text was transplanted virtually wholesale over the half a continent and back, and over the course of almost an entire century, underscores the deep connections between the various compilers and compilations throughout the history of the fasola tunebook tradition.

While compilers did borrow freely from other sources, they of course did not steal content blindly or without inspection and, in most cases, not without some editorial alteration. In considering these same widely-disseminated ―General Observations‖, it is clear that some

68 Walker, Southern Harmony, 2nd ed., xxviii-xxix.

52 alteration is made by compilers to support evolutions in taste and sensibility. For instance, the original 1814 set of ―General Observations‖ as found in Freeman Lewis‘ Beauties of Harmony contains 32 observations, but later collections contain fewer. Allen Carden includes 31 in the

1846 edition of the Missouri Harmony; the 1909 J.L. White edition of the Sacred Harp contains

28, and the 1845 edition of the Southern Harmony contains 27. While these discrepancies can largely be explained by the consolidation of two or more ―observations,‖ certain changes reflect more substantial divergences in aesthetic values. For instance, although some of Freeman Lewis‘

―Observations‖ allow for some conservative application of ornaments and ―graces‖, the thirty- first and penultimate observation in Beauties of Harmony advises that ―all ‗affectation‘ should be banished,‖ continuing that ―it is disgusting in the performance of sacred music, and contrary to that solemnity which should accompany an exercise so near…that which will through all eternity engage the attention of those who walk in ‗climes of bliss‘.‖69 This is duplicated exactly in the

Missouri Harmony of 1846.70

However, the southern collections have a different perspective on issues of ornamentation in sacred music. In the Southern Harmony, Walker includes the same admonition as above, but inserts a new observation, still the penultimate, but numbered 26 in this collection:

The nearest perfection in singing we arrive at, is to pronounce the words and make the sounds as feeling as if the sentiments and sounds were our own. If singers when performing the music could be as much captivated with the words and sounds as the author of the music is…they would pronounce, accent, swell, sing loud and soft where the words require it, make suitable gestures, and add every other necessary grace.71

69 Freeman Lewis, The Beauties of Harmony…, (Pittsburgh, PA: Cramer, Spear, and Eichbaum, 1814), 24.

70 Missouri Harmony (1846), 11.

71 Southern Harmony (1845), xxix.

Whatever Walker has taken ―affectation‖ to mean, then, surely doesn‘t include dynamics, accent, or other musical interpretations which the singer may deem a ―necessary grace.‖ This observation is duplicated in J.L. White‘s 1909 Sacred Harp. Walker‘s opinions on the necessity of departing from the confines of the notated music are so strong that he asserts,

a person or persons may be well acquainted with all the various characters in psalmody … they may also be able to sing their part in true time and yet their performance be far from pleasing; if it is devoid of necessary embellishments, their manner and bad expression may conspire to render it disagreeable.72

Presuming that singers of Southern Harmony and Sacred Harp music in the 1930s maintained the singing practices of their musical forebears, history certainly justifies this wider latitude for ornamentation. In White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, Jackson remarks that in the practice of fasola music,

ornamentation seldom gets into the notation. Watch closely a singer of Sacred Harp or Southern Harmony tunes and you will realize that the page before him shows only a fraction of what he sings. Like old-timey handwriting, his vocal production is full of stylistic flourishes.73

Jackson even goes on to provide a hypothesis for the origin of this distinctive difference as lying in the compilational approaches of compilers:

This difference may not be so much a matter of singers‘ tastes as a matter of compilers‘ tastes, the southern compilers allowing the singers to sing what they like; the northern compilers providing the public with what they should sing. 74

A final implication made by these ―General Observations‖ lies in the constancy of the final observation. In spite of the re-numbering, re-phrasing, and general re-working of the

72 Walker, Southern Harmony (1835), xxvii.

73 Jackson, White Spirituals, 211.

74 Jackson, White Spirituals, 213.

54 contents of these 30 or so suggestions, the final observation begins virtually identically in each of the foregoing collections:

Jehovah, who implanted in our natures the noble faculty of vocal performance, is jealous of the use to which we apply our talents in that particular, lest we exercise them in a way which does not tend to glorify his name.75

Some collections add further sentiments, such as the imperative given by J.L. White to ―improve the talent given us, and try to sing with the spirit and with the understanding‖, but the underlying sentiment is consistent: if singing is a capability given to mankind by God, then it should be afforded the gravitas such a provenance demands.

The preceding section demonstrates why the presence of a practice or idea in the rudiments does not necessarily correlate with a widespread adoption of that practice or idea in actuality. However, there is a logical pitfall that must be avoided: the absence of a practice or idea in the rudiments does not necessarily imply the absence of that facet of the music in actuality. A prime illustration is found in the treatment of musical implements for pitching, specifically the pitchpipe or tuning fork. Contrary to the notion that instruments of any kind were wholly anathema to the traditional practice of shape note singing, some 19th century fasola collections included figured bass or were intended to be amenable to instrumental accompaniment (ex. 2-4).76 Even the zealously traditional Joseph James, responsible for the 1911

75 The final observation as it appears in Beauties of Harmony, 24.

76 Take the two following examples from the body of fasola tunebooks both advertising the optional use of instruments:

Isaac Gerhart and Johann Eyer, Choral-Harmonie. Enthaltend Kirchen-Melodien, die bey allen Religions- Verfassungen gebräuchlich. . .welches ohne und mit der Orgel kann gebraucht werden, wann ein organist die regeln der Musik beobachte, [Choral Harmony, Containing Church Melodies useable by all Religious Denominations . . . which can be used without or with the organ, when the organist obeys the rules of music] (Harrisburg, PA: John Wyeth, 1818).

George Hood, The Southern Church Melodist: A Collection of Sacred Music, Consisting of a Great Variety of the Most Approved Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Anthems, Sentences, Chants, etc. …With a Figured Bass for the Organ or 55 revision of the Sacred Harp, published an oblong fasola tunebook called Sacred Tunes and

Hymns. The collection was ostensibly an attempt to introduce shape-note music to an unfamiliar modern audience, presenting well-known tunes from the shape note repertoire (with, in many cases, an included keyboard reduction, also in fasola notation). 77

While these examples are aberrations and do not reflect commonplace traditional shape note or Sacred Harp practice, silence on the part of the rudiments still must not be taken as positive historical evidence of the absence of a given practice. For instance, it is a natural assumption that neither William Walker nor B.F. White – compilers of the Southern Harmony and Sacred Harp, respectively – would have used pitching implements, given that their tunebooks do not endorse them, and that their musical progeny have also come to eschew them.

However, other historical evidence shows this assumption to be faulty. At a certain singing,

George Pullen Jackson arranged to use William Walker‘s own tuning fork, which had been handed down from singing school master to pupil over the course of several generations, at a singing (fig. 2-3).78 Contrary to assertions in the literature,79 Benjamin Franklin White also owned and used a tuning fork. His ownership and use of the tuning fork was so prominently connected to his musical persona that the object was harnessed for its poetic symbolism in the

Piano Forte. To which is prefixed, a full and complete inductive elementary treatise, with practical exercises, (Philadelphia: Hogan and Thompson, 1846).

It should be noted that these instrumental intrusions were largely limited to later, northern fasola books, ostensibly reflecting the influences of external factors such as the ―Better Music Movement‖ and the increasingly ready availability of instruments for use in worship by the mid-19th Century.

77 Note that although the accompaniment retains the shapes, the tenor line, which contains the principal melody in this tradition, has been moved to the highest voice in the accompaniment.

78 Jackson, White Spirituals, 60-61.

79 Davis, Beyond Revival, 42.

56 eulogical address given at the 1880 Chattahoochee Convention,80 the year following White‘s death.

All were naturally drawn toward him as he discoursed upon music and its charms … The tuning fork and pen were his implements. The tuning fork has long since passed from his hand. His pen no longer plies over lines and spaces. His voice, enfeebled and shattered by use and age, is hushed—ah yes, hushed. His tongue no longer rolls out sweet chords of soul-stirring music, so harmonious to the ear, but is still in death. No more do we see the pleasant face of the venerable old man as when he stood in our centers at conventions. No longer do we hear his words of counsel. But his works follow him . . .81

In fact, a contemporary review of the pitching instructions given in Lazarus Jones‘ 1848

Southern Minstrel includes a critique of similar instructions found in other tunebooks:

The rules [for pitching tunes] as laid down by most authors, are so vague and indefinite, as to render it almost impossible to arrive at a correct conclusion on the subject. Their rule requires us, in keying tunes, to depend entirely upon the pitchpipe, which is not only uncertain, but often impracticable, on account of its absence. The author of the work now before us, for this purpose, has given us rules entirely in dependent of any instrumental aid. His directions are of the greatest utility among students in vocal music, when without a pitch pipe.82

This comment suggests that there was not an injunction per se against pitching implements, although it would seemingly have been practical and advisable for an aspiring singing school master to learn to pitch by ear, as there was no guarantee that pitching implements would be readily available.

The rudiments of fasola tunebooks are unquestionably valuable indicators of the practice of a music that developed and changed rapidly, and in a time before audio recording technology.

80 The Chattahoochee Convention is held annually in West Georgia. It has been an annual convention of Sacred Harp singing since 1852. Notably, it was founded by B.F.White.

81 Cornelius P. Parker, John P. Reese, and James M. Hamrick, ―Report on Memoirs‖ (address given to the 1880 Chattahoochee Convention, August 1, 1880).

82 David W. Steel, ―Lazarus J. Jones and The Southern Minstrel (1848),‖ American Music 6, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 141.

However, these rudiments capture an image of the music with a verisimilitude more akin to paintings than photographs; rudiments are as much a description of common practice as they are a utopian illustration of the compiler‘s idealized musical practice. Furthermore, curatorial changes, additions, and deletions made to pre-existing material can be powerful, if subtle, clues in a tradition that highly values constancy and adherence to tradition and convention.

Repertoire

The musical content of the 19th century fasola tunebooks reflects several notable features about the tradition and its development. Tunebooks almost always contained some newly composed music, which was evidently exploited as a selling point. Indeed, many tunebooks made reference to the new repertoire they included in their (often-lengthy) titles.83 However, compilers frequently included repertoire available in other published collections. According to

Warren Steel, a compiler‘s conversance with the common repertoire could prove to be a boon for the success of his compilation.

[T]unebook compilers often took pains to include in their work a large proportion of music that had proved popular in earlier works. The advertisement of many "new tunes, which have never before been published" may have gratified a compiler's pride, but it apparently did not help in selling tunebooks: the biggest sellers of the period were those containing music of established popularity.84

The relatively obscure 1818 collection Johnson‘s Tennessee Harmony illustrates the snaking musical lineages found in 19th century fasola tunebook compilation, and demonstrates the extent to which each tunebook can reflect even subtle intricacies of the compiler‘s experience

83 Examples abound, but some illustrations include the 1814 The Beauties of Harmony, Containing the Rudiments of Music on a New and Improved Plan… Together with an Extensive Collection of Sacred Music, Consisting of Plain Tunes, Fuges, Anthems, etc. some of which are entirely new; the 1836 edition of The Virginia Harmony, A New and Choice Selection of Psalm & Hymn Tunes, Anthems & Set Pieces, In Three and Four Parts, Some of Which Have Never Before Been Published; the 1841 Methodist Camp-Meeting Hymn Book Containing a Variety of Almost Entire [sic] New Tunes…; and, among many others, the 1859 edition of The Sacred Harp, A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes, and Anthems, selected from the most eminent authors: Together with nearly one hundred pieces never before published.

84 Steel, ―Jones and The Southern Minstrel‖: 143.

58 and decisions. In examining the 100 tunes found in the Tennessee Harmony, David Music documented that 17 were newly published (with eight of those being ―original‖ contributions), with the remaining 83 coming primarily from four sources. These were Amos Pilsbury‘s United

States Sacred Harmony (1799), two of John Wyeth‘s collections, his Repository of Sacred Music

(1810) and its successor, Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813), as well as the second edition of Ananias Davisson‘s Kentucky Harmony (1817).85 Of the 83 tunes in the book drawn from the existing fasola repertoire, 79 are found in at least one of the above collections. In most cases, there is a considerable amount of overlap; the book shares 35 tunes with Wyeth‘s Repository (1810), 29 with Wyeth‘s Repository, Part Second (1813), 17 with

Pilsbury‘s United States Sacred Harmony (1799), and 51 of its tunes – more than half of the total tunes contained in the book – with Davisson‘s 1817 Kentucky Harmony.86

Because of the commercial success and ensuing availability of Wyeth and Davisson‘s books, the two collections influenced a large number of 19th century tunebooks. David Music calls special attention to Johnson‘s interaction with Pilsbury‘s compilation, though. Music points out that the book, though printed in Boston, was most likely intended for use in South Carolina, where Pilsbury lived while compiling the collection. Because Johnson‘s family had come to

Tennessee from South Carolina, and because the book was not readily available elsewhere,

Alexander (or another family member) had almost certain bought a copy of the book before their emigration and brought it along. This relatively minor accident of circumstance provided

Johnson‘s link to the repertoire contained in Pilsbury‘s book. As a result, Johnson included nine

85 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 63.

86 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 64.

59 tunes in the Tennessee Harmony that are found in the United States Sacred Harmony only, and not in any of the other sources Johnson was likely to have access to.

A further South Carolina link is found in Johnson‘s inclusion of one particular tune,

ORANGE. In fact, the link is found not in the music itself, but in the title of the tune. ORANGE belongs to a family of tunes consisting of virtually identical variants, bear a number of names.

The most popular moniker for this tune is TWENTY-FOURTH, but it is known in other collections

(such as the Kentucky Harmony and Sacred Harp) as PRIMROSE, and still elsewhere as

CHELMSFORD or MEMPHIS. However, Music notes that this tune is found in an 1809 manuscript from Charleston, South Carolina, where it also bears the name Orange. The only other collection that is known to include this tune under the name Orange is William Moore‘s Columbian

Harmony, an 1825 collection also compiled in Tennessee. Given the rarity of the title and the close geographical connection between Moore and Johnson, it is likely that Moore simply lifted the piece from Johnson wholesale, giving credence to the South Carolinian provenance of the title ORANGE, and underscoring the importance of a tangential geographical link to the development of fasola music.87

Despite its comparatively limited publication of only three editions over just five years,

Johnson‘s Tennessee Harmony illustrates how a small stone can create enduring ripples in the fasola tradition. Although not a high-profile collection, the book evidently found its way into the hands of both Missouri Harmony (1820) compiler and Southern Harmony (1835) compiler

William Walker; 11 of the tunes claimed as original in the Tennessee Harmony were included in

Carden‘s book, and 12 of them were included in Walker‘s (implying that Walker did not simply copy the repertoire from Missouri Harmony, a collection he was known to have access to, but

87 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 65.

60 rather also independently had access to the Tennessee Harmony).88 Other prolific 19th century tunebooks also included repertoire of Johnson‘s, including the Kentucky Harmony containing eight of Johnson‘s tunes, and the Sacred Harp, containing five.89

Due to a handful of unfortunate circumstances, Johnson‘s role in the development of the fasola tradition could easily be overlooked. The earliest example of the tune JEFFERSON is found in the Tennessee Harmony; whether it was a folk tune that Johnson had recorded or whether it was an original composition is another question, but it appears to have been introduced to the written fasola tradition by Johnson. Due to Allen Carden‘s curious editorial decision not to print composer attributions in Missouri Harmony, Johnson was not credited for the tune in Carden‘s book. Even more curiously, the omission is duplicated in Walker‘s Southern Harmony, despite the fact that many of the book‘s other tunes were given attributions.90 This is partially rectified in the 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp, where the tune receives the attribution of ―Tennesseee

Harmony, 1818‖; why Johnson doesn‘t receive credit by name is unclear. In any event, the fact that a tune from an obscure tunebook could enter and remain in the fasola repertoire, and enjoy widespread popularity some two centuries later,91 speaks to the highly organic quality that is a hallmark of the fasola tradition.

88 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 69.

89 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 70.

Unlike those in Southern Harmony, Johnson‘s tunes found in the Sacred Harp most likely to be as a result of the former collection‘s influence on the latter, due to the fact that Tennessee Harmony had such a limited run and was out of print for more than two decades by the time the Sacred Harp was published in 1844.

90 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 71.

91 nd According to the minutes available at https://fasola.org/minutes/stats/, JEFFERSON is the 62 most popularly called song at Sacred Harp singings from 1995 through 2017, putting it in the top 12% of the most popular songs in the book.

Folk Hymnody

One of the aspects of the fasola repertoire that lends the most notoriety is that many of the 19th century tunebook compilers were also folksong collectors. In his typically Romantic style, Jackson characterizes the importance of the folk idiom in the development of the fasola repertoire thus:

Their musical ingredient was folk melody, which was moulded in times before music was like the independent, elaborate, and pervasive art we know. This makes their traditional melodism, in Western civilization at least, a relic in culture, one bearing the fate accorded to all outmoded ways of mankind.92

However, as is the case with nearly all aspects of the fasola style, elements of the folk idiom was not always a central feature of the repertoire, with the collections of the New England singing school masters bearing no traces of folk music influence. Irving Lowens and Allen Britton point to John Wyeth‘s 1813 Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music as the first collection whose repertoire marries the three genres carried from the English parish tradition – the plain tune, fuging tune, and anthem – with tunes captured from the music of the people. Wyeth‘s tunebook was published in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a signpost along the way of the music‘s exodus from urban New England, and an indication of fasola music‘s gradual shift inland and southward. It was in this inland countryside that the Midatlantic and southern tunebook compilers would reap the harvest of songs nourished and cultivated by the common people. The folk idiom figured highly in the tunes and collections of singing school masters and tunebook compilers like Joseph

Funk (Harmonia Sacra), Allen Carden (Missouri Harmony), William Walker (Southern

Harmony), and many others.93

92 George Pullen Jackson, ―Some Factors in the Diffusion of American Religious Folksongs,‖ The Journal of American Folklore 65, no. 258 (Oct. – Dec. 1952): 369.

93 Lowens and Britton, ―The Easy Instructor‖, 41.

These folk-provenance tunes had a few hallmark characteristics. Folk hymnody typically employed a gapped scaled, or an otherwise-diatonic scale, but with one or more scale degrees omitted, as discussed in the context of Davisson‘s Kentucky Harmony earlier. This was often realized as a scale with the second and sixth or fourth and seventh degrees missing; the latter case gives the pentatonic scale, illustrated in popular shape-note tunes such as HOLY MANNA,

RESIGNATION, and BEACH SPRING, among droves of others.

The presence of tune families in the fasola repertoire is another notable artifact of its folk heritage. These tune families are comprised of independent melodies that may vary slightly in their performed and notated forms, but that bear a near enough resemblance to one another to be considered variants of the same tune. These ―melodic kinships‖ point to ―the whole complex

‗society‘ of a living music culture‖, as James Cowdery puts it.94 David Music sums the situation as it relates to the specifics of the Tennessee Harmony succinctly:

Folk music is typically passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth before it is written down. This oral transmission often results in changes to the melody, which may include an alteration of mode from major to minor or vice versa, a simplification or elaboration of the pitch and rhythmic content, or any of a number of other variants. Thus, a single melody might appear in a large number of versions that – on the surface, at least – appear to be different pieces. … This is not to suggest that TENNESSEE … or any of the other named pieces is the original form of the melody, but that these are all part of a common stock from which new versions of the melody emerged.95

In many cases, the tunes are identical, or nearly so, but the names and composer attributions may vary widely. As an illustration, the tune mentioned above – TENNESSEE – is a member of a so- called tune family. This tune family was one of the many identified by George Pullen Jackson, and he recorded it as including the titles TENNESSEE, COMMUNION, THE CHRISTIAN‘S COMFORT,

94 James R. Cowdery, ―A Fresh Look at the Concept of Tune Family,‖ Ethnomusicology 28, no. 3 (Sep. 1984): 502.

95 David W. Music, ed., A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns from Southern United States Tune Books, 1816-1861 (Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2005), x-xi.

th and COME AND TASTE. He found eleven instances of tunes in this family in nine 19 century tunebooks, including the Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (1820), Genuine Church Music

(1832), Southern Harmony (1854), and the Social Harp (1859); composer attributions varied, and included Chapin, L. P. Breedlove, William Walker, and at least three others.96 Music describes multiple variants of the same tune mentioned above, Tennessee, as included in the original 1844 edition of the Sacred Harp, including AUGUSTA, THE WEARY SOULS, and IMANDRA

97 NEW, among at least three others.

Genre

Beyond a common repertoire of individual tunes, the content of 19th century fasola tunebooks all share a more-or-less fixed set of genres. The bulk of the shape note repertoire can be classified into one of three categories: the plain tune, the fuging tune, and the anthem. Like the rudiments and the singing school, these genres – as well as the particular combination of the three – trace their provenance to the English parish music tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries, transplanted in piecemeal to British North America by the colonizers. These three genres had taken root together in American hymnody no later than 1761. In that year, James Lyon, a compiler and composer active in the generation preceding Billings, published Urania, a tunebook Stephen Marini points out as notable for having ―fully embraced‖ the trio of hallmark genres.98 The plain tune, fuging tune, and anthem remained the cornerstones of the 19th century fasola tunebook, to such a great extent that the make-up of the contemporary Denson Sacred

Harp still reflects a fundamental reliance on the three genres (fig. 2-4).

96 Jackson, White Spirituals, 145.

97 Music, A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns, x-xi.

98 Marini, ―The New England Singing School‖, 250.

The plain tune is the simplest of the three, and can generally be used interchangeably with the term ―psalm tune‖ or ―hymn tune‖. The plain tune is a homophonic (or mostly so) tune for sometimes two, but more commonly three or four voices, typically in four musical phrases of roughly the same length.99 This genre is analogous and virtually identical to the hymn tune as used in mainline Protestant hymnody. The tunes generally adhere to one of the standard hymn meters found in metrical hymnody.100 Because of their ubiquity, simplicity, and utility, plain tunes typically make up the better part of any given fasola collection.

The anthem is a longer duration piece. It is a through-composed genre, typically with frequent changes in texture, more virtuosity in voice parts compared to plain tunes, and occasionally, modulations of key or meter. Like the plain tune, the fasola anthem bears a striking resemblance to the eponymous genre that originated in Reformation-era England. The texts employed by anthems are almost always prosaic, and are frequently taken directly from scripture, which departs markedly from the rhyming poetry found in the plain tune and fuging tune. Anthems are generally between two and four pages, but anthems of six pages or more pages are not unheard of. As a result, the anthem has earned the reputation as being the most challenging of the genres found in fasola collections.

99 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 63.

100 Metrical hymnody has its origins with Ambrose of Milan, a fourth-century bishop who wrote several four-line, rhyming hymns that adhered to a regular poetic stress. This style of hymnody expanded rapidly after the Reformation, as congregational participation in worship increased. Many of the early strains of Protestantism, such as those following John Calvin, believed that only biblical texts should be used in worship, and as a result, sought to use the book of Psalms the way it was intended to be used: as a source of sacred song. To facilitate an expedited manner of making the Psalter available to be sung the people, Calvin paraphrased the 150 Psalms into rhyming, metrical French poetry, and used a vocabulary simple enough for the common folk to understand. This spread to other areas of Protestant thought, including the Netherlands, England, and Scotland, and metrical psalters were soon available in the vernacular in those and other locales. The advantage of metrical psalmody and hymnody is that it enabled the entire book of Psalms, in theory, to be sung with just a handful of tunes, as any tune in short meter (or SM, entailing stanzas comprised of two lines of six syllables, a third line of eight syllables, and a final line of six syllables, expressed numerically as 6.6.8.6) may be paired with any text in short meter. As there were only several of these meters, the bulk of metrical tunes and texts are either in short, common (or CM, 8.6.8.6), or long (8.8.8.8) meter.

The most distinctive of the three genres discussed here is the fuging tune. As the name suggests, a fuging tune typically consists of a homophonic A-section, typically consistent with the features a plain tune, and a polyphonic B-section featuring sequential entries of each voice part, usually with some type of imitation between voices. Jackson characterizes the genre thus:

In the fuging tune all the parts start together and proceed in rhythmic and harmonic unity usually for the space of four measures or one musical sentence. The end of this sentence marks a cessation, a complete melodic close. During the next four measures the four parts set in, one at a time, and one measure apart. First the basses take the lead for a phrase a measure long, and as they retire on the second measure to their own proper bass part, the higher voiced men take the lead with a sequence that is imitative of, if not identical with, that just sung by the basses. The tenors in turn give way to the altos, and they to the trebles, all four parts doing that same passage (though at different pitches) in imitation of the lead singer of the preceding measure. The basses, and to some extent also the tenors, after they have done their one-measure leading stunt, often strike a single tone and stick to it with a peculiar droning effect for a number of measures or until the fuging passage has been negotiated by each of the other voices. Following this fuging passage comes a four-measure phrase, with all the parts rhythmically neck and neck, and this closes the piece.101

Unlike the Common Practice understanding of the term ―fugue‖, the imitation in fuging tunes does not abide by the strictures placed on the analogous genre in art; sometimes, successive entries are at the interval of a fifth or fourth, outlining the tonic-dominant relationship which is central to the Common Practice period fugue, but this is not commonplace. Imitation in fasola fuging tunes is not required to adhere to the tonic-dominant relationship; in some cases, successive entries are at the same pitch level (adjusted for octave differences between voice parts); in others, each voice part starts on a different pitch of the tonic triad; and in still other cases, successive voices are imitative only in terms of their rhythmic motif and melodic contour.

In some fasola fuging tunes, the imitation between voice parts is purely rhythmic, with each

101 Jackson, White Spirituals, 207-208.

66 entry having an independent melodic character but sharing the same rhythmic motif between voice parts.

Although widespread in urban American religious music during the 18th century, the popularity of the fuging tune slowly waned, and eventually it was relegated only to the fasola tunebooks, known only to the fasola singers. In spite of its status as a hallmark of the Sacred

Harp tradition today, the fuging tune received a mixed reception from historical compilers.

William Billings was an ardent supporter of the fuging tune, reflected in the full title of his 1794

Continental Harmony, Containing a Number of Anthems, Fuges [sic], and Chorusses, in several

Parts. Never before published. He goes on to endorse the fuging tune in so many words in the collection‘s preface, asserting that ―it is well known that there is more variety in one piece of fuging music than in twenty pieces of plain song [plain tunes].‖102 The most indisputable evidence for the fact that the 18th century singing school masters revered the fuging tune is provided by their compositional output. Of the 300 pieces of music Billings composed, 44

(~15%) were fuging tunes. His contemporaries were similarly inclined to compose fuging tunes, with Stephen Jenks‘s compositional portfolio containing 43 fuging tunes (37% of his total extant output), Daniel Read‘s containing 43 (45% of his output), and an impressive 83 fuging tunes being attributed to Samuel Holyoke.103

The fuging tune was not universally embraced in the shape note tradition. G.P. Jackson reports that Joseph Funk, the compiler of the noted and influential Genuine Church Music (1832, later renamed Harmonia Sacra) had ―no fondness for novelty‖ or interest in ―the changes of

102 Billings, Continental Harmony, xxviii.

103 Maxine Fawcett-Yeske, ―Stylistic Development in the Fuging Tunes of William Billings,‖ The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 8, no.1 (1996): 45, note 4.

67 fashion.‖ 104 Evidently viewing the fuging tune as exhibiting those characteristics, he excluded the genre from his collection entirely. Funk‘s opinion was clearly in the minority, with Ananias

Davisson rebuffing such critics in his Kentucky Harmony by saying that ―[t]here are some of our superannuated old Deacons, who stand in opposition to fuging music; but it is an old maxim, and

I think a very just one too, that variety is always pleasing.‖105 Davisson and Billings ultimately won the day, as far as the tastes of the fasola compilers and singers was concerned, and fuging tunes remain a staple in the repertoire.

However, by the late 19th century, the genre was perceived as being under siege. Indeed, as mentioned earlier in the chapter, William Walker‘s Christian Harmony – the 1867 seven- shape successor to his four-shape Southern Harmony – provided non-fuging ossia options for the fuging tunes included in the book, in an attempt to cater to more progressive tastes. The failed

1884 edition of the Sacred Harp, undertaken by J.L. and B.F. White, Jr., sons of B.F. White, made several bold attempts to attract younger singers and those with more urban proclivities.

The stylistic accomodations the White brothers made included re-typesetting the book‘s contents in seven shapes, and a complete ―de-fuging‖ of the fuging tunes found in the original compilation.106 It is not clear whether this directly contributed to the book‘s lack of success, though if its rejection by fasola singers is any indication – especially compared to the later, more conservative W.M. Cooper revision of 1902, which retained the four-shape notation and fuging

104 Jackson, White Spirituals, 208.

105 Jackson, White Spirituals, 209.

Notably, this exact turn of phrase – ―It is an old maxim, and I think a very just one, viz that variety is always pleasing. . .‖ – is found in the prefatory matter to Billings‘ Continental Harmony (p. xxviii).

106 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 46-48.

68 repertoire, and which enjoyed wide adoption –the daring innovations made by the White brothers did not prove as attractive to singers as they had hoped.

The genres included in a given collection would have been an indication to would-be insgers as to whether the states of the compiler aligned with their own. As a result, in the same way that the novelty of the repertoire might be advertised in the extended titles of 19th century collections, the same practice was common as it related to the genres contained by the book. As discussed previously, the title to Billings‘ Continental Harmony advertised its contents in its extended title. This type of advertisement in titles became de rigeur among four-shape compilers, with the books‘ extended titles typically enumerating the generic contents of the book. A perusal of the appendix to this document provides ready documentation of this aspect of fasola collection titling.

Number of Parts

Given the ubiquity of four-part harmony over the past six centuries or so of Western music, it is tempting to assume that historical fasola music has always followed this paradigm.

With a cursory perusal of contemporary shape note collections, this assumption would appear to be substantiated, given that the most popular collections, including the 1991 Denson revision of the Sacred Harp, are predominantly harmonized in four parts. This assumption would be further bolstered by the traditional performance practice of singing in the ―hollow square‖, with singers separated by voice part, each part sitting on one side of square arrangement of pews, all singing facing toward the middle – an arrangement with markedly less practicality if there were more or fewer independent voice parts. Accordingly, to infer that both this setup and the number of voice parts has always been stable, with four voices, would be justifiable. However, in spite of the fact that the early New England singing school masters did indeed primarily compose for four voice

69 parts, the dominant convention experienced some fluctuation once the music transited southward.

For much of the early 19th century, a paradigm of three part harmony dominated southern fasola collections. Carden‘s Missouri Harmony (1820), Walker‘s Southern Harmony (1835), and

White and King‘s Sacred Harp (1844) all feature a significant number of three-part tunes; some, like the Missouri Harmony, even include two-part tunes. This aspect of the music is closely tied with its distinctive harmonic idiom, and in turn, with the folk hymnody that shape note music became infused with starting with John Wyeth‘s Repository (1810). The three-part nature of the music points to a fundamentally dyadic harmonic idiom – that is, a fundamentally quartal and quintal harmony – versus the tertian harmony common in four-part Western harmony. In fact, this fundamental harmonic difference gives rise to many of the parallel fourths and fifths that make fasola music so distinctive to the Common Practice-conditioned ear.107 As a result of this dyadic harmony, three voice parts can meet all of the requisite harmonic duties: the melody in the tenor, a higher-voiced countermelody, and a bass.

In fact, the Sacred Harp was largely a three-part book until after the death of B. F. White.

As time drew on, and particularly after the Civil War, the three-part dyadic idiom came to represent what the fasola folk saw as the ―old paths‖ in which they had been instructed to walk.

Having weathered the assaults of Lowell Mason and the Better Music Movement starting in the

1830s, and now facing the rise of the more urban Gospel Music – with its seven shape notation, tonal, tertian harmony, and use of instruments – the distinctive dyadic harmony took on an iconicity, much the same way as fuging tunes and the distinctive notation itself had. Sarah Kahre extrapolates B.F. White‘s editorial process for the fourth edition of the Sacred Harp (1870),

107 Music, A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns, x.

70 especially insofar as it was a reaction to William Walker‘s Christian Harmony (1867), a progressive tunebook that had gone to seven-shape notation and four part harmony. Of the 1870

Sacred Harp edition, she says

In his fourth edition, B. F. White only explicitly rejected the [new] notation and solmization systems; he says nothing of the … addition of alto voices. By not overhauling his book or releasing a new one, however, he implicitly rejects all these changes. The fourth edition of the Sacred Harp is still a four-shape tunebook for primarily three voices, unconcerned with the styles of the city churches, and the adherence to this style became the defining feature of Sacred Harp singing as the nineteenth century drew to a close. There are some hints, though, that although White was not interested in dramatic changes, he was also not totally opposed to every element of the new style.108

Kahre continues, pointing out that the repertoire of the 1870 revision represented the deletion of

50 tunes from former editions, and the addition of 120 new tunes. However, she notes a subtle and unadvertised trend: many of the tunes removed were in three parts, and many of those added were in four parts, suggesting that White was not completely averse to all stylistic changes to the idiom. A concerted effort to add alto lines would not be undertaken until W. M. Cooper‘s 1902 revision, a shift that would later be adopted by the James/Denson revisions, as well.109

Ordering and Sorting of Content

Although tunebook compilers of the 19th Century all followed the same general paradigm with regard to the physical format, content, and repertoire of the books, the compilers sorted the musical content of the collections in a multitude of different ways. Overall, the compilers organized the tunebooks in a standard pattern: rudiments first, musical repertoire next, and index or indices (when included) last. However, the way the musical content is ordered varies wildly.

Some compilers adopted straightforward approached, such as the alphabetical-by-tune-name method adopted by Freeman Lewis in his Beauties of Harmony (1814) and found in later editions

108 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 44-45.

109 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 56.

71 of Alexander Johnson‘s Tennessee Harmony.110 Similarly, John G. McCurry grouped the tunes in his Social Harp (1855) by key. Part I contained tunes in A or f#, Part II contained tunes in F or d, and so forth, and the final two parts were devoted to ―gems in various keys‖, and anthems and set pieces. This was apparently a decision driven by a pedagogical motivation, as McCurry asserts in the preface that ―this arrangement will be found very convenient for teachers.‖111

David L. Clayton and James P. Carrell‘s 1831 Virginia Harmony used a different, and arguably more utile, pedagogy-motivated approach. They first grouped the tunes by hymn meter, and then sorted them from easy to difficult, in a system where ―the plainer pieces precede those of more difficult performance.‖112

Even the collections that don‘t have a methodological sorting paradigm for each individual tune in the repertory generally have a large-scale system to group their contents, often according to genre or suitability of use,113 or a combination of both of these factors. Allen D.

Carden‘s 1846 edition of the Missouri Harmony is an example of this type of sorting, where Part

I ―contain[s] all the plain and easy tunes commonly used in time of divine worship,‖114 Part II

110 Music, ―Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony‖, 68.

Sorting tunes alphabetically by title seems arbitrary from the framework of contemporary denominational hymnody, where tune names are little more than a curious footnote, but this was not always the case. Consider that, historically, ―hymnal‖ and ―tunebook‖ refer to separate types of books, where the former have only text and no music notation, and the latter have musical notation but little or no text. This was the case at the time of the printing of the Bay Psalm Book in 1640, and the concept of hymnal-as-book of text persists today in Primitive Baptist congregations that use The Primitive Hymns, an 1841 text-only hymnal published by Benjamin Lloyd in Wetumpka, Alabama. Accordingly, in a case where tunebooks are used as a repository of tunes which will be paired with a text by the singer as needed – as opposed to being paired by an editor once and for all, in the case of most denominational hynnody – an alphabetically sorted repository of tunes is useful.

111 John G. McCurry, ed., The Social Harp, A Collection of Tunes, Odes, Anthems and Set Pieces, Selected from Various Authors…, (Philadelphia: T.K. Collins, 1855), [iii].

112 James P. Carrell and David L. Clayton, eds., ―Preface‖ to The Virginia Harmony . . . (Winchester, VA: Samuel H. Davis, 1831), [iii].

113 That is, whether the tunes are intended for worship, singing school, social singing groups, et cetera.

114 Allen D. Carden, The Missouri Harmony…[18th ed.], (Cincinnati, OH: William Phillips & Son, 1846), [21].

―contain[s] the more lengthy and elegant pieces commonly used in concert, or singing societies‖,115 and Part III ―contain[s] several anthems and odes, of the first eminence.‖116 In the

1846 edition, Carden also included a supplement containing additional music, a common way for

19th century tunebook compilers to add new repertoire to successful collections, ostensibly in an effort to entice singers to purchase the new revised editions. The contents of the supplement follow the trends of the rest of the book, and is generally sorted in the same way; the editor characterizes it as ―containing twenty-three choice tunes of the various meters, one anthem, two set pieces, one duett [sic], one song and one short chorus.‖ Parenthetically, the editor notes that

―the duett and sacred song are arranged for the organ or piano forte [sic]‖,117 perhaps belying the increasing urbanization – and, accordingly, the increasing cosmopolitanization of taste – facing

Missouri by the mid-1840s, resulting in the 1846 edition mentioned here being the last 19th century edition of the Missouri Harmony.

The creative cross-pollination in the fasola style can, with a trained eye, be observed at the compilational level. Jackson documented the tunebook as being the product of manifold influences and sources in his exploration of Allen Carden‘s influential Missouri Harmony: ―In his ‗Grounds of Music‘, Carden acknowledges that John Wyeth‘s Repository (1820) has furnished him with music-educational ideas. A perusal of the songs shows them to be much the same as those in Davisson‘s Kentucky Harmony [of 1816].‖118 Combined with the ―General

Observations‖ taken from Beauties of Harmony (1814) as discussed previously in this chapter, the use of the fasola shapes devised by Little and Smith in 1801, the generic disposition of plain

115 Carden, The Missouri Harmony, 18th ed., [73].

116 Carden, The Missouri Harmony, 18th ed., [153].

117 Carden, The Missouri Harmony, 18th ed., [201].

118 Jackson, White Spirituals, 40.

73 tune, fuging tune, and anthem first embodied by Urania (1760) – and content drawn from any number of compilers, composers, and collectors of folk tunes – it becomes clear that the

Missouri Harmony, like all of the other fasola tunebooks, is an incredible pastiche, an intricate musical-material mosaic, with many of its subtle elements reflecting the contact and interaction between compiler, singer, and tradition.

Naming Conventions

Tune naming

In contrast to denominational hymnody, where the common title of the piece of music consisting of a paired tune and text is typically taken from the incipit of the text, shape note practice traditionally calls the tune-text pairing by the name of the tune.119 For instance, in denominational hymnody, one would be familiar with ―All Hail the Power of Jesus‘ Name‖, whereas the same is known to shape note singers as CORONATION. The composer of

CORONATION, Oliver Holden, intended for the pairing of this particular tune and text; hence, the title reflects the content of the poetry, which includes ―bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all‖.120 Due to the modularity of metrical psalmody/hymnody as described earlier in this chapter, tune and text pairings are (or once were) relatively fluid in the shape note tradition, and so pairings are not always seen as an inseparable unit.

As a result, rather than being reflective of an aspect of the music or text, shape note composers often name tunes to honor something in the world around them; this is manifest in

119 One notable exception to this practice is found in singers following the tradition associated with the Cooper revision lineage of the Sacred Harp, in which some tunes are given titles that follow a hybridized system. An example is the familiar text-tune paring of ―Rock of Ages‖ with the tune Toplady. This tune, on page 451 of the most recent Cooper edition (2012) is given as ―ROCK OF AGES (TOPLADY)‖; other examples following this style can be found in the book, though many titles follow the convention as practice in the wider shape note tradition.

120 Hugh McGraw, ed., The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition (Carrolton, GA: Sacred Harp Publishing Company, 1991), 63.

74 tunes named for areas or municipalities, for geographical features or places that are meaningful in this tradition (either local or biblical). For instance, Tennessee tunebook compiler Andrew

Johnson named one of the tunes in his Eclectic Harmony (1847) GALLATIN, for Gallatin,

Tennessee, the location of the book‘s compilation. Freeman Lewis followed suit in his 1814,

121 including tunes named PITTSBURGH, where the book was published, and DUNLAP‘S CREEK, named for a Presbyterian church in Fayette County, Pennsylvania which happens to be the first

Presbyterian church west of the Alleghenies, and which lies near a creek of the same name.122

Examples abound in all editions of the Sacred Harp, as well, including CLEBURNE,

ARBACOOCHEE, CUSSETTA, and NEWNAN, two places in Alabama and Georgia, respectively, which have tunes named after them. Indeed, the two states themselves also have namesakes in the book, and can be found on facing pages (196 and 197).

Collection naming

Especially as the 19th century wore on, there came to be a more standardized paradigm for naming tunebooks, further reflecting the interconnectedness of the style. Although there was considerable variation among the titling of the 18th and earliest 19th century collections, clear trends began to emerge and by the end of the 1800s, most tunebooks included either the word

―Harp‖ or ―Harmony/Harmonist‖ in their titles.123 Of the 103 first edition 19th-century fasola tunebooks I have catalogued, 48 contain some variant of the word ―Harmony‖ or ―Harmonist‖.

12 include the word ―Harp‖, and 41 have a title with a geographic reference.124 In fact, a very

121 Beauties of Harmony, 135.

122 Carl Daw, Jr., ed., ―814. We Walk by Faith and not by Sight (Dunlap‘s Creek)‖ in Glory to God: A Companion, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016): 775.

123 For this figure, I count ―Harmony/Harmonist‖ as also including the Latinate Harmonia and the German Harmonie, both of which are found in 19th century tunebook titles.

124 In some cases, this is as broad as a nationalistic moniker, such as Samuel Wakefield‘s 1830 American Repository of Sacred Music, or as specific as a single city, as in the 1807 Philadelphia Harmony compiled by Andrew Adgate. 75 commonly employed naming formula is Geographic Area and ―Harmony,‖ a time-honored tradition even by the mid-19th century, given that Billings employed such a title in his

Continental Harmony, first published in 1791. Examples of 19th century tunebooks following this paradigm include The Delaware Harmony (1809), Kentucky Harmony (1816), Columbian

Harmony (1829), Southern Harmony (1835), and Eclectic Harmony (1847).

Given the ubiquity of collections named ―Harp‖, it is appropriate to say a word on that topic, given that there is no connection between the fasola tradition and instrumental harp music of any kind. ―Harp‖ is part of a long-standing and intricate metaphor, wherein the ―sacred harp‖ is the human voice. The metaphoric association between ―harp‖ and the human body in the fasola tradition dates at least to 1779, when William Billings paired his tune CREATION with a text by Isaac Watts: ―Our life contains a thousand springs,/And dies if one be gone; Strange, that a harp of thousand strings/ Should keep in tune so long!‖125

The first time ―harp‖ was used in the title of a four-shape tunebook appears to be in the

1818 Virginia Sacred Harp Musical Repository, compiled by James M. Boyd. The harp metaphor was convenient, given that the harp has an extensive profile in the bible. Among other heavenly associations,126 the harp is closely linked to King David, who is traditionally held to be author of the Psalter.127 In making the human voice into the ―sacred harp‖ , the fasola singers

Most often, though, the geographic references are regional (as in Lazarus Jones‘ 1849 Southern Minstrel) or are to states (as seen in James P. Carrell‘s Virginia Harmony and Thomas R. Weber‘s Pennsylvänische Sammlung von Kirchen-Musick of 1859).

125 Billings, Continental Harmony, 52-54.

126 Revelation 14:2 (King James Version): ―And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.‖

127 This association with the Psalter made the metaphor all the more acceptable to these compilers, many of whom believed they were following scriptural edict by using only scriptural content in their worship services; as the Psatler has been termed ―the hymnal of the bible‖, this would have seemed to be a further confirmation of their adherence to God‘s word. A scriptural excerpt outlining David‘s connection to the harp is given below.

76 fulfill their biblical exhortation to ―praise God upon the lute and harp‖.128 This extended metaphor, then, was tied in with biblical mandate, and therefore made shape note music and its practice worthy of its place in the worship and social life of Christian folk.

Historical Import of the Tunebook

The fasola tunebook represents an unbroken musical lineage predating the American

Revolution, and persisting as a living link to the artistic culture of the earliest Anglo-Americans.

From the start, the singing school/fasola tradition was a popular music: a music of the people.

This music was never intended for passive consumption, nor did it cater to the tastes of the upper echelons. Instead, the fasola tradition is one that invites collaboration from the consumer, and an idiom created for – and more importantly, by – the common people. Accordingly, the fasola tunebooks captured much of the earliest musical activities of the nascent United States, and continued to serve as a barometer of folk tastes throughout much of the 19th century. The tunebook‘s well-honed design includes everything an individual would need to learn to read and sing music (at least in theory), and a considerable body of interesting music to hone and enjoy that newfound skill. The brilliant grafting of information onto what had been an underutilized part of music notation – that is, the employment of the shaped notehead – was realized its potential in assisting the neophyte in solmization. Combined with the organic, interconnected nature of the larger musical tradition in which the tunebook is situated, the all-in-one character of

1 Samuel 16:15-17; 21-23 (King James Version): ―And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. … And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.‖

128 Psalm 150:3.

77 these collections serves as a snapshot of a musical-cultural moment, affording keen insight into the tastes and ideals of a musical tradition and its shifts over time.

If the volume of books sold is an indication, the tunebook compilers succeeded in their collected efforts to appeal to the common taste. According to Aldine Kieffer, William Walker‘s influential Southern Harmony sold at least 700,000 copies, and by the time the article was written in 1879, the Sacred Harp had already sold 250,000 copies.129 Even relatively obscure books could enjoy impressive publication runs; one such example is Alexander Auld‘s 1847

Ohio Harmonist, which sold 600,000 in spite of the fact that it was published well after the high water mark of 19th century fasola tunebook activity.130 The zenith of 19th century fasola tunebook production would seem to be around 1830, as indicated by the mean year of first publication of the 107 collections identified in the catalogue. This number seems to be reasonable, given the data in the Figure 2-5, which represents a scatter plot of number of individual tunebooks published in a given year at left, and the same data grouped by decade, with a line of best fit applied, at right.

While the fasola tunebooks were meant to be accessible, they also entailed a considerable outlay of resources and a reasonably amount of technology. On the latter point, consider that both Walker‘s 1835 Southern Harmony, compiled in South Carolina, and B.F.

White‘s 1844 Sacred Harp, compiled in west Georgia, both had to be published in Philadelphia, as this was the nearest location capable of printing their specialty notation in suitably high quality resolution. Indeed, even the raw materials required for paper making and bookbinding were not always in plentiful supply. Consider the following characterization of the difficulties in

129 Aldine S. Kieffer, ―A Brief History of Patent Notes,‖ The Musical Million 10, no. 9 (1879): 136.

130 Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio: An Encyclopedia of the State, (Columbus, OH: H. Howe & Sons, 1890), 297.

78 getting paper in the early 19th century, bearing in mind that Cramer, Spear, and Eichbaum were the publishers of the 1814 Beauties of Harmony:

In 1815 Cramer Spear & Eichbaum of Pittsburg, Penn [sic] were operating a paper mill in connection with their printing and publishing business. In an announcement of this they put in the usual plea for rags [to be recycled into paper]. . . Until the [20th] century was well under way importations of paper continued to be heavy despite all efforts to prevent it. . . . Prices for paper were then high, all things considered.131

In a less materially prosperous era, the value and consequent scarcity of the tunebooks imbued them with a quality of being precious objects, a trait underscored by the sacred aims the books were intended for. It is a much-repeated trope that the Bible and the Sacred Harp were the two books found in many a southern homestead, an assertion supported by the presence of early photographic portraits depicting a husband and wife, each holding one of the esteemed books.132 Indeed, especially by the end of the 19th century when fasola tunebooks became increasingly scarcer, tunebooks would be used for decades, sometimes until falling apart.133

Compare this to the practice of the proponents of the newer Gospel music who would pay for their music by subscription and receive it in the format of periodical publications (which often would be discarded shortly after use). As a result, the permanence of the fasola collections was undergirded in both material and immaterial senses, and the tunebook became an object of reverence, either because of or in addition to the stability of repertoire and practice that the tunebook represented.

131 Lyman Horace Weeks, A History of Paper-manufacturing in the United States, 1690-1916 (New York: The Lockwood Trade Journal Company, 1916), 118-121.

132 Kiri Miller, Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 98.

133 Campbell, ―‗Old Can Be Used‘‖, 177.

Example 2-1. An example of John Tufts‘ letter notation: OLD 100 from Tufts‘ Introduction, (as depicted in Lowens, ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes‘‖, p. 96). Note that the melody is written on the uppermost staff, but that the range of that voice part, labeled here as Cant[us], largely remains between the range of the other two parts.

Example 2-2. The use of the distinctive fasola syllables memorialized in a song, THE SCALE, from William Hauser‘s Hesperian Harp (Philadelphia: S.C. Collins, 1848), page 488.

Example 2-3. Variants of the same tune, MEAR, as printed in Law‘s Musical Primer (above) and Little and Smith‘s Easy Instructor (below), demonstrating the differences in their shaped notational systems. Note that in the former example, the melody is in the uppermost staff, while in the latter, the melody is situated in the third staff from the top.

Example 2-4. Above, an excerpt from ―GREAT IS THE LORD‖, an anthem from Samuel Jackson‘s 1848 Sacred Harmony (George Lane & Charles Tippett, New York), showing cue notes for an organ in the bass voice part. (A) Below, the title page and a musical excerpt from J.S. James‘s Sacred Tunes and Hymns (1913), a collection of fasola tunes and keyboard accompaniment, both of which are printed in fasola notation. (B) 82

Figure 2-1. Title pages from a diverse selection of tunebooks, published between 1770 and 1889.

Figure 2-2. A number of the seven-shape notational systems in use in 19th century collections, as documented by W. Thomas Marrocco in ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections,‖ Plate IV.

Figure 2-3. A depiction of William Walker with his tuning fork superimposed, as included in Jackson‘s White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands (page 58[b]).

Anthem 3% Verse and Chorus Set 10% 6% Fuging: 32%

Plain 48%

Ode 1%

Figure 2-4. The contents of the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp, broken down by genre.

Figure 2-5. At left, a scatterplot of the number of tunebooks produced in a given year, 1800-1900. At right, the data at left represented as number of tunebooks produced per decade, with a line of best fit applied.

CHAPTER 3 THE 20TH CENTURY SHAPE-NOTE REVIVAL

The shape-noters have from the start had to defend their practices. When it was a matter merely of one notation against another, the controversy took the form of mutual ridicule. The adherents to the traditional notation called the rural innovation [of fasola notation] ―buck-wheat grains,‖ ―three-cornered sounds,‖ ―measle-toed,‖ and ―square-toed‖ music, and declared that it was fit only for ignorant whites . . .. For a hundred years the [fasola folk] struggled for their tonal existence against the ―round-heads‖ and other natural but tangible enemies. For three decades or more since then, they have struggled against two other foes…The first of these is the complete ignoring of the entire rural song activity by all excepting those directly participating in it. The other is the progressive invasion of the country by the city.

—George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands1

Introduction

By the 1930s, fasola singing appeared to be moribund. To be sure, there were some sporadic signs of life; some new editions were still being published, and in specific rural areas of the southern United States, the music was still being sung. The Sacred Harp clung to life in

Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas, and elsewhere; the Southern Harmony was sung from annually in Benton, Kentucky. Other distinct but closely related traditions continued, such as the seven-shape ―Old Harp‖ singings from M.L. Swan‘s New Harp of Columbia (1867) in

Tennessee, and in a few other isolated instances. However, on a national scale, the music was mostly forgotten, apparently having perished completely from the northeastern United States fifty years or more before the start of the 20th century. Many factors had worked against the home-grown fasola style, both in the north and in south. The arrival of European instruments and art music repertoire in the late 18th century provided an attractive musical alternative for early

New Englanders. The ―Better Music Movement‖ of Lowell Mason and related movements

1 Jackson, White Sprituals, 420-421.

86 advocated for the urbanization of church music and opposed the folk idiom characteristic of the fasola repertoire, and consequently disabused many 19th century residents of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states of their fondness for the music. Finally, the advent of gospel music and the accelerating urbanization in the period following the American Civil War led many southern

Protestants to embrace a more European worship idiom, with instruments and European musical sensibilities.2

In addition to the external complications, the fasola community was fragmented. Singers from one tunebook tradition were not necessarily connected with – nor necessarily had interest in being connected with – shape note singers of other stripes. Even singing communities using different editions of the same book (that is, the Sacred Harp) had experienced the formation of factions centered upon those various editions. Interpersonal conflicts between the leaders of these various contingents formed and escalated, eventually leading to litigation over the book‘s musical content, as detailed in Chapter 2. Although the tradition was shrinking and the outlook bleak,3 by the mid-20th Century, the outside world came to re-evaluate their old judgments of fasola music. Reconsidering the 19th century assessment of the music by the proponents of

―Better Music‖ as backward and boorish, the introduction (or re-introduction) of the music into areas outside the southern United States would eventually help to reverse the declining trajectory of the music and its tradition.

2 Campbell, ―Old can be used‖, 181.

3 In fact, the hemorrhage of Sacred Harp singings in the Southern states continued even into the 1990s. Consider the following quote from Nora Parker in the 1992-1993 Minutes: ―[O]nly five singings were called off this year; this is a big improvement over last year. But in the past nine years we have had seventy one singings discontinued.‖

Nora Parker, ed., Directory and Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings, 1992 and 1993 (Temple, GA: Sacred Harp Publishing Company, 1993), i.

The Academic Revival

The earliest stirrings of a reawakening interest in fasola music came from a single scholar, named George Pullen Jackson. Born in New England, Jackson moved with his family to

Birmingham, Alabama during his teenage years. Finishing secondary school in the United States,

Jackson continued his studies in Germany, primarily at the Royal Conservatory of Music in

Dresden, before returning to the United States and earning his doctorate at the University of

Chicago in 1911. He held teaching positions at Oberlin, Northwestern University, and the

University of North Dakota, before finally settling in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was a professor of Germanics at Vanderbilt University from 1918 until 1943.4

Jackson completed his landmark works during his tenure at Vanderbilt. Principally among these was White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands (1933). In this book, Jackson traces the evolution of shape-note singing from the time of the pre-Revolution tunesmiths through the late 19th century shape note compilers such as Aldine Kieffer. Although a landmark in the scholarship of fasola music, White Spirituals was not free from objectionable content. For instance, the work is haunted by racially charged undertones.5 Furthermore, facets of the

4 Irving Wolfe, "Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson" (address given to the Nashville Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, Nashville, TN, Sepember 12, 1965).

5 Jackson includes a chapter (XIX) devoted to investigating the similarities between the music of white and black southerners. While ascribing a surprisingly fair amount to the black singers and composer‘s, Jackson‘s conclusion asserts that

―In view of the above lists of white camp-meeting songs and their Negro counterparts …the question as to the principal source of the Negro‘s spiritual tunes would seem to be definitely answered. I agree completely…that ‗they are selections from white music, selections influenced by the Negro‘s African musical heritage.‘ But my contributions to the list of the Negro‘s ‗selections,‘ when compared with their prototypes, will help to show, I am confident, that the Negroes have never been content to use the white man‘s tunes without various and quite radical changes. A closer examination of the borrowings than I am warranted in making here would doubtless show that those changes were, as a whole, brought about by the Negro‘s traditional (African, if you please) feeling as to what song should be and by his unconscious approach, with the given material, to his own manner in song. Such an examination would probably show that the Negro has simplified tunes in matters of pitch compass, loosened up the exactions of their scale intervals, and complicated their simple rhythmic trend.‖

George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals, 273.

88 arguments that Jackson asserts, particularly his model of a whole-sale transmission of fasola music from New England into the upcountry South, have been challenged by contemporary scholars.6 Even so, the book demands homage from anyone interested in the history or revival of fasola music, whether those interests are musical, academic, or otherwise. As Donald Davidson states in the introductory paragraph of his 1943 article, ―The White Spirituals and their

Historian‖,

His first book, White Spirituals of the Southern Uplands (1933), is a great landmark in our new apprehension of native American culture. From the moment of its appearance it was no longer possible to maintain the contemptuous position taken by New York critics of the Nineteen-twenties, who argued that America in

Traces of a deeply racially-motivated thought process can be seen elsewhere. In chapter 14, on page 158, Jackson shares his observation that ―the fasola folk were Scotch-Irish and German, with a small ingredient of English. The German influence should have been considerable. The Teutons were and are, as is generally known, a musical race.‖

This type of thinking can be found in other works of his as well, such as The Story of the Sacred Harp, a small, 46- page book ostensibly intended as an easily-digestible history of the Sacred Harp, published in 1944, the centennial year of the Sacred Harp‘s publication. On page 25, Jackson says of the (then ten-years-old) Colored Sacred Harp that:

"if imitation is the sincerest flattery, the Sacred Harp folk should be pleased with The Colored Sacred Harp. … [It] is clearly inspired by the white man‘s Sacred Harp and its song tradition. … And despite the fact that each tune is signed by a ―composer,‖ I find many of them merely variants of the white Sacred Harp melodies.‖

Jackson says this in spite of the facts that (a) that repertoire sharing and influence between tunebooks is a hallmark of the shape note style, and (b) the style of the contents of the Colored Sacred Harp are in many cases markedly divergent from those of the B.F. White Sacred Harp; the tune FLORIDA STORM is often pointed to for its rhythmic complexity, as well as for its text that recounts the story of a contemporary event (namely, the Great Miami hurricane of 1926), a rare topic for a textual focus in the shape note tradition.

6 For instance, Jackson paints a picture of virtually the entire repertoire and stylistic character of contemporary Sacred Harp music as coming from New England, while modern scholarship has revealed this to be inaccurate in cases such as folk hymnody (described earlier in this work). For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see Kay Norton, ―Who Lost the South?‖ American Music 21, no. 4 (Winter 2003), 395-400.

Jackson also portrays Mississippi as being a void on the map of Sacred Harp singing. John Quincy Wolf animatedly refutes this notion in his article ―The Sacred Harp in Northeast Mississippi‖, Mississippi Folklore Register 4, no. 2 (Summer, 1970).

general, and the South in particular, were culturally barren, and, save only for the Negro spirituals and blues, especially barren of folk-song. 7

Indeed, Jackson‘s work came just a couple of decades after the first printed history of shape note music of any kind, Joseph S. James‘ A Brief History of the Sacred Harp (1904).8 James, although irreproachably knowledgeable about fasola music, was not a scholar, and so the rigor and thoroughness of Jackson‘s work bridged a crucial gap in the scholarship of American music.

For the remainder of his career, and in spite of his training as a scholar in Germanics,

Jackson principally dedicated his scholarly energies to fasola music and its history. After White

Spirituals, Jackson published several further studies and anthologies, including Spiritual Folk

Songs of Early America (1937), Down-East Spirituals and Others (1942), and Another Sheaf of

White Spirituals (1952).9 Jackson‘s efforts were by no means confined to the ivory tower; he was perhaps as devoted to the shape-note singers (whom he viewed as being the last living members of a ―lost tonal tribe‖) and the preservation of their tradition as he was to the music itself. He was a lover of art music and folk music alike, evinced by the various offices he held, which included president of the Southeastern Folklore Society, founder of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra,

7 Donald Davidson, ―The White Spirituals and Their Historian‖, The Sewanee Review 51, no. 4 (October – December 1943): 589.

8 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 95.

9 Davidson characterizes these books thusly: Spiritual Folk-songs of Early America was an attempt at classifying and tracing the musical genealogies of American folksongs to their ―ancient sources, chiefly Celtic and English‖, while documenting the ―unique development [they underwent] in America, particularly in the South‖ (589); Down- East Spirituals and Others is largely an anthology of tunes, and is ―really a supplement to its predecessor, and the two together offer a body of unified material‖ (589-90). Another Sheaf of White Spirituals, though not yet published at the time of Davidson‘s review, was foreseen by Davidson as being ―another collection of spiritual songs…[that] will deal conclusively with the problem, sketched briefly in Dr. Jackson‘s first book, of the relationship between the Negro spirituals and their white predecessors.‖ (590)

90 and organizer of both the Old Harp Singers of Nashville as well as the Tennessee State Sacred

Harp Singing Association.10

Despite the fact that he did not have the same claim to cultural ownership of the music as the singers themselves did, Dr. Jackson unabashedly shared his opinions on how he thought fasola music ought to be practiced. For instance, on February 29, 1948, he led a ―special school‖ at the historic Sacred Harp venue of the courthouse in Cullman, Alabama.11 He stressed a number of points to the assembled body of Sacred Harp singers, especially underscoring the importance of singing each song at an appropriate tempo rather than singing as fast as possible, of adjusting the dynamic level from song to song so as to not ―always [sing] loud, no matter what the words are about‖, and of observing the rhythmic values of rests carefully, with singers taking care not to cut the rests‘ durations short.12 Although Jackson had garnered the respect and admiration of the Sacred Harp singers, it is clear that Jackson‘s authority was not taken as ultimate, given that the music‘s energy and volume is still understood as one of its hallmarks.

Jackson‘s work piqued scholarly interest on the topic of American sacred music. By

1945, Willi Apel had included an entry for ―Fasola‖ in the Harvard Dictionary of Music; in

10 Wolfe, "Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson."

It should be noted here that the Old Harp singers sing from a seven-shape shape note collection, the New Harp of Columbia (1867, M.L. Swan). Although this places the book outside the strictest confines of the fasola tradition and moves it into the doremi tradition, this particular collection largely held to the aesthetic characteristics of the older fasola idiom, as discussed in Chapter 2. It is possible that Jackson chose this collection to ―plant‖ due to the stronger historical foothold the New Harp of Columbia had in eastern Tennessee, compared to the prominence of the Sacred Harp in that region.

11 The Cullman Courthouse singing is one of the oldest – and was at one time one of the most active – venues that plays host to an annual Sacred Harp singing, with a tradition of annual singings dating back to sometime in the early 1890s; Jackson therefore would have been addressing a considerable number of some of the most active Sacred Harp singers there. For more information, see Buell Cobb‘s essay, ―The Cullman Courthouse Singings,‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, July 29, 2013, accessed 4 March 2019, http://originalsacredharp.com/2013/07/29/the- cullman-courthouse-singings/.

12 Wolfe, "Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson.‖

1949, Allen P. Britton published his dissertation at the University of Michigan, entitled

Theoretical Introduction in American Tune-books to 1800. Academics began to delve into the music in diverse ways. Much of the early work was text- and document-based research on

Colonial Era singing school masters such as William Billings, Daniel Read, and Timothy Swan.

By the 1950s, the scholarship had broadened to include anthropologically-inclined work, with the prolific output of noted musicologist Alan Lomax representing one of the high water marks of this stream of scholarship. Indeed, the one conspicuous oversight of Jackson‘s work is the lack of any recordings; Lomax‘s work rectified this.

Over the course of his career, Alan Lomax travelled the world collecting folk music, demonstrating a particular interest in the music of the Southern United States. From 1959 to

1960, he made his so-called ―Southern Journey‖, and traversed the Deep South, recording the music of rural people. As part of that journey, Lomax attended – and recorded – the 56th convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, held in Fyffe, Alabama, in

September 1959. Although he was neither as single-mindedly devoted to the fasola folk as

Jackson, nor as highly prescriptive in his dealings with them, the Sacred Harp singers found a stalwart admirer in Alan Lomax. Like Jackson, Lomax saw the shape note tradition as being a last remnant of a very old musical tradition. Lomax later made another recording of Sacred Harp music at Holly Springs, Georgia, in 1982. During a break in the singing, Lomax recorded a conversation he had with singers Phil Summerlin and Buell Cobb. In a style reminiscent of

Jackson‘s writing and its romantic flair, Lomax muses on the origins and significance of the music:

[T]here were these spots [in Europe] where there was singing in harmony. … And that tradition, which flowered in the music of Bach – that choral tradition, which is sort of north-central European – has been kept alive in this particular – in this

Sacred Harp stuff, and nowhere else in the United States. It‘s very old, this way of singing harmony. 13

However, the bulk of the academic work on shape note music and its singing school heritage remained document-based. In fact, within music scholarship, there was still a reticence to take the music seriously; the reader will note that both Jackson and Lomax approached the music primarily from a folklorist‘s perspective. Until the 1950s, there seemed to be a prevailing perception of American folk musics as being insignificant and unsuitable for a dissertation topic.

Allen Britton, an important scholar on singing school and early shape-note music, was one of the first to write his dissertation on such a topic. Reflecting later on his choice to investigate on the rudiments and other theoretical frontmatter in singing school tunebooks, Britton noted that his original idea for a topic, the American factory band, was rejected by the dean of the school of music at the University of Michigan. The tunebooks of the singing school proved to be a more suitable topic for a few reasons. First, the tunebooks had pride of place as the first collections of music published in the United States. Secondly, these early singing school masters and compilers had received a romantic contextualization as the immediate cultural descendants of the first

American Puritans, a poetic evolutionary link in the cultural progress from the first colonizers to the contemporary Americans of the mid-20th century. Finally, and not least, studying the rudiments of American tunebooks largely mirrored an earlier scholarly endeavor by the

Englishman John Stainer on the topic of pedagogical introductions in metrical psalters, lending

Britton‘s study a certain old-world legitimacy.14

13 Alan Lomax, ―Alan Lomax on the Sacred Harp (1982),‖ Association for Cultural Equity, 1982, accessed July 10, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20160404235304/http://www.culturalequity.org/rc/videos/video-guide_sh_2.php.

14 Norton, ―Who Lost the South?‖, 401-402.

The document in question here is John Stainer‘s ―On the Musical Introductions Found in Certain Metrical Psalters‖, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 27 (November 1900): 1-50.

The standard for intellectual rigor established by Britton demonstrated the musical- historical value of early American sacred music, further spurring scholarly inquiry into the subject. The period of time that the academy viewed as suitable for serious study was also expanding, with researchers beginning to delve into later, 19th century fasola collections. By the early 1950s, Irving Lowens was investigating the Pennsylvanian John Wyeth‘s Repository of

Sacred Music (1810).15 The 1960s saw the first dedicated investigations of the Southern

Harmony and Sacred Harp.16 By the 1970s, the academic inquiry was in full swing, bolstered by an academy with a much more open outlook on acceptable topics for scholarly inquiry. This aspect of the zeitgeist was reflected in the foundation of organizations such as the Sonneck

Society (later, the Society for American Music) in 1975, as well as by the presence of faculty who had specialized in shape note music and who accordingly influenced their students to do similar work.

Harry Eskew, a hymnologist who was on faculty at New Orleans Baptist Theological

Seminary from 1965 through 2001, was one such figure. During his career, his advisees produced work on a plethora of topics in the realm of sacred music in the 19th century South, including theses on William Hauser and his Hesperian Harp,17 on the development of Sunday

15 Irving Lowens, ―Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second: A Northern Precursor of Southern Folk Hymnody‖, Journal of the American Musicological Society 5 (1952), reprinted in Music and Musicians in Early America (New York: W. W. Norton, 1964), 138-55.

16 Bobby Lawrence Siltman, ―The Three-Voice Folk-Hymns of William Walker from Southern Harmony‖ (master‘s thesis, Hardin-Simmons University, 1963).

John David Anderson, ―The Sacred Harp: Certain Historical Considerations‖ (master‘s thesis: University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, 1961).

17 Joseph Dennie Scott, The Tunebooks of William Hauser (The Hesperian Harp, The Olive Leaf) (doctoral thesis, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987).

School hymnody,18 and on the general trends and repertoire of Southern antebellum hymnody.19

Joel Reed, a former student of Eskew and a scholar who studied shape-note singing in North

Carolina and Georgia, noted that

[one] of the ‗side effects‘ of doing doctoral study with Harry Eskew is a ‗life sentence‘ of interest in shape-note singing traditions. One of Harry‘s special features as a teacher was his ability to ‗fit‘ students with a project associated in some way with his or her home region.20

Eskew and his colleagues in similar posts and with similar scholarly backgrounds – including

Richard Crawford at the University of Michigan and Ron Pen at the University of Kentucky – pointed their students toward other gaps in the scholarship, further hastening the rate at which work was being produced.

Due to the relative scarcity of tunebooks printed in the 19th century, access to source material proved problematic. This led researchers in the 1960s and 1970s to reprint collections germane to their scholarly interests, most of which had been out of print for more than a century.

The resulting burst of facsimile reprints of singing school and shape note tunebooks included

John Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1810),21 William Walker‘s Southern

Harmony (1854),22 and Supply Belcher‘s Harmony of Maine (1794),23 among a number of

18 Virginia Ann Cross, The Development of Sunday School Hymnody in the United States of America, 1816-1869 (doctoral thesis, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1985).

19 Irvin Henry Murrell, Jr., An Examination of Southern Ante-Bellum Baptist Hymnals and Tunebooks as Indicators of the Congregational Hymn and Tune Repertories of the Period With an Analysis of Representative Tunes (doctoral thesis, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1984).

20 Joel F. Reed, ―Shape-Note Singing at 2500 Feet‖ in Hymnology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Harry Eskew, Paul R. Powell, ed., Fenton, MO (MorningStar Music Publishers, 2008).

21 John Wyeth, compiler, and Irving Lowens, ed., Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, New York: Da Capo Press, 1964.

22 William Walker, compiler, and Glenn C. Wilcox, ed., The Southern Harmony (Los Angeles: Pro Musicamericana, 1966).

23 Supply Belcher, compiler, and H. Wiley Hitchcock, ed., The Harmony of Maine (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972).

95 others. If Harry Eskew‘s 1970 article is any indication, interest in early American hymnody outpaced the ability of music librarians to acquaint themselves with the materials. Eskew, mentioning the inexpensive and newly available facsimile reprints by name, specifies that the article ―is addressed not to the specialist in early American music, … but rather to the librarian who is relatively unfamiliar with it,‖24 and offers a brief overview of the differences between hymnals and tunebooks, and includes advice for purchasing, processing, and cataloguing tunebooks.

While these reprints were intended for and primarily used by researchers, copies also found their ways into the personal libraries of shape note singers and enthusiasts. Although these editions are not typically used for performance, they came to have a profound effect on the trajectory of the shape note tradition, as they heavily influenced the tunebook publication renaissance of the later 20th and 21st century, as discussed at length in Chapters 4 and 5.

The Folk Music/Sacred Harp Revival

If the preponderance of information, recordings, and musical material were the seeds of the shape note music revival, then the folk music revival was the fertile ground in which they were sown. The folk music world encountered the music of the Sacred Harp no later than 1958, when a group of singers from Hoboken, Georgia travelled to White Springs, Florida, to give a demonstration of fasola singing at the Florida Folk Festival. These singers were members of the

Lee family of Hoboken, located in inland southern Georgia. The Lee clan are and were members of a Primitive Baptist sect known as the Crawfordites, a somewhat isolated group due to some of their beliefs, including abstaining from worshiping with Christians of other denominations. As a result of their religious beliefs, they were not connected to the larger web of singers established

24 Harry Eskew, ―Using Early American Hymnals and Tunebooks,‖ Notes of the Music Library Association 27, no. 1 (September 1970): 19.

96 in the late 1800s by B.F. White, which covered west Georgia and Alabama. In turn, this group of singers was largely unknown by the other fasola singers, and developed some idiosyncratic elements of performance practice. One example is the Hoboken practice of ―walking time‖, where a leader controls the tempo of a song not solely by an up and down motion of the arm, but by walking around the perimeter of the ―hollow square‖ of singers with the pace of his or her steps dictating the tempo, and varied stepping patterns for duple versus triple meter (with the latter resulting in a step pattern resembling a sort of waltz).25

In the 1960s, other folk festivals, in apparently unrelated series of events, began to feature shape note singing in some form or fashion. However, at this time, the constellation of performance practices that had grown up in the south was not necessarily observed, with singers sometimes sitting in other configurations than the hollow square, groups neglecting to observe certain customs such as ―singing the shapes‖,26 and so forth. By the end of the 1960s, fasola music in some form or fashion had been featured in folk festivals in Rhode Island, Washington,

D.C., Chicago, and New York, perhaps among other places.27 More importantly, at least according to the participatory ethos of fasola music, groups of singers had regularly begun to sing this music in the north by the 1970s. There were two principal loci of this activity, each arising independently of the other: New England, and the Midwest, with an epicenter of activity in Chicago. Interestingly, the geneses of these two schools seem to separately reflect the repercussions of the academic revival on one hand and the folk revival on the other.

25 Sommers, ―Meaning and Change‖.

26 This refers to the practice of singing the tune one time through, pronouncing the names of the notes‘ solmization syllables, before beginning to sing the first stanza of poetic text on the second sing through the tune. This practice is a salient vestige of the pedagogical character imparted by the music‘s singing school roots.

27 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 62.

The New England Revival

To best understand the New England fasola revival, it is helpful to become acquainted with some of the individuals who were involved with its earliest stages. One such figure is Neely

Bruce. Bruce was born in 1944 in Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1974, was appointed to the faculty of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he served as Professor of

Choral Music and directed the Concert Choir.28 Bruce is also an accomplished keyboardist; he was one of the harpsichordists who played the premiere of John Cage‘s HRPSCHD.

Additionally, he is a prolific composer, composing both in the shape note style, as well as in other art music and syncretized idioms. As an example of Bruce‘s eclectic output, one of his works is a rock cantata called The Plague, composed in 1984.29 Alongside these ultra- contemporary musical styles, Bruce also embraces fasola music in its traditional fashion; in addition to including shape note repertoire in his choral concerts at Wesleyan University, Bruce also founded the American Music Theater Group, a performing ensemble at the university which focused on the early American singing school repertoire.

Not limiting his efforts to presentational adaptations of the fasola and singing school repertoire, Bruce was also one of the founding members – and the first host – of the New

England Sacred Harp convention, which was held in October 1976. Today, the convention is

28 Anthony Barrand, Carole Moody Crompton, and Larry Gordon, eds., Northern Harmony: Plain Tunes, Fuging Tunes and Anthems From the New England Singing School Tradition, 2nd ed. (Plainfield, VT: Northern Harmony Publishing Company, 1991), 113.

29 The Plague does an excellent job of illustrating Bruce‘s musical eclecticism and adventurousness. The libretto involves a chorus of characters react to the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, which according to the Book of the Revelation to St. John is plague. Bruce‘s cantata takes the audience through time, with various postulations as to the cause of the disease (including assertions from medieval zealots that a slothfulness in the persecution of the Jewish people is the plague‘s cause, or later in the work, that ―moon goo‖ is the culprit, as postulated by the chorus singing in the voice of some New Jersey residents. As implied by its classification as ―rock cantata‖, the work utilizes an eclectic blend of compositional idioms, including polyphonic a cappella sections, reminiscent of a late medieval or early renaissance harmonic style, closely interwoven with by 1970s rock-opera choruses featuring electric bass guitar and flute. The libretto may be found at the following website: http://www.thankyouoneandall.co.uk/letters/bruce_plague_libretto.html.

98 fairly large, attended by some two to three hundred singers annually, but the 1976 convention was notable for two primary reasons: first, a busload of traditional southern Sacred Harp singers, headed by Hugh McGraw, then-president of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and a pre- eminent ―evangelist‖ of the music, came to the convention. Second, it bestows upon New

England the distinction of being the first region outside the south to have established an annual

Sacred Harp convention.30

Larry Gordon is a similar figure to Neely Bruce. Like Bruce, Gordon is of southern extraction, having been born in Rome, Georgia. However, early in his life, Gordon found himself transplanted to Oregon, where he lived until moving to Vermont in 1971. Gordon did not discover shape note music until he was an adult, encountering it for the first time in 1970 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since settling in Vermont, Gordon‘s musical activities have largely been based in the Montpelier and Plainfield areas. Although also introducing listeners to the fasola repertoire in both presentational and participatory formats, as Neely Bruce did, Gordon has approached the music differently. Though unaffiliated with an institution of higher learning,

Gordon has assembled several organizations and ensembles dedicated to singing folk musics, including the music of the fasola tradition. Three of his major projects have included Word of

Mouth Chorus,31 the Bayley-Hazen Singers, and his current endeavor, Village Harmony.

30 Marini, Sacred Song in America, 83-84.

31 Word of Mouth chorus released an album in 1989 entitled Rivers of Delight (Nonesuch, 1989). Unlike Bruce‘s American Music Theater Group, Word of Mouth sang repertoire from the New England singing school tradition, th such as EVENING SHADE, as well as folk hymns such as WONDROUS LOVE, a 20 century tune from the Sacred Harp composed before the revival began entitled THE BETTER LAND, and repertoire from outside the Sacred Harp tradition, such as WEEPING MARY, found in John G. McCurry‘s 1855 Social Harp. Notably, the ensemble also performed other musics, including early music and the music of the Balkans. Word of Mouth‘s recordings of shape note music have a considerable latitude of musical expression, much of which is principally effected by changes in voice quality. For instance, the ensemble‘s recording of WONDROUS LOVE is sung in a throaty, full-voiced style, at a fast tempo, and with noticeable accentuated pulses on strong beats; on the other hand, Evening Shade is sung in a more reserved tone of voice, with a more subdued tempo and a generally more restrained dynamic level. Considering that WONDROUS LOVE is a folk hymn of southern provenance and that EVENING SHADE is a fuging tune with New England origins, it is intuitive to suppose that the ensemble applied their knowledge of historical 99

Founded in 1988, Village Harmony is a non-profit organization with musical-educational aims; their offerings supporting community based musical ensembles, hosting summer music programs for both youth and adults, and, in a vibrant reflection of the singing school spirit, travelling to schools and communities and teaching song and dance. Several performing ensembles are affiliated with Village Harmony, including Northern Harmony. Inaugurated in 1993, Northern

Harmony is a musical ensemble active for about half of the year, and comprises a different membership each season, primarily drawn from veterans of other Village Harmony ensembles and activities. In addition to singing the repertoire of the shape note and singing school traditions, Northern Harmony also sings the music of the nation of Georgia, the Balkan region, and South Africa, endeavoring to perform each in an authentic style. The ensemble tours parts of

Europe and the United States for between seven and ten weeks each year, giving both concerts and musical workshops.

A number of other singers have played crucial roles in the New England revival. One such figure in the Boston metropolitan area is Stephen Marini, a professor of religion at

Wellesley College. An outlier among the other two individuals discussed so far, Marini is a native New Englander, but learned how to sing shape note music when he was a young adult, by travelling to Primitive Baptist singings of the music in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. He founded Norumbega Harmony at Wellesley College in 1976, intended as an organization for undergraduate singers. Norumbega Harmony became a cornerstone of the Boston metropolitan

Sacred Harp community, eventually releasing recordings, such as Sweet Seraphic Fire.32 Like

performance practice (garnered from working with historical and world musics) in an attempt to differentiate the music according to its context, with an unrestrained sound characteristic of some southern shape-note traditions where appropriate, and an attempt at reconstructing a historical and more subdued northern sound where the music invites it.

32 Sweet Seraphic Fire: New England Singing School Music from The Norumbega Harmony, New World Records, 2005.

100 the other New England revivalists, Norumbega Harmony offered both presentational and participational iterations of the music, giving concerts as well as hosting open singings of Sacred

Harp and other music from the singing school and fasola traditions. Norumbega Harmony, like

Northern Harmony and the Chicago fasola singers, had been picked up by broadcast media outlets, spreading the exposure of the music to an even broader audience.33

The Midwestern Revival

Although the New England revival has seemed to follow a fairly steady trajectory, the

Midwestern revival appears to have experienced some fits and starts in its early days. Some

Chicago area musicians had encountered a bit of the fasola repertoire at the Old Town School of

Music as early as the mid-1960s. ―Sunday Singings‖ were organized, using photocopies of fasola tunes such as WONDROUS LOVE and BABYLON IS FALLEN. The singers would sing the music as it was written, ignoring the shapes and more or less grafting the music onto their pre-existing art music and folk music performance practices. At the outset, they did not incorporate the customs of traditional Sacred Harp singing such as sitting in the ―hollow square‖ or ―singing the shapes‖, due to the fact that they were unaware of these practices.34 A number of musicians in the

Chicago area attempted to introduce Sacred Harp singing to the region in the 1970s, to no avail.

In fact, Neely Bruce, who was pivotal in the successful New England revival, had spent time teaching at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. While in that position, he tried to cultivate an interest in Sacred Harp singing, among other ways by closing his choral concerts

This recording includes works from colonial-era singing school masters such as William Billings and Timothy Swan, as well as later 19th century fasola compilers such as Lucius Chapin and M.L. Swan, and works from contemporary fasola composers such as Glen Wright and Marini himself.

33 Marini, Sacred Song in America, 84.

34 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 69.

101 with fasola music.35 In fact, Bruce even organized an all-day Champaign-Urbana Sacred Harp, though this has not endured to the present, and Bruce‘s activities in Illinois do not appear to have directly influenced the current vitality of the music in the region.36

The revival appears to have begun in earnest in the early- to mid-1980s, simultaneously and independently in both Chicago and St. Louis. In both places, the singing of the fasola repertoire began informally, in home singing contexts; the Chicagoans had their first public singing in 1983, organized by Phil Trier, and with folk singers (and now-longtime Sacred Harp singers) in attendance, including Ted Mercer and Judy Hauff. Trier, a trained composer and choral conductor, had been introduced to the music through the Fox Hollow folk festival.37 The first all-day singing in the region was the Illinois State Sacred Harp Singing Convention, held at a Methodist church in Paxton, Illinois, in 1985. The event was facilitated jointly by the Chicago singers and a group of singers from Charleston, in southern Illinois.38 These groups were joined by singers from a total of eight states – including the St. Louis, Missouri singers, for whom the singing was the first public foray, as well as a busload of traditional Sacred Harp singers from

Georgia, whose trip had been organized by Hugh McGraw, president of the Sacred Harp

Publishing Company.39

After this point of contact between north and south, which evidently left quite an impression on the northern revivalist singers, the neophyte Illinois and Missouri singers

35 Notably, these short exhibitions did largely follow southern convention, including Bruce having his singers sing the shapes, re-arranging them into a hollow square for the shape-note portion of the concert, and pitching in the traditional way without instruments or tuning implements.

36 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 63-64.

37 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 69.

38 Allen Carden, Wings of Song, eds., The Missouri Harmony: or, A Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems (St. Louis, MO: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2005), [xxiii].

39 Missouri Harmony 2005, [xxx]-[xxxi].

102 disavowed their practices that were viewed as being untraditional, opting as a group to try to replicate traditional southern practice as closely as possible.40 From the 1985 convention onward, the Chicago and St. Louis groups maintained their musical bond, with the two singing together again at an all-day singing in Missouri the following year at Murphy Blair Church, Old North St.

Louis.41 Their relationship with one another, and with the southern singers, continued. By the late 1980s, the groups had begun to offer intermittent singing schools. Richard DeLong of

Carrolton, Georgia taught the first of these in 1989. Terry Wooten of Ider, Alabama, taught a second one in 1991, and Illinoisan and group co-founder Judy Hauff delivered a third in 1996.

These schools intended not only to teach singing and to educate people about the music itself, but also imparted information about vocal style, leading practices, and etiquette of traditional

Southern singings.42 The commitment on the part of the northerners to the southern tradition was acknowledged in 1990, when the United Sacred Harp Musical Association held its convention in

Chicago – the first time the convention had been held outside the south in its 86-year history.43

By the mid-1990s, the Midwestern Sacred Harp community had grown to include singings in

40 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 69.

Although this was the direction that the groups chose to take, it was not a unanimous decision, with some preferring their homegrown interpretation of the music, including singing with a more art music-influenced sound ideal and choral conducting-inspired style of leading. Johnson notes that ―Sacred Harp singers who were active early in the group's history describe Trier's style of directing as being that of a trained church musician conducting anthems. Once Chicago singers attended Southern singings, invited Southerners to Chicago and began closely following Southern tradition, Trier took issue with these practices and became inactive. Although he does still attend some singings … no Chicago singers credited Trier with the founding of the group. He is not now active in the group's leadership, but many cited him as one of their first points of contact with Sacred Harp music and all Chicago Sacred Harp singers spoke of him with affection and respect.‖ 69

41 Missouri Harmony 2005, [xxxi].

42 Missouri Harmony 2005, [xxxi-xxxii].

43 John Bealle, Public Worship, Private Faith, 209.

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Naperville, Illinois; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Goshen, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Madison, Wisconsin.44

Connections and Divergences between the New England and Midwestern Revivals

Both the Midwestern and New England singers were attracted to the music due to its aesthetic qualities, but the history and traditions behind the music also held appeal for both groups. Likewise, both groups had contact with the southern traditionalists and their interpretation of the music in early stages of their revivals. However, the two groups reacted to this interaction in different ways. The Midwestern singers were very eager to follow the southern customs. For instance, there is a much repeated anecdote about a phone conversation between

Hugh McGraw and one of the Chicago singers, which took place in the earliest stages of the

Midwestern revival. In discussing performance practice, the subject of ―singing the shapes‖ came up. Upon the admission on the part of the Midwestern singers that they didn‘t follow that practice, McGraw paused a moment, then responded simply, ―well, you‘ll learn.‖45 Indeed, the

Chicagoans learned that practice, and the other conventional southern prescribed to them (which entailed the quashing of certain practices, such as a leader‘s use of a music stand to hold her book while she led a song) with little resistance on the part of most singers.

The above anecdote, the frequency with which it is repeated, and the willingness of the singers to adhere to the southern style reveals the feelings of both the Midwestern and southern singers as it related to the performance practice of this music. Having been in a gradual but continual decline since the late 19th century, the traditional practitioners of Sacred Harp music

(as well as other certain influential outsiders, such as George Pullen Jackson) were concerned

44 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 73.

45 John Bealle, Public Worship, Private Faith, 201.

104 that the music might die out altogether. While the new-found interest of these new groups proved a boon, many traditional southern singers were concerned that the music could be contorted by these outsiders into something that didn‘t resemble their traditions at all. A traditional singer from Alabama expressed this sentiment: ―We want people to join our tradition and be a part of it, but we don‘t want them to come in and try to change us. We want to keep it as pure as we can.‖46

On the other hand, many of the New England revivalists had taken a broader view, refusing to shy from their ―decidedly nontraditional ideas about performance,‖ as scholar and

New England singer Steve Marini has characterized their stance.47 These singers did not take exception to presenting the music in a presentational context, and at the same time were not averse to a historical performance practice-informed approach to the music. These historically- justified liberties taken by the chorus result in a broad spectrum of musical effects, as heard on

Word of Mouth Chorus‘s recording of singing school and fasola music entitled ―Rivers of

Delight‖48 For instance, in some cases they sing the shapes before singing the text, such as in

MORNING and COWPER, whereas other tracks omit the shapes and begin on the text, such as

EVENING SHADE and WEEPING MARY. The recording includes other departures from convention, such as the recording of PARTING FRIENDS, featuring a single female singer singing the tenor line on the first verse, joined by a single male singer singing a bass line on the second verse.

Although this would not be common practice in the southern tradition, the musical effect is striking, and it is easy to conceive a historical setting in which two singers may have sung a tune

46 Jeff Sheppard, as quoted in Marini, Sacred Song in America, 95.

It should be noted that Jeff Sheppard was one of the group of singers who, under the coordination of Hugh McGraw, spearheaded the effort of travelling north to the nascent singings for the purpose of teaching the southern Sacred Harp style to revivalists.

47 Marini, Sacred Song in America, 84.

48 Word of Mouth Chorus, Rivers of Delight: American Folk Hymns from the Sacred Harp Tradition, Nonesuch Records: 1979.

105 in duet. More nuanced changes occur from track to track; the bouncy, up tempo recording of

COWPER, sung with characteristically strident voices, serves as a striking juxtaposition against the following track, EVENING SHADE, sung in a completed different timbre, darker and more subdued, and at a markedly slower tempo (despite both being notated in 4/4 in the Sacred Harp,

I estimate the chorus‘s tempo of COWPER at about 220 beats per minute, while EVENING SHADE is closer to 120 beats per minute). The difference in performance style seems to be reflective of the character of the tunes‘ respective texts; the former is a bold entreaty to God: ―Great God, and wilt Thou condescend/To be my Father and my Friend? / I, a poor child, and thou, so high, / The

49 Lord of earth, and air and sky.‖ On the other hand, EVENING SHADE is a sobering reminder of humanity‘s mortality, lending itself to a more somber performance.50

The justification for making these types of independent stylistic decisions, unconstrained by another region‘s practices and customs, seems to spring in part from the New Englanders‘ sense of their own birthright to the music. Although the link to their musical heritage was not unbroken in the way that the southern Sacred Harpers‘ was, they seem to have viewed themselves as being anointed with the same spirit of the singing school and its music, and as being the inheritors of the cultural legacy and socio-artistic aims of the Colonial Era singing school masters. In addition to aesthetic liberties, the New Englanders have also been known to enjoy some levity with the music, for instance, by making light-hearted parodies of certain texts.

49 Sacred Harp (1991), 168.

50 Sacred Harp (1991), 209.

―The day is past and gone,/ The evening shades appear;

Oh may we all remember well,/ The night of death is near.

We lay our garments by,/ Upon our beds to rest:

So death will soon disrobe us all,/ Of what we here possess.‖

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Although done without any apparent malicious intent, some other singers – particularly some

Midwestern revivalists – took exception to what they viewed as an affront to the dignity of a sacred type of music making.51

Indeed, the Midwestern singers, and particularly the Chicagoans, viewed the southern singers as having the final say in authentic performance practice, and that southern practice was part and parcel of orthodox Sacred Harp practice. Johnson said that the Chicago singers ―felt that regional singing groups who maintain contact with the South would sing Sacred Harp more like the Southerners, that the singing would be more authentic, was worth preserving for its own sake, and needed no revision.‖52 This stood in contrast to the New Englanders‘ approach of giving more consideration to historical and social aspects of the music. This devotion to southern practice in the Midwest would even end up alienating some of the original members of the

Chicago area shape note singings. 53 As a result of their conflicting opinions on the authority of southern tradition, a gulf gradually formed between the Midwestern and New England revivalists, with the latter being characterized as ―isolationist‖ due to their sometimes- untraditional approaches to the music, rather than adhering to the traditional southern customs.54

Owing to these and other frictions, contact between the southern singers and the New Englanders decreased slightly through the 1980s, while contact between the Midwesterners and southern singers ramped up.55

51 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 66.

Mark Johnson relays an anecdote where singers sang ―Loving Cheese Whiz, I have bought a ranch home‖ in place of ―Loving Jesus, thou hast bought a ransom‖ as found in LOVING JESUS, page 361 of the 1991 Denson edition.

52 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 67.

53 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 69.

54 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 67.

55 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 33-34.

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The Continuing Sacred Harp Revival: 1990 - Present

The reader is implored to excuse the brevity of this section, given that detailing the

Sacred Harp revival during this period lies outside the scope of this investigation, seeing as this document is specifically focused on tunebooks other than the Sacred Harp that are in current use.

However, it must suffice to say that the music continued its rampant propagation, ―covering the country like kudzu‖ as it was phrased on the masthead of the National Sacred Harp Newsletter.

By 1995, Mark David Johnson reported singings across the western United States (California,

New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington),56 Washington D.C., Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin,57 and throughout the Northeast. Given the proliferation of ethnomusicological research on various iterations of singing, it is safe to say that by 2010 it was well-represented in most regions of the country. As of the 2017 edition of the Sacred Harp Minutes, collected and published by the

Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, regular singings are now held in at least 43 states and

11 countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada (which now boasts eight regular singings).58 However, to understand the most novel phenomenological component of this style of music, it will be necessary to return to 1980, the year in which

Northern Harmony – the first fasola tunebook published outside the south since before the

United States Civil War – was published.

56 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 74-76.

57 Johnson, Sacred Harp in the Urban North, 73.

58 Judy Caudle, David Ivey, and Angela Myers, eds. Sacred Harp Singings, 2017-2018 (Anniston, AL: Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, 2017), 27-40.

The states with no regular singings listed are Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

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CHAPTER 4 THE TUNEBOOK PUBLICATION RENAISSANCE

Throughout the history of the Sacred Harp, the urge to improve or renew the storehouse of songs has been vital. And where this urge is lacking or where it remains unfulfilled the song tradition dies. The many and recent revisions of the Denson and Cooper books indicate the continuing strength of the Sacred Harp.

—Raymond C. Hamrick, quoting Buell Cobb1

Introduction

The production of new fasola material slowed as interest in the tradition waned over the course of the 19th century, though it never ceased entirely. Fresh fasola repertoire continued to appear into the 20th century; singers could find it in the new editions and derivatives of the

Sacred Harp, including in the multiple Denson and Cooper revisions of the book, as well as in

Judge Jackson‘s Colored Sacred Harp of 1934, all of which contained never-before-published fasola compositions. Additionally, novel historical material became more readily available as facsimiles of 19th century collections were reprinted for the sake of scholarly study, Irving

Lowens‘s reprint of Wyeth‘s Repository, Part Second in 1964. A few editions were released by other organizations with historical or cultural interest in the music, such as the Broadman

Press‘s2 1968 edition of the Sacred Harp, a reprinting of the 1859 edition of the book prefaced with George Pullen Jackson‘s Story of the Sacred Harp (1944).3 Furthermore, as the interest in

1 Raymond Hamrick, ―The composer‘s debt to Shape Notes,‖ National Sacred Harp Newsletter 2, no. 6 (November 1986): 3.

2 Broadman Press was the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Their choice to reprint this book is was a curious and possibly nostalgia-driven decision, because Southern Baptists were never primary users of the book since their practice allows for the use of instruments in worship. As mentioned in Chapter 2, the Sacred Harp and related fasola books were most widely used in congregations that prohibited the use of instruments in worship services, as well as among those who were unable to use instruments for practical or economic reasons.

3 Originally a free-standing publication, Jackson‘s Story of the Sacred Harp is a historical documentation of the Sacred Harp intended for consumption by the Sacred Harpers themselves, rather than as a contribution to the scholarly literature.

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the music, history, and traditions of fasola singing grew among revivalists through the 1970s and

1980s, the same creative impulse that moved among the 18th and 19th century singing school masters – and that was still gripping Southern singers such as Hugh McGraw and Raymond

Hamrick – also began moving among the neophyte singers, and new compositions written in the fasola idiom began to spring up.4 The confluence of these sources spurred the compilation of new collections proferring the material; in 1980, a new period of fasola music dawned as

Northern Harmony, the first new fasola tunebook compiled outside of the south since before the

Civil War, was published. A second New England collection, Neely Bruce‘s Hamm Harmony, was published in 1988. By 2000, a total of eight new collections had been published, and as of the writing of this document, some 56 editions of 31 distinct publications have appeared since

1980.

In an effort to examine the nuances of this fasola tunebook publication renaissance, I have attempted to catalogue all editions of four-shape tunebooks published since 1980 (table 4-

1).5 From these, I selected a handful of contemporary compilations as case studies, examining their origins, contents, and use. Listed chronologically by date of earliest publication, they are as follows: Northern Harmony (1980, first ed.; 1991, second ed. reviewed), The Norumbega

Harmony (2003), The Missouri Harmony (1820, first ed.; 2005 ed. reviewed), The Georgian

4 There is much discussion about what this idiom – often referred to within the community as ―Sacred Harp Style‖ – actually entails, and due to the diversity of the book‘s repertoire, the term is difficult to define precisely. Raymond Hamrick, whose compilation The Georgian Harmony is discussed later in this chapter, expressed the nebulosity of this concept, even despite the fact that he was a life-long southern shape-note singer.

5 Because of the dispersed and localized/regionalized nature of this tradition and its music, it is virtually certain that I have missed at least one collection that has been published and sung from. Even in the unlikely scenario that my documentation of the contemporary tunebooks was truly exhaustive, the trajectory of the tradition and its rapidly changing disposition ensures that this directory will be out of date within years or months of its publication. Bearing those confounding factors in mind, there have been 55 editions or printings of fasola compilations published since 1980, either in a print format or digitally. Of these, 44 are without historical precedent (i.e., not a re-printing or new edition of a 19th century tunebook); those 44 new editions/printings in turn represent 23 distinct publications of fasola music.

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Harmony (2010, first ed.; 2012 second ed. reviewed), The Trumpet (2011, first ed., all editions reviewed), and The Shenandoah Harmony (2012, first ed.). In selecting compilations from diverse regions, altogether representing a span of twenty years, the study paints a detailed picture of the publication renaissance from 1980 to the present. I have also examined the 1991 Denson edition of the Sacred Harp using the same methodology. This collection was the gateway through which most or all of the compilers entered into the fasola tradition, which affords the

Denson Sacred Harp the ability to act as a benchmark against which the new compilations can be compared.. Furthermore, as an organic collection dating to the mid-19th century, the book provides a valuable historical backdrop, useful for contextualizing the modern collections.

Because similar examinations of the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp are available elsewhere, I have not afforded the same discussion to that collection here as I have to the others, though I will make frequent reference to the collection and its characteristics. I also make mention of other noteworthy contemporary collections at the end of this section, and examine the trends of the new tunebooks through the same framework as the 19th century trends were examined in Chapter

Table 4-1. A catalog of fasola collections, 1980–2018. Title Ed. Year Notes Northern Harmony 1st 1980 The Sacred Harp Denson 1984 Northern Harmony 1st 1984 Revised reissue Hamm Harmony 1st 1988 Northern Harmony 2nd 1991 The Sacred Harp Denson 1991 The Colored Sacred Harp Reprint 1992 Reprint of 1934 Emerald Stream 1st 1992 Wisconsin Harmony 1st 1992 First four-shape edition of this Harmonia Sacra 25th 1993 book since the 19th Century The New Northampton Collection of Sacred and Secular Harmony 1st 1993 The Missouri Harmony Reprint 1994 Reprint of 1846

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Table 4-1. Continued Title Ed. Year Notes The Sacred Harper's Companion 1st 1994 An American Christmas Harp 1st 1994 Northern Harmony 3rd 1995 Northern Harmony 4th 1999 An Eclectic Harmony 1st 1999 The Harp of Nauvoo 1st 2001 The New Millennium Harp 1st 2001 An Eclectic Harmony II 2nd 2001 Oberlin Harmony: Songs We Like To Sing 1st 2002 September Psalms: The Shape-Note Communtiy Remembers 1st 2002 The Norumbega Harmony 1st 2003 High Desert Harmony 1st 2004 An American Christmas Harp 2nd 2005 Wings of Retypeset contents of 1846 along The Missouri Harmony Song 2005 with new repertoire The "Connexion" and The Christian Reprint and retypesetting of 1805 Harmony, Or, Songster's Companion Reprint 2005 collection The Sacred Harp Cooper 2006 Retypeset edition of J.L White The Sacred Harp 4th 2007 Sacred Harp Harmonia Sacra 26th 2008 The Social Harp Reprint 2008 Facsimile reprint of 1973 edition An American Christmas Harp 3rd 2009 Willard Hymnary 1st 2010 The Trumpet No. 1, Vol. 1 2011 The Trumpet No. 1, Vol. 2 2011 The Champlain Harmony 1st 2011 The Trumpet No. 1, Vol. 3 2011 The Trumpet No. 2, Vol. 1 2012 The Trumpet No. 2, Vol. 2 2012 The Trumpet No. 2, Vol. 3 2012 Northern Harmony 5th 2012 The Shenandoah Harmony 1st 2012 The Georgian Harmony 1st 2012 The Sacred Harp Cooper 2012 The Trumpet No. 3, Vol. 1 2013 The Trumpet No. 3, Vol. 2 2013 The Trumpet No. 3, Vol. 3 2013 Liturgical Harp 1st 2013 The Trumpet No. 4, Vol. 1 2014 The Trumpet No. 4, Vol. 2 2014 The Shenandoah Harmony 1st 2014 Third printing

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Table 4-1. Continued Title Ed. Year Notes The Sacred Harp James 2015 Reprint of 1911 James edition The Trumpet No. 5, Vol. 1 2015 The Harp of Nauvoo 2nd 2016 The Greenwood Harmony 1st 2016 American Harmony 1st 2018

Case Studies of New Tunebooks

Northern Harmony (2nd Ed., 1984; 1991 Printing)6

Genesis of the collection

First published in 1980, Northern Harmony holds pride of place as the first fasola tunebook published outside of the South since before the Civil War. The book is the brainchild of Carol Moody, who developed the idea in 1979 while a student of Tony Barrand at Marlboro

College in southern Vermont. The pair compiled and edited the collection, comprised of music from the 18th century New England singing school masters. They settled on the name Northern

Harmony ―to contrast with the publication, Southern Harmony, . . . which was widely popular in states with climates warmer than our own,‖7 and published it with assistance from the Marlboro

College Alumni Association. The book was originally inspired by two historical discoveries. The first of these was a history of the town of Marlboro, Vermont, which indicated that the town had been a hotbed of singing school activity, and that the denizens were renowned for their ―fine

6 Anthony Barrand, Carole Moody Crompton, and Larry Gordon, eds., Northern Harmony: Plain Tunes, Fuging Tunes and Anthems From the New England Singing School Tradition, 2nd ed. (Plainfield, VT: Northern Harmony Publishing Company, 1991).

7 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), vii.

The phrasing of this sentiment is notable. It implies a conversance with the history of the music and its provenance, but also asserts the music‘s regional or local character. It seems to intimate that the same musical material that would take root in the ―warmer climates‖ is not necessarily suitable to Barrand and Moody‘s locale, necessitating the development of a collection bespoke for their needs and the needs of their musical community.

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voices, good taste and excellent performance‖;8 the second discovery was a copy of a 1788 tunebook titled Columbian Harmony that had belonged to a family with local ties dating to the earliest European settlement of the area. Some of the tunes that had been indicated as favorites by the book‘s original owners were included in the new collection.

Notably, the first edition of Northern Harmony contained no contemporary compositions, but was solely a compilation of works from the early New England singing school tradition.9

Although Moody and Barrand held a singing from the new Northern Harmony in 1981, the book‘s distribution did not spread beyond its immediate area. In 1984, Larry Gordon joined

Moody and Barrand to produce the book‘s second edition. In this revision, the editors opted to include new compositions from contemporary New England composers, including Gordon himself, Neely Bruce, and Glen Wright. The editors credit a number of individuals and groups in

New England with playing a role in the realization and popularization of the book, including

Gordon‘s Bayley-Hazen Singers, and Wellesley College professor Stephen Marini alongside the fasola singing group he founded, Norumbega Harmony.10 In fact, the editors credit the Bayley-

Hazen Singers with a great deal of the book‘s success.

Most of the 1st limited edition sold out fairly quickly. . . . A handful of copies sold each year after that at concerts or workshops or through folk music mail order catalogues. This changed quite suddenly in 1987 when orders started arriving in the mail in spurts after Larry Gordon and the Bayley-Hazen Singers had given a concert or workshop somewhere in New England. Their first cassette tape recording was called Northern Harmony and included several pieces from the book.11

8 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), vii.

9 I have used ―singing school idiom‖ rather than ―shape note idiom‖ here because many of the included compositions predate the invention of fasola notation. Furthermore, many of the New England revivalists themselves use the phrasing ―the New England Singing School Tradition‖ – a term with a specific cache, discussed later in this chapter.

10 Marini, Sacred Song in America, 85.

11 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), vii.

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The book examined in this case study is the 1991 reprinting of the 2nd edition, supported by the

Vermont Statehood Bicentennial Commission.

A description of the book and its contents

The book is oblong and hardcover, with a blue cover bearing an embossed geometric pattern around its border. It includes 17 pages of numbered prefatory material, followed by 109 pages of music. After the musical repertoire are some 30 pages of indices, biographical information, and additional verses for tunes in the book.

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content.

In a novel take on 19th century convention, the prefatory material to this collection focuses mainly on the music‘s history and practice, rather than on teaching the fundamentals of music notation and theory as in the 19th century tunebooks‘ rudiments. It includes a brief explication of the fasola solmization and notation systems, including Daniel Read‘s tune WINTER with the poetic text replaced by the spelled-out fasola syllables (ex. 4-1). The book does not explain key signatures, time signatures, the five-line staff, or any of the other most fundamental elements of music notation, indicating the assumption that the book‘s user possesses a considerable pre-existing musical proficiency – an assumption that would not have been made by a 19th century singing school master. The editors included an explanation of the editorial procedure, a further way in which the book departs from 19th century convention.

One of the most striking didactic elements of the prefatory matter in this book is that nearly a whole page is devoted to a section on ―Singing Style‖. ―We have strong ideas on how to sing this music,‖ the section begins.

As noted in Chapter 3, the Bayley-Hazen singers were a predecessor group to one of Gordon‘s current activities, the musical ensemble called Northern Harmony, which was founded in 1993, and uses the book of the same name frequently.

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These feelings are based largely on familiarity with traditional Sacred Harp singing, both in the South and as it has developed in the past two decades in New England. This hard-edged, unselfconscious singing style has a power, intensity, and honesty which we find enormously compelling. We think that conductors and singers approaching these early New England tunes should familiarize themselves with this traditional style, at least as a reference point. At the same time, we recognize that, like all great music, these songs can probably achieve equal validity through a wide range of singing and performance styles. With this qualification in mind, here are some suggestions on how to approach the singing of these tunes.12

In a format not entirely dissimilar to those of Freeman Lewis‘ ―General Observations‖ in

Beauties of Harmony, the editors list eight points, covering the proper accentuation of beat in fuging tunes, a prescription for the ―basic sound [to be] strong, free, and slightly wild, not soft pretty, or restrained‖, a suggestion for the practice of duplexing the tenor and counter line (which is called the soprano here), and guidelines for pitching songs in the traditional instrument-free way.13

The material following the musical repertoire includes a map of the birthplaces of the composers whose works are included in the tunebook, as well as short biographies of each of them. As with some of the other elements of the book, there is no precedent among the 19th century tunebooks for such a resource. Such an individualistic focus would have been atypical among those collections; for instance, the reader will recall that Allen D. Carden‘s 1820 Missouri

Harmony did not even include composer attributions. Furthermore, the regional focus to the point of expressly excluding material from outside a given geographical area is not documented among 19th century tunebooks (fig. 4-1).14

12 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), xvii.

13 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), xvii - xviii.

14 Ensuing editions of the Northern Harmony, currently in its fifth edition, have continued to add new repertoire; as of the 4th edition, the new compositions continued to represent primarily the work of New England composers of the past and present.

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The other information included in the rear of the book similarly diverges from older fasola norms. There are 11 pages of composer biographies and tune information, followed by two pages about the poets who contributed the greatest number of texts. This includes information on poets such as Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, who jointly authored the New

Version of the Psalms of David (1696), as well as the prolific Isaac Watts. The editors include a bibliography of scholarly work on germane topics, as well as a 10 page section entitled ―Extra

Texts for Hymns‖. Finally are the book‘s two indices—one by tune name and one by first line— and biographies of the book‘s three editors. A final non-musical aspect of the tunebook of note is the presence of illustrations, provided by Editor Carole Moody Crompton, which she characterizes as being influenced by the American and British naïve artists. Some depict of scenes of nature; others are geometric patterns reminiscent of folk crafts such as quilting (fig. 4-

2).

Repertoire

The 109 pages of music represent 55 pieces, primarily consisting of repertoire composed in New England between 1770 and 1810. These comprise 48 of the book‘s tunes, with the remaining six representing contemporary shape note compositions. In keeping with historical convention, the repertoire consists of just a handful of genres, with the fuging tune being most prominent (35 tunes), followed by the plain tune (13), the anthem (4), and the set piece (3). The tunes are ordered by composer, a disposition not common among 19th century tunebooks. The tunes are evenly split between a major and minor modality, with the most common key areas being C major (14 tunes), d minor (8), a minor (7), and F major (6).

As the first brand-new fasola tunebook tradition in more than a century, Northern

Harmony represented a new outlet for the dissemination of newly-composed fasola repertoire.

The new pieces in the book represent the work of five composers, including co-editor Larry

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Gordon and long-time Wesleyan College professor Neely Bruce. Although the new contributions were all composed within the past several decades, they closely adhere to the patterns established by the 19th century singing school masters; if the dates and composer attributions were stripped from the pages of the book, even experienced hymnologists would likely have a difficult time identifying which tunes from of Northern Harmony are historical and which are modern.

The new compositions all use conservative tonal or modal harmonic idioms, with no chromatic alteration in any of the new tunes, and with all the new tunes in historically-founded key areas (two in d, one in each of e and E, one in a, and one in F). With the exception of the three-part tune 34 DO NOT GO GENTLE, all of the new repertoire is in four parts, with the melody in the tenor in all cases, and the new tunes largely follow the formal and generic precedents set by the historical fasola repertoire. The most notable variance from the 19th century models insofar as musical material is concerned relates to the treatment of musical meter. Due in part to the accent and tempo implications that time signatures – called ―moods of time‖ in historic and

Southern emic parlance – carried with them, modulations of meter would typically only occur at major formal transitions, as in the following two examples from the fasola repertoire as preserved in the Sacred Harp (1991 Denson edition). However, this is one element of the music the contemporary composers in this collection have experimented with.15 Both Andrew

Christiansen‘s tune VERMONT SUMMER and Larry Gordon‘s DO NOT GO GENTLE use atypical metrical modulations, compared to the expectations set up by the historical repertoire (ex. 4-2).

The texts selected by the contemporary composers may represent the most salient departure from standard fasola convention. While the tunebook‘s historical repertoire draws

15 This is a logical line of experimentation. When compared with the complexity of singing chromatic lines or intricate syncopations, the alteration of rhythmic meter will not only be an immediately noticeable musical effect, but will also be within the skillset of an experienced fasola singer, whereas the former two examples would not.

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heavily from the texts of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, the contemporary compositions eschew them entirely. Most of the texts are conservative in theme and language, mostly centered on religious or naturalistic topics. Three of the new compositions feature a text authored by the composer. One text is of unknown authorship, one is from a 19th century source called the Sweet

Songster, and one is the well-known secular poem ―Do not go gentle into that good night‖ by

Dylan Thomas.

Thomas‘s poem focuses on death, a common theme in the historical textual repertoire of fasola music. In contrast to its representation in secular culture, the texts of the fasola tradition rarely, if ever, represent death as something to be feared or evaded, but as an inevitability and as signaling a homecoming, a release from the snares of the earthy realm.16 However, despite the thoroughly religious origins and historic usage of the music, Larry Gordon‘s setting of Thomas‘s poem goes against this grain. In fact, Gordon underscores this divergence in his biography included in the back of the book: ―appropriately for an agnostic, Larry‘s piece draws on Dylan

Thomas‘ poem which, when one hears it sung, instantly seems right for the style.‖17 This choice of text was conscious and purposeful, and Gordon seems to use it to assert a unique aspect of his identity, at least when viewed in the context of other shape-note compiler-composers.18

16 Examples in the Sacred Harp abound. A few illustrative specimens follow:

―And let this feeble body fail/ and let it faint and die. / My soul shall quit this mournful vale / And soar to worlds on high.‖ 146

―And when from death I‘m free, I‘ll sing and joyful be‖ 159

―If this be death I soon shall be/ from every pain and sorrow free,/ I shall the King of glory see. /All is well! all is well!‖ 122

17 Northern Harmony (2nd ed.), 116.

18 It should be noted that Thomas‘ poem is in the form of a villanelle, a poetic form that, by virtue of its repetitive nature, is evocative of obsession, per literary critic Philip K. Jason. Whether or not Gordon purposefully selected the poem as a commentary on the preoccupation with death found in the texts of the fasola tradition is unclear.

See Philip K. Jason, ―Modern Versions of the Villanelle,‖ College Literature 7, no 2 (Spring 1980): 136-145.

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One final way in which Northern Harmony diverges from tradition is, ironically, in its enthusiastic embrace of a stoutly historical fasola genre: the fuging tune. In historical situations where tunebook were primarily or commonly used in worship, plain tunes would have been more useful because they boast the flexibility to be matched with a practically inexhaustible corpus of texts drawn from metrical hymnody and psalmody. While many fuging tunes also accommodate metrical texts, their more drawn-out length and musical intricacy may render them less utile in worship settings, but more suitable for social settings. Five of the six new tunes in Northern

Harmony are fuging tunes, and 35 of the tunes in the book belong to the genre (~64% of the total). While fuging tunes are considerably more highly represented in Northern Harmony than in the historical collections, where plain tunes typically comprise the bulk of the music, fuging tunes are widely regarded as more entertaining for singers, and as pointed out in Chapter 2, the genre eventually took on secondary function as a hallmark of the fasola tradition. In this way, the book reflects its usage as a tool for community music making, rather than an instrument of worship, at the same time as underscoring its historical foundations.

The Norumbega Harmony (1st Ed., 2003)

Genesis of the collection

Another New England collection, The Norumbega Harmony, also shares its name with a group of singers, a commonality with Northern Harmony. However, in the case of The

Norumbega Harmony, the singing group‘s origin predates that of the collection by nearly 40 years. Since September 1976, the group has met weekly to sing music from the Singing School and fasola repertoire, originally coming to the music by singing from B.F. White and E.J. King‘s

Sacred Harp. However, the group soon felt the urge to seek out more fasola music, and began to amass and sing from a collection of rare and difficult-to-find singing school repertoire that had been out of publication for more than two centuries, in some cases. The Norumbega Harmony

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singers had had ties to the Northern Harmony tunebook beginning with its second edition, which featured tunes by Norumbega singer Glen Wright; as further editions expanded to include more new content, tunes from other Norumbega Harmony singers appeared in ensuing editions of

Northern Harmony, as did some tunes composed collaboratively by the Norumbega Harmony singers.

By 1987, the group decided that they should publish their own collection. The singers undertook the project relying solely on individuals from within the group for the work, with the hope of producing ―a shape note edition…that would reflect [their] own experience and mission.‖19 The editorial committee consisted of more than 20 members, including Nym Cooke,

Stephen Marini, Susan Mampre, Bruce Randall, and Glen Wright.20 By 1990, the singers had assembled more than 300 rare tunes, largely of New England origin; this number was whittled to about 100 tunes, and bolstered by some 30 contemporary compositions, most of which had never been published elsewhere. After researching the historical tunes and typesetting the book‘s contents, a group of singers – including the members of the music committee – ―proof-sang‖ the book, and finally, Norumbega Harmony was published by the University Press of Mississippi in

2003.

A description of the book and its contents

The Norumbega Harmony is oblong and bound with a black cloth cover. The cover bears only the words ―The Norumbega Harmony,‖ in gold lettering. The book contains 25 pages of front matter, including a foreword, a historical introduction to shape-note singing,

19 Norumbega Harmony, xii.

20 These individuals have each made an impact on the broader fasola tradition; Randall and Wright both have tunes that were published in the 1991 Denson edition of the Sacred Harp, and Mampre and Cooke have both compiled their own tunebooks, published in 1993 and 2017, respectively. These are discussed in further detail at the end of this chapter.

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acknowledgements, and a list of members of the music committee, as well as biographies of some of the contributors, followed by 272 pages of music. An appendix at the end of the book includes tune commentaries and indices to the book‘s musical repertoire.

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content

The foreword is notable for several reasons. First, it was written by Nym Cooke, a scholar and New England fasola singer in his own right. Second, it is remarkably prescient and self-aware: ―When someone gets around to writing the history of the revival of early American sacred music in late twentieth-century New England,‖ Cooke begins, ―two singing communities will figure prominently: that created by Larry Gordon in northern Vermont … and Norumbega

Harmony, founded by Steve Marini in the environs of Boston.‖ He continues by describing the valuable role the group serves as a social framework. A ten-page historical introduction follows

Cooke‘s forward, including a history of the Norumbega Harmony singing group and of the tunebook. Most of the section, however, is dedicated to the history of the music. Like Northern

Harmony, the introduction broaches aspects of performance, such as the ―moods of time‖ and a suggested equivalent21 metronome marking for each, as well as an introduction to the shaped notation and syllables. However, also like Northern Harmony‘s introduction, the compilers assume a considerable amount of prerequisite musical knowledge.

The authors also take care to devote some discussion to the vocal style appropriate for the book‘s music. ―Many believe that [the] Deep South style is the only correct way to perform singing school music.22 Yet today‘s Sacred Harp singing is but one historical strand of a much

21 I say ―equivalent metronome marking‖ because the use of a metronome is decidedly foreign to shape note practice, and these markings are intended more as a rough guide to the singer with classical music training than as an exact prescription to be used in the practice of the music.

22 Note the editor‘s choice of nomenclature for the music here, seemingly asserting the singing school origins of the music as its most fundamental characteristic, rather than calling it shape-note or fasola music (emphasizing the notation), or Sacred Harp music (emphasizing the role of that collection in shaping and sustaining the tradition).

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larger performance tradition,‖ the editors assert. Documenting some of the historical variance as regards the performance practice of the music, the editors note that

as a tradition of community music making, the singing school has always stood in conscious tension with art singing. The sound arises from the fellowship of the community. Singing school music is sung with full voice, yet with sensitivity to the sacred lyrics to create an inclusive performance that is both musically intense and spiritually powerful. Beyond these basic elements, however, composers, compilers, and singing masters have disagreed about how to sing this music since Billings and [Oliver] Holden.23

Throughout the introduction, the editors espouse a similar tone, ever mindful of the important contributions of southern singers past and present, but also continually asserting the foundational role played by the New England composers and singing school masters, as well as emphasizing the diversity – both historical and modern – that has characterized the fasola tradition. The section ends with a biography of scholarly resources and acknowledgements.

The book is rich with indices, including an index of scriptural references, a thematic index, and indices of text author, composer, first line, hymn meter, and tune name. Also included is a commentary on every tune in the book, which include the song‘s text incipit, the composer, the source of the collection from which the compilers drew pieces (in the cases of historical tunes), the key, the mood of time, and other historical information about the music, when available (fig. 4-3).

Repertoire

The book comprises 136 tunes, organized in seven sections, grouping historical content by locale or state (e.g., ―I. Boston‖; ―IV. Maine‖; ―VI. The West and South‖), and grouping the

30 contemporary tunes together in the seventh section. In keeping with the stated editorial aim of the book, the historical repertoire is largely of New England origin and unavailable elsewhere,

23 Norumbega Harmony, xviii-xix.

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though there are some notable exceptions to the latter condition. Among those exceptions are 50

RAINBOW, by colonial-era singing school master Timothy Swan, and a variant of William

Billings‘ famous EASTER ANTHEM, included on page 38 as AN ANTHEM FOR EASTER. Although available in a vast number of historical and contemporary collections, including both the 1991

Denson and 2012 Cooper editions of the Sacred Harp, the version of the tune included in

Norumbega Harmony differs considerably. AN ANTHEM FOR EASTER contains a page and a half of musical material omitted from most of the 18th and early 19th century publications of the tune; this omitted material was subsequently left out of the version of EASTER ANTHEM found in the

Sacred Harp and other collections. As a result, the piece is almost half again as long in its iteration in the Norumbega Harmony as it is in other fasola compilations.

The contemporary compositions mainly adhere to a conservative style, in most cases resembling the singing school idiom. One compositional technique common to both is a texture change involving paired voices. Vaguely reminiscent of the fuging tune, these tunes are typically in two sections, with the former being homophonic, and the latter section beginning with textural variety before coming to a homophonic conclusion. However, unlike the fuging tune, the paired voice texture change type tune does not involve imitative polyphony, and often the paired voice parts are homophonic. These may have been intended as simpler intermediaries between the plain tune and the fuging tune. Examples from the historical repertoire include 63 CORONATION and 84 AMSTERDAM in the Sacred Harp; contemporary examples in this pattern in Norumbega

Harmony include 216 BELMONT, 230 WOOLMAN HILL, and 236 CORTONA (ex. 4-3).

Some examples diverge from typical southern fasola repertoire, but align with techniques used by the pre-shape note singing school masters. Examples of this include the use of the harmonic minor scale, as seen in 236 CORTONA and 252 SOUTH BROOKSVILLE, and the use of the

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melodic minor scale in 250 GREAT DIVIDE. While completely foreign to the folk hymnody idiom favored by Joseph Funk and Ananias Davisson, and equally alien to the later deep southern composer-compilers such as William Walker, E.J. King, and John G. McCurry, the use of the raised leading tone in minor music was relatively common among the New England singing school masters, and is preserved in the Sacred Harp in tunes such as 183 GREENWICH, composed by singing school master Daniel Read in the late 18th century.

The composers represented in the book are deeply familiar with the history of fasola music. This is evinced in their fluency in composing in the historical fasola idiom, and is bolstered by the fact that many of them have scholarly backgrounds. Such figures include Neely

Bruce, long-time professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, who has two pieces in the book, and Stephen Marini, Wellesley College professor and coordinator of

Norumbega Harmony, who has five tunes in the book. Also represented are many prolific 20th century shape note composers, including Glen Wright (five tunes) and Bruce Randall (five tunes), and Susan Mampre (one tune).24 These composers demonstrate their familiarity with the music and its history in how they engage the historical idiom of the music in their tunes, but also in the nuanced and understated ways in which they depart from them.

Rather than taking a cavalier or avant garde approach to the music, the composers largely stay within historically evinced paradigms, subverting expectations in subtle ways, much like the composers represented in Northern Harmony. For instance, some of the fuging tunes subtly deviate from and contort conventions, ostensibly in an effort to seek out artistic novelty within the context of historical musical material. For example, Glen Wright‘s tune 212 BIRMINGHAM features a conventional fuging subject, and even adheres to a seemingly-Common Practice

24 Wright and Mampre are compilers in their own regard, publishing the Sacred Harper‘s Companion in 1993; this collection is discussed at the end of this chapter.

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inspired fugue paradigm, with subjects and responses beginning alternately on the first and fifth scale degrees. However, most historical fuging tunes have several measures of homophony before the final cadence, while Wright‘s tune features independent polyphonic lines until the penultimate chord of the tune.

Furthermore, the order in which the voices enter is atypical. Certain paradigms of voice entries in fuging tunes are found more commonly than others. For instance, in 47 (or 27.5%) of the fuging tunes in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp, the voices enter in the following order: bass, tenor, treble, alto. The preference for the bass entering first is particularly strong: in a further 30 tunes (17.5%), the order of entries is bass, tenor, alto, treble; in 24 examples (14%), the alto and bass are paired, with the entry of voices as alto/bass, tenor, treble. A number of other voice entry paradigms can be found, though most of these also begin with the bass. These preferences have historical and practical motivations. (A depiction of the hollow square is included in fig. 4-4, for the purpose of visualizing the spatial character of voice entries.)

The second-most common order of voice entries, bass, tenor, alto, treble (B>T>A>S),25 is intuitive, moving visually up the page, and sonically up through the voices‘ tessiturae. However, the most common order, B>T>S>A, is most practical, though for a reason that may not be immediately apparent to an outsider. Due to the layout of singers in the so-called ―hollow square‖, when a leader cues the entries of a fuging tune, the B>T>S>A paradigm allows the leader to fluidly rotate counterclockwise around the square, 90 degrees at a time, and encounter the sections according to their entry. The third most common entry paradigm, A/B>T>S is often

25 ―S‖ is used here for treble, standing in for the word ―soprano‖; although this is terminology not used within the style, not least of all because the treble voice part is not completely analogous to the soprano voice part. However, for the ease of comprehension, S is used to avoid having to use some variant of T twice.

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(but not exclusively) found in tunes originally composed in three parts that had an alto line inserted later.

Historical evidence suggests that the position of the hollow square as a sine qua non is exclusive to the Sacred Harp subset of fasola tradition – or, at the very least, that the hollow square was far from being a universal 19th century practice. Many of the earliest singing masters had students sit at tables or desks. Not only would the four-sided layout have made little sense in the first half of the 19th century, when most fasola music was still being composed in a fundamentally dyadic, three-voice style, but evidence of continuing shape note practice of other kinds – such as the ―Big Day‖ Southern Harmony singing at the courthouse Benton County,

Kentucky – do not practice a hollow square-style seating arrangement. To return to Wright‘s composition, then, his entry of S>A>T>B is not strictly conventionl; other tunes make use of similarly atypical fuging entrances, including Wright‘s 224 ANAYIS (T>S>A>B), and Stephen

Marini‘s 250 GREAT DIVIDE (B>A>S>T). However, even in this apparently historical transgression, the composers belie their conversance with fasola convention; although these tunes both deviate from the common paradigms manifested in the Sacred Harp, they still allow the leader to efficiently rotate in a single direction around the square to indicate entries, starting with the tenors and moving counterclockwise in the first instance, and beginning with the basses and moving clockwise in the second. Other tunes that deviate subtly from conventions relating to fuging tunes are 262 NORUMBEGA, which lacks a notated repeat for the fuging section (and features a similarly complex polyphonic cadence to 212 BIRMINGHAM mentioned above); 260

ALBEMARLE, a tune with two fuging sections, the first in the unrepeated A section, and the second in the repeated B-section; and 250 GREAT DIVIDE, which features an atypical entry

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paradigm, as well as a meter of 3/2, whereas 4/4 is overwhelmingly the most common meter for fuging tunes historically.

On a macro scale, the compositions adhere to the traditional musical building blocks of the fasola style. The composers do not depart from conservative key areas and time signatures.

All of the new compositions are in four parts, and the composers show similarly traditionalist preferences with regard to text. The metrical hymns of the evangelical poets still feature heavily; the 14 texts by Isaac Watts found among the new compositions in the book represent nearly half of the texts. The history of the music is evidently a high priority. The compositions reflect a conversance with history in many indirect ways, such as those outlined above, but also more forthrightly, in some cases. For instance, 242 HALLELUJAH NEW is a reworking of the text of the

26 popular 146 HALLELUJAH from the Sacred Harp. The original tune features a composite text, with verses by Charles Wesley and a camp-meeting chorus with the text ―And I‘ll sing hallelujah,/ and you‘ll sing hallelujah,/ and we‘ll all sing hallelujah/ when we arrive at home.‖

This wholesale importation of the text is intended as a nod to the southern tradition, as indicated by the tune commentary for the piece.27 Other musical clues evince the deeply social nature of this music. For instance, 258 BEESTON is dedicated to the United Kingdom Sacred Harp

Convention, which was held in Beeston, Nottinghamshire from 1998 until 2000; 224 ANAYIS was composed for the baptism of Anayis Joy Mampre Wright, the daughter of Glen Wright and

Susan Mampre, both contributors to the book.

26 According to the Sacred Harp Minutes, 146 HALLELUJAH is the single most commonly sung song in the book, at least for the period of 1995 through the present.

27 Norumbega Harmony, 289.

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The Missouri Harmony (Wings of Song ed., 2005)

Genesis of the collection

The 2005 edition of the Missouri Harmony represents a departure from the two preceeding case studies. While both Northern Harmony and Norumbega Harmony curated historical regional fasola repertoire from New England for their tunebooks, neither of these first edition tunebooks was the continuation of a singular, pre-existing tunebook tradition. The 2005

Missouri Harmony, on the other hand, represents the resurrection of a long-dead tunebook tradition.

As the Sacred Harp revival in the Midwestern United States continued building momentum, the new fasola singers soon exhausted the repertoire of the Denson edition of the

Sacred Harp and began to seek additional repertoire from other sources. Having discovered

Allen D. Carden‘s Missouri Harmony (first published in 1820) in the dust kicked up by the academic revival, in 1990 the St. Louis Sacred Harp singers decided to reprint the book as a testament to their region‘s contribution to the fasola repertoire and tradition. Because copies of the book were so scarce, with just a handful of extant copies in libraries, one of the singers from the group travelled to the Library of Congress and photocopied each of the book‘s 240 pages for the singers to use. Comparing their excitement at the availability of this music to ―archaeologists discovering a promising site for excavation,‖28 the St. Louis singers curated 40 tunes from the book‘s contents and compiled these into a packet to sing from. In 1991, singers from six states convened to sing from this proto-tunebook. Later that same year, the St. Louis singers made contact with Shirley Bean, a professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City who, in 1973,

28 Wings of Song, eds., The Missouri Harmony, or a choice collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems, (St. Louis, MO: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2005), [xvi].

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published her dissertation entitled ―The Missouri Harmony, 1820 – 1858: The Refinement of a

Southern Tunebook‖.

As a result of their partnership, Bean and the St. Louis singers reprinted the 9th edition

(1835) of the Missouri Harmony, published through the University of Nebraska Press, in 1994.29

The first singing from this book took place at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis on

March 13, 1994. Unfortunately, this first edition had some serious drawbacks. First, it was printed on paper that caused the ink to bleed, leading to legibility issues. Second, a number of errors were carried over from the original 19th century printing, including misprinted notes, misspellings, and confusing textual conventions. The final nail in the coffin of this 1994 edition was that it was printed with a soft cover, making it unwieldy to hold with one hand while leading with the other.

Some of the tunes that had been discovered through the use of this book were re-typeset using modern notation software. This packet of re-typeset tunes was made available for sale to the Sacred Harp singers attending the 1997 Missouri Singing Convention for $3 per copy – the pricepoint chosen simply to offset the cost of assembly – and the organizers held a special singing during the convention. The packet was so well received that the St. Louis singers resolved anew to produce a workable tunebook. Learning from previous mistakes, the editorial committee elected to produce the book in hardcover. Furthermore, the committee decided to include new repertoire from contemporary fasola composers in the new edition, and the new, hardcover book was published in 2005.

29 Notably, the book‘s preface thanks both the St. Louis Shape Note singers as well as Raymond Hamrick, who apparently lent Bean the copy of the book from which the facsimile was produced. (Missouri Harmony 2005, [xviii]). Mr. Hamrick‘s own collection, The Georgian Harmony, is discussed later in this chapter.

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A description of the book and its contents

The book is oblong, with a green cover, bearing the words ―Missouri Harmony, 2005

Edition‖ on the front. Of its 384 total pages, 37 are prefatory material, followed by 180 tunes and

15 pages of indices.

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content

The book opens with a dedication to the ―Midwestern shape-note singers of the 1980s, and to the southern Sacred Harp singers who generously share the traditions they have sustained for generations.‖30 After a listing of the board of directors and publication committee of Wings of Song – the non-profit corporation organized by the St. Louis Shape-Note Singers to attend to the legal ramifications of the book‘s publication – and a foreword authored by the president of the Missouri Historical Society, the book‘s front matter includes several introductory essays. The first is titled ―The Missouri Harmony: A Tune Book Revisited and Revised.‖ Authored by Pete

Ellertsen, a professor of English at Springfield College (Illinois), and Karen Isbell, founder of the

St. Louis Shape-Note singers, the essay gives a general overview of the Missouri Harmony, both in its historical and modern forms, and focuses on the style of the book‘s music, its historical context, and a brief introduction to four-shape notation. The authors also provide a bibliography at the end of the section.31

The second essay, ―Songs of Loudest Praise‖ is a nostalgic recounting of the first Illinois

State Sacred Harp Singing Convention and an informal history of shape note music, style, and performance practice, authored by long-time Midwestern Sacred Harp singer Judy Hauff.32 The final essay is titled ―Finding a Peaceful Home‖, and focuses on the founding and history of the

30 Missouri Harmony, [iv].

31 Missouri Harmony, [vii-xxi].

32 Missouri Harmony, [xxii-xxvii].

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St. Louis Shape-Note Singers, written by Ann T. Leckie, a member of that group as well as a classically trained vocalist.33 Notably, all three essays make a point of discussing the vocal style of the music. The first characterizes the sound as ―mostly loud.‖34 In the second case, the

―straight tone‖ used by singers is hailed as contributing to the ―dense, rich sound produced by unrestrained vocal expression.‖35 The author of the third describes the sound, as heard when the southern singers came to the first Illinois convention, as comprising ―loud, full voices, [lacking] vibrato. There were no dynamics, no attempt to blend or sound ‗pretty.‘‖36

The front matter closes with an explanation of the editorial procedure and justification for some decisions, including replacing Carden‘s space- and ink-saving convention of printing ―&c‖ in the polyphonic section of fuging tunes with the appropriate text, transcribing alto parts that had been notated in F or C clef to G clef, and providing author and composer attribution for the book‘s texts and tunes.37 Notably, the committee chose to omit a tune from the 19th century

38 edition, CHESHUNT; this is due to the fact that the tune ―was not entirely a cappella.‖ The editors are referring to a couple sections of music marked ―Sym.‖, including a solo section with a bass line presumably intended to be realized by continuo of some kind (ex. 4-4).39 The front

33 Missouri Harmony, [xxix-xxxiv].

34 Missouri Harmony, [xvi].

35 Missouri Harmony, [xxvi].

36 Missouri Harmony, [xxxi].

37 Missouri Harmony, [xxxv-xxxvi].

38 Missouri Harmony, [xxxvi].

39 The casual way that Carden denotes the instrumental sections, and especially the measures in question here, naturally begs the question of whether instrumental accompaniment was commonplace – or, at least not anathema – in its later 19th century use. This question is addressed in Chapter 5.

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matter closes with a section called ―Time Signatures and Implied Tempos,‖ which takes the moods of time of the 19th century book and ―translate[s them] into metronome settings.‖40

Repertoire

The majority of the book comprises the complete contents, except as noted in the foregoing section, of the 9th edition of Allen D. Carden‘s Missouri Harmony. Altogether, this accounts for 120 of the total 180 pieces in the book. The book‘s contents are largely the same as in its original 19th century printing, except for the addition of contemporary repertoire in an appendix, and other editorial considerations such as a a complete re-typeseting of the contents, the correction of some typographical errors from the 19th century printing, and appending some tunes with additional text. As a result, while many tunes are in four parts, the earlier dyadic idiom, characteristic of the early 19th century Southern compilations, shines through in the glut of three-part tunes that Carden included in the collection.41 Even more atypically for a contemporary fasola collection, there are four examples of two-part tunes included in the book.

The book‘s structure is in four sections. The first three sections contain the historical repertoire, and preserve Carden‘s original design as found in its original 19th century editions.

Each section has a descriptive title, and notably, these match the titles of the sections in Carden‘s original tunebook. The sections are, respectively, the ―plain and easy tunes commonly used in time of divine worship,‖42 ―the more lengthy and elegant pieces commonly used in concert, or

40 Missouri Harmony, [xxxvii].

41 32 tunes (nearly 18%) of the book‘s repertoire is comprised of three-part tunes. Compare this to the 24 three-part tunes in the 1991 Denson edition of the Sacred Harp, comprising just over 4.3% of the repertoire in that collection. Indeed, it is not surprising that the collection mirrors the tastes and sensibilities of the early 19th century Southern collections given that Carden was himself born in Tennessee in 1792 and spent a considerable part of his life in that state.

42 Missouri Harmony, 1.

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singing societies,‖43 and ―several anthems and odes, of the first eminence.‖44 The newly added compositions are included in a ―supplement‖, similar to conventional practice as seen in editions of the Sacred Harp, in the Norumbega Harmony, and among many other fasola tunebook traditions, including Carden‘s own 1846 edition of his book.

The contemporary compositions were solicited through a call for scores. This call resulted in 53 submissions from eight states, the United Kingdom, and Canada.45 Of the tunes received, 38 were selected to be printed in the book. Several composers have multiple tunes in the book, including six by John Bayer, a now-deceased singer from Ohio, five each by P. Dan

Brittain and Dan Gibbons, and representative tunes from some dozen other contemporary composers. The remaining 22 pieces in the ―2005 Supplement‖ are historical tunes, including four tunes by Billings, two drawn from the Southern Harmony, one by 19th century Sacred Harp composer Elder Edmund Dumas, and other historical repertoire.

The contemporary compositions generally take a very conservative approach to the idiom, adhering very closely to historical conventions in nearly every case. For instance, 150

PINCKNEY by Dan Gibbons fulfills all of the historical characteristics of the fuging tune: it is a minor-mode tune in 4/4, intended for use with metrical hymnody, comprised of a homophonic A section and an extended B section that begins with imitative polyphony (following the common fasola voice entry paradigm of bass, tenor, treble, alto), and concludes with a homophonic section. The modern composers represented in this collection have reconstructed the historical idiom to such a degree that the slightly atypical fuging tune 147 NORTH PROVIDENCE seems to border on the avant garde, with its out-of-the-ordinary fugue subject and voice entry paradigm of

43 Missouri Harmony, 68.

44 Missouri Harmony, 116.

45 Missouri Harmony, [xviii].

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tenor, alto, treble, bass. Furthermore, all voice entries occur over the span of a single measure, whereas often voices entries in a typical fuging tune span at least three or four measures. The fact that this tune comes from the 18th-century pen of William Billings underscores just how stylistically reserved the surrounding contemporary repertoire is.

Despite this stylistic reservedness, the Missouri Harmony has several features that distinguish it from the other collections in this study. Perhaps in an effort to assert the pre-Sacred

Harp identity of the Missouri Harmony, 10 out of the 60 newly-composed tunes in the supplement are not in four parts; nine tunes are in three parts, and one tune is in two parts.46

There are also distinguishing features without historical precedent; for instance, five of the book‘s tunes were ―team compositions‖, with more than one composer contribution. Four of these were composed jointly by John Bayer and Judy Hauff, and the fifth by John Bayer and P.

Dan Brittain.

A final distinctive feature sets The Missouri Harmony apart: the notated indication of the raised sixth scale degree in the minor mode. In traditional Southern fasola practice, the sixth scale degree in a minor tune is sometimes raised by singers, regardless of whether or not this alteration is notated in the music. The result is a dorian modality, a harmonic idiom commonly found in folk musics of Britain and Ireland. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is 159

WONDROUS LOVE in the Sacred Harp. Though the notation doesn‘t indicate any alteration, the sixth scale degree in the second phrase is always heard to be raised; this is so pervasive that this dorian character even survives when the tune is included in a denominational hymnal. Whether or not this should be applied in all instances of a minor tune and whether or not all traditional southern singers do apply it in all instances has been the topic of heated debate. Some singers

46 This tune, 168 SYMYADDA, is a transcription by John Bayer of what was apparently an oral tradition tune sung in Sand Mountain, Alabama.

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advocate for the raising of the sixth scale degree in every instance,47 some insist that the music must be sung as notated, and many others hold a perspective falling between the two extremes.

The debate has been had face to face, in online groups such as the Fasola mailing list, and has been documented in the scholarly literature, as well. Judy Hauff, a proponent of raising the sixth, led a workshop at Camp Fasola 2007, entitled ―The Mysterious Raised 6th‖, which the minutes recount as having elicited a ―lively discussion.‖48 Even the rudiments in the 2012 Cooper edition of the Sacred Harp were edited to include material addressing the hotly-contested issue. 49

Perhaps in an effort to preemptively stop this debate from gripping the users of the Missouri

Harmony, the editors departed from convention and notated this raised sixth in many (though not all) of the tunes in the 2005 Supplement.50 Among the tunes that feature this notated raised sixth scale degree in a minor mode are Dan Gibbons‘s 165 TOWER GROVE, P. Dan Brittain‘s 175

HAUFF, and Judy Hauff‘s 148 AGATITE. In fact, some of the historical repertoire included in the

Supplement also gets this treatment, such as 157 THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM, from William

Walker‘s Southern Harmony, despite the fact that the raised scale degrees are not found in the

47 This is probably not the ideal solution. In some cases, a raised sixth seems alien. For instance, Timothy Swan‘s tune 86 POLAND in the Sacred Harp features the harmonic motion of i-vi-v in measures 4 through 6; a raised sixth would give i-IV-v, a very strange harmonic motion. In all likelihood, the practice of singing the dorian scale is an artifact of the largely Anglo-Celtic folk idiom that began to infiltrate the fasola repertoire in the early 19th century, as embodied in the music of the Joseph Funk, Ananias Davisson, and the Chapin brothers. The reader will recall here that Davisson railed against the use of accidentals, implying a fundamentally diatonic conception of harmony, wherein the difference between raised and natural sixth scale degrees in minor tunes boiled down to convention. It is probably most appropriate (and most often appropriate) to sing tunes coming from or influenced by the folk idiom with the raised sixth scale degree, and to omit it in early singing school tunes where the composers notated desired chromatic effects. Poland, mentioned above, is a prime example, in which Swan notates the raising of the final leading tone in the tenor, but no other altered tones.

48 2007 Camp Fasola Minutes available through the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20161225013509/https://fasola.org/minutes/search/?n=2607

49 Sacred Harp (2012 Cooper Edition): xx; xxiv.

50 The issue is also broached as being in the front matter, as being ―usually observed‖ in shape note practice. The passage also includes a curious characterization of the Dorian mode as ―one of a number of the very old scales or modes abandoned more than three hundred years ago, when music had evolved to the point of achieving satisfactory expression with just two scales, our surviving major and minor‖. Missouri Harmony 2005, [xxvi-xxvii].

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original notation. Curiously, and without explanation, no chromatic alterations are made to 151

SAMANTHRA, another minor key tune imported from the Southern Harmony.

A Dividing Point: The Early Tunebooks versus the Later Tunebooks

The following case study represents a divide amongst the included compilations, separating the first three studies and the latter three into two loose groups. Northern Harmony,

The Norumbega Harmony, and The Missouri Harmony (2005) share some important characteristics: each found its genesis among the early revivalists of either New England or the

Midwest; each was focused upon the repertoire of a specific collection or region; and each was compiled by committee and published in a traditional hardcover, oblong format. The homogeneity of the first three collections is noteworthy, and is perhaps due at least in part to the similarity of the pioneering conditions they faced, having to blaze again the fasola publication trail that had been abandoned for a hundred or more years. The similarities invite a grouping of the three into what might be termed the early publication renaissance, stretching from the publication of Northern Harmony in 1980 through 2010 or so. The latter three collections, beginning with The Georgian Harmony are considerably more diverse.

The Georgian Harmony (2nd ed., 2012)

Genesis of the collection

The most striking aspect of this collection is that its repertoire is comprised entirely of the work of a single composer, those of compiler Raymond Hamrick. This fact makes The Georgian

Harmony unique not only among the collections in this study, but is ostensibly the first time that such a monolithic collection has been published in the fasola tradition, historical or modern. The second most striking feature is that Hamrick was a Sacred Harp singer from Georgia, standing in contrast to the non-southern, revivalist compilers of the books in the early publication revival.

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Raymond C. Hamrick was born in Macon, Georgia in 1915. Although his family exposed him to Sacred Harp singing as a child, he did not develop an interest in the music until later in life. Hamrick served in the United States Army Air Corps during the Second World War, and after his time in the service, returned to Macon where he took up the trade of watchmaking.51 In

1946, Hamrick accompanied his brother to a local singing school, and became interested in the

18th century roots of much of the music – an aspect of the music he had apparently overlooked as a child. This interest led him to write to George Pullen Jackson in 1950, in hopes of learning more about the music. Jackson responded warmly, noting his great pleasure that ―a real

Southerner [was] so deeply interested in his own native music. It is usually the Northerner who sees beauty in it and the Southerner who despises it.‖52

In the early 1950s, with his interest in the music and its history continuing to grow,

Hamrick began to venture to Sacred Harp singings outside of his immediate area. His travels fostered relationships with prominent figures in the Denson Sacred Harp community, such as the noted 20th century singing school master and Sacred Harp composer A.M. Cagle (1884-1968), as well as noted Sacred Harp propagator Hugh McGraw. McGraw and Hamrick met at Waterloo

Church near Moultrie, Georgia, and instantly became friends. The two maintained their personal

51 Hamrick had had experience in the business, working at Andersen‘s Jewelers in Macon before the war, and eventually purchasing the business in 1963. He was a hands-on owner, and worked several days a week well into his nineties. In fact, as a fasola composer who had a non-musical occupation, Hamrick had the sense that this gave him a kinship with the 18th century singing school masters. He shared this sentiment in an interview with Alan Lomax in 1982: ―Well, the early composers all composed, wrote music as a hobby. They all had other jobs that they made a living at. Yes. And it‘s a great relaxation to me, jewelry, and I am a professional watchmaker, too, and this type of work requires relaxation, and music is certainly a relaxer.‖

Alan Lomax and Raymond C. Hamrick, ―‗My Interest Was in the Background of the Music‘: Raymond C. Hamrick and Alan Lomax in Conversation,‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, December 31, 2016, accessed August 27, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20170719130553/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/my-interest-was-in- the-background-of-the-music-raymond-c-hamrick-and-alan-lomax-in-conversation/.

52 Jesse P. Karlsberg, ―Raymond C. Hamrick‘s Contributions to Sacred Harp Singing and Scholarship‖, Sacred Harp Publishing Company, 31 December, 2016, accessed 8 August, 2017 at https://web.archive.org/web/20170706141901/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/raymond-c-hamricks- contributions-to-sacred-harp-singing-and-scholarship/

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and musical relationship for the remainder of their lives, and this connection ushered Hamrick into the inner sanctum of the Sacred Harp community: he would go on to have tunes published in multiple editions of the Sacred Harp (six of his tunes are in the 1991 edition), to serve as president of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, and to sit on the revision committee for the

1991 Denson edition.53

The genesis of The Georgian Harmony as a compilation can be traced to a conversation between Hamrick and fellow Georgian singer John Hollingsworth at a Sacred Harp singing in

2005. The singers had sung two of Hamrick‘s tunes from the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp,

54 including his very popular tune 503 LLOYD. Hollingsworth had expressed his fondness for

Hamrick‘s compositions, at which point Hamrick volunteered that he had a repository of original tunes that had never been sung. Hollingsworth suggested that the tunes be typeset, and that

Hamrick should consider publishing a book of the music. A third Georgia singer, John Plunkett, was nearby, and overhearing the conversation, volunteered to help typeset the music.

Plunkett typeset the music, and the following year, singers sang from it at Andrews

Chapel (earlier called Andrews Schoolhouse) in Upson County, Georgia. While pleased with the way his music sounded, Hamrick had a modest view of his own compositions, and was not immediately convinced that the music was worthy of publication. Over the next several years,

Hamrick sent a trickle of tunes to Hollingsworth and Plunkett, and by 2010, they had amassed enough tunes that met Hamrick‘s self-imposed standard of quality standard to print a book, the result being the first, spiral bound edition of The Georgian Harmony. Shortly after the book‘s printing, Hamrick again mentioned that he had more unpublished songs, but was reticent to give

53 Raymond Hamrick, The Georgian Harmony: A Collection of Hymns and Fuging Tunes in the Shape-Note Tradition, 2nd ed. (Commerce, GA: published by the author), [v].

54 According to the Fasola Minutes compiled by the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, 503 LLOYD is the ninth most popular song in the book from the period of 1995 to 2017.

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them up because he felt it would delay publication of the book; furthermore, many of the tunes were incomplete or unedited, whereas Hamrick had already taken the time to polish the tunes in the first batch before the initial conversation with John Hollingsworth.

Several of the tunes in this latter batch were composed in three parts. Another singer from

Georgia, Billy Hollingsworth, offered to compose alto lines for these tunes, and after meeting

Hamrick‘s approval, these were typeset along with the other three voices of the tune. A test singing of this second group of tunes was arranged, and the singing class responded enthusiastically to the music. However, there was still a considerable amount of correction and editing to be done, and Hamrick – in his late nineties – felt as though he lacked the energy for such an undertaking. As a result, a number of singers banded together to sing through the book, making corrections and comments. This contingent of proof singers included some notable figures, including Professor Harry Eskew, scholar Sarah Kahre, Jesse P. Karlsberg (the current

Vice President of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company), and Hugh McGraw, among a couple dozen others. This outpouring of support, particularly by such esteemed individuals, augmented

Hamrick‘s confidence. After singing through the book, and making comments and a recording of the singing, the feedback was passed along to Hamrick. The result of their combined effort was the second edition, published in 2012 in hardcover, incorporating both the contents of the first edition as well as the newly-polished repertoire.55

A description of the book and its contents

The book is oblong and has a hard gray cover. The cover bears the full title of the book in gold lettering, along with the year of publication and the compiler‘s name. There are only 11

55 John Hollingsworth, ―The Making of The Georgian Harmony,‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, December 31, 2016, accessed August 4, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170706141932/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/the-making-of-the- georgian-harmony/.

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pages of in the front matter, of which only seven (including the title page) have printed content.

There are 255 pages of music, followed by a 26 page appendix of varied content and indices of the music.

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content

The front matter in The Georgian Harmony differs from the other books in this study in several ways. For one, it is very brief, comprising a foreword by Hamrick, two prefaces, one for each edition, by John Plunkett and John and Billy Hollingsworth, and acknowledgements, signed by the same three men, followed by a sketched portrait of Raymond Hamrick and Hugh

McGraw. Below the portrait is a paragraph about Hamrick penned by McGraw, which reads as a sort of personal endorsement. McGraw details the pair‘s first encounter, their working and personal relationship, and closes with McGraw characterizing Hamrick as ―a Christian

Gentleman and a dear, dear friend‖.56 While certain historical editions of the Sacred Harp have included portraits of the B.F. White or the revisers of various editions, the 1991 Denson and

2012 Cooper revisions of the book have both opted to omit these. The choice to include the sketch suggests a conversance with this historical convention, and the choice to include McGraw and his letter of support seems to carry the implication of being a sort of imprimatur from a known authority holder in the Sacred Harp community (fig. 4-5).

Also notable is the absence of any type of theoretical content in the front matter. In fact, while the previous three case studies have all assumed a conversance with mainstream musical notation on the part of the books‘ users, Hamrick goes a step further and assumes a familiarity with fasola notation and convention. The distinctive notation is only mentioned a single time, and without any explicatory remarks. In fact, the mention is the introductory sentence of

56 The Georgian Harmony, [v].

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Hamrick‘s foreword: ―This book is for singers of shape note music-people [sic] that have a knack for music of this type.‖57

Departing from convention, Hamrick includes material of relevant historical interest in the back of the book, including sketched illustrations of seven Georgia churches and other singing locations with significance both to the broader fasola tradition and to Hamrick personally. Among these are Mt. Carmel Church, where some of Hamrick‘s family and ancestors had been members and are buried, and Andrew‘s Schoolhouse, a building dating to 1876 where

Sacred Harp music has been sung for more than 100 years, and that hosted the preliminary singing from The Georgian Harmony.58 Hamrick also includes a facsimile of the minutes from the 1948 South Georgia Sacred Harp Singing Convention. These minutes include a listing of the officers, the tunes led by each leader, a listing of ―annual sings‖, and the bylaws of the singing convention.59 Only two indices are included: an index of first lines, and a ―General Index‖, sorted by tune name.

Although there is no didactic material in the front matter, Hamrick includes a handful of brief quotations scattered throughout the book and printed in free space below some tunes. A couple of these are musical in nature, such as one assertion that the moods of time discussed in a plethora of 19th century (and some 20th century) tunebooks doesn‘t hold any weight, and that time signatures are useful only for determining which beats should be accentuated. Hamrick claims that tempo ―has always been a matter of opinion, and we need not feel the shackles of

57 The Georgian Harmony, [vii].

58 The Georgian Harmony, [260-263].

59 The Georgian Harmony, [272-275].

Notably, as did many late 19th century Sacred Harp singing conventions, the Crisp County convention specified that ―The text books of this Convention shall be none other than the Sacred Harp,‖ but offered some latitude in their allowance that ―[n]o distinction will be made in the various recent revisors of the original Sacred Harp.‖

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rigid interpretation on a good tune‖.60 He also includes a statement promoting the position of southern singers as ―the preservers of this uniquely American Musical [sic] tradition,‖61 and a personal expression of the importance that fasola music had in his life.62

Repertoire

The Georgian Harmony contains 188 tunes spanning 255 pages of music. Due to its unique disposition as the collection of a single composer‘s works, The Georgian Harmony provides a fascinating documentation of Hamrick‘s compositional style. Furthermore, because

Hamrick had been exposed to the music as a child and had studied the music intensely for nearly

70 years, he developed a deep intuition for fasola style. Accordingly, Hamrick‘s music adheres to a core set of traditional fasola musical elements such as key, time signature, number and independence of voices, and general harmonic idiom. Hamrick expressed the importance of melodic interest in this music, once telling John Hollingsworth of the importance of giving all of the voice parts interesting, enjoyable melodies to sing.63 Although all of the tunes in the book are harmonized in four parts, some of the tunes were originally composed in three voices, as discussed earlier, such as 234 MOUNT PARAN. Unlike other collections in this study, Hamrick made no attempt to avoid repertoire that had already been published in the Sacred Harp or other tunebooks. Some of his tunes that had been published in the Sacred Harp are contained in the book, such as 105 NIDRAH and his hugely popular tune LLOYD, reprinted on page 109 of the

60 The Georgian Harmony, 235.

61 The Georgian Harmony, 247.

62 ―What would I have done the last 60 years without the Sacred Harp? I shudder to think. What would have replaced it? I can‘t imagine!‖ Raymond Hamrick quoting himself, The Georgian Harmony, 173.

63 John Hollingsworth, ―The Making of The Georgian Harmony.‖

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64 collection. Works represented in other collections are also present, such as 52 CONCERT, originally published in the New England compilation titled the Sacred Harper‘s Companion, published by Glen Wright and Susan Mampre in 1994.

Hamrick deviates from fasola style and convention in certain aspects of his composition.65 However, his decades of experience with the music shines through, in that his innovations are all organic outgrowths of the fasola style, created by recombining the raw musical material familiar to shape note singers in novel ways, with the resulting in new repertoire that traditional fasola singers are able to navigate with minimal difficulty. An example of such an innovation is the punctuating effect given by a homophonic texture interrupted by rests in 94 BRADFORD (ex. 4-5). While very uncommon in fasola style, it is an innovation that is conservative enough to be taken in stride in performance by singers accustomed to the shape note style.

Additionally, Hamrick s ometimes includes performance instructions, such as the

―crescendo‖ marked on page 73 of SLEEPERS AWAKE! While there is certainly historical precedent in the 19th century tunebooks for such markings, as well as precedent in contemporary tunebooks from New England, like Northern Harmony and The Norumbega Harmony, these

64 Hamrick found composition to be a thoroughly spiritual activity. In fact, Hamrick said that his tune LLOYD came to him in a dream, being sung by ―bands of white clad angels‖, and attributed his creativity to the workings of the divine.

Shaun Jex, ―Help Me to Sing: Raymond Hamrick as Composer and Teacher,‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company 5, no. 1, accessed May 19, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170407151224/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/help- me-to-sing-raymond-hamrick-as-composer-and-teacher/.

65 Hamrick himself recognized this and expressed the nebulosity of the idiom in one of the discursive margin notes discussed above. ―A great deal of what I have written has been in what I considered the Sacred Harp style. Yet, some of my tunes are not at all in that framework. I don‘t know precisely where it belongs but I suspect some errant little aspects of other styles have crept in. I‘ve never tried composing in any other style. I try to write by inspiration rather than perspiration.‖

The Georgian Harmony, 85.

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types of prescriptive markings are rare in the Sacred Harp. One striking and pervasive example of the departure from fasola convention in Hamrick‘s output is his apparent aversion to polyphonic text setting. This is particularly notable given that the fuging tune – one of the hallmarks of shape note music – conventionally includes overlapping text due to the staggered, imitative voice entries that define the genre. While Hamrick still shows a clear attachment to sequential voice entries and motivic imitation between voices, he often will assign a more and more truncated portion of the text to voice parts with later entries, or will have earlier entries repeat the same text as all voices enter. The result has the effect of the fuging tune, though the text clarity is maintained (if at the expense of a polyphonic texture).

Hamrick‘s music bears the marks of his role models, particularly of A.M. Cagle and

William Billings. Cagle held to fasola tradition, but like many of his colleagues in the 20th century Sacred Harp sphere, diverged from historical convention in one notable way: they had a much higher affinity for tunes in a major modality than the 19th century compiler/composers had.

For instance, the contents of the 9th edition of the Missouri Harmony as preserved in the 2005 edition have a ratio of 52 major tunes (43%) to 68 minor tunes (57%). Overall, the 1991 Denson

Sacred Harp contains 401 major tunes (72%) and 153 minor tunes (28%). If only the tunes dated

1900 or later are counted, this ratio skews higher, with 111 major tunes (74%) and 38 minor tunes (26%); if only the tunes composed in 1950 and later are counted, the proportion skews further still, with 72 major tunes comprising 82% of the repertoire, and only 16 minor tunes comprising just 18% of the repertoire. It is unclear what motivated this shift, but it could be conceivably attributed to the continuing influence of gospel and other non-fasola influences on the composers. Whatever the cause, Hamrick‘s output was clearly impacted by this preference.

Of the 188 tunes in the book, 168 are major and only 20 are minor, for a ratio of 89% major

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tunes to 11% minor tunes – this is the highest incidence of major tunes in any tunebook in this study.

In addition to his penchant for fuging tunes, Hamrick‘s affinity for non-fugal texture changes also seems to belie the influence of Billings and the other New England Singing School

Masters, as this was a common composition device in that body of repertoire. Hamrick utilizes a number of techniques for textural variety, such as those seen in 116 LIBERTY HILL and 86 CEDAR

CREEK (ex. 4-6) Giving the bass voice a several-measure soli before the homophonic re-entry of two or more voices, as in the latter example, is common in Hamrick‘s output; CONCERT, 98

GABRIEL‘S TRUMPET, and 108 INVOCATION, among others, feature similar sections. Perhaps the fascination with extended solo passages in the bass is a result of the fact that Hamrick himself was a bass singer.

Hamrick‘s choice of texts distinguishes the collection as well. While most fasola tunebooks, past and present, favor the evangelical poets and the works of Isaac Watts particularly, Hamrick favored a different historical source.66 The most common text source for the book is Benjamin Lloyd‘s Primitive Hymns, commonly referred to as Lloyd‘s Hymnal. First published in Alabama in 1841, Lloyd‘s Hymnal still embodies the old semantic distinction of

―hymnal‖ as opposed to ―tunebook‖: Lloyd‘s Hymnal contains only texts, leaving potential users to their own devices in finding suitable ways of singing them. Employed largely by Primitive

Baptists in the southern United States, many of the hymnal‘s users were (and are) Sacred Harp singers, leading to a considerable overlap among the two communities. However, it does not appear that Hamrick intended the book to primarily be a tune repository for that collection, but instead simply liked the texts (and probably had an emotional attachment to them, as Hamrick

66 Hamrick certainly didn‘t harbor any animosity toward Watts or his work; 32 of Watts‘ texts are represented in The Georgian Harmony, making him the second most common text source.

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himself was a Primitive Baptist who regularly used Lloyd‘s Hymnal in worship).67 This assertion is bolstered by the fact that The Georgian Harmony does not include a metrical index, significantly complicating the task of matching a hymn with a suitable tune.

The Trumpet (2011-2015)

Genesis of the collection

In the words of the original 2011 editorial board, The Trumpet was ―a new idea, that is actually quite old.‖68 The editors, Will Fitzgerald of Michigan, Thomas Malone of

Massachusetts, and Robert L. Vaughn of Texas, endeavored to replicate a 19th century system of disseminating new fasola music, by publishing the music in a periodical format. Several publications of this sort existed in the 19th century, including B.F. White‘s west Georgia newspaper The Organ and the later publication called Musical Million and Fireside Friend, published in seven shapes by Aldine Kieffer and Ephraim Ruebush of Virginia.69 After noticing the ―outpouring of new and heartfelt Sacred Harp song writing‖, the editors decided to embrace the old idea in a modern iteration. They expressed the aim thus:

This new publication containing 12 new songs, called ―The Trumpet‖ could appear three times a year, in January, May, and September providing new music throughout the year. Each year the total of 36 six songs would form the digest of that year‘s offerings. It is a simple idea, but we believe that, if put forward in a spirit of sincerity to the Sacred Harp community, it can provide a [valuable] service to singers and songwriters alike. 70

67 Raymond Hamrick, ―Sojourn in the South: Billings Among the Shape-Noters,‖ Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 7, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 10-11.

68 Will Fitzgerald, Thomas Malone, and Robert Vaughn, ―About The Trumpet,‖ accessed 10 July, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20130728205017/http://singthetrumpet.com:80/about/.

69 Kieffer and Ruebush had their printing shop in Singer‘s Glen, Virginia. This is the same Singer‘s Glen where Kieffer‘s ancestor Joseph Funk had published his fasola collections in the early 1800s.

70 Fitzgerald, ―About The Trumpet‖.

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A description of the collection and its contents

Issues of The Trumpet were available for free download from the now-defunct

SingTheTrumpet.org. Each edition begins with a title page, including the subtitle ―Through all the World the Echo Bounds…‖,71 and the volume and edition information. Each edition contains several pages of front matter, followed by between 12 and 17 tunes. Notably, the editions are 11 inches long and 8.5 inches tall: a compromise between the tradition and functionality of the oblong tunebook page and the practical considerations of users being able to print hard copies of the music on a standard printer. In all, 12 editions in five volumes were published from 2011 through Volume V, Number 1 in 2015, containing a total of 180 tunes over 196 pages of music.

A second edition in volume five was planned, as was a bound compilation of the entire contents of the book, though it does not appear that either of these came to fruition.

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content

Each edition of The Trumpet includes several pages of front matter, comprised of a variety of material. Typically, these introductions begin with a short note from the editors introducing the edition, followed by reader-submitted (or singer-submitted) articles and information. Such information included reports of recent conventions, all-day singings, and other fasola happenings around the United States and abroad, articles about the music‘s history and historical individuals with ties to it, personal essays and recollections, and other similar content.

Repertoire

Like The Georgian Harmony, The Trumpet‘s repertoire is overwhelmingly comprised of contemporary composition. Unlike the other collections in this study, The Trumpet was not

71 This is a subtle nod to Sacred Harp tradition. Elisha James King, co-editor of the Sacred Harp (1844) wrote a fugal setting of one of Charles Cole‘s texts, which begins ―Hark! How the gospel trumpet sounds! Thro‘ all the world the echo bounds; . . .‖ In addition to being featured in both the Denson and Cooper editions of the book, the th tune is well-known among shape note singers today; the Fasola Minutes record 99 GOSPEL TRUMPET as the 12 most commonly called song from 1995 to 2017.

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intended for any particular group of singers, and its status as the fruit of a community effort has a different character due to the fact that this community was dispersed, united only by a common artistic aim and by the interconnectedness afforded by modern technology. Because of the diffuse nature of both creators and users, the editors necessarily had a different editorial approach. As part of the editorial process, the compilers of The Norumbega Harmony, The

Missouri Harmony, and The Shenandoah Harmony gathered the groups of singers for whom the collections were intended. These groups then sang and assessed the songs being considered for inclusion in the book. Because this was not a tenable process in the case of The Trumpet, they opted for a more analytical editorial method. The editors endeavored to create a balanced repertoire, ensuring that the content of the book represented an appropriate diversity insofar as genre and the balance of major and minor tunes were concerned. The intent of the compilers to produce a coherent collection is further attested in the continuous numbering of the music (for example, the musical content of Volume 2, no. 1 begins with the tune CLINTON, with the pagination given as 49, despite the fact that it is the ninth page in the issue). Additionally, the compilers accounted for extra-musical consideration. To promote fairness in their curation, the editors sought to promote a balance in region of origin; furthermore, the editors agreed to recuse themselves from submitting original repertoire, in an attempt to ensure that the repertoire was selected for its high musical merit. 72

The diverse nature of the contributors and editors is reflected in repertoire of The

Trumpet. Some of the new repertoire is very conservative, demonstrating an intimate knowledge with the traditional repertoire. For instance, 109 OCTAGON CHAPEL by Fynn Titford-Mock is a very conventional plain tune in 3/4 for four voices. In addition to its conventional melodic,

72 Fitzgerald, ―About The Trumpet‖.

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harmonic, and textural character, the piece hints at the composer‘s familiarity with the style in subtler ways. For one thing, the tenor line features the motif of an eighth note slurred with a dotted quarter note on a strong beat. This provides some rhythmic interest—the gesture is reminiscent of the scotch snap—while retaining a rhythmic idiom well-known to fasola singers.

Furthermore, although the tune is in a major modality, the final cadence is an open harmony – the preferred cadential harmony in 19th century fasola music, further attesting to Titford-Mock‘s conversance with the style‘s history. Some of the tunes, such as 88 WATTS by R.C. Webber, take a more experimental approach, while still innovating within the bounds of the traditional fasola building blocks. WATTS begins with a fugal figure moving from the treble voice downward, with the subject (to borrow Common Practice parlance) beginning on the first scale degree in the treble and tenor voices, and on the fifth scale degree in the alto and bass, providing a sense of subject-and-answer. Subverting historical expectations, wherein the fuging material comes later, the repeated B of WATTS section features interplay between two voice pairs (treble/tenor and alto/bass) and a homophonic confusion, but no imitative polyphony. This type of historically- grounded innovation characterizes the repertoire well: using pre-existing musical building blocks that are familiar and accessible to fasola singers, but combining these elements in novel ways.

Although constructed using material and idioms from historical music, the compositions are not frozen in time. The power of fasola music as an avenue of emotional expression is attested to by a tune contributed by Neely Bruce. 101 SANDY HOOK is a setting of the Isaac

Watts text ―Death, like an overflowing stream, sweeps us away‖ by Bruce, long-time fasola singer, compiler, and scholar active in Connecticut. Bruce composed the tune in 2012, a reaction to the massacre of 26 children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut that occurred late that year.

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The repertoire also includes some never before published historical repertoire, such as 92

th THE RADIANT BAND. Begun in the mid-19 century by singing school master and composer/compiler Stephen Jenks but never completed, THE RADIANT BAND was completed in a historically grounded style in 2001 by a shape note singer and scholar on the music, and was published for the first time in The Trumpet volume 2, issue 3 in September 2012.

The composers in The Trumpet demonstrate a similar affinity for historical text sources as in the other case studies. The evangelical poets are most popular; again, chiefly among these is

Isaac Watts, providing 46 of the texts used in the book. Taking things a step further than a simple preference for the same authors, many composers duplicate texts exactly. As an illustration,

Robert Robinson‘s 1758 text ―Come, thou fount of ev‘ry blessing‖ is used for four individual tunes.73 This text, or some variation of it (with an added chorus, with a truncated text, etc.) appears on five occasions in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp. Other tunes are new settings of texts that are already well-known in the fasola community include 104 ARTEMAS (―On Jordan‘s stormy banks I stand‖), 157 RULERS OF SODOM (―Hark! From the tombs a doleful sound‖), 41

VAUGHN (―My Savior and my King, Thy beauties are divine‖), and 101 SANDY HOOK, mentioned above, among many others

The Shenandoah Harmony (3rd printing of 1st ed., 2014)

Genesis of the collection

In the same vein as Northern Harmony and The Norumbega Harmony, the compilers of

The Shenandoah Harmony are singers who came to fasola music in the context of the Sacred

Harp revival, and who wished to commemorate the musical history of their own region. The

Shenandoah Harmony began with the well-defined aim of commemorating the musical

73 70 FLAMING TONGUES, 77 FOREST ROSE, 132 NORTH RIDGE, and 163t HALLELUJAH.

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contributions of Presbyterian elder and tunebook compiler Ananias Davisson, specifically in the period from 1816 to 1826.74 The collection was conceived by John del Re and Kelly Macklin, along with their daughter, Leyland del Re. More than 25 years ago, the del Re family came across recordings made by Judy Hauff and Ted Mercer featuring fasola repertoire gathered from

Wyeth‘s Repository and Kentucky Harmony, inspiring the del Re family to seek out tunebooks containing this repertoire that came from their home region.75

By late 2010, The Shenandoah Harmony Music Committee was formed, consisting of the three del Re family members, all of Virginia, together with Daniel Hunter and Rachel Hall of

Pennsylvania, and Myles Louis Dakan and Robert Stoddard, both of Boston. The original focus on Davisson quickly broadened; all told, the committee deliberated over about 1500 historical tunes, which were winnowed to a final selection of about 400, coming from a total of 75 historical tunebooks. The first edition of the book was published in 2012 and released in mid-

February of the following year. The first all-day singing from the book was held on June 2, 2013 near Ananias Davisson‘s grave in Rockingham County, Virginia.

A description of the book and its contents

The book is oblong, with a hard, tan cover. The words ―The Shenandoah Harmony‖ are printed in black on the cover, as well as along the spine. Eight pages of front matter comprise the title page, a dedication and table of contents, a page of source abbreviations, a preface, and a short didactic section called ―How to Sing from This Book‖. The music follows, with 468 tunes

74 Myles Louis Dakan, John W. del Re, Leyland W. del Re, et al., The Shenandoah Harmony: A Collection of Shape-Note Tunes, Ancient and Modern, for Singing Groups Large or Small (Boyce, VA: The Shenandoah Harmony Publishing Company, 2012), v.

75 Rachel Wells Hall, ―The Making of The Shenandoah Harmony,‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company Newsletter 2, no. 1 (March 2013), accessed 19 May, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170421051010/http://originalsacredharp.com/2013/07/29/the- making-of-the-shenandoah-harmony/.

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on 457 pages of music, followed by 15 pages of indices and a listing of errata in the previous two printings. Notably, in addition to its traditional oblong hardcover edition, the book is offered in ebook format as well; the ebook is less expensive than the print book ($12 compared to $25), and includes 35 pages of additional hyperlinked indices, including a chronological directory of songs, an index of entrances in fuging tunes, and a directory of songs with fewer than four parts.

The omission of this material from the print book was by design, and was a consideration made with the function of the book in mind. Perhaps learning from the mistake of certain early

20th century editions of the Sacred Harp whose constantly expanding repertoires caused the books to become unwieldy, the editors recognized that while this information was valuable to singers, it was not necessary to have it available while singing. The amount of attention that the editors paid to these practical and ergonomic considerations speaks to both the fluency exhibited by the contemporary compilers with regard to fasola tradition and convention, as well as to the highly evolved and well-adapted physical form of the shape note tunebook.76

Front matter, indices, and other non-musical content

After the title page, the editors give the book‘s dedication (―to our singing friends everywhere‖), as well as an acknowledgement of influential individuals, mentioning Judy Hauff,

Buell Cobb, and Amanda Denson by name; the page also features a table of contents and a quotation from the 104th Psalm. The next page sets The Shenandoah Harmony apart from the other books in this study. It is a directory of source abbreviations. Further evincing the

76 ―The physical construction of the book was a massive project in itself. After years of singing from The Sacred Harp, we all found the typography and layout of it and other older books most effective for singing and leading. In particular, we preferred a compact format, in which up to four songs can be displayed on one opening, even if the occasional misalignment between text and notes makes sight-reading more difficult. Compact formatting also reduces page turns and allows for the inclusion of more songs without making the book too heavy to hold. I led the typesetting team, which also included Robert Stoddard, Peter Golden, and Adrian Mariano. We typeset the music in Lilypond 2.14, with some modifications: we made the shapes bigger and the staff lines thinner, to reflect the fact that most singers look at the shape of the notes more than their placement on the staff.‖

Rachel Wells Hall, ―The Making of The Shenandoah Harmony.‖

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meticulously historical approach taken by the editors of the book, the source each historical tune included in The Shenandoah Harmony is reflected in an abbreviation given in the upper margin of the tune. The editors go so far as to specify the edition of the collection from which the historical tunes were taken, and specify the page number on which the tune in question is found

(for an example of the page layout, see Fig. 4-6). This stands in stark contrast to historical practice, where attributions were often spurious in the best circumstances, and were sometimes disregarded completely, as in the case of Carden‘s 1820 Missouri Harmony. Historical accuracy was a priority for the compilers. In the article ―Making of The Shenandoah Harmony,‖ Rachel

Wells Hall describes the historical dimension of the compilation:

Researching the songs and texts was an important part of the project—not only because we wanted to credit the composers, but also because knowing a song‘s history helped us to locate different versions and make more informed decisions. Many of the old tunebooks have incorrect composer, text, or source information, or none at all. Attributions are a moving target as better information becomes available—for example, I recently traced ―Vienna‖ (321b in The Shenandoah Harmony) from Wyeth‘s Repository, Part II (1813) to a 1727 German publication. We are particularly fortunate to have had the assistance of many scholars . . . 77

A preface briefly describes the life and significance of Ananias Davisson, as well as a brief discussion of the book‘s editorial procedure. The editors include acknowledgments given to a plethora of individuals and groups,78 as well as a bibliography including about a dozen scholarly introductions to fasola singing and nine fasola tunebooks, including both contemporary editions of the Sacred Harp, the Missouri Harmony, Northern Harmony, and The Norumbega

Harmony, among others. The final component of the front matter is two pages roughly akin to historical rudiments. These pages describe and demonstrate the function of the shapes in major

77 Rachel Wells Hall, ―The Making of The Shenandoah Harmony.‖

78 Some of the figures mentioned for contributing this book have been mentioned extensively elsewhere in this study, including John Bayer and Ted Mercer from the Midwest, southern singers John Bealle and John Plunkett, scholars Warren Steel and Harry Eskew, and groups including the Lee Family of Hoboken, Georgia, and 15 other groups of fasola singers from across the United States as well as Cork, Ireland, and Newcastle, England.

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and minor keys, introduce the ―hollow square‖ with an illustrative diagram, outline the practice of duplexing the tenor and treble parts, and discuss the style and rhythm of the fasola style. The editors include instruction on the proper accentuation of the beat in various moods of time, along with the characterization that ―[t]his music is sung vigorously, in full voice, with no vibrato.‖79

Directions for keying and leading and a description of the page layout (including an introduction to the ―source abbrevations‖ and their function) conclude the prefatory text. In keeping with a common 19th century tunebook convention, the editors close their quasi-rudiments with a simple tune intended for instructional purposes. In this instance, the tune is a round with four entries by

William Billings, titled WHEN JESUS WEPT; the compilers indicate that it comes from Billings‘s

New England Psalm Singer.

Repertoire

The repertoire is largely historical, with 400 of the 468 tunes having been composed before 1950. The compilers satisfied their original aim, in that Ananias Davisson receives the highest number of credits of any individual composer, with 20 tunes in the book. Late 18th century singing school masters Jeremiah Ingalls and William Billings are credited with 17 and 15 tunes respectively, and 19th century Southern compilers William Walker and John G. McCurry have 13 and 11 tunes in the book. The book has no ostensible system of organization, with historical and new repertoire being intermingled, irrespective of genre, key, or other musical characteristics. The compilers restricted the repertoire to pieces falling within the historically attested fasola genres, with the majority of the content consisting of plain tunes (57%), but also demonstrating a clear affinity for the fuging tune, with 126 examples comprising 35% of the total

79 The Shenandoah Harmony, vii.

The editors take care to note their connection to the Sacred Harp, saying that their Sacred Harp singing ―has formed [their] concept and love of this music.‖ The editors further encourage the reader of to listen to recordings of fasola music ―especially from the South, where the music has been sung continuously for almost two hundred years‖.

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repertoire. Notably, the compilers of The Shenandoah Harmony largely eschew the anthem; while the anthem accounts for about 3% of the repertoire in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp, and about the same in other contemporary collections,80 the Shenandoah Harmony includes only two anthems out of its 468 tunes, comprising about 0.2% of its total repertoire.

The editors generally left historical repertoire unaltered, with certain exceptions. For instance, alto parts for many of the historical three-part tunes were added, though not in all cases.

In other instances, such as 109 ZION‘S WALLS, the tune was left in three parts, but was altered in other ways: the meter was changed, as were some of the rhythmic motifs, to make the text declamation more natural. In analyzing the frequency with which the book‘s repertoire is sung, the compilers concluded after some time that the lack of an alto part was not necessarily

81 detrimental to a tune‘s success, as ZION‘S WALLS is one of the more popular tunes in the book.

In all, the compilers included 61 tunes with fewer than four parts; 52 of these are for three voice parts, and the remaining nine are for only two.

Of the tunes composed after 1950, 62 come from the fasola tunebook renaissance. Of the

th remaining six, five are from 20 pre-revival Sacred Harp composers, such as 136 PERFECT LOVE

82 by A.M. Cagle and 186 WORLDS BEYOND THE SKY by O.A. Parris. The sixth is 243 BALM IN

GILEAD (distinct from the commonly known tune) arranged from the 1973 edition of the seven- shape Harp of Ages. The compilers purposefully avoided duplicating repertoire present in the

1991 Denson Sacred Harp. However, this stricture did not extend to the other contemporary

80 The repertoire of the Missouri Harmony and The Trumpet consist of about 3% anthems in each case, whereas a slightly higher preference is demonstrated by the New England compilers, with 4.4% of the Norumbega Harmony consisting of anthems, and with six of the Northern Harmony‘s 54 tunes (about 75%) being anthems.

81 Rachel Wells Hall, ―The making of The Shenandoah Harmony‖.

82 Notably, while these composers were highly influential in the Sacred Harp sphere, three of these tunes came from the 1958 Deason-Parris edition of the seven shape Christian Harmony.

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fasola collections. To illustrate, The Shenandoah Harmony bears the marks of influence from

Northern Harmony, demonstrated by the 18 tunes from the second edition of that book included in The Shenandoah Harmony, mostly representing music from the 18th century singing school masters. Textually, the compilers retained the preference for the evangelical poets; Isaac Watts‘s contributions comprise 158 of the book‘s texts, with Charles Wesley a distant second (16 texts), and John Newton of ―Amazing Grace‖ fame being third most prevalent (14 texts).

Among the new repertoire, the compilers include a number of tunes that had been present in the oral tradition of traditional Sacred Harp communities including those in Sand Mountain,

Alabama and Hoboken, Georgia. Other traditional non-fasola sources were also explored, including ―arrange[ments of] melodies that had been enjoyed for hundreds of years as dance tunes, love ballads, tavern songs, and sea-faring songs.‖83 Two specific examples of such repertoire include the traditional American tune adapted as 321t POOR PILGRIM and 111 HARK,

84 HARK, a tune adapted from the repertoire of the Glen Rock Carolers. The newly composed repertoire is very diverse in style, with some very stylistically conservative examples alongside the pieces reflecting a more experimental compositional approach. One example of the conservative repertoire is Aldo Ceresa‘s 311 GREENPOINT, a tune closely resembling the early

New England tunes featuring paired voice texture changes; another tune sharing these characteristics is 140b TEN THOUSAND CHARMS. 285 ETERNITY is a fuging tune with all of the defining features of the 19th century fuging tune; notably, composer Charles Obert elongates the harmonic rhythm in the fuging subject, presumably for the purpose of text paining with the words ―Wide as the world is thy command‖ (ex. 4-7).

83 The Shenandoah Harmony, v.

84 This is a traditional group of carolers, founded by northern English immigrants in the late 1840s, and still active at Christimastime in the Glen Rock, Pennsylvania area today.

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Even the repertoire with more innovative aspects is conservative in style compared to some contemporary mainline hymnody. Most of the new pieces demonstrate the composer‘s familiarity with regard to historically justifiable stylistic choices and compositional conventions, similar to the adeptness demonstrated by the composers in other collections. Rebecca Wright‘s fuging tune 322 PARRISH is an excellent example (ex. 4-8). The tune begins with a homophonic

A section, with the repeated, fuging B section following. The fuging motif follows a common historical fasola convention; rather than entering on the first and fifth scale degrees, as in some other fasola tunes (and all Common Practice fugues), the voices enter on scale degrees outlining the tonic triad. Wright also innovates with the order in which the voices enter (bass, alto, tenor, treble). In an atypical but historically well-founded choice, Wright notates the alto line in the F clef—strange to singers exposed only to art music repertoire, but a convention that was not uncommon in the 19th century fasola style and can still be found in the repertoire of the 1991

Denson Sacred Harp. The B section is more ornate than many historical fuging tunes, featuring a section of paired voice textural interplay before the conventional homophonic conclusion.

Some tunes innovate in other, still reserved ways. John Bayer‘s fuging tune 101

MADNESS is typical until all voices have entered in the fuging section, at which point the treble part takes on a character reminiscent of a descant in mainline denominational hymnody, soaring lyrically above the other voice parts (ex. 4-9). Like 285 ETERNITY, 292 A JOYFUL NOISE features text painting the fugue subject, ―Come, let us lift our voices high.‖ There is a second, shorter fuging section toward the end of the B section, before the homophonic conclusion; however, both the order in which the voice parts state the subject takes the leader ―around‖ the square as she or he turns to face each respective section while beating time (the leader turns from bass, to tenor, treble, and alto in the first case, and again from bass to, treble/tenor, and to alto in the

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second), implying a knowledge of fasola convention. Some composers innovate even more subtly, such as the unexpected metric modulation at the end of Thomas Malone‘s plain tune 381

ABENAKI and the fugue subject entry in Dennis O‘Brien‘s fuging tune 440 ARINELLO. Whereas the majority of historical and contemporary fuging tunes feature subjects entering on the pickup beat, the subject in ARINELLO begins on beat two of the measure preceding the first full measure of the B section. To generalize, it seems as though the new repertoire in The Shenandoah

Harmony is well grounded in historical and traditional fasola convention, though the tunes are often very ornate iterations of 19th century patterns, typically with minor innovative deviations from these forebears.

The group of individuals who contributed to the book may be even more notable than the repertoire itself. The three tunebooks comprising the early publication renaissance—Northern

Harmony, The Norumbega Harmony, and The Missouri Harmony—largely featured the compositions of singers from only their home region, with few exceptions. In contrast, The

Shenandoah Harmony pulls from virtually every corner of the fasola universe. Tunes from traditional Sacred Harp singers from both the Cooper and Denson traditions are represented, as are the New England Revivalists (featuring tunes by Neely Bruce and Glen Wright)85 and the

Midwestern Revivalists (including Judy Hauff, with six tunes in the book, and P. Dan Brittain, with three tunes).86 Furthermore, the compilers also seem to have been influenced by these other revival collections, insofar as repertoire duplicated from other contemporary fasola collections,

85 264 and 348, respectively.

86 Hauff‘s tunes are 169, 366, 384, 413, and 429. Brittain‘s are 236, 278, and 370.

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such as from the Northern Harmony, 381 ABENAKI, published in Thomas Malone‘s Champlain

87 Harmony, and 129 FRETA, first published in The Trumpet.

Other New Collections

While an exhaustive documentation of all modern tunebooks is probably warranted, such a broad undertaking is beyond the scope of this study. However, to illustrate both the diversity and the interconnectedness of the fasola publication revival, there is merit in briefly discussing a handful of additional collections. The Sacred Harper‘s Companion is important as a milestone in the publication renaissance. Published by New England singers Glen Wright and Susan Mampre in 1994, the Companion is notable for several reasons. For one, it is a collection with an explicit focus on new compositions. Furthermore, the collection was something of a vanguard, numbering among the first ten collections published after Northern Harmony, the first of the renaissance tunebooks. The critical role of the book‘s two editors in the production of Northern

Harmony, as well as the fact that Wright would later have tunes published in The Norumbega

Harmony as well as The Shenandoah Harmony, both point to the interconnected nature of the fasola tunebook publication renaissance. The presence of other composers‘ work in the collection, such as inclusion of two tunes by Raymond Hamrick, bolster the idea of such a network, and furthermore serves to indicate that there is little to no competition felt between the compilers of the various contemporary tunebooks.

An American Christmas Harp is a similar collection in many ways, published in 1994, the same year as the Sacred Harper‘s Companion. An American Christmas Harp bucks the

87 FRETA is further notable for being published with both English and Polish text. While bilingual collections are not without historical precedent in the fasola repertoire, the most common bilingualism in shape-note tradition is between English and German; some bilingual collections of this kind include Joseph Doll‘s Leichter Unterricht in der Vocal Musik (1810), Henry C. Eyer‘s Die Union Choral Harmonie (1833), and Thomas Weber‘s Die Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie (1844). However, FRETA may represent the first bilingual English/Polish tune in the fasola repertoire.

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convention of tunebooks being general purpose collections: compiler Karen Willard instead aimed to curate a collection of fasola music particularly appropriate for Christmas. Willard herself is noteworthy for several reasons. For one, she has more than one compilation to her name: her second collection, Willard Hymnary: An Illustrated Album of Hymns for all the

Family to Enjoy, was published in 2010 and is available online for free download. Furthermore, although she is considered a revivalist singer, coming to the tradition as an adult, Willard has become an important figure in the traditional Sacred Harp community as the individual responsible for retypesetting several fasola collections, including the 2007 reprint of the J.L.

White Sacred Harp in addition to the 2012 edition of the Cooper Sacred Harp.88

The Harmonia Sacra, on the other hand, has a completely different provenance from the preceding two collections. The first edition was published in Virginia‘s Shenandoah Valley by

Joseph Funk in 1832. Originally in fasola notation, the book‘s forward-thinking editors seized upon the futuristic seven-shape doremi notation beginning with the book‘s 5th edition in 1851.

However, apparently observing the burgeoning fasola community of the later 20th century, the book‘s editors again began to offer the book in a four-shape notation in 1993; in 2008, rudiments re-appeared in the book for the first time since the 1870s. These are all fascinating indications of the sensitivity that tunebook compilers and editors have to the environment in which the music is being practiced, as well as to the demands of the music-makers and their tastes.

A notable forthcoming collection is called Sankta Harmonio. The book‘s compiler is a

Seattle-based Baptist Esperantist, Leland Ross. A tireless advocate for the constructed language,

Ross intends to follow and expand upon the precedent of other multilingual collections. His plan is for the book to include texts in more than 20 languages, with a special focus on texts in

88 This was a tremendously valuable contribution to the community, fixing many of the errors and general legibility issues contained in the 2006 edition of the Cooper Sacred Harp.

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Esperanto. The book will largely contain historical fasola literature (alongside some contemporary additions to the repertoire), with many of the texts being newly composed in

Esperanto or another language, or translated from the body of existing Christian hymnody into

Esperanto or another language. Embracing technology, the book is expected to be available in an iPad-friendly format in addition to a print format upon its anticipated release in 2020.

Over the course of the past four decades, the fasola tunebook publication renaissance has produced a fascinatingly diverse array of collections. Other notable compilations that have not been discussed include September Psalms, a collection of shape note music released as an emotional, spiritual, and artistic reaction to the events of September 11, 2001; Champlain

Harmony, compiled by and featuring only the works of Thomas B. Malone, a revivalist singer and scholar of fasola music; and Greenwood Harmony, a small collection whose second edition is available only in paperback, but whose compiler intends to continually expand, re-edit, and re- release over the course of time. A study fully documenting the entirety of the contemporary fasola tunebook universe is certainly warranted, but such an undertaking is decidedly beyond the scope of this document.

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Figure 4-1. ―Map of Composer Birthplaces‖ from Northern Harmony (2nd ed., p. 112).

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Figure 4-2. Two pages from nd Northern Harmony (2 ed.), depicting Crompton‘s illustrations.

Figure 4-3. An example tune commentary, in this case, the one provided for Lucius Chapin‘s LIBERTY HALL. (The Norumbega Harmony, p.286)

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Figure 4-4. The typical hollow square arrangement described and diagramed on p. vii of The Shenandoah Harmony.

Figure 4-5. The sketched portrait of McGraw and Hamrick, included on page [v] of The Georgian Harmony.

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Figure 4-6. 146 SAMANTHRA from The Shenandoah Harmony (2012), depicting the standard page layout of the book.

Example 4-1. WINTER from the preface to Northern Harmony (p. xv) with the typical text replaced with spelled-out fasola syllables.

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A Example 4-2. A comparison of two compositional approaches to meter changes: in the more conventional fasola style in the former two cases (448 CONSECRATION and 234 REVERENTIAL ANTHEM) from the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp (A), and in a more experimental, contemporary style in the examples below (B) from Northern Harmony (22 VERMONT SUMMER and 34 DO NOT GO GENTLE.) Sacred Harp facsimiles courtesy SacredHarpBremen.org.

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Example 4-3. An example of the paired-voice technique in 230 Woolman Hill from The Norumbega Harmony, which begins in the repeated B section.

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Example 4-4. A page of CHESHUNT from the 1846 edition of the Missouri Harmony, showing what are presumably instrumental interludes. This tune was omitted from the 2005 edition.

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Example 4-5. 94 BRADFORD (The Georgian Harmony, 2012) displaying the atypical text setting, with individual words split across voice parts in their sequential entries.

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Example 4-6. The fuging sections of 116 LIBERTY HILL (A) and 86 CEDAR CREEK (B) from The Georgian Harmony (2012), with the textural changes and bass solo technique that composer-compiler Raymond Hamrick frequently utilized in his compositions.

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Example 4-7. 285 ETERNITY from The Shenandoah Harmony, illustrating the expressive text setting on ―Wide as the world...‖.

Example 4-8. The first page of Rebecca Wright‘s tune PARRISH (The Shenandoah Harmony, p. 322), depicting the F clef in the alto part and the voice entries outlining the tones of the tonic triad.

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Figure 4-9. John Bayer‘s tune MADNESS, (The Shenandoah Harmony, p. 101) depicting the atypical treble treatment of the treble voice in the fuging section.

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CHAPTER 5 TRENDS OF THE NEW TUNEBOOKS

So long as the Israel of God are endowed with abilities to sing and blessed with capacities to compose new tunes ... we are justifiable in compiling new books.

—Preface to The Methodist Camp-Meeting Book (1846)1

All six of the tunebooks in this study share a considerable array of features with one another, and with their historical predecessors. Foremost is the use of the four-shape fasola notation pioneered by Little and Smith in their Easy Instructor of 1801, and embraced by about a hundred other 19th century collections. Maintaining continuity with 19th century convention, all the contemporary collections share the same oblong format, retain the general features associated with the inherently nebulous fasola idiom, advocate for a similar performance style, and promote a respect for the music‘s history and traditions. To fully document the diversity and nuance of the modern fasola tradition—as well as its interconnectedness—it is most useful to view the new tunebooks through the same framework as was used to examine the characteristics of the 19th century tunebooks in Chapter 2.

The New Tunebooks Dissected

Physical, practical, and extra-musical considerations

Although fasola singers clearly place much importance on the musical repertoire contained in the new tunebooks, they also highly value the traditions, customs, and rituals that accompany the practice of the music, even though many of these factors have little or no intrinsic connection to the music itself. In addition to striving for orthopraxis in the practice of singing the music, there are also many physical manifestations of custom and tradition. For instance, in the digital age, is it natural to ask the question: why publish a physical tunebook when an electronic

1 George Miller, ed., The Methodist Camp Meeting Hymn Book (Dayton, OH: B.F. Ellis, 1846), [iii].

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edition (such as that offered by The Trumpet) is not only easier to produce and faster to distribute, but also less expensive? Multiple practical and ergonomic benefits have driven the physical format of the collections. For instance, if all of the singers in a group have identical collections, there is a guarantee of a common repertoire: a crucial element in group music making of this sort, and a reason for singers to be ambivalent about the instant transmissibility boasted by digital infrastructure. Furthermore, as discussed in Chapter 4, an oblong book has ergonomic advantages when it comes to reading the notation of a frequently-polyphonic style of music; the hardcover format enabled singers to hold the collection in one hand while beating time with the other. A physical volume also represents stability and permanence. The publication of a physical book and its ensuing distribution across hundreds or thousands of private and public libraries cements the persistence of the collection in a more stable and tangible format than a collection of tunes shared only in looseleaf copy or in a purely digital form.2 Such permanence bolsters the function and efficacy of these tunebooks as ―musical monuments,‖ to use Davis‘s term.3

On a more abstract level, the fact that virtually every four-shape tunebook ever published has shared this physical format makes the books‘ form itself emblematic of the tradition. Despite following the same pattern of format, each book is easily and immediately distinguishable from one another, bearing slightly different title styles and cover designs and colors. The effect of seeing a dozen or so distinct tunebooks lined up next to one another on a bookshelf vibrantly illustrates the sense of a diverse tradition that is inextricably bound together by a vast web of characteristics, and furthermore, that these characteristics represent a thread woven through more

2 The Trumpet would seem to fly in the face of this theory. However, editions were evidently only available through the compilation‘s own website, SingTheTrumpet.org, which is no longer accessible: a heavy-hitting illustration of the capricious nature of the digital realm.

3 Davis, Beyond Revival, 51. The full significance of this term is fleshed out later in this chapter.

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than two centuries of American cultural history. This imagery was clearly not lost on the editors of The Trumpet, who at one time included the image below on the collection‘s webpage; it depicts a printed-out edition of The Trumpet atop a stack of other tunebooks—including the 2012 revision of the Cooper Sacred Harp—implying their compilation to be but the newest addition to a practice that sits atop deep traditional foundations (fig. 5-1).

Illustrations, photographs, and other artwork included in the collections

Several of the tunebooks in the study include sketches, photos, or illustrations of some other kind. Only one collection includes photographs, which is the Missouri Harmony (2005), and these depict individuals involved in the book‘s creation, in both social and singing situations.

The only other book in the case study that includes depictions of specific individuals is The

Georgian Harmony, the preface of which includes a sketch of Hamrick, the book‘s compiler, along with Hugh McGraw, fasola evangelist and longtime president of the Sacred Harp

Publishing Company. This way of enshrining a tunebook‘s compilers or editors through portraiture has precedent among the early 20th century fasola books such as J.S. James‘ editions of the Sacred Harp. Hamrick‘s book includes just the single portrait, though a number of sketches portraying churches and other structures in south Georgia that hold and importance to the history of fasola singing generally or The Georgian Harmony in specific. Northern Harmony, on the other hand, is the only book in the case study to employ a significant amount of purely ornamental graphical content. While this sort of filigree was not common among the more utilitarian southern collections of the mid-19th Century, decorative patterns and illustrations do have a precedent in some late 18th century New England collections – perhaps another subtle assertion of a historically founded independence on the part of Northern Harmony‘s compilers.

For instance, Billings‘s Continental Harmony featured ornate decorations and a stylized piece of music on its title page (fig. 5-2). Crompton‘s illustrations in Northern Harmony seem to

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hearken to Billings in multiple ways; not only to the willingness to include aesthetically pleasing embellishments for their own sake, but also to Billings‘ philosophy that every composer should be his own carver. Indeed, Billings‘ compositions—rough-hewn, pioneering, and unencumbered by the strictures of the learned—represent a sort of naïve art in their own right. This unrefined, self-assured passion is still characteristic of fasola music, and given the thorough conversance that Northern Harmony editors Barrand and Crompton have with multiple folk arts and crafts,4 they seem to be using the illustrations to tie the music into a sort of folk culture gesamtkunstwerk.

Rudiments

The books‘ contents also reflect the plan of their 19th and early 20th century forbears, beginning with didactic frontmatter, followed by the musical repertoire, and finishing with an index or set of indices. The reinvention of the pedagogical materials is particularly interesting; although this material is the modern evolution of the rudiments of the earlier tunebooks, the modern books differ from the historical books in the topics covered in the prefaces.5 While the rudiments of the historical books functioned as general guides to learning music notation and theory with no assumption of prerequisite musical knowledge, the contemporary tunebooks prefer a historical focus to the theoretical concepts of the older tunebooks. In other words, while

19th century rudiments were intended for the amelioration of musical ignorance, contemporary didactic frontmatter focuses primarily on historical education. Most of the tunebooks in the case

4 Barrand is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, and aside from fasola music, is also interested in English folkmusic and in folk dancing. Crompton practices the Ukrainian art of egg painting known as pysanky. Her work has been featured at the White House, and in her biography in the 4th edition of Northern Harmony, she further notes that ―several of her more popular eggs are based upon texts from the Original Sacred Harp and Northern Harmony.‖ Northern Harmony 4th ed., 272.

5 In a riff on this aspect of fasola convention, some of the tunebooks have snippets of this didactic material included at the bottom of pages of music with empty space. Examples of this kind can be found in The Missouri Harmony (2005) as well as The Georgian Harmony.

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study discuss the history and development of the fasola tradition generally, and in many cases also include historical information on the genesis of the group that produced the book. Unlike the historical collections, the modern books assume a considerable amount of musical skill and knowledge: in Northern Harmony, The Norumbega Harmony, and The Missouri Harmony

(2005), the editors assume fluency in ―round-note‖ notation and explain the function of fasola notation within this framework; 6 in other cases, such as The Georgian Harmony and The

Trumpet, the editors go so far as to assume that the books‘ users already have knowledge of shape-note notation and its use.7

The rudiments of the new books briefly discuss practical musical issues, with a particular focus on questions of performance practice. Some facets of the music‘s practice are universally embraced by the new tunebooks, such as the physical arrangement of the singers in the ―hollow square‖ format. Other topics, such as the proper way to lead songs and beat time, feature prevalently as well, and entail little variation from one collection to the next.8 The most divisive topic appears to be the question of general musical style, and particularly the ideal vocal tone quality. While virtually all of the books pay homage to the special role filled by the Sacred Harp and its traditional practitioners in sustaining the spark of this unique American practice, the

6 Northern Harmony, xiv.

The Norumbega Harmony, xx.

7 Because the collections in the first grouping—Northern Harmony, The Norumbega Harmony, and The Missouri Harmony (2005)—represent tunebooks produced in an earlier phase of the tunebook publication renaissance, perhaps the editorial committees of these books felt it unlikely that the books‘ consumers would have been exposed to fasola notation in the past, whereas The Georgian Harmony and The Trumpet were published at a later point in the fasola revival, and were intended for those who had already been exposed to the music.

8 These two features—the hollow square arrangement and the style of leading—are some of the most visible marks of the stylistic bottleneck created by the situation of the Sacred Harp as the most prominent preserver of fasola tradition. From examining the rudiments of other 19th century collections, it‘s clear that a number of variant styles of leading and marking time were promoted through time; similarly, there is no evidence that the hollow square formation was ever historically widespread in traditions not centered around an edition of the Sacred Harp.

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editorial committees situate their books and singing groups within the fasola tradition and in relation to this southern tradition in various ways.

These differences in approach are reflected in the prescriptive elements of the rudiments.

The early Midwestern revivalists, many of whom would later serve on the editorial committee of

The Missouri Harmony (2005), deferred unquestioningly to the Southern tradition keepers, seeking an authenticity grounded in replicating the southerners‘ living cultural practice as closely as possible. One immediately apparent way in which this manifests itself is in regard to vocal quality and volume of the voice, setting up a sound ideal with the loudest vocal production being most highly valued in nearly all musical situations. The New England revivalists, on the other hand, appealed to an authenticity leaning more heavily upon their own historical connection to the music through the New England singing school masters—the musical ancestors they share in common with the fasola folk. Because of this, the New England revivalists apparently felt emboldened to take more artistic and creative liberties with the music. In each of the respective tunebooks, these stances and their justifications are expressed through prescriptive instructions— a sort of recipe for authenticity that stands in conspicuous opposition to the musically motivated admonitions endorsed by Lewis, Carden, Walker, and White to imitate the ―German flute‖ or the

―smooth vibrations of the violin‖.

Repertoire

The musical content of the modern collections is strikingly similar to the 19th century tunebooks. Indeed, much of the repertoire is identical to that in the 19th century collections, given the historical inclination of this type of music-making. As was the case historically, much of the music is contrafacta from fiddle tunes, folk songs, or other secular music, though much of it is newly composed. Most individual tunes closely resemble the historical repertoire, though the collections taken as complete units vary in certain regards. For instance, fuging tunes feature

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more prominently in four of the case study collections than in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp. As discussed under the heading of Northern Harmony, this most likely reflects a shift in the use of the music: fuging tunes provide more entertainment in social singing situations, while plain tunes are more useful in worship contexts.

Preferences for major compared to minor tonalities

The proportion of major to minor tunes also reveals some divisions. With one exception, all of the case study tunebooks are within 10 percent of a 50/50 split. The Norumbega Harmony,

The Missouri Harmony, and The Shenandoah Harmony all favor minor tunes; Northern

Harmony is split evenly, and The Trumpet is a fairly even division, with 55% major tunes and

45% minor. However, 89% of the repertoire in The Georgian Harmony is major, and only 11% minor. This approximates the Sacred Harp (72% major to 28% minor) more closely than the other tunebooks. This likely points to one way in which the Sacred Harp has become differentiated from the mainstream of historical fasola convention over the years. While the historical repertoire was noted by outsiders for the prevalence of the minor mode, the Sacred

Harp—under the influence of outside forces such as the Gospel music movement—seems to have drifted toward a preference for major tunes over the years, and Hamrick‘s preference for the major tune can probably be ascribed to his close, life-long association with the Sacred Harp tradition. The new tunebooks, preferring in many cases to tap into reserved of seldom-printed historical repertoire, have mainly pulled from a reservoir of music unaffected by these shifts, both illuminating a unique facet of the Sacred Harp‘s identity and at the same time lending credence to the assertion that the fasola tradition has historically favored the minor mode.

Key

One strikingly conservative aspect of the contemporary shape note tunebooks is the tendency to stay in historically-grounded key areas. To illustrate, in the repertoire of the six

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examined case studies, none of the tunes are notated in F# major or in Db (major or minor). This phenomenon is easily explicable when viewed in the light of the music‘s traditional practice.

Because common shape note practice is predicated on the use of an individual who pitches the tunes, as opposed to referencing an instrument or pitching implement of some kind, the pitch at which a given song is sung can be quite different from what is notated on the page; a song might be sung as much as several semitones sharp or flat from the pitch at which it is notated, due either to considerations made by the pitcher (if he or she is skilled in that role), or conversely, due to the pitcher‘s ineptitude. As a result, while printing the same tune in Db major and D major in a denominational hymnal would result in distinct aural effects, there is no such guarantee in shape note practice.

The tacit acceptance of this fact is attested to in the printed music. Key signatures with greater than three accidentals are uncommon in the shape note repertoire, and key signatures with greater than four accidentals are virtually non-existent. As a result, the shape note repertoire tends to create pairings of enharmonically inequivalent key areas that are treated as ersatz equivalents for the purpose of simpler notation. This is particularly saliently illustrated with the pairings of F major and F# minor. While F major is a fairly common key area, accounting for some 95 tunes of the 1,206 that comprise the repertoire of the six case study tunebooks, F minor accounts for only 11 tunes. On the other hand, there is only a single instance of F# major, whereas 41 tunes are notated in F# minor. This relationship is also seen with other major/minor pairings which are close to one another chromatically, but whose position on the circle of fifths causes them to be notated quite different (cf. C and B: C major is represented in 101 tunes, while

C minor in only 12; on the other hand, there is a single tune in B major, and 36 in B minor).

Because the sonic effect of notating a tune in F# minor versus F minor is negligible in a tradition

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with a near-universal practice of relative pitch, composers generally elect to notate the music in the key with the least number of accidentals. This is true for the contemporary repertoire as well as for historical collections.

Number of parts

The prevalent number of voice parts in the fasola repertoire has fluctuated through time.

Though the mainstream of contemporary fasola practice gives the impression of an intrinsically four-part idiom, the alto line did not become de rigeur in the Sacred Harp tradition until the 20th century, and much of the musical progeny of the contemporary fasola tradition demonstrates a three-voice, innately dyadic harmonic character. This three-voice style was particularly strong in

Midatlantic and Southern folk hymnody which entered the fasola repertoire in the first decades of the 19th century, and which grew to occupy a central position in the music‘s stylistic character, as seen in the early editions of Wyeth‘s Repository, Carden‘s Missouri Harmony, and Walker‘s

Southern Harmony. While the contents of both the Cooper and Denson editions of the Sacred

Harp contain some tunes for three voice parts, their repertories are largely in four parts, owing to a stylistic shift during the first half of the 20th century that entailed appending alto lines to the older three-part repertoire. As an illustration of how fully realized this shift is, the 1991 Denson edition of the Sacred Harp features a repertory of 554 songs: 530 of these are in four parts and only 24 remain in three parts.

In an effort ostensibly aimed at presenting a more variegated repertoire and innovating within an historically justified framework, the six tunebooks that serve as case studies are quite diverse insofar as number of parts in their repertoires. The Georgian Harmony holds close to the

20th century Sacred Harp idiom; each of the 255 tunes in Hamrick‘s collection, all newly

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composed, are in four parts, save two in three parts.9 Other collections evince the historical diversity of number of parts. For instance, the 2005 edition of The Missouri Harmony offers 180 tunes. The majority of these (144) are in four parts, though a considerable proportion (32 tunes, or ~18%) are in three parts, and a couple of historical examples composed for only two parts (4) are included. The Shenandoah Harmony pushes this trend even further, with some 61 tunes having fewer than four parts (52 tunes in three parts, 9 tunes in two parts).

10 Many of the three part tunes are newly composed, such as 25 EUCLID (TPT) , composed by Dan Harper in 2010, 164 TABLE HYMN (MOH) composed by John Bayer in 1998, and 271

WHEN SHALL WE ALL MEET AGAIN (ShenH) transcribed by the singers of Northampton

Harmony and published in the 2012 edition of The Shenandoah Harmony. The bulk of the three- part repertory comes from historical sources, though, as does virtually all of the two part music in the case study collections.11 However, the inclusion of these non-four-part tunes represents a fascinating rediscovery of an aspect of traditional fasola music that had not been widely preserved in the tradition as it existed under the auspices of the Sacred Harp communities.

9 It is appropriate to note here that many of the tunes were originally in three parts, though in a project originally conceived as a study in composition, Billy Hollingsworth later added alto lines to many of the book‘s tunes.

10 For the sake of compactness, in this section, I abbreviate the titles of the tunebooks from which each of the cited tunes come using the following abbreviations:

GeoH: The Georgian Harmony, 2nd ed.

MOH: The Missouri Harmony, 2005 Edition

NorH: Northern Harmony, 2nd ed.

NorumH: The Norumbega Harmony

ShenH: The Shenandoah Harmony

TPT: The Trumpet

11 An interesting exception to this are tunes such as SYMYADDA, included as 429 in The Shenandoah Harmony and 168 in The Missouri Harmony 2005, which were ―captured‖ and transcribed tunes from the oral tradition of longstanding fasola singing communities (in this case, from the singers of Sand Mountain, Alabama).

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Tune naming conventions

Among the newly composed repertoire, the patterns and conventions of tune naming largely adhere to the historical precedents of 19th century tunebooks. Although there are no rules, written or unwritten, about naming fasola tunes, the titles of most contemporary tunes fall into just a handful of categories, the majority of which find precedent in the historical fasola repertoire. The most straightforward of these naming paradigms are those tunes named for the texts which they set. If drawn from scripture, the title may reflects the text‘s source (e.g., 233

TWENTY-THIRD PSALM (NorumH), 63 PSALM 30 (GeoH), 96 PSALM 96 (GeoH), 54 JOHN 3:37

(GeoH)). In other instances, the title is excerpted from the text (e.g., 244 TEN THOUSAND

CHARMS (NorumH), 239 EV‘RY STRING AWAKE (NorumH), 34 DO NOT GO GENTLE (NorH)).

The most common and wide-reaching of these categories could be broadly considered as being ―place-based.‖ This category encompasses a number of nuanced varieties, including states

(160 IOWA (MOH)), cities (398 BIRMINGHAM (ShenH)), and regions (176 NEW ENGLAND

(MOH); 432B HUDSON VALLEY (ShenH)). Many tunes bear namesakes referencing natural features and phenomena, such as bodies of water (110 PACIFIC (NorH), 78b ALLEGHENY (TPT)), climate (22 VERMONT SUMMER (NorH)), and weather (26 RESULTANT WINDS (NorumH)). Place names honoring scriptural locations, events, and figures are also common, such as 27 GOLGOTHA

(TPT), 107 EMMAUS (GeoH), and 157 RULERS OF SODOM (TPT).

Many tune names honor locations and locales of particular significance to the fasola and

Sacred Harp traditions. Among these are 170 CARROLLTON (TPT), named for the Georgia municipality in which the Sacred Harp Publishing Company is based, 83t BREMEN (TPT), an homage to the hometown of long-time Sacred Harp Publishing Company president Hugh

McGraw, and 184t ANNISTON (TPT), named after the Alabama residence of and dedicated to Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard, who were faithful fasola singers and supporters of the Sacred Harp

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revival. 446t OKEFENOKEE (ShenH) pays tribute to the swampy region which straddles the

Florida-Georgia border, and which is home to the Lee family, noted preservers of a distinct strain of Cooper Sacred Harp tradition. Some tune names are in homage to significant places in the histories of other subsets of fasola practice, such as 208 ILA, 26 ANDREWS CHAPEL, and 211

WILSON‘S CHAPEL, all from The Georgian Harmony and all of which celebrate locales that played a role in the development of that book. As the shape-note tradition has spread outside of its historic cradle of the upcountry Southern United States, this new geographic disposition is reflected in the naming of tunes as well. Examples include 112 ALASKA (TPT), 248 BOSNIA

(NorumH), and 123 CHMIELNO (TPT).

The books also include references to places far afield from the region of focus, such as

110 PACIFIC in Northern Harmony; 176 NEW ENGLAND and 127 BOULDER in The Missouri

Harmony, 2005 edition; 212 BIRMINGHAM and 258 BEESTON in The Norumbega Harmony; 443b

12 DAYTON and 169 OKEFENOKEE in The Shenandoah Harmony; and 16 BOSTON COMMON and

150 WEST BOSTON in The Georgian Harmony. Upon closer inspection, these geographically incongruous tune titles highlight the highly interpersonal nature and dispersed disposition of the modern fasola tradition. For instance, BIRMINGHAM and BEESTON were composed in honor of two locations in the United Kingdom, where Norumbega Harmony singers had assisted in facilitating fasola singings; OKEFENOKEE was composed jointly by two Midwestern singers, Judy

Hauff and John Bayer (both of whom are prolific fasola composers who have contributed to multiple collections), and could conceivably have been a nod to the Lee family generally, or as a specific reciprocity of David Lee‘s contribution of the tune MARTHASVILLE to the 2005 edition of The Missouri Harmony.

12 The Okefenokee Swamp is located on the border of Florida and Georgia, and is most commonly identified with the Lee Family of Cooper Book singers, who traditionally made their home around Hoboken, Georgia.

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Many tunes honor influential individuals from the fasola community. Composers in the shape-note tradition have used tunes to pay homage to both peers and predecessors. For instance,

Hamrick includes his tune 216 WALKER in The Georgian Harmony as an homage to the notable

19th century composer-collector-compiler William Walker. Tunes honoring contemporary singers are common, both for traditional fasola singers and singing families as well as revivalists.

Some examples of the former category include 51t IVEY (TPT) (dedicated ―to the memory of

Marie Ivey,‖ a member of a widely noted northern Alabama singing family) and 403 BOWEN

(ShenH), in honor of a longtime Georgia singer, while some examples of tunes honoring revivalists include 175 HAUFF (MOH05) and 406 MARCIA (ShenH), both honoring Midwestern singers. This facet of the tradition also reflects the strong interpersonal relationships formed within the shape note community. An excellent illustration of these friendships between singers is seen in The Trumpet, which features a tune, 36 MALONE, composed by R.L. Vaughn, as well as 41 VAUGHN, composed by Tom Malone.

While the categories of tune titles are well-attested in the historical repertoire, and while the modern titling trends largely remain within those categories, there has been some innovation on the part of the contemporary composers when it comes to titling their work. For instance,

414b SIXTY-FIVE SOUTH (ShenH) represents a geographical or place-baced reference, albeit in referring to the modern highway system—infrastructure which obviously did not exist at the time of the 19th Century composer-compilers. A number of the tunes are self-referential. 262

NORUMBEGA (NorumH) shares a name with the group of singers for whom it was written, as well as with the collection that contains it. Two new hymns contained in The Missouri Harmony

(2005) honor that collection: 155 MISSOURI HARP, and 121 WINGS OF SONG, named for the non-

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profit organization set up to process the peripheral legal and business matters associated with publishing, printing, and selling a book.

Text preferences

While the existence of a thriving community of fasola composers and the inclusion of new repertoire in modern tunebooks illustrate that contemporary shape note singers are eager to sing contemporary repertoire, the community tends to take a very conservative approach with regard to text selection. The modern fasola output demonstrates a clear preference for metrical hymnody, with most of the new repertoire employing texts from historical sources, particularly favoring the poetry of the Evangelical poets of the 18th century. The Trumpet illustrates this proclivity very clearly: while 173 of the publication‘s 180 tunes are contemporary compositions, nine of the 11 most popular text authors (representing some 79 total texts) were active before the year 1800. The poetry of Isaac Watts alone accounts for 46 of the texts found in The Trumpet. In

The Norumbega Harmony, of the 30 instances of contemporary musical repertoire, 28 of the texts are more than a century old, and of those, 25 predate 1800. A similar preference for the poetry of Watts is shown here, with his work accounting for 14 of the texts paired with the new repertoire.

One aspect of text selection among the contemporary tunebooks, which at once follows fasola convention and at the same time stands in contrast to denominational hymnody, is the inclusion of multiple settings of the same text material.13 While a given denominational hymnal may have the same text set to two different tunes, it is rare to see the same text included more than twice in a given hymnal. This constraint apparently does not exist for shape note tunebooks.

13 I say ―text material‖ here to include the camp meeting-influenced aspect of fasola tradition that involves the free remixing of multiple partial or whole texts. An example of this is the combination of ―Come, thou fount‖ alloyed with multiple distinct chorus texts (including ―Lord, revive us…,‖ ―I will rise and go to Jesus…,‖ and ―There is rest for the weary…,‖ among others) in the Sacred Harp traditions.

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The Trumpet, for instance, includes four distinct settings of the 19th century text ―Come, thou fount of ev‘ry blessing.‖ ―Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound‖ and ―The God of glory sends his summons forth‖ each appear in three forms in The Shenandoah Harmony; even The Georgian

Harmony, the works of only a single composer, includes three distinct settings of ―From all that dwell below the skies.‖

In addition, it is uncommon for new musical settings of well-known and well-loved texts to appear in denominational hymnals. At some critical point of notoriety, a tune and text seem to become unseparably married, with John Newton‘s iconic ―Amazing grace, how sweet the sound‖ immediately springing to mind. Although this tune is arguably as well known (and well-loved) in fasola circles as it is in denominational worship,14 its stature does not preclude contemporary composers from trying their own hand at a setting. Consequently, two new tunes are paired with this venerable text in The Trumpet alone.

Furthermore, the texts are largely (though not exclusively) religious in character, standing in contrast to the contemporary shape note singing community, which includes many non- practicing and irreligious individuals. There are examples of secular texts, for instance, 22

VERMONT SUMMER (NorH), which is a narrative of the activities of a rural New England farmer in the summertime.15 This text would not seem out of place if it were situated in a 19th century tunebook, where a handful of secular texts (often with patriotic or naturalistic theming) could be found. Similarly, some collections offer bilingual texts (e.g. 430 FRETA (ShenH)) or texts

14 Not only does the tune (and, by extension, the pairing of tune and text) have a shape note/Early American provenance, but it enjoys incredible popularity in the modern fasola community. According to Fasola.org, 45t NEW th BRITAIN—which is the name of the tune in shape note spheres—is the 6 most commonly led song in the period from 1995 to 2017.

15 This piece is also notable for giving an example of a contemporary text. The text was written by the composer of the music, Andrew Christiansen. This seems to be a common scenario; typically, when modern texts are included, they also are the composer‘s work. Many other examples of this can be found, particularly in The Trumpet (e.g. 17, 23, 33b, 78t, 98, etc.).

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entirely in another language than English (e.g. 47 OKÓLNIK (TPT)). While such a linguistic choice may be perceived as novelty in a music with such deep Appalachian roots, there are multiple historical examples of monolingual German fasola tunebooks as well as bilingual

German-English collections, intended for use by the German speaking Christian communities in

Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Examples of such collections include H.C. Eyer‘s

Die Union Choral Harmonie (1833) and T.R. Weber‘s Die Pennsylvänische Chorale Harmonie

(1844), among others. Carrying on in the same spirit, the contemporary examples also exist to appeal to specific communities (in the case of the examples above, for the burgeoning shape note community in Poland).

On the other hand, a handful of texts, both secular and sacred, have begun to push the envelope of acceptable texts. For instance, 139 DIDACHE (TPT) by Phil Summerlin is a setting of the first century religious treatise of the same name, standing in contrast to the output of the 18th century Evangelical poets or the 19th century camp meeting songs and refrains that more frequently characterize traditional fasola texts. In the secular realm, texts such as Dylan

Thomas‘s ―Do not go gentle into that good night,‖ set by Larry Gordon and discussed earlier, would similarly stand out, even in a 20th century revision (or, indeed, a 21st century revision) of the Sacred Harp due to its considerable departure from the embrace of death as a crucial component of the salvific process which pervades the fasola repertoire and traditional Christian theology.

Amount of textual material printed in the book

Other innovations and departures from convention seemingly stem from unconscious adaptations to shifts in usage, based either on the absence of a historical need or the on the presence of a novel contemporary demand. An example of this is in the inclusion of more verses to texts. Historically, tunebook compilers assumed a greater degree of self-sufficiency and a

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more intimate familiarity with the music and texts on the part of the singer. For instance, in the original 1820 edition of The Missouri Harmony, Allen Carden includes only a single verse of

Nahum Tate‘s popular text, ―While shepherds watched their flocks by night‖ to be sung to the tune SHERBURNE. Furthermore, the text was presumed to be familiar enough to singers that the text declamation was taken for granted as being understood implicitly, and Carden omits a significant amount of textual material from the fuging section of the tune. Although at first glance this may appear to indicate that fasola singers of times gone by sang fewer verses of songs, the more likely explanation is that the 19th century singers would have been accustomed to a situation in which singers had both a tunebook as well as a hymnal.

Dating to the earliest days of the Reformation, the practice of having a book with a repository of tunes and a separate book containing a repository of texts (to be paired at will, often extemporaneously, by the books‘ user) is at the foundation of fasola music‘s prehistory. A concrete illustration of this situation can be found in the coordinated use of the Bay Psalm Book and Ravenscroft‘s Psalter in the earliest Anglo-American worship services. The practice is still living among certain subsets of traditional Sacred Harp singers, such as by certain Primitive

Baptists in south Georgia and elsewhere who still use the text-only Lloyd‘s Primitive Hymns in their services—the contents of which are typically married to commonly known shape note tunes. The absence of these stand-alone textual repositories in most contemporary fasola contexts has precipitated the inclusion of additional verses and texts in contemporary shape-note tunebooks, either in the whitespace on the page below the musical repertoire in some cases, or in appendices at the end of the book in others.

Historical versus contemporary repertoire in the new tunebooks

As pointed out in a previous chapter, a blend of pre-existing musical content alongside new repertoire was expected by potential users of a new tunebook. This trend is maintained in

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the fasola tunebook publishing revival. With the exception of The Georgian Harmony and The

Trumpet, both of which had particular focuses on contemporary shape note music, all of the tunebooks in this study contain a considerably higher number of historical tunes compared to contemporary tunes.16 Although some of the historical repertoire is common to more than one contemporary tunebook, the new books very seldom duplicate repertoire composed by living composers.17 This represents a marked departure from the standard practice of the 19th century fasola community, where the works of living composers were shared quite freely between collections. The motivations of the contemporary compilers in eschewing this aspect of traditional fasola tunebook compilation are not entirely apparent, although a leading factor is likely to be the drastic differences in the understanding and enforcement of intellectual property law in the 19th century compared with the present.

Table 5-1. Historical versus contemporary repertoire in the case study tunebooks. Tunebook Ratio, Historical to contemporary tunes Expressed as percent Sacred Harp 520:34 94 / 6 (1991 Denson)18 NorH 49:6 89 / 11 NorumH 106:30 78 / 22 MOH05 144:36 80 / 20 ShenH 406:62 87 / 13 GeoH 0:188 0 / 100 A Deeper Stylistic Interrogation of the Contemporary Repertoire

Regardless of the region of origin, the compilers of all the new tunebooks display a devotion to the music‘s historical underpinnings and peripheral traditions far exceeding rhetorical posturing. The books holistically engage with and largely replicate the pattern of their

16 ―Contemporary‖ here is referring to tunes composed after the beginning of the fasola revival ca. 1970.

17 One such instance is Raymond Hamrick‘s tune LLOYD, originally published in the Denson Sacred Harp, but duplicated in The Georgian Harmony, seeing as that collection contains Hamrick‘s complete output. Another such case is FRETA, originally published in the second issue of the electronic-only publication The Trumpet in June of 2011, but printed in The Shenandoah Harmony the following year.

18 Included for the sake of comparison.

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historical forebears. The newly composed repertoire is an immediately obvious example of this point; the composers of the new tunes in the contemporary collections are clearly conscious of the musical elements and idioms used in historical fasola repertoire, and make a conscious effort to innovate within the historically attested musical framework. The composers whose works are represented in the publication renaissance tunebooks are all fasola singers, actively engaged with the broader shape-note community. This involvement has fostered an intuition within these composers of the core characteristics of the traditional fasola style. Accordingly, their output maintains the historical sine qua non elements of the style such as melodic independence of voice parts, a main melodic interest situated in the tenor voice, a fondness for perfect harmonies and parallelism, and a preference for the texts of the Evangelical Poets, and of Isaac Watts in particular.19 However, the editors continue to proudly describe the ―[stylistic] departures from, or perhaps we should say extensions of, the tradition,‖ listing characteristics such as a fonder embrace of dissonance and other modern harmonic language like seventh chords, alongside the exploration of a broader realm of textual material, such as texts with a naturalistic or environmentalist bent and the poetry of Emily Dickinson.20

Not all of the contemporary compilers take such a bold approach with regard to their stylistic innovations. Raymond Hamrick, for instance, speaks in vaguely apologetic tones. On page 85 of The Georgian Harmony, Hamrick includes a brief excerpt from a letter to J.P.

Karlsberg, saying ―[a] great deal of what I have written has been in what I considered the Sacred

Harp style. Yet, some of my tunes are not at all in that framework. I don‘t know precisely where

19 Northern Harmony (4th ed.), xi.

20 Northern Harmony (4th ed.), xi.

The editors also mention a collection in production by Neely Bruce, which is to be ―a whole book of shape-note settings of Emily Dickinson.‖ It is not clear if this collection was completed or published.

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it belongs but I suspect some errant little aspects of other styles have crept in. I‘ve never tried composing in any other style.‖ In spite of his status as a virtually life-long Sacred Harp singer,

Mr. Hamrick unfortunately still apparently had reservations about his own intuition and ability to authentically compose in the Sacred Harp style. This ties into a larger myth (which, though it still persists, seems to have weakened more recently): the conception of a monolithic ―Fasola style.‖

This understanding of the music as static and hidebound contrasts with the music‘s history¸ which suggests continual evolution re-adaptations as the music has transited from place to place and cultural moment to cultural moment.

To look over the full historical landscape of fasola music is to see this remarkable plasticity in action. After the music‘s incubation in the late 18th century New England singing school, the music migrated southward and shifted from a four-part idiom to a dyadic, folk- influenced three-part idiom in the early years of the 1800s as it filtered into the Mid-Atlantic states. Trickling into South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia by the 1830s and 1840s, the influences of the exploding Second Great Awakening made their mark on the music, resulting in an influence of Camp Meeting pieces, featuring texts and tunes with repetitive, easy to remember content and structures. The character of the music changed again when Wilson M. Cooper composed alto lines for a considerable number of tunes, initiating a trend that would result in the tradition again becoming a thoroughly four-part idiom before the century was out, in each of the various sub-traditions of the Sacred Harp tunebook. Even in the pre-dawn of the fasola revival, elements of outside influences foreign to traditional fasola style were admitted to the book. An excellent illustration of this is found in 454 THE BETTER LAND, a tune by the prolific Alabama composer O.A. Parris. Composed in the 1930s, the most striking characteristic of the tune is a b7 passing tone in the alto line, effecting an unusually chromatic and very Gospel-style evoking I -

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V7/IV - IV harmonic motion (ex. 5-1). Clearly this instance of innovation inspired by outside influences was not a disqualifier from inclusion, as the tune has survived several revisions of the

Denson book, and currently enjoys the position as the 22nd most commonly called song in that book, placing it in the top 4% of most popular tunes.21

The hallmark of the contemporary tradition seems to follow this ethos of conservative innovation. This seems to be achieved mostly through novel recombinations of old musical materials; for instance, a prime illustration is in the re-emergence of three-part tunes. Many of the new books contain contemporary compositions written in a three-voice idiom, a trend that had been declining in favor in the fasola tradition since the early 20th century flurry of alto lines additions. This trend from three-part music to four-part music can be seen to develop over time within the tradition, and is realized to different extents in different collections. Both the early

New England collections as well as The Georgian Harmony are overwhelmingly four-part collections. However, other, later collections depart from this idiom, featuring many three-part tunes in the cases of The Missouri Harmony, The Shenandoah Harmony and The Trumpet (and in the latter two instances, even a number of examples of two-part tunes).

The New England collections, and especially The Norumbega Harmony, include tunes that employ the harmonic and melodic minor scales. This could be understood as a sort of regional historicism: a number of the early New England singing school masters employed these pitch-altering conventions borrowed from the Western art music tradition. However, these modal alterations largely did not survive the southward migration of the music, instead being supplanted by either the natural minor, the dorian mode, or both. This too, then, could be

21 Singings from 1995-2017 as reported to the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, available at https://fasola.org/minutes/stats/

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considered as a further assertion by the New Englanders for their rightful claim to a portion of the shape-note heritage, insofar as reviving compositional techniques unique to and historically attested within their own section of fasola tradition, but not typically characteristic of Southern fasola style.

The greatest experimental latitude has apparently been taken in the framework of the fuging tune, perhaps due to its distinctiveness compared to mainstream hymnody and other forms of music making, and its status as a more challenging genre than the plain tune, but as generally a more accessible genre than the lengthier anthem. Compositional originality is achieved largely through the novel recombination of familiar musical elements and by the use of previously common stylistic choices that fell out of mainstream fasola practice. Although composers are beginning to manipulate the complexity of their compositions, innovation largely stays within historically attested bounds. For instance, none of the new compositions examined were in an asymmetrical meter (e.g., 5/4, 7/8, etc.). None of the new tunes expand on the number of voice parts to five or more, though some experiment with less common but historically-founded three- and two-voice tunes, as discussed in further detail below. Harmonically, most tunes are very conservative, sticking to a diatonic idiom in most cases, but never departing beyond the most rudimentary chromatic harmony (e.g., simple borrowed chords such as V/V or raised leading tones in some minor mode tunes) in even the most experimental tunes.

One of the most common departures from 20th century fasola convention in the new compositions is the adoption of a three-voice-part idiom. After the shift from a predominantly three-part to a predominantly four-part idiom was completely realized in the early 20th century, the composition of three-part tunes apparently ceased altogether.22 However, composers have

22 It should be pointed out again that due to the traditional spatial arrangement of singers in the Sacred Harp tradition of fasola singing, four-parted fuging tunes work very nearly for moving by section around the hollow square.

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recently begun to experiment with the older imitative idiom in three-part tunes as evinced in 84

PAGE STREET from The Trumpet, shown below. Composers have also experimented with historically unattested but musically accessible innovations, such as fuging tunes in a triple meter—a combination of features that is not seemingly attested in the historical repertoire. An example of this is Steve Helwig‘s 118 PLAC UNII LUBELSKIEJ, also from The Trumpet (ex. 5-2).

Some composers of fuging tunes have incorporated aspects from art music fugues. For instance, 239 EV‘RY STRING AWAKE in The Norumbega Harmony abides by the Common

Practice convention of alternating between entries stated at the tonic and at the dominant—a stricture not commonly observed in traditional fasola fuging tunes. Some composers have experimented with more complex fuging tunes, with, for instance, tunes featuring multiple fuging sections with independent fugue subjects, in effect creating a double fugue. The tune 246

ARINELLO in The Norumbega Harmony is an example of such a more complex fuging tune (ex.

5-3).

Other composers have manipulated the direction in which the fugue‘s imitative subject moves from voice part to voice part around the ―hollow square.‖ Compared to the most common traditional pattern of bass to tenor to alto (when included) to treble, Robert L. Vaughn‘s tune 36

MALONE from The Trumpet features the reverse, where the fuging subject begins in the bass before moving to the treble, then alto, then finally tenor, causing the leader to rotate counterclockwise (from above) around the square, compared to the traditional clockwise motion

(ex. 5-4).

However, this innovation clearly came some time after the initial establishment of the tradition, as early editions of the book featured three-part fuging tunes (see, for instance, 163 MORNING, 209 EVENING SHADE, and 306 OXFORD in the 1859 edition).

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Another path of experimentation comes under the guise of subverting formal expectations. While the traditional fuging tune comprises a homophonic A section of about 8 measures and a fuging B section that is customarily repeated, contemporary shape note composers. 84 PAGE STREET above is an example of experimentation in this regard, with imitative interest between voice parts in the latter half of the A section, and a repeated homophonic B section [not shown above]. In another illustration, 86 LEXINGTON from the same collection basically follows the traditional formal paradigm of the fuging tune, but in the same vein as the complex double fuging subjects above, finds musical novelty through an increased intricacy, with nested repeating sections within the repeated B section (ex. 5-5).

Revision and Re-edition Processes

Since the genesis of tunebook publication renaissance nearly 40 years ago, a couple of the books in the study have developed cycles of edition, revision, and re-edition has developed with some of the books in this study, suggesting a parallel with many successful 19th century tunebooks; such collections include books like the Harmonia Sacra and the various editions of the Sacred Harp, each of which have enjoyed continual revision and re-edition processes from their 19th century origins to the present. In the same pattern as their musical forebears, most of the collections in this case study have been released in several editions. The first-fruit of the renaissance, Northern Harmony, has enjoyed five distinct editions. Following in the 19th century revision paradigm, subsequent editions of the tunebook have included error corrections and an expanded repertoire. This continual expansion of the book‘s musical offerings causes Northern

Harmony to most resemble the trends of 19th century fasola tunebook re-edition in this regard.

In most other cases in this study, new editions of books have been released for more practical reasons. For instance, The Georgian Harmony was originally published in a spiral- bound edition. Experienced fasola singer Raymond Hamrick would surely have realized that

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such a construction would not be able to endure the physical demands of a typical shape-note tunebook for long. The first edition was obviously something of a dry-run, allowing Hamrick and his associates to correct or alter the book‘s contents (such as by changing a voice part or adding an alto to a tune), while avoiding a considerable outlay of cost at the project‘s outset. For the most part, the new tunebooks have not followed the same pattern of continual revision and re- edition as the 19th century books. For instance, since its release in 2005, the Wings of Song edition of the Missouri Harmony has not been revised or expanded, and it does not appear that there are currently plans to do so. There is no apparent explanation for this divergence from historical convention among the new tunebooks, though it may simply be due to the still- fledgling and emergent state of the tunebook publication renaissance.

Indices

The indices included in the tunebooks of this study are diverse with regard to how extensive they are from one collection to the next. In some, they are quite spartan. For instance, each edition of The Trumpet included only the tune title and page number of the repertoire included in that particular issue. The Georgian Harmony is similarly austere, including only an index of first lines and a ―General Index‖ sorted by tune name.23 The indices included in The

Norumbega Harmony represents a middle-of-the-road approach, offering a scriptural and thematic index, a metrical index, indices sorted by names of composers and authors, an index of first lines, and an index of tune names. The most extensive indices are to be found in the

Shenandoah Harmony. While the print edition includes an index of sources and composers, an index of first lines, and an index of tune names, the digital edition includes even more extensive indices, including a chronological index of tunes and texts.

23 Incidentally, these are the same indices included in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp.

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Compared to the historical conventions of fasola tunebook publication, to include the pre-tunebook renaissance 20th century tunebooks, the collections in the case study generally include much more comprehensive indexical resources. Particularly in the case of extensively researched collections, such as The Norumbega Harmony and The Shenandoah Harmony, the extensive historically-motivated indices again reflect the scholarly bent of the contemporary revival . The types of indices included also point to a subtle, but fundamental, shift in the way the tunebook is intended to be used. Many of the 19th century tunebooks, far from rigorous in their composer and author attributions, did not commonly include indices for these fields. Overall, the contemporary editorial committees are much more diligent about both researching the correct attributions, as well as documenting these attributions in indices. On the other hand, one formerly ubiquitous type of index now conspicuously absent from most contemporary tunebooks is the metrical index. Its disappearance is a testament to the natural winnowing process within musical practices over the course of time: modern fasola singers seldom have use for a metrical index, because unlike their musical forebears, they do not view texts and tunes to be independent units to be paired at will.

Motivations Driving the Compilation of the New Collections

The impetus that compelled the production of the tunebooks of the fasola compilation renaissance are manifold, but there some overarching patterns emerge. Nearly all of the tunebooks exhibit traits of one (if not several) of the following focuses. The most evident motivation is the attraction to the historical aspect of the music. Among the case study collection, this is most salient in, for instance, The Missouri Harmony, which revived a long-dormant tunebook lineage. This historical inclination is evident in virtually all of the other case study collections as well, in broadly historical collections like the 2018 American Harmony, as well as other ―revival‖ editions similar to the Missouri Harmony case, such as the 2005 reprinting of

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Jeremiah Ingalls‘s Christian Harmony (1805).24 Often times, the musical history of a particular region or individual—such as Ananias Davisson in The Shenandoah Harmony or Supply Belcher in The Norumbega Harmony, discussed below—is set up as a central figure in the books.

The tunebooks‘ titles also reveal that the creation or promotion of regional, local, or broadly geographical identities has played a central role in the production of these collections.

As with Northern Harmony and The Norumbega Harmony, many of the titles of the renaissance refer to both a specific region/locale as well as to an eponymous group of singers. Another example from the tunebook catalogue is Tim Eriksen‘s New Northampton Collection of Sacred and Secular Harmony, 25 used by the singers of Northampton Harmony. Examples of tunebooks following this naming paradigm abound, though most do not have a relation to a fixed group of singers bearing the same name. Some other examples of the ―[Locale] Harmony‖ naming formula include Champlain Harmony, Wisconsin Harmony, and Keystone Harmony, among others. In addition to reflecting the geographical motivations, the well-attested use of this titling paradigm among the 19th century collections also underscores the historical inclinations of the shape note community.

This style of nomenclature reveals the desire to make shape note repertoire from a certain region available to contemporary singers. The Missouri Harmony, for instance, was also driven by the desire to feature the historical fasola music of the Midwest. The publication of these books was crucial for the dissemination of the repertoire, especially in the time period when the aforementioned collections were published. While the fasola enthusiast of 2018 has access to several dozens of facsimiles of nineteenth century tunebooks, available free of charge for

24 Interestingly, the reprint is in fasola notation although the original was in standard round-note typesetting. In spite of this difference, the music largely adheres to the stylistic conventions of the singing school composers.

25 Timothy Eriksen, New Northampton Collection of Sacred and Secular Harmony, (Northampton, MA: Northampton Harmony, 1993).

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perusal, download, and printing, such resources of course did not exist in the 1980s and 1990s.

At the beginning of the fasola revival, many of the 19th century tunebooks existed in only a handful of copies, available only at select libraries and from a very few number of personal collections. Facsimile reprints intended for scholarly research emerged and slowly filtered outward into the hands of enthusiasts, as well as into the hands of many later 20th century scholars who themselves were active in compiling new collections. This process injected a tremendous amount of unfamiliar historical repertoire into the fasola singing community, serving to refresh, reinvigorate, and expand contemporary practice.

Indeed, many of the case study collections have their roots in exactly this aim: disseminating this ―new‖ historical music. This focus in turn points to perhaps the urge that most fundamentally undergirding the tunebook publication renaissance: the power of the tunebook as a creative outlet, and as a novel-but-historically-grounded way of interacting with the music. As the shape note revival gained momentum over the latter half of the 20th Century and as revivalist singers became more fluent with the fasola idiom, an impulse to interact with the music on a level beyond performance, and resulting in the composition, collection, compilation, and publication of new musical material—―new‖ meaning both newly composed repertoire as well as newly rediscovered historical repertoire. The significance of the compilational aspect (as well as the nuances of the term ―composition‖ in the fasola tradition) is fleshed out further in Chapter 6.

The tunebooks reflect the nature of the fasola tradition as intrinsically social. Because most of the singing a singer does is within a reasonably travelled distance from their home, their interactions with largely be with other singers living in their area or region. Due to the diverse nature of contemporary shape note singers, a common geographical identity may be one of the few elements shared by all of the members of a singing community. It follows, then, that this was

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a principal motivation in such collections as The Shenandoah Harmony, Northern Harmony, and

The Norumbega Harmony, all of which are the products of communities formed around fasola singing. The assertion of a sense of place is often subtly but persistently reinforced in the books‘ repertoires, as many of the tunes‘ titles are taken from places in the physical world. As a result, the repertoires take on another character as a sort of musical atlas of the environment in which they were created.

Given the well-documented phenomenon of community formation that frequently accompanies fasola singing and the creation of senses of place that has accompanied the fasola revival in recent decades, the prevalence of the theme of place as manifest in the new collections is not unexpected. The confluence of these several motivations imbue the respective tunebooks with distinctive characteristics, each reflecting the cultural and social terroir of the books‘ origins. Accordingly, the books take on an additional meaning as physical manifestations of traditions, communities, and relationships—they function, as Davis puts it, as ―monuments.‖26

A further means through which the ends of commemoration and self-documentation are achieved lies in some of the characteristics of the newly composed repertoire. The musical repertoire of a given subset of fasola tradition is largely fixed, due to the central role that sharing a common tunebook plays in the music‘s practice. Until the dawn of the tunebook publication renaissance, the channels through which new repertoire was added to the shape note corpus were few in number. Although there were active composers, such as Raymond Hamrick, who were contributing new pieces to the repertoire in the early- and mid-20th century, these composers evidently did not endeavor to publish their new music outside of the established channels (that is, except as part of a new edition of one of the existing tunebook traditions, such as the Denson or

26 Davis, Beyond Revival, 139.

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Cooper Sacred Harp revisions). Thus, as Davis points out, the publication renaissance represents an important and accessible outlet for musical creativity within the fasola tradition.27

Ergonomic factors have played an important role in the development of the new tunebooks. Attempts to cut corners in physical regards, such as the attempts of the Midwestern singers to sing from the 1994 soft-cover edition of The Missouri Harmony, demonstrate why photocopied collections and other softbound editions of fasola music are untenable to sing from on a long-term basis. Allayed with a musical community that prizes the stability of its conventions and traditions, it becomes even more logical that the music would be presented in as permanent a format as possible. Because fasola singing is an intrinsically community-based form of music making, the array of place-based identity markers as encoded in the titles of the books and repertoire is understandable. Given the expenditure of time, energy, and material resources required to produce the printed, hardbound specimens demanded by this tradition, it is understandable that the compilers would want to commemorate the individuals, groups, and places involved in the production of a tunebook.

The new tunebooks also serve as ideological statements. In all of the case studies, the new tunebooks make reference to the broad southern fasola tradition—and often to the Sacred

Harp in particular—but most of the new books also emphasize the role that their own regions played in the development and transmission of fasola music. The New England compilations seem to assert a particular ownership over the music, with the editors of Northern Harmony pointing out that the ―shape-note singing tradition had its roots in the singing school music of early New England.‖28 The historical preface of the book is structured upon this framework, and

27 Davis, Beyond Revival, 91.

28 Northern Harmony (4th ed.), vii.

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this [re-]staked claim is ostensibly used as the starting point for some of the stylistic liberties suggested later in the prefatory matter, such as the suggestions to attempt some of the songs with only men‘s or only women‘s voices, and the broaching of the topic that the early compilers

―seemed often to plead for ‗soft singing,‘‖29 seemingly challenging the suggestion that shape note music must always be sung as strongly as possible. Accordingly, each of these books serve as ideological assertions, with the all of the curatorial, editorial, and pedagogical decisions culminating, intentionally or unintentionally, as statements from the compilers about the music, the tradition, and its orthopraxis.

While today this spectrum of regional tradition is celebrated, at earlier points in the development of the fasola revival, this regionalism was understood in a different and not-always- positive light. As an illustration, at the beginning of the tunebook renaissance in 1980, the various revisions of the Sacred Harp were the irrefutably dominant extant strains of four-shape tunebook traditions. Save for a few, mostly academic reprints of 19th century collections, the

Sacred Harp was one of just a handful of four-shape tunebook still in print and offered for sale.

Following the status quo established by George Pullen Jackson, the Sacred Harp tradition (and the Denson lineage particularly) was given the mantel of final authority with respect to fasola tradition keeping. Accordingly, the early hesitancy and resistance on the part of traditional

Sacred Harp singers to admit new musical contributions by revivalists is understandable.30

However, in this light, the early tunebook publication revival collections—the first book of the publication renaissance, Northern Harmony, perhaps most of all—take on a character of being

29 Northern Harmony (4th ed.), xv.

30 An illustrative example of this is in the pushback to ―outside material‖ seen among the Midwestern revivalists after the initial purging of influences and styles deemed to not be in accordance with southern tradition, including choral-style conducting and vocal style, ultimately ending with some members —including one of the founders— leaving the group. Notably, some two decades after these incidents took place, many of these same individuals would play key roles in the publication of their own regional tunebook, the Missouri Harmony 2005.

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musical declarations of independence. These new regional books all make an appeal to their respective local musical histories, and often do so by celebrating local institutions or individuals crucial to the historical development of fasola music, and these connections are typically reinforced in several layers as the user move through the tunebook. The role that 18th century

New England singing school master-composer Supply Belcher holds in The Norumbega

Harmony illustrates this approach.

The Norumbega Harmony takes a holistic approach to commemorating Belcher‘s artistic contributions to the singing school tradition, most of which were not transmitted to later 19th century collections and had accordingly been mostly forgotten in ensuing fasola practice. 31 The first documentation of this importance that the reader encounters is in the preface, with historical information detailing the role of the New England singing school masters in the development of the styles that laid the foundation for the later fasola tradition.

The content of the repertoire reflects the motivation to extol Supply Belcher‘s contributions to the artform: Belcher is the most prolific composer, with 21 tunes in the book.

The five next most widely represented five composers in the book—Billings (13 pieces), Oliver

Holden (8), Jeremiah Ingalls (6), and a four-way tie at 5 pieces each between one historical and three contemporary composers—are all also of New England origin, further underscoring the

31 Though not necessarily the case with Belcher, as The Norumbega Harmony‘s compilers also celebrate a number of other historical composers from their region, other collections that feature historical composers who are heavily focused on in collections tend to take on something of a metonymic role – functioning as a mascot of sorts, a ―proudest son‖ of the region. An example of this is Ananias Davisson in The Shenandoah Harmony. He is the single most prolifically represented composer in the collection, with 20 tunes credited to his name. The editors‘ choice to focus on Davisson is likely due to his superstar status in the 19th century as compiler of the Kentucky Harmony. Jackson documents this phenomenon of quasi-cult followings surrounding 19th century fasola composer/compilers such as Davisson and William Walker, who both created for themselves and used postnomial devices reflecting their compilations (Davisson used AKH, ―Author, Kentucky Harmony‖ and Walker ASH, ―Author, Southern Harmony.‖ Of Walker, Jackson relates the awe that an elderly singer in the 1930s felt after having the opportunity to hold a tuning fork that had belonged to and been used by Walker. Related phenomena can still be observed in the contemporary fasola community, as traditional singers with ancestors who were involved in the composition or compilation of 19th century collections are still revered for what is viewed as their living link to traditional authority.

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assertion of the importance of the region in the music‘s development. The content is equally notable for what it does not contain: of the 136 compositions, none are the verse-and-chorus style associated with the camp-meeting tradition that came to pervade the southern fasola collections.

This might be understood as a subtle way of asserting the New Englanders‘ historical role as predating the transit of fasola music to Southern Appalachia, as the camp meeting revival did not become a widespread practice until several decades into the 19th century, long after the zenith of

New England singing school activity between 1760 and 1800. Indeed, even certain individual pieces in the repertoire, such as Billings‘ EASTER ANTHEM, seem to entail a subtle assertiveness about the music‘s ownership. EASTER ANTHEM is an example of early New England repertoire that survived the shape-note migration southward. As an illustration, the piece has been found in revisions of the Sacred Harp from the 19th century to the present day, even occupying the same page (236) in each edition; furthermore, it is a piece that continues to enjoy popularity among contemporary singers (the Fasola Minutes relate that 236 EASTER ANTHEM is the 82nd most commonly called tune in the book, placing it in the top 15% of the most frequently sung songs).

However, The Norumbega Harmony does not duplicate the piece exactly as it is found in the southern collections; instead, the included version boasts nearly two pages of musical material not found in the versions in the southern tunebooks, along with indications for dynamics, a rarity in southern fasola practice after the late 19th century.

Other collections have similar figures, groups of individuals, or specific historical tunebooks that fill this same iconic role of linking the present activity to certain historical forebears, such as Davisson in The Shenandoah Harmony; Allen D. Carden and The Missouri

Harmony in the 2005 edition of the same collection; and the cohort of New England singing school masters celebrated in Northern Harmony. Although these new collections all assert their

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own regional identities, they also all pay homage to the role played by both the Sacred Harp tradition—both insofar as its Southern tradition keepers as well as in the tunebook and its institutions itself—in developing and preserving such a unique musical tradition. In almost every case, this is confirmed in so many words in the prefatory matter. 32 However, in staking their own claim to the music, many of the books also advocate for historically-grounded performance practices and styles that are indeed distinct from those found among Southern singers. While these alternatives to Southern practice (and, indeed, the recognition of various independent streams of traditional Southern practice) are now widely recognized and accepted, this was a fairly bold assertion for the early Northern tunebooks to make. Orthopraxis as it relates to the performance of shape-note music has been an issue at the forefront of the minds of singers and singing masters since the tradition began. At the dawn of the fasola revival, Southern Sacred

Harp singers were widely viewed as the ultimate authority, if not the only authority, on the correct way of singing fasola music and as the sole arbiters of fasola tradition. This understanding was so pervasive that, at the earliest points of contact between southern and

32 ―The splendid heritage of Sacred Harp singing in the Deep South is the principal surviving variant of the American singing school. . . . The full-throated, heavily ornamented vocalism of these traditional singings, fused to the fervent faith and lasting fellowship of the singers, makes for a moving and unforgettable encounter.‖ Norumbega Harmony, xviii.

―We have strong ideas about how to sing this music. These feelings are based laregely on familiarity with traditional Sacred Harp singing, both in the South and as it has developed in the last two decades in New England.‖ Northern Harmony, xv.

―Shape-note singing is a living tradition; the best way to learn is to sing with different groups of people. In particular, singing from The Sacred Harp has informed our concept and love of this music. We recommend listening to a variety of recordings, especially from the South, where the music has been sung continuously for almost two hundred years.‖ The Shenandoah Harmony, vii.

The Missouri Harmony has references to the book‘s historical ties to the Sacred Harp ([xi]) as well as to the Sacred Harp tradition‘s influence on contemporary shape note singing in the Midwest ([xxiii], [xxx-xxxi]); The Georgian Harmony includes references to Hamrick‘s affiliations with the Sacred Harp tradition ([v], [vii], [viii]), the relationship to the music in the book to the music of the Sacred Harp ([vii]), and depictions of places from Hamrick‘s home region that have significance within the history of the Sacred Harp tradition ([257-275]).

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northern singers in the 1970s and 1980s, southern singers actively worked to reform the practices of the neophyte northerners to more closely align with their own.

Accordingly, the subtext to the statements found in the early collections of the publication renaissance promoting an alternative way of performing the music must have been striking.33 These early New England collections, then, leveraged their historical regional ties to the music to assert the existence of alternate, but equally justifiable, interpretations of the music.

―The Sacred Harp tradition is the only unbroken link we have with the music of the New

England singing masters,‖ 34 the editors of Northern Harmony‘s 4th edition write. In the same breath, these editors homage to both the Sacred Harp and its role in developing and preserving this musical tradition, while at the same time staking an implied ownership claim to a significant part of the fasola tradition. The New England revivalists also asserted the music‘s historical character as being intrinsically localized and regionalized, being adapted and adjusted to suit the needs and tastes of local singing communities at different cultural moments—an understanding that was not widely held in the fasola revival during the last decades of the 20th century.

As a final remark, it should be noted that there is little to no economic incentive to publishing or contributing to a new fasola tunebook. Composers do not receive royalties; the books are frequently self-published, financed by the compiler(s), and sold virtually at cost, with prices typically ranging between $20 and $30 (all of the tunebooks in this study fall within this

33 ―We think that conductors and singers approaching these early New England tunes should familiarize themselves with this [Southern Sacred Harp] style, at least as a reference point. At the same time we recognize that, like all great music, these songs can probably achieve equal validity through a wide range of singing and performance styles.‖ Northern Harmony, xv.

―Many believe that this Deep South style is the only correct way to perform singing school music. Yet today‘s Sacred Harp singing is but one historical strand of a much larger performance tradition. . . . Such diversity means quite simply that there is no absolute standard of performance practice for singing school music.‖ The Norumbega Harmony, xviii-xix.

34 Northern Harmony (4th ed.), xi.

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range). Unlike the 19th century compilers, whose books represented the potential to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, and in turn to generate a fair amount of revenue, the tunebooks of the fasola publication renaissance are motivated purely by passion, with virtually no financial incentive.

Core Composer Cohort

Of the ways in which contemporary fasola convention departs from 19th century convention, perhaps none is as dramatic an about-face as the desire to eschew the duplication of repertoire between collections. However, in examining the composers who have contributed tunes to the new tunebooks, an interesting pattern emerges: a core cohort of composers have contributed pieces to several of the tunebooks in this study. Within the repertoires of the six tunebooks examined (plus the 1991 Denson revision of the Sacred Harp), seven individuals contributed tunes to at least three of the collections. Of these, three individuals‘ works are represented in four collections, and one individual, Neely Bruce, has tunes in five of the tunebooks. This figure becomes more impressive when considering that one of the case studies,

The Georgian Harmony, features the works of only a single composer and is therefore effectively excluded from this metric.

The existence of this cohort points to several interesting characteristics about the publication renaissance. For one, it serves to further underscore the close relationships and multiple interconnections of the tunebooks renaissance, with a group of individuals whose efforts have a widespread impact on the artform, despite the fact that this collaboration is not necessarily expressly coordinated. The data points to an even more interesting aspect of one of the tunebooks, which is that The Shenandoah Harmony seems to have functioned as something of a confluence point of the fasola renaissance, gather the works of representative individuals from virtually every corner of the shape-note universe.

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Table 5-2. The core cohort of contemporary fasola composers as revealed in the repertoires of the case study collections. Composer Represented in: - NorH NorumH MOH05 ShenH TPT SH91 Neely Bruce

Glen Wright

Bruce Randall

P. Dan Brittain

Hal Kunkel

Judy Hauff

Ted Johnson

Figure 5-1. A physical copy of The Trumpet sitting atop other fasola tunebooks, from the now- defunct SingTheTrumpet.org

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Figure 5-2. Excerpts from Continental Harmony (William Billings, ed., Boston: nd Garrish and Thomas, 1794) (A) and Northern Harmony (2 ed.) (B), depicting their ornate visual flourishes.

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Example 5-1. The measures THE BETTER LAND, depicting the atypically chromatic harmony used by Parris. From the Denson Sacred Harp (1991), p.454.

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Example 5-2. Two conservatively experimental tunes from The Trumpet. At top (A), 84 PAGE STREET, a three part tune, and at bottom, 118 PLAC UNII LUBELSKIEJ, (B) a fuging tune in triple meter.

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Example 5-3. 246 ARINELLO from The Norumbega Harmony, illustrating the double fugue. The first fugue subject is a contour-based imitation between the voices (except the alto entry), moving around the square from bass, to tenor, to treble, to alto. As the altos finish their statement of the first subject, they begin the second fugue. This fugue is rhythmic in nature, and entails discrete subject and answer rhythmic motives. The alto‘s initial statement in the second fugue is answered by the treble voice; the tenor then enters, using the same rhythmic motif of the alto, and the bass answers again, following the established pattern. Furthermore, this second fugue ―unwinds‖ the voice parts around the square by setting them up to enter in the opposite order compared to the first fugue.

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Example 5-4. An excerpt from 36 MALONE (The Trumpet)

depicting the order of voice entries in the fuging

section.

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Example 5-5. 86 LEXINGTON, a formally complex fuging tune from The Trumpet.

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Example 5-6. Excerpts of the same piece, 236 EASTER ANTHEM in the Denson Sacred Harp (A) and (B) 39 AN ANTHEM FOR EASTER in The Norumbega Harmony, demonstrating the expanded content proffered by the latter version of the tune. The commonality ends at ―And triumped o‘er the grave,‖ at the end of the first system above, and at the end of the second system below. The two versions converge again in the middle of the fifth system of the printing in The Norumbega Harmony below. Sacred Harp facsimile courtesy SacredHarpBremen.org.

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CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS

Musical and stylistic diversity, not uniformity, has produced the fairest fruit of the American singing school. Its truest restoration would embrace the glory of its compositions, the diversity of its styles, and the sincerity of its praise in whatever way the people express them.

—Stephen A. Marini Sacred Song in America1

Revelations from the Survey of Singers and Tunebook Catalogue

The six case study collections examined in this investigation paint a picture of a vibrant, diverse-yet-cohesive musical phenomenon. Two additional studies help interpret the case studies: a survey of contemporary singers and a catalog of fasola tunebooks. Though not statistically ironclad or impeccably exhaustive, the survey of singers and tunebook catalogue afford important insights into the current state of shape-note singing. Together, the two provide complementary context about independent facets of contemporary fasola music: the survey reveals dispositions and habits of singers, especially with respect to how they engage with the new collections; the catalogue sheds light on the current publication trends and contextualizes them within the historical framework of the tradition.

The Survey of Singers

Using an online survey utility, a ten-question survey was shared with several of the most active internet communities of fasola singers, including the ―Sacred Harp Friends‖ Facebook group and the ―Fasola‖ Google Group. The survey received responses from almost 350 singers, from across the United States and abroad. An overview of the respondents‘ demographics is given below. The respondents reflect a reasonably diverse cross-section of singers. With regard to age, there are a fair number of respondents from each age range, including eight individuals

1 Marini, Sacred Song in America, 95.

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who reported being 76 years old or older (fig, 6-1A). Most of those responding to the survey had started singing fasola music after the fasola revival had begun and would be classified as revivalist singers according to the typical academic nomenclature; 310 respondents (88.6%) began singing in 1980 or more recently; 281 (80.2%) began singing in 1990 or more recently;

225 (64.2%) began in 2000 or more recently; and 47 (13.4%) have only been singing since 2015 or more recently (fig. 6-1B).

In an open-ended question with an optional text response field, respondents were asked where they began to sing from the Sacred Harp, and in a separate question, were asked where they currently sing Sacred Harp, if different from the previous answer. About 300 singers opted to answer these questions, and their answers were processed so that the respondents could be grouped by region.2 The respondents‘ answers suggest that the southern United States is still the

2 Regions can be difficult to define, and can have multiple definitions from one individual to another, which is why the survey asked the question in an open-ended manner. For the purposes of this study, responses were categorized into region based on the following categorizations:

South: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas.

Mid-Atlantic: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia.

New England: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont.

Midwest: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin

Pacific: Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington

Mountain West: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah

Canada: British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec

Europe: France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, the United Kingdom

Asia/Pacific Rim: Australia, Japan, Singapore

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most common area in which the music is transmitted and practiced, although there are sizable populations of singers across the country and overseas (fig. 6-1C).

From a list of some 20 fasola tunebooks, both historical and contemporary, respondents were asked to indicate which books they personally owned, and which they had sung from at a singing, as well as the frequency with which they sing from collections outside of the Sacred

Harp lineage. The responses indicate that singers most commonly own multiple tunebooks; only

32 respondents (9.2%) reported owning just a single fasola tunebook; 130 (37.5%) reported owning between three and five tunebooks; 88 (25.4%) reported owning between six and ten; 50 individuals (14.4%) reported owning more than 10 discreet fasola tunebooks.

The data also reveal that the surveyed singers have sung from an impressive number of different tunebooks; 284 (81.8%) of respondents reported singing from three or more tunebooks;

185 (53.3%) had sung from five or more tunebooks; 35 singers (10.1%) reported singing from ten or more distinct tunebooks. Furthermore, the majority of respondents have made a habit of singing from books other than the Sacred Harp. When asked to state how frequently they sang from other books, the least common response was ―Never‖ with 31 (9%) responses. Slightly more respondents (65; 18.9%) selected that they ―Rarely‖ sing from other books. The majority of respondents sing from other books either ―Occasionally (twice or more a year)‖ (130 respondents, 37.9%) or ―Frequently (once or more a month)‖ (117 respondents, 34.1%).

Together, the responses indicate that contemporary singers own a multitude of fasola books other than the editions of the Sacred Harp, and furthermore that they are not merely collecting the books as musical curios, but that they are being used for their intended purpose, and that they sing from those books frequently.

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In breaking down which specific books were most widely owned and used, the 1991

Denson edition of the Sacred Harp emerged as the book that virtually all respondents owned

(340; 97.9%) and had used (342; 98.6%). Given the Denson Sacred Harp‘s centrality to the fasola revival, it is expected that it would be the collection encountered most commonly by contemporary singers. The other tunebook that most vigorously survived the century-long fasola lull, the Cooper revision of the Sacred Harp, is the second most common collection among respondents, with 248 (71.5%) owning the book and 273 (78.7%) having sung from it at a singing. Of the five case study selections surveyed,3 each was owned and had been used by more than 10% of respondents. The Shenandoah Harmony, which has received much attention, is the third most commonly used and owned collection among those in the survey. Since its publication in 2012, the book has rapidly perfused the fasola singing community, as 212 (61.1%) of respondents reported owning a copy of the book, and 224 (64.6%) reported that they had used the book at a singing (table 6-1).

Table 6-1. Respondents reporting owning and singing from case study tunebooks.

Tunebook Respondents who own Respondents who have sung from SH91 340 98% 342 99% CoopSH 248 71% 273 79% ShenH 212 61% 224 65% NorH 109 31% 80 23% MOH05 100 29% 91 26% GeoH 76 22% 72 21% NorumH 65 19% 51 15%

The growing prominence of The Shenandoah Harmony is attested in a subtler way, as well. In the majority of cases, more respondents reported owning a given tunebook than having sung from it—suggesting that although many singers are frequently singing from a variety of

3 The Trumpet was omitted from the survey, due its digital nature confounding the question about ownership.

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tunebooks, the ―collector effect‖ is still a factor with the less popular tunebooks, and many fasola singers do buy books that they have not sung from (or have not had the occasion to sing from yet). Just four of the tunebooks in the survey boast more respondents reporting having sung from the book as compared to those who report owning it: the two editions of the Sacred Harp, The

Shenandoah Harmony, and a relatively early collection in the tunebook publication renaissance that has achieved some popularity, An American Christmas Harp.

Within the ratio expressing the disparity between the number of a book‘s users and its number of owners, there is an indicator of ubiquity that is not immediately apparent. Because of the necessity of each singer to have their own tunebook, and due to the ethos of the fasola singing community as inclusive and participatory, organizers of singings will often have several copies of the tunebook(s) being used available to newcomers and visitors. In a handful of cases, more respondents reported singing from a given collection than owning that collection. This fact suggests that more singers have encountered these collections in situations where they sang from the book without owning a copy, and may point to a tipping point of ubiquity. Accordingly, these collections seem to be making strides towards a nearly-universal level of recognition, demonstrating the power of these tunebooks to organically develop a steady footing within the pre-established fasola community, and may imply that the Shenandoah Harmony and Cooper edition of the Sacred Harp have shifted from a more peripheral to a more central position within the fasola community (fig. 6-2).

Broadly speaking, over the latter decades of the 20th century, a dichotomy formed between the new fasola tunebooks and the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp. The Denson Sacred Harp, because of its central role in the fasola revival and the consequent ubiquity that it presently enjoys, can be thought of as a sort of passport: a shape-note singer who owns a copy and is

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familiar with the contents could drop into any Sacred Harp singing in the country (or, indeed, any Sacred Harp singing in the world) and would be able to participate comfortably. The tunebooks of the publication renaissance, in contrast, seem to act more like anchors, being used largely by the singers belonging to the groups for which the compilations were originally intended. As a result, comparatively few fasola singers outside of these group would be exposed to the book or its contents; this element of insider knowledge largely serves to reinforce the capacity of the books as ―musical monuments,‖ shaping and reinforcing the unique identity of the singers‘ group through the use of a given tunebook. However, it seems that in recent years, the Cooper Sacred Harp—and, more surprisingly, The Shenandoah Harmony—have closed the gap and may well have passed the tipping point of ubiquity required to understand them as passport books, as well.

The Tunebook Catalogue

As an ancillary resource to this study, I have compiled a catalogue of 373 discreet editions of more than 130 individual tunebooks. It is largely based on Richard Stanislaw‘s invaluable resource, A Checklist of Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks.4 The catalogue in this study builds on Stanislaw‘s Checklist in several ways. First, this catalogue incorporates the corrections, additions, and deletions that Stanislaw made to the original Checklist into the main catalog entries, whereas Stanislaw originally added this list of errata to the Checklist in the form of an appendix. The new catalogue employs a revised cataloguing system. In the original collection, Stanislaw simply numbered the entries, making it unwieldy to insert newly discovered collections, and leaving holes when items are deleted. Instead, a newly devised system encoding the year that the edition of the entry was published, the initials of the original compiler, and the

4 Richard J. Stanislaw, A Checklist of Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks (New York: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 1978).

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year of the original edition in the format YYYY.XZ.YYYY (e.g., the 1845 edition of William

Walker‘s Southern Harmony, originally published in 1835, has the catalogue number

1845.WW.1835), making it much easier to insert and delete entries, as well as making it easier for researchers to search for editions by the year of publication.5

In addition to inserting a handful of 19th and early 20th century collections that Stanislaw overlooked, this catalogue also incorporates the collections of the tunebook publication renaissance, absent from the Checklist due to the fact that its 1978 publication predates the arrival of the new books, heralded by the publication of Northern Harmony in 1980.

Accordingly, the catalogue appended to this study reflects some 60 editions of more than 30 distinct tunebooks published after 1980 that are absent from Stanislaw‘s compilation.

Every effort was made to ensure thoroughness and accuracy of data, and as many 20th and 21st century fasola collections as have been encountered or found referenced in academic literature are reflected in the catalogue. However, due to the dispersed and highly localized nature of this tradition, both historically and contemporarily, there invariably are collections that have been overlooked. The abbreviated catalogue of only first editions likely contains fewer errors than the full catalogue, but there is surely at least one omission. C.R. Davis gives an anecdote about a contemporary tunebook that illuminates some of the difficulties in this regard that arise from certain aspects of this tradition. The book in question is The American Vocalist, a

5 This system is not without its imperfections. As an illustration, in some instances, the question of where a tunebook begins can be complicated. For instance, although indisputably an organic outgrowth of Benjamin Franklin White‘s original 1844 Sacred Harp, Wilson M. Cooper‘s 1902 edition, though sharing the same title, clearly is distinct enough from the other previous and contemporary editions of the book to merit considering it an independent entity from the original compilation. Some other issues are not nearly as clear cut; for instance, is Paine Denson‘s inaugural 1936 edition of the ―Red Book‖ distinct enough from its predecessor, Joseph S. James‘ 1911 Original Sacred Harp, to justify classifying the two as distinct tunebooks? Should Wings of Song‘s 2005 edition of Missouri Harmony be considered a separate collection from Allen Carden‘s original 1820 edition, even though the 21st century editors endeavored to maintain Carden‘s aesthetic ideals? In these cases, I have relied upon my best judgment, while acknowledging that there are likely multiple defensible solutions to any given one of these issues.

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19th century round-note collection that was edited, typeset in fasola notation, and re-compiled by

Aldo Ceresa. The collection received its inaugural singing in 2010. Of the book‘s publication and dissemination, Davis says, ―no publication company was formed, no ISBN number was registered for the book, and there is no website offering online sales. Copies are still produced at office printing shops and sold by Ceresa directly at conventions. …Ceresa has not actively sought to establish regular singing from The American Vocalist in other locations aside from the

Maine Sacred Harp convention.‖6 Accordingly, it can be very difficult (ostensibly by design, at least in part) to learn of or acquire copies of many of these new tunebooks.

Even with the inevitable errors and omissions contained in the catalogue, it still offers valuable information about the history of fasola publication. The data reflect and confirm what the academic literature has suggested: a meteoric rise in popularity of fasola notation immediately after its invention around 1800; a peak of popularity in the tradition around 1830, followed by a drastic decline and nearly-complete extinction by the end of the 19th Century; a small but vigorous flurry of activity in the early 20th century, followed by a mid-century lull immediately preceding the initially slow but steadily building trend corresponding to the tunebook publication renaissance, beginning around 1980. The trends of both newly published books (i.e., first editions) as well as those of new editions of pre-existing books appear to agree with one another. The latter uptick beginning in the late 20th Century is the most encouraging; the data illustrates that the tunebook publication renaissance has continually gained steam, that the rate at which new collections and editions are being published is increasing decade-over- decade, and that the rate at which new books and editions are being published nearly matches the level of activity of the first decades of the 1800s (fig. 6-3).

6 Davis, Beyond Revival, 132.

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Routine/Retrospective Attitudes as reflected in the Tunebook Publication Renaissance

In Sarah Kahre‘s 2015 dissertation exploring the distinct revision lineages of the Sacred

Harp tunebook and the communities that formed around them, she introduces a particularly useful spectrum for dealing with the attitudes of singers, compilers, and singing school teachers with respect to their conception of the practice of fasola music. At one end of the spectrum, she situates an attitude toward fasola singing that she terms ―routine,‖ and at the other, a

―retrospective‖ attitude. She introduces the concept with a historical illustration and explanation:

In the antebellum period, Sacred Harp singing was primarily routine. More retrospective attitudes began to develop after the Civil War, as evidenced by the, ―Ask for the old paths,‖ paraphrase in the fourth edition [of the Sacred Harp]. Retrospection, and with it the growing diaspora consciousness, was more important to some Sacred Harp singers in the early twentieth century than to others, which produced different stylistic valuesin the three tunebook lines.

For more routine singers, the value of singing Sacred Harp is primarily in the opportunity for fellowship, the act of worship, and/or appreciation of the music itself; nostalgia may play a role, but the connection to one‘s ancestors or a mythical noble past is less likely to be emphasized. Antebellum Sacred Harp singing would have been a primarily ―routine‖ practice, as a form of musical praise and fellowship that often occurred after church services and occasionally in daylong sessions with a connection to the singing school. This is not to say that nostalgia played no role in antebellum singing, but it seems to have been viewed as a much more active and dynamic tradition. The Sacred Harp itself has less symbolic significance to these singers, and as a result, they are more open to change. J. L. White (1847-1925) was probably the most ―routine‖-minded compiler of all, since he was fairly explicit in his intent to introduce modernizing elements into the practice of Sacred Harp while maintaining much of the core repertoire. W. M. Cooper (1850-1916) introduced gospel song, which also suggests a more ―routine‖ attitude, although his intent was likely to make a book that reflected the music that people in his community were singing regularly rather than to push some kind of major reform. Joe S. James (1849-1931) was the quintessential ―retrospective‖ singer, as evidenced by his emphasis on history and tradition.7

7 Sarah Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 6-7.

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With this routine-versus-retrospective paradigm, Kahre constructs a useful framework through which she succinctly compares the editorial and compilational approaches of several early 20th century Sacred Harp tunebooks and how these reflect attitudes along the continuum she proposed (and, by extension, the attitudes of those who sang from those books). Extending the scope of this line of interrogation forward in time to include the fasola revival and tunebook publication renaissance, the concept demonstrates its value anew, and illuminates a dimension of interaction, evolution, and entropy within the contemporary fasola tradition.

Viewed through this lens, the motivations, stances, and decisions of the fasola revivalist groups who have produced the new tunebooks all take on a new light, in which they are more easily understood. In fact, this retrospective-routine continuum, and the way in which the common attitude of fasola singers has shifted over time, provides a paradigm for understanding and contextualizing the 20th century revival. At the outset, beginning with G. P. Jackson‘s investigations in the 1930s, the conception of the music—at least by the outsiders, such as

Jackson and the other academics who would come to be the first proponents of fasola music— was deeply retrospective, with Jackson viewing these fasola folk as a ―lost tonal tribe,‖ seeking through them to find evidence to reinforce a mythologized Anglo-Celtic-American cultural heritage. As the music slowly began to percolate into the fringes of the mainstream in the 1950s and 1960s, and finally took root in New England in the 1970s and the Midwest in the 1980s, attitudes began to shift and diversify. In examining these two groups‘ histories, and especially the tunebooks that the groups would later come to produce, it becomes clear that the differences in practice and philosophy between the New England and Midwestern revivalists largely stem from different positions along the retrospective-routine continuum.

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At the beginning of the Midwestern revival in the mid-1980s, the Midwestern revivalists evinced a strongly retrospective position, seeking out the traditional Southern methods of singing the music and seeking to replicate those practices as closely as possible. This retrospectiveness manifested itself in the self-purification that the group undertook, purging outside influences like art music-influenced conducting styles and stopping the dissemination of repertoire not included in the Sacred Harp, as well as in the devotion to travelling to southern singings and conventions.

On the other hand, the New Englanders evidently adopted a different position. While their attraction to an archaic musical idiom belies a certain degree of retrospectiveness, their approach to performing and interacting with the music was much more routine than the status quo: an approach the New Englanders justified by their historical regional connections to the music.

Perhaps this different approach and attitude contributed to the fact that the New Englanders did not hesitate to produce their first tunebook (Northern Harmony, 1980), viewing their music- making as a more routine process, and as a result, not sensing any good reason to refrain from interacting with and potentially changing the music in such a way. However, perhaps due to a more fundamentally retrospective attitude, the Midwestern revivalists adopted a much more conservative approach to compilation, not releasing their own collection until 25 years after the appearance of Northern Harmony, and even then, resurrecting a dormant regional book rather than beginning a new tunebook tradition ex nihilo as the New England revivalists did.

The other case study tunebooks suggest similarly diverse attitudes on behalf of their respective compilers or editorial committees. The collection that perhaps lies most closely to the routine pole of the spectrum is The Trumpet, fully embracing a modern method of dissemination, featuring slightly more experimental compositional techniques, and promoting contemporary composition. The Georgian Harmony lies somewhere between these poles. The book has some

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considerably routine elements, presumably stemming from its compilers position as a traditional

(or very nearly so) Sacred Harp singer, for whom fasola music had been a constant companion since his youth, compared to many of the other compilers who, as revivalist singers, did not have the same thorough, life-long exposure to the music. The book‘s lack of historical repertoire certainly suggests a routine attitude; even so, certain retrospective elements present themselves in this collection. The illustrations, depicting historical fasola singing locations and sacred spaces in south Georgia, and implying the book‘s link to traditional institutions and individual tradition keepers (i.e., mentions of Sacred Harp and the sketch of Hamrick with Hugh McGraw), all serve to reinforce The Georgian Harmony‘s relationship to the grandes dames of fasola tradition and seem to be a way of asserting the book‘s authenticity.

The question of authenticity, especially as it relates to newly composed fasola repertoire, has been a constant issue among the fasola revivalists. Even Hamrick, after well more than half a century of involvement in the fasola community, seemed to express that he was not fully confident in the legitimacy of his compositions:

A great deal of what I have written has been in what I considered the Sacred Harp style. Yet, some of my tunes are not at all in that framework. I don‘t know precisely where it belongs but I suspect some errant little aspects of other styles have crept in.8

This general concern with purity would seem to indicate a retrospective attitude. For instance, in the flurry of activity in the earliest decades of the fasola tradition, from 1800 through 1830, the composer-compilers such as John Wyeth, the Chapin Brothers, and later Allen Carden and

William Walker did not preoccupy themselves primarily with the historical provenance of their music, but instead sought to create a musical utility to be used in worship and fellowship, demonstrating their view of the music as virtually completely routine. On the other hand, even

8 Hamrick, The Georgian Harmony, 85.

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by the time of Joseph James shortly after the turn of the 20th century, compilers and editorial committees evince a strongly retrospective attitude, manifest in limiting the influence of outside forces and doubling down on the dedication to ―seeking the old paths.‖ The cultural progeny of the James line would share this retrospective disposition—if in a more tempered realization — perhaps precipitating the reticence to admit outside influences into their tradition when the

Sacred Harp first began to spread outside the South in the mid- and late-20th Century.

The deep historical roots of fasola music and its iconic ties to an American past—both real and mythologized—proved engrossing to the outsiders who came to the tradition at the beginning of the folk music stage of the fasola revival. This historical inclination is clearly reflected in the heavily historical character of the tradition‘s repertoires. Combined with the revival‘s foundation resting on the retrospective-inclined Denson Sacred Harp tradition and the general historical inclinations of the neophyte shape-note singers, a retrospective attitude remained prevalent within the broader fasola community for the duration of the 20th century.

However, as the revival has grown, spread, and matured, the prevalent attitude among revivalists as a whole has shifted to include more indicators of a routine attitude, and the practice has become understood in variegated ways, with each tunebook representing discrete points along the retrospective-routine continuum. Perhaps none of the other books in this study, or in the tunebook publication renaissance generally, represent this overall shift toward routineness as clearly as The Shenandoah Harmony. In many ways, the book represents a bridging together of formerly disjointed factions of the fasola revival. In spite of the former frictions that existed between different subsets of the fasola community, The Shenandoah Harmony represents contemporary composers from several different 20th century traditions gathered together in the same collection. Representative examples from Denson lineage tradition keepers, such as those

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from Sand Mountain, Alabama, are found alongside contributions from traditional Cooper book singers from Hoboken, Georgia. The repertoire reflects pieces from individuals at the center of both the New England and Midwestern revivals, at least one tune representing each of the seven members of the ―core cohort‖ of contemporary fasola composers discussed in Chapter 5, and compositions from foreign fasola composers, reflecting the now-international status of the tradition.

A musical practice so fundamentally attached to history and tradition will invariably entail some retrospective elements. The Shenandoah Harmony reflects this on a global level in the book‘s original intent to be a celebration of the compositions of Ananias Davisson. On a more practical level, this retrospectiveness is embodied in the meticulous citation of the sources from which the book‘s historical repertoire was drawn. Even so, the diversity of sources from which the repertoire was sourced represents a major shift toward a more routine attitude, demonstrating the reanimation of a long-dormant pathway of creative expression. The widespread adoption of The Shenandoah Harmony, as indicated by the survey of singers, drives home this routine perspective. That a tunebook compiled less than a decade ago has penetrated the fasola community almost as widely as the century-old Cooper book tradition underscores the resurgence of a routine attitude in the fasola zeitgeist.

The Tunebook Publication Renaissance as the final stage of the fasola revival

The full reanimation of the tunebook production cycle signals represents the final stage of maturity of the shape note revival. Of the manifold networks, practices, and institutions of the

19th century fasola tradition, the tunebook publication renaissance represents the reanimation of one of the final dormant aspect of the 19th century fasola creative cycle. Many of the historic institutions of the shape-note tradition had been blossoming since Jackson began his work in the

1930, including the revival of historically- and traditionally-informed ways of singing the music,

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the formation of both localized and dispersed fasola communities, the employment of historically-patterned pedagogical methods such as the singing school, and more. Even so, one element of the tradition‘s character stood drastically apart from the state of the art in the 19th

Century: the 20th century revival was dominated by the near-monoculture of a single tunebook tradition. The vigorous production of new tunebooks and the development of a vast diversity of tunebook traditions characteristic of the 19th century fasola tradition had not at all recovered from the onslaught of outside influences in the years following the American Civil War.

However, in 1980, that tide began to turn, and as a result, the production cycle of tunebooks in the contemporary fasola tradition now resembles its 19th century pattern more closely than it has in more than a century. One of the clearest symptoms of this is the interconnectedness of the various books‘ compilers and contributors, and consequently in the cultural crosspollination between collections. As the 19th century singing school masters intended their books as vehicles for worship, so too do modern compilers pour a deep emotional investment into the music, and use it as a conduit of emotional expression. Take, for instance, the tune SANDY HOOK, or the collection September Psalms, which was published in response to the attacks of September 11; both of these events deeply impacted American society, and the fact that fasola music was an immediate place of emotional refuge in both cases is deeply telling. The tunebooks have rediscovered a diversity of use and utility; Duncan Vinson‘s Liturgical Harp is a fasola tunebook suited to use by liturgical worship communities and traditions (a sharp departure from the music‘s near-exclusive use by Primitive Baptists and other similarly Calvinistic communities), and Kurt Kammerer‘s Harp of Nauvoo has a similar bent, but with a suitability for

Mormon practice. The rate at which books are being produced rivals the trajectory enjoyed in the

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earliest part of the four-shape tradition, further underscoring the vigor of the contemporary shape note publication phenomenon.

In fact, this proliferation of living tunebook traditions enables contemporary singers to have an experience more closely resembling that of a 19th century singer, compared to the shape note singers of 30 years ago: today, singers can own, interact with, and locate themselves within the spheres of influence of multiple tunebook traditions, instead of just one as became the case in the 20th century. This condition was a result of a decades-long domino effect; as urbanization,

Gospel music, the arrival of recorded music, and other factors precipitated a severe decrease in interest in the fasola tradition, a bottleneck formed by winnowing of the number of tunebooks in active publication. Combined with the advent of more hardlining approaches with respect to which tunebooks were authorized for consumption by singers—such as the Sacred Harp-only clauses in the bylaws of many 19th century singing conventions, and later, Joe James‘s invective against other Sacred Harp revisions—these divisions became more cemented, and the remaining hold-out collections became more insular. By the time of contact with George Pullen Jackson, the fasola folk certainly were, in many respects, the last holdouts of a once-thriving, now-lost

―tonal tribe.‖

The historical development of this tunebook publication renaissance represents the culmination of both the academic revival that began with Jackson in the 1930s and the folk revival that took root primarily in New England and the Midwest in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the symbiosis of the two acted jointly as a catalyst for the tunebook publication renaissance: the academic revival made previously unknown or inaccessible repertoire more easily accessible through scholarly re-editions of 19th century facsimiles. On the other hand, the folk music revival provided the human capital in the form of social frameworks, in which similar kinds of music-

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making was already happening, and which brought together an enthusiastic community of people with a proclivity toward historic and traditional arts and activities.

Although the confluence of these two distinct streams of activity largely underpin the fasola revival‘s vigor, there is not a distinct separation delineating the two camps, and even specific individuals often exhibit characteristic elements from both approaches. For instance, the scholars-by-trade of the New England revival, including Stephen Marini and Neely Bruce, have been active in the creation of new musical communities and tunebook traditions; at the same time, many of the Midwestern revivalists who came to the music from a more folk-music background, such as Karen Isbell and Judy Hauff, were both eager to interact with these historical materials through the work of Shirley Bean, whose doctoral research focused on the music of their region.

However, even though both of the early revivalist factions reflect influence from both of these streams of activity, the groups—and later, the tunebooks—that sprang from these reflect these characteristics to some extent, although in different proportion; these differences in proportion inform the characters of the groups‘ respective books. The attitudes of the folk- influenced Midwestern revivalists largely seem to align with their larger-scale retrospective attitude toward the music. These singers sought to pattern their activities after singers from the

Southern United States as closely as possible, to the extent of purging influences and practices that did not match the Southern paradigm. In contrast, the more scholarly-inclined New England revivalists seemed to sense an authenticity rooted not in replicating traditions with a living hermeneutic of fasola practice, but upon the dormant traditions and creative spirit of composer- compilers hailing from their own geographical region.

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The New England approach of shape-note practice seems to have fostered a more routine attitude toward the music, evinced by the publication of Northern Harmony in 1980, not quite a decade after singing school and fasola music had become (re-)established in the region, while the

Midwestern revivalists did not publish their first major collection, the 2005 edition of the

Missouri Harmony, until almost thirty years after their region‘s first major Sacred Harp convention. Furthermore, the Midwestern compilation activity was quite well focused; only a handful of collections from Midwesterners have been published, with singers from multiple states across the region collaborating in the production of the 2005 Missouri Harmony. On the other hand, a much more diverse flurry of activity developed among the New England revivalists, with many groups and individuals from within the region producing their own collections.

The extra-musical contents of the book also hint at these differences in attitude and in background; the New England case study collections (Northern Harmony and The Norumbega

Harmony) include minimal information about the groups who sing from them and the individuals who produced them, instead including considerable amounts of well-researched historical information, such as extensive sections of composer biographies. Furthermore, these collections frequently include features not common to the Sacred Harp tradition, such as maps depicting composers‘ places of birth, and the decorative artistic flourishes found throughout Northern

Harmony. On the other hand, the 2005 Missouri Harmony includes candid photos of singers who contributed to the book, as well as extensive histories of both the Illinois and Missouri revivalist communities and their activities, with a special focus on their interactions with the Southern singers. The framework of a retrospective attitude explains the apparent intent to promote both the 19th century and the contemporary singing traditions of their region.

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Perhaps in the same way that this conflict between routine and retrospective attitudes caused friction between the devotees of Wilson Cooper and Joseph James, this philosophical difference was also responsible for the tension and subsequent détente between the Midwestern and New England revivalist groups that arose in the 1980s and 1990s. However, as the fasola revival matured, the median attitude of the whole body of fasola singers seems to have shifted to a more routine position. The books of the case study that represent what I termed the later tunebook publication renaissance—The Shenandoah Harmony, The Georgian Harmony, and the

Trumpet—reflect this shift in their own ways. The Trumpet espouses perhaps the most routine attitude of any of these collections, bucking the historically incontrovertible trend of the physical tunebook in favor of a modern medium that offered a more immediate dissemination of the newly composed music proffered by the collection. This preference for function over form suggests a highly routine attitude, especially since the other crucial elements of typical fasola musical formatting are maintained (e.g., the oblong page orientation, titling and author/composer credits, the immediately distinguishable notation system, etc.).

Opposite this approach—at least among these collections from the later tunebook publication renaissance—lays The Georgian Harmony. Though the repertoire seems to indicate a routine approach to the music, as it is comprises solely contemporary compositions, the rest of the book‘s content suggests a strongly retrospective attitude. In the book‘s frontmatter, there is a sketch of the book‘s compiler, Raymond Hamrick, next to long-time Sacred Harp Publishing

Company president and shape note evangelist of worldwide renown Hugh McGraw. Combined with a small paragraph penned by McGraw, attesting to Hamrick‘s ability as a musician as well as his character as a ―fine Christian gentleman.‖ The page seems to take the character of a nihil obstat, conveying the blessing of the inner sanctum of the Denson Sacred Harp circle. In addition

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to Hamrick‘s quasi-apologetic, excuse a perceived existence of external, corrupting influences on his own music music he composed (compared to the historical fasola repertoire), his retrospective attitude is further reflected by other subtle appeals to historic fasola figures and institutions, namely, the historical documents from the 1948 Crisp County Georgia Sacred Harp

Convention presented in facsimile, and the sketched depictions of historical fasola singing locations throughout south Georgia.

The Shenandoah Harmony seems to represent a middle way between the earlier

Midwestern and New England approaches. In fact, interrogating the collection with Kahre‘s retrospective-routine framework illuminates the collection‘s unique position. The Shenandoah

Harmony represents an extensively scholarly approach to the music, with thoroughly researched and documented composer and author attributions, and with the editorial committee marking each piece in the repertoire with sigla indicating the page number of historical collection from which the piece was drawn. As with many collections of the early New England publication tunebook renaissance, The Shenandoah Harmony is an ab initio collection—that is, there is no

19th century precedent bearing the same title or forming the core of the repertoire. Instead, the editors focused on the output Ananias Davisson and other composer-compilers, singing school masters, and shape-note musicians of the Shenandoah Valley, as collections like The Norumbega

Harmony and Northern Harmony had done with the 18th century singing school masters of their own region. In this way, The Shenandoah Harmony seems to seek the same historically- grounded touchstone of authenticity, as the New Englanders did. At the same time, the collection also reflects the influence of the Denson Sacred Harp-centric folk revival, purposefully avoiding the duplication of repertoire found in that collection, and adopting Southern performance practices and customs, such as the hollow square layout (an innovation seemingly codified and

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popularized by the Sacred Harp tradition), suggesting something of an orthopraxis-based approach to authenticity, similar to the Midwesterners.

The Shenandoah Harmony represents a bridge between formerly divided facets of fasola practice, and the diverse makeup of its repertoire reflects the routine attitude of the compilers most clearly of all. The book‘s repertoire boasts pieces from both traditionalist ―red book‖ singers, such as those from Sand Mountain, Alabama, as well as ―blue book‖ traditionalists from

Hoboken, Georgia. Many New England revivalists whose works are included in the New

England tunebooks are represented, such as Neely Bruce, Thomas Malone, Glen Wright, and the singers of Northampton Harmony, alongside the works of Midwestern composers like Judy

Hauff, John Bayer, P. Dan Brittain, and John Feddersen, whose works also feature in the 2005

Missouri Harmony. Music by figures who have more recently risen to prominence is also included, including arrangements and compositions by some of the book‘s editors, including

Rachel Wells Hall, Daniel L. Hunter, and Robert Stoddard, along with contemporary composer- cum-academics, such as Aldo Ceresa and Jesse P. Karlsberg. Strikingly, the Shenandoah

Harmony is the only book among the case study collections to include pieces from each of the individuals comprising the ―core cohort‖ identified in Chapter 4.

Valuation of Composition and Compilation in the Tunebook Publication Renaissance

In his 2016 dissertation, Davis points to the importance of composition in the contemporary fasola community, but largely overlooks the importance of the process of compilation itself. While composition is an interesting and intricate issue in such a historically- oriented musical practice, it is vital not to overstate its role in the production of the new tunebooks. In the books of the case study, contemporary tunes were by far in the minority, with

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70% or more of the new books‘ repertoires comprising historical pieces.9 Compilation itself is a noteworthy phenomenon for several reasons. Not only does it facilitate the process that provides fasola singers with their iconic physical paraphernalia, but it interacts with the traditional fasola production cycle in a way that had dwindled in vibrancy. Warren Steel characterizes the nature of the compilational act within the fasola tradition:

A compiler of a nineteenth-century tunebook was usually more an anthologist than an original artist. Although many tunebook compilers were composers or arrangers, the term compiler accurately reflects the job of the American tunebook maker: that of selecting or anthologizing. The Southern compiler of the nineteenth century selected tunes from earlier publications, from manuscripts, from his own stock of compositions, and from melodies current in oral tradition. He then ordered and arranged his selection, prefaced it with a theoretical introduction, and gave a title to the whole.10

The compilers and editorial committees of the tunebooks in this study have done largely the same work: responding to the perceived needs of the book‘s users and imparting the knowledge determined to be most critical. Producing a tunebook demands many curatorial and editorial decisions, each with several practical implications. For instance, if the book is using historical repertoire, should the music be re-typeset? All of the case-study tunebooks have opted to do so, taking the opportunity to remove any errors or notational discrepancies in the historical printing, providing a clearer and more readable score for singers, and standardizing the visual appearance of the book. However, retypesetting often leads to the removal of other information on the page, whether advertently or inadvertently, such as in the removal of the ―cheese notes‖ in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp revision. The sum total of all such conscious and unconscious decisions—what styles and genres of music should be included and in what proportion, what the

9 The only examples that violate this trend are The Trumpet, which was explicitly oriented as an outlet for new tunes, and The Georgian Harmony, which represents the work of just a single individual who was alive at the time of the book‘s publication.

10 Steel, ―Lazarus J. Jones and The Southern Minstrel‖, 138.

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proportion of historical to contemporary repertoire is to be, whether a major or minor tonality is favored in the repertory, what sort of didactic preface(s) and/or index(es) should be included, et cetera—produce a unique confluence of features that endue each tunebook with a unique musical and meta-musical genome (fig.6-4).

In the same way that dinner-on-the-grounds and parliamentary-patterned organizing committees for all-day singings are important components of authentic performance practice and are inseparable from the most unquestionably authentic instances of fasola music making, the act of compilation should be viewed as another way of engaging with and reviving the historical fasola tradition. Compilation, especially in the context of an editorial committee, provides a collaborative creative outlet in a way that composition does not, and perhaps cannot. While a handful of contemporary fasola tunes were composed jointly by multiple individuals,11 this does not seem to be a historically attested process (except in the cases where a second composer later appended one or more additional parts to an extant composition), nor is it a commonplace compositional process. However, collaboration in compilation is a longstanding tradition, from the prototypical Easy Instructor compiled jointly by Little and Smith, to the foursome of Allen

Carden, S.J. Rogers, F. Moore, and J. Green who produced The Western Harmony of 1824, to the familiar Sacred Harp compiled by B.F. White and E.J. King and revised by committee ever since. In this way, the compilation process provides the framework for yet another type of community building, further underscoring the inextricably social nature of this music.

The question should be asked: what does ―composition‖ mean in the contemporary fasola tradition? Both the historical and contemporary repertoire attest that that stylistic novelty is not the most prized quality in a new composition. Unlike the trailblazing uniqueness prized in

11 This is frequently done as a tribute to a fellow singer, such as in John Bayer and Judy Hauff‘s jointly composed tune 177 MARCIA in the Missouri Harmony (2005).

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art music, the most valued approach to novelty in fasola composition lies in the novel recombination of familiar musical building blocks, staying within certain stylistic boundaries, even though those boundaries are intrinsically difficult to define and are constantly evolving. The ideal fasola composer is less a visionary who seeks to pluck never-before-heard sounds from the ether, and more a craftsman using time-honored techniques to fashion ancient materials into new forms, hearkening to the imagery used in William Billings‘ admonition for ―every composer to be his own carver.‖ This artistic thriftiness has accompanied the tradition since its nascent days:

Ludwig van Beethoven, whose works pushed the boundaries of chromatic harmony, died three decades before composer-compiler Ananias Davisson, who believed the use of accidentals in music to be unnatural and unnecessary.

Three similar tunes in the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp, composed over a span of more than two hundred years, illustrate this point. William Billing‘s tune AFRICA, the tune MEAR, and

Hamrick‘s tune LLOYD are highly reminiscent of one another, despite spanning more than two centuries of composition. The three share the same mood of time, have comparable vocal ranges in the parts, set texts by Isaac Watts, and even feature similar melodic contours and harmonic characters. From a singer‘s perspective, these similarities are not faults; the older tune, AFRICA, is the tenth most popular tune sung tune in the book, and LLOYD is the ninth. MEAR lies not far behind, as the 40th most popular tune called at singings, placing it in the top 10% of most popularly called tunes (ex. 6-1).

Alan Lomax recognized the value of this sort of artistic innovation, common to many folk art practices:

I‘ve always been with those people who were exploring, or pushing the edge of their own culture and making something happen. These people, of course, don‘t make something utterly new, but they‘re always innovating within their own boundaries. That‘s what‘s nice—they all have a sense of form, and then they

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innovate inside of it. They don‘t think that improvisation is just throwing it all away and starting over again. On the contrary, they know the rules of their world, and then they make with that.12

Both historically and contemporarily, the ideal roles of composer/compiler and of singer in the fasola paradigm vary from the art music conception of the master composer and the virtuoso in innumerable ways, but perhaps none are so stark as the fasola musician‘s investment in a collaborative philosophy and impulse to create new art out of old materials.

Revisiting the understanding of the Sacred Harp

Because the tunebook publication renaissance grew organically from the fasola tradition, the revelations of the case studies cast the entirety of the tradition—including the Denson Sacred

Harp—in a new and more illuminating light. As the fasola tradition of the 20th century continued on its seeming death spiral through the mid-century, the Denson lineage had been cemented at the center of the nascent, academic-influenced revival by virtue of blind circumstance, insofar as it was the first strain encountered by George Jackson, and consequently the most widely documented. Joseph James‘s irrefutably retrospective attitude toward the music led to his rejection of modern innovations such as the seven-shape tradition and close chord voicings of the gospel style in favor of the ―old paths‖ and ―old harmony.‖13 In Kahre‘s words, ―James was a wellspring of nostalgia and seemed to value the book as a symbol almost as much as a text.‖14

This spirit persisted as the James Revision lineage morphed into the Denson revision lineage in

12 Charles Kuralt, Interview with Alan Lomax, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS, 1991, accessed December 8, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcX56sTPWp0.

Later, Lomax continues, ―Art is the absolute center of human progress. It‘s the thing that keeps the culture together and gives it its unity—makes it possible for it to continue to move. … Plato said that art belonged in the heavens, and it was all mathematics and so on. And it‘s not—it‘s about social relations, as the anthropology says.‖

13 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 28.

14 Kahre, Schism and Sacred Harp, 95.

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the 1930s, and continued on through the 1971 revision. However, the retypsetting of the 1991 revision represents a sharp and sudden change of course (fig. 6-5).

These shifts reflect the context of the broader fasola tradition at the end of the 20th century. By the time of the 1991 Denson revision, the fasola revival had grown vigorous, and several editions of the Northern Harmony had been published. For the first time, repertoire from revivalist singers was included. Viewed as a data point within the broader scope of 20th century fasola tunebook production, the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp encapsulates a larger shift towards a more routine approach to the music; viewing the collections of the tunebook publication renaissance not as ―new fasola traditions,‖15 as Davis asserts, but instead as the restoration and reinvention of the full singing school and fasola traditions, making the evolution of fasola practices and repertoire, and motivations that underpin them, more apparent.

A New Class of Singer: the “New Traditionalist”

The modern proliferation of more highly localized forms and traditions of fasola singing and repertoires has created a new type of shape-note singer: the ―new traditionalist.‖ Until now, the scholarly literature on the fasola revival has separated singers into two exclusive groups, traditionalists and revivalists. Scholars have characterized traditionalists as southern and largely rural, adhering to traditional Christian religious expression and practice, and generally living a by-gone way of life compared to the average person. Revivalists are often typified as mostly northern (or, if from some other region, broadly urban), as often following a non-Christian spiritual practice or having no religious affiliation at all, and as generally leading mainstream lives.16 One of the biggest differences separating the two categories is the way in which the

15 Davis, Beyond Revival, 110.

16 A further classification has also been asserted in the literature, which is that most traditionalists sing from just one tunebook tradition (e.g., either the Denson or Cooper Sacred Harp, but not both. This assertion seems to involve much historical assumption – while indeed there was bad blood between factions of Sacred Harp practice for a

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singer learned fasola music: for traditionalists, this was often by sitting on the lap of a parent or relative and osmotically absorbing the music from the earliest days of their memory; revivalists, on the other hand, had been classified as those who came to the music as adults, not having been exposed to it as children.

This latter delineation certainly does hold some weight. It is apparent that those who are introduced to any given type of music at a young age develop intuitions for both practical elements of the music‘s performance—in shape note music, this might be the skill of pitching, for instance —as well as stylistic elements, such as the sometimes-intricate types of vocal ornamentation found among traditionalist fasola singers. In this way, it seems that the processes and intuition-forming of language acquisition and the learning of music share significant overlaps. However, as the fasola tradition has matured over the past half-century or so, a new hybridized category of singer has arisen. These new traditionalists are largely the children of revivalists, and so often share the demographic traits of their parents. However, like the old

Southern traditionalists, these individuals have had a youth pervaded with fasola music, often in their home communities as well as at traditional southern singings and other non-local convocations of singers, such as Camp FaSoLa.

In spite of their collective youth, some of these new traditionalists have already shown indications that their futures hold considerable promise as contributors to the fasola tradition.

One young person who wished not to be identified is an excellent illustration of this burgeoning potential in the field. Being the child of two very enthusiastic and active revivalist singers, this significant portion of the 20th century, this conflict only arose in the first decades of the 1900s. On the other hand, it was entirely common for fasola singers and singing school teachers of the early and mid-19th century to be familiar with multiple tunebooks. Indeed, even the idea of ―keeping to one‘s own‖ among 20th century figures does not hold much water. Consider, for instance, that the well-known and highly regarded mid-20th century Sacred Harp composer O.A. Parris was one of two collaborators who rebooted William Walker‘s seven-shape Christian Harmony in 1958, illustrating that the musical experience of fasola singers is more diverse than the scholarly literature has sometimes portrayed it.

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young person began leading tunes in the hollow square as a young child, and was barely into their teenage years when their first composition was published in The Trumpet (earning them the distinction of the youngest person with a contribution represented in that collection). There are many other cases of similar young people to be found across the country. As their numbers continue to grow, many of these singers who do not fit neatly into either of the longstanding categories of ―revivalist‖ or ―traditionalist‖ sense the otherness cast upon them by some of their fellow singers. As an illustration, one Kansan survey respondent, who self-identified as being a lifelong shape note singer between the ages of 18 and 25, volunteered the following opinion on the matter:

I've sung shape notes since before I can remember, so I have a different relation to tradition than folks who come to it as adults; at the same time, I come from outside the home diggings of Sacred Harp in particular and have a very different ethnic and religious background than most folks who would be thought of as tradition-bearers. I find a slavish adherence to "tradition" pretty pointless, since the tradition is a heck of a lot broader than most newcomers seem to be capable of conceiving of. If you come to Sacred Harp thinking of it as an authentic folk practice you're probably only going to be familiar with a very small corner of shape-note singing. It's really much more diverse than that, and it's never been frozen in time. Therefore, some Alan Lomax field recording from the '40s is scarcely the end-all-be-all of authenticity as some folks would like to make it. At the same time, I can get annoyed by folks, mostly newcomers to singing, who are overeager to separate Sacred Harp from its cultural/historical context and view it just as a neutral musical style that doesn't have deep roots in particular communities. I'm not Christian myself, but it can be hard watching people who are newer to Sacred Harp singing talk about it the same way that they do contradanse or playing old-timey music on the weekends, when the lifetime singers who are usually hosting them view it as a worship practice. I've also more than once been educated on shape-note tradition by preachy city hobbyists when I'm both a "cradle" shape-note singer and a musicologist specializing in nineteenth-century American hymnody. It's all too familiar of a feeling--as a person whose roots are visibly poor and rural--to be talked down to by know-it-all city folks about something you've been doing your whole life.

In certain ways, these new traditionalists represent a closer approximation of fasola practice as it was experienced by singers at the zenith of 19th century shape note activity—they have been exposed to and have interacted with the music from before their conscious memory,

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and at that, have been exposed to the tunebooks and practices of multiple distinct singing groups, regions, and sub-traditions. The emergence of this type of singer further evinces the vigor and trajectory of the contemporary fasola tradition, and as the numbers of these new traditionalists increase and their collective prominence in the fasola community is established, they are sure to find a niche, and to garner the consideration and respect they are due, just as the 20th century revivalists themselves have done.

Parting Comments

I think that someday not too far off, we‘ll have thousands of Americans singing it— hundreds of thousands. … Look what happened to bluegrass. After all, the banjo was just hanging on the wall 40 years ago. Nobody played the banjo. The banjo now is an everyday American sound, and beautifully played. The thing is that it‘s harder to learn how to sing—it‘ll take longer with this. —Alan Lomax17

Lomax‘s words certainly have a prophetic aura to them, and time has been kind to his prediction. However, even the esteemed musicologist did not foresee this incredible twist in the way the singers interacted with their art form. Lomax certainly saw the music for what it was: an accessible creative outlet in an idiom of local, interpersonal music making, with an incredible potential and capability to form communities. He missed out on an important historical component of that creative process, represented by the cycle of tunebook compilation and publication. As the fasola tradition has grown and matured over the past half-century or more, it has become clear that this publication cycle is a crucial element of the fasola tradition in its fullest and truest realization, and that its products are the fairest fruit of ―innovating within one‘s own boundaries.‖

17 Alan Lomax with Phil Summerlin and Buell Cobb, Holly Springs Sacred Harp Convention, Holly Springs, Georgia, June 6, 1982, accessed 6 September, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3mb3Ya9OUc.

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The title of this thesis is excerpted from a paraphrase of the 137th Psalm found in many fasola collections, from William Walker‘s iconic Southern Harmony to the most recent edition of the Denson Sacred Harp:

By Babel's streams we sat and wept,/ While Zion we thought on; Amidst thereof we hung our harps,/ The willow trees upon. With all the power and skill I have,/ I'll gently touch each string; If I can reach the charming sound,/ I‘ll tune my harp again.18

We are witness to a time where the ―lost tonal tribe‖ of the fasola folk, banished for a while to a Babylon of obscurity by proponents of so-called Better Music and by the faceless forces of modernization, have come at last to the bank of the river and can view the landscape of their musical Canaan restored again to its former glory. At long last, an important and distinctive part of the American cultural fabric has been restored as the Harps (and Harmonies) are finally withdrawn from their willow branches and begin to sound again.

18 Poet unknown; taken from Southern Harmony, 52.

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Respondents by age group A 89 100 64 58 47 56 50 22 8 3 0 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 76 or older No response Responses to "When did you begin singing from the Sacred Harp?" 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 B

Region demographics of respondents 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

C Region of first singing Current region Figure 6-1. Three self-reported metrics from the survey of singers: broad age demographics (A), years of experience singing Sacred Harp music (B), and the regions in which the respondent both learned to sing, and in which they sing currently (C).A

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Owned Sung from

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

Figure 6-2. The number of singers who own copies of (at left, in blue) and who have sung from (at right, in red) selected fasola collections.

0 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Figure 6-3. Number of fasola editions published per decade, 1800-2010.

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NorumH NorH (2nd ed.) 50 25 45 40 20 35 30 15 25 20 10 15 10 5 5 0 0 1700 1800 1900 2000 1700 1800 1900 2000

ShenH GeoH 70 80 60 50 60 40 40 30 20 20 10 0 0 1700 1800 1900 2000 1700 1800 1900 2000 Denson SH 1991 MOH (2005) 100 45 90 40 80 35 70 30 60 25 50 20 40 15 30 10 20 10 5 0 0 1700 1800 1900 2000 1700 1800 1900 2000

TPT Figure 6-4. One component of a 140 tunebook‘s ―musical genome‖: 120 a comparison of age of the 100 repertoire in each case study 80 collection by date of 60 composition. The graphs 40 depect the number of pieces in 20 each book‘s repertoire 0 composed per decade. 1700 1800 1900 2000

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Figure 6-5. A comparison of the same page‘s appearance in the 1971 (top) and 1991 (bottom) Denson Sacred Harp revisions.

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Example 6-1. Three tunes from the 1991 Denson Sacred Harp, 178 AFRICA,

49 MEAR, and 503 LLOYD. Although composed over the span of

multiple, all have very similar characteristics and enjoy similar

levels of popularity. Facsimiles courtesy SacredHarpBremen.org.

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APPENDIX A SAMPLE SURVEY

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APPENDIX B TUNEBOOK PROFILES

Tunebook Profile: Sacred Harp, 1991 Denson Revision

Title The Sacred Harp, 1991 Revision: Containing the Best Collection of Sacred Songs, Hymns, Odes, and Anthems Ever Offered the Singing Public for General Use Editor Hugh McGraw, General Chairman, Music Committee Date first published/ 1844/ Edition and year of examined 1991 Denson-lineage revision1 copy Place published Carrollton, GA Publisher Sacred Harp Publishing Company Dimensions 18.5 x 26cm (oblong) Format(s) available Hard-cover Price new $20 Pages 585 Tunes 554 Tunes given as page number Page or piece number? Rudiments? Yes – 13 pp. Incl two sample tunes, comprehensive intro to music/shape notes, complete introduction to accidentals (19), intro to ―Harmony and Composition‖ (21) (including fairly technical discussion on dyads; apologia for parallelism), generic definitions (23), four ―singing exercises‖ [short compositions] (24-25), and ―Chapter IX: Organization and Conduct of Singings and Conventions‖ (25) Index/Indices Index of first lines (unnumbered pp. [574-580]), General Index (by tune name; unnumbered pp. [581-585]) Disposition of contents None immediately ostensible; generally chronologically Avg. year of composition 1865

Median year 1852

Contemporary 34 compositions Five most common B.F. White (22) composers/sources E.J. King (20) J. P. Reese (19) William Billings (14) A.M. Cagle (12) Southern Harmony (12)

1 First Denson edition 1935, following 1911 Joseph S. James edition

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Avg. year text authorship 1776

Median year 1774 Five most common text Isaac Watts (143) authors/sources Charles Wesley (28) John Newton (16) Biblical (12) Samuel Stennett (12)2 Avg. Number of verses 1.5 Ratio of major/minor tunes 72.4% / 27.6% (401:153)

Most common keys F major 131 G major 75 A major 57 E minor 57 C major 36 Number of tunes found in 43 3 Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 157 repeated texts4 Stylistic diversity (repertoire Plain 261 (47.1%) by % of each genre) Fuging 174 (31.4%) Verse and Chorus 55 (9.9%) Set piece 42 (7.6%) Anthem 18 (3.2%) Ode 4 (0.7%)

Sacred/secular content? Both

2 The contributions of the five most prolific authors/sources comprise 211 of the 468 texts in the book.

3 Note that these 43 tunes represent an impressive 77% of the 56 tunes that Horn lists in her repertoire. That this number is such a high outlier is to be expected, though, given that an ancestor edition of the Sacred Harp was used by Horn in her compilation of the core repertoire.

4 397 unique texts and 157 repeated texts means that 28.3% of total texts in the book are repeated.

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100

80 Age profile (number of tunes 60 in repertoire composed per decade, 1700-2000)5 40

0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Number/% of survey 340 / 98.0% respondents owning and 342 / 98.6% having used this collection Notes -The only book in the study (and one of the few fasola books in existence) to have an unbroken publication lineage stretching to the 19th century

5 For an unknown reason, the editors of this collection only gave the dates of composition for 18th and 19th century composers; to approximate the date of composition of the contemporary pieces, these were estimated by adding 40 years to the date of the composer‘s birth. That this methodology is imperfect is clear by the fact that one piece is depicted as being composed after the publication of the book. It is hoped that the reader will understand that this – along with the rest of the charts and figures in this study – is best understood as graphical approximations of the historical character of the tunebook, rather than a scientifically precise chart.

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Tunebook Profile: Northern Harmony

Title Northern Harmony: Plain Tunes, Fuging Tunes and Anthems From the New England Singing School Tradition Editors Anthony G. Barrand, Larry Gordon, and Carole Moody Crompton Date first published/ 1980/ Edition and year of examined 1991 printing of the 1984 2nd ed. copy Place published Plainfield, VT Publisher Northern Harmony Publishing Company Dimensions Format(s) available Hard-cover Price new $20 (fifth ed., current as of 2018) Pages 142 Tunes 55 Tunes given as page number Page or piece number? Rudiments? Not so called, but yes; ―Introduction‖ on ix-xviii; this is an introduction to pertinent historical topics (fuging tune, singing schools and singing masters, etc.); brief explanation of fasola solmization and shape note notation, major and minor scales; editorial notes; suggestions for singing style Index/Indices Index of titles and of first lines Disposition of contents6 Grouped by composer Contemporary Compositions 6 Five most common Jeremiah Ingalls (9) composers Elisha West (7) Justin Morgan (5) Supply Belcher (5) Timothy Swan (4) Five most common text Isaac Watts (30) authors Tate and Brady‘s New Version of the Psalms of David, 1696 (4) David Gay (2) 18 other sources with one attribution each Avg. Number of verses 3.32 Ratio of major/minor tunes 50/50 (27:27)

Most common keys C major 14 D minor 8 A minor 7 F major 6 G minor 4

6 Average and median age of tunes/texts are omitted from this data, as this tunebook does not provide those figures.

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Number of tunes found in 5 Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 3 texts; all 3 are duplicated once

Stylistic diversity (repertoire Fuging 35 (63.6%) by % of each genre) Plain 13 (23.6%) Anthem 4 (7.3%) Set piece 3 (5.5%) Sacred/secular content? Both

Age profile (number of tunes 25 in repertoire composed per 7 decade, 1750-2000) 20

0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Number/% of survey Owning: 109 / 31.4% respondents owning and Using: 80 / 23.1% having used this collection Notes -A book of music from New England singing school composers, both historical and contemporary -The first edition was the first four-shape-notation tunebook published outside the south since before the Civil War -The first edition only contained historical repertoire, while the second edition, at the suggestion of Larry Gordon, was the first to contain compositions by living composers -Affiliated with eponymous performing group, under the umbrella of Village Harmony -Includes a map of composer birthplaces (p. 112) -Includes both naturalistic illustrations and geometric, folk-art inspired drawings interspersed throughout the book, done by editor Carole Moody Crompton -Includes extra verses for the songs in the book

7 For an unknown reason, the editors of this collection only gave the dates of composition for 18th and 19th century composers; to approximate the date of composition of the contemporary pieces, these were estimated by adding 40 years to the date of the composer‘s birth. That this methodology is imperfect is clear by the fact that one piece is depicted as being composed after the publication of the book. It is hoped that the reader will understand that this – along with the rest of the charts and figures in this study – is best understood as graphical approximations of the historical character of the tunebook, rather than a scientifically precise chart.

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Tunebook Profile: The Norumbega Harmony

Title The Norumbega Harmony: Historic and Contemporary Hymn Tunes and Anthems from the New England Singing School Tradition Editor(s) Stephen A. Marini, General Ed.; Susan Mampre, Dennis O‘Brien, Bruce Randall, Glen Wright, Jane Zanichkowsky; Foreword by Nym Cooke Edition and year of 2003,1st ed. examined copy Place published Oxford, MS Publisher University Press of Mississippi Dimensions 18.5x26cm (oblong) Format(s) available Hardcover Price new $25 Pages 300 Tunes 136 Tunes given as page Page number or piece number? Rudiments? Sort of: 12pp of remarks in preface, including background of the namesake singing group, the early origins of the music, the plan of the book, a section called ―Notes on performance‖, and a brief explication of time signatures and their connotations, and an introduction to shape notes. Technical detail about the typesetting of the book, a bibliography, and acknowledgements are also appended. A full page of acknowledgements and another containing the biographies of the members of the editorial board follow the 12 pp. of remarks. Index/Indices Scriptural index, Thematic index, Metrical index of tunes, Author index, Composer index, First line index, tune index (by tune name) Disposition of ―We have organized The Norumbega Harmony around this process of contents musical reorganization [of ―the musical networks and publishing resources of regional capitals…‖]‖ (both quotes from xv)

I. Boston (22 tunes) II. Massachusetts (19) III. Connecticut (16) IV. Maine (25) V. Vermont and New York (13) VI. The West and The South (11) VII. Contemporary Tunes (30) Average date of 1840 composition 1794 Median year 30 Contemporary compositions

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Number of 50 discrete composers composers represented Supply Belcher (1751-1836) 21 William Billings (1746-1800) 13 Five most common Oliver Holden (1765-1844) 8 composers Jeremiah Ingalls (1764-1838) 6

Jacob Kimball (1761-1826) 5 Glen Wright (b.1962) Bruce Randall (b.1958) Stephen Marini (b.1946) Avg. year of text 1738 authorship 1719 Median year Number of text 30 discrete text sources sources represented Isaac Watts 71 Five most common Unattributed 12 text authors William Billings 5 Charles Wesley Robert Robinson 3 Tate and Brady‘s New Version (1696) Nahum Tate 2 James Relly Philip Doddridge Joel Barlow Nathaniel Niles Avg. Number of 3.49 verses Ratio of 49.2% / 50.8% (65:67) major/minor tunes A minor (28) E minor (18) Most common keys C major (17) G major (15) F major (9) G minor (9) Number of tunes 2 found in Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 11 duplicate texts Stylistic diversity Plain 62 (45.6%) (repertoire by % of Fuging 58 (42.6%) each genre) Set piece 9 (6.6%) Anthem 6 (4.4%) Verse and Chorus 1 (0.7%)

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Sacred/secular Both, but mostly sacred; see 160 Transition for an example of a naturalistic content? text (―When snows descend..‖)

Age profile (number 50 of tunes in repertoire composed per 45 decade, 1700-2000) 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Number/% of survey Owning: 65 / 18.7% respondents owning Using: 51 / 14.7% and using this collection Notes -The repertoire illustrates the difference in historical provenance from SH; note lack of camp-meeting songs (verse/chorus; simple refrains and lots of repeated text) due to the fact that these were later 19th c, southern contributions to the body of repertoire - Duplicates some repertoire from SH (eg 38 Easter Anthem), though not identical; for instance, NorumH includes directions for dynamics, and includes musical material not found in the SH version

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Tunebook Profile: The Missouri Harmony

Title The Missouri Harmony: or a choice collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems Editors Karen J. Isbell, Chair; Presley Barker, Linda Biggs, P. Dan Brittain, Mark Bruns, Pete Ellertsen, Paul Figura, Gary Gronau, Emily Gruber, Judy Hauff, Gitry Heydebrand, Ann T. Leckie, Jeanette Lowry, Berkley Moore, Dave Ressler Date first published/ 1820/ Edition and year of 2005 edition by Wings of Song examined copy Place published St. Louis, MO Publisher Missouri Historical Society Press Dimension 18.5x25.5cm (oblong) Format(s) available Hardcover Price new $29.95 Pages 384 Tunes 180 Tunes given as page Piece number number or piece number? Rudiments? No; historical essays and introductions are included where rudiments would historically go; excerpts from Carden‘s rudiments found in the original editions are scattered throughout the collection at the bottoms of pages Index/Indices Composer/source; First line; Title [of tune] Disposition of Historical and modern, with the content compiled by Carden in the first contents parts, and the contemporary additions in a supplement.

Sections:

pt. I. All the Plain and Easy Tunes (1-67) pt. II. Containing the more lengthy and elegant pieces (68-115) pt. III. Containing several anthems and odes (116-120) 2005 Supplement: ―Containing choice tunes of the various meters selected from some of the most approved and eminent composers, both ancient and modern‖

Avg. year of 1836 composition Median year 1813

Contemporary 12 Compositions Number of 20th- and 37 21st-century compositions

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Five most common Ananias Davisson (11)8 composers/sources John Bayer (6.5)9 (Number of tunes P. Dan Brittain (5.5) represented in Dan Gibbons (5) collection) Johnson‘s Tennessee Harmony The Missouri Harmony William Billings10 Avg. year text 1776 authorship 1779 Median year11 Five most common Isaac Watts (73) text authors Charles Wesley (5) (Number of texts John Newton represented in Dr. Timothy Dwight (3) collection) Joseph Swain Lloyd‘s Primitive Hymns Philip Doddridge Robert Robinson Tate and Brady‘s New Version Avg. Number of 2.9 verses Ratio of major/minor 40.6% / 59.4% (73:107 ) tunes A minor 49 Most common keys E minor 28 G major 24 C major 16 D minor 11 Number of tunes 3 found in Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Number of repeated 9 repeated texts, each duplicated once texts / ratio novel:repeated texts

8 Includes tunes by Davisson, as well as those arranged by him

9 John Bayer and P. Dan Brittain collaborated on one tune

10 Contrary to intuition, only two of these tunes are included in the repertoire taken from the original Carden edition of the Missouri Harmony; the remaining three (plus two more tunes of Billings‘, each arranged by later composers) were added in the 2005 supplement.

11 These figures are likely unreliable, as dates are only provided for 62 texts.

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Stylistic diversity Plain 126 (70.0%) (repertoire by % of Fuging 37 (20.6%) each genre) Anthem 6 (7.3%) Set piece 3 (5.5%)

Sacred/secular Both; Secular patriotic odes, eg 152 STAR OF COLUMBIA content?

Age profile (number 45 of tunes in repertoire composed per 40 decade, 1750-2000) 35

0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Number/% of survey Owning: 100 / 28.8% respondents owning Using: 91 / 26.2%12 and using this collection Notes -An interesting book for being a reboot of a dormant tradition, with only geographic ties to the original collection.

12 Note that the survey asked specifically about this 2005 edition. Historical editions were also asked about, in a separate umbrella question covering all non-2005 editions. Surprisingly, many fewer people had interacted with earlier editions, with only 44 respondents (12.7%) reporting they owned a copy of a non-2005 ed. Missouri Harmony, and only 13 respondents (3.7%) reporting that they have sung from one.

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Tunebook Profile: The Georgian Harmony

Title The Georgian Harmony: A Collection of HYMNS and FUGING TUNES in the SHAPE-NOTE TRADITION Editor Raymond C. Hamrick Date first published/ 2010/ Edition and year of examined 2nd edition, 2012 copy Place published Commerce, GA Publisher Raymond Hamrick Format(s) available Hard-cover Price new $25 Pages 283; 255 pages of music Tunes 188 Tunes given as page number Page or piece number? Rudiments? No; Relatively brief prefatory material [xi unnumbered paged], consisting of instructions for ordering, a drawing of Hamrick and Hugh McGraw, underlain with a note about Hamrick by McGraw, and a foreword, two prefaces, and an acknowledgement.

Interestingly, there are pedagogical tidbits scattered throughout the book, such as on 85 and 235 Index/Indices First Line and General Index [sorted by tune name] Disposition of contents Ostensibly arbitrary Avg. year of composition 1993

Median year 1998

Contemporary 188 compositions Five most common Raymond Hamrick (188) composers/sources Avg. year text authorship N/A13 Median year Five most common text Lloyd's Hymnal (48) authors/sources Isaac Watts (32) Phillip Doddridge (5) Biblical (4) John Cennick Hesperian Harp Raymond C. Hamrick William Cowper

13 Dates were only given for 10 of the texts used in the book. However, taking the most common text sources as an indication, Hamrick was inclined to a historical sensibility similar to the other case studies.

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Avg. Number of verses 1.6 Ratio of major/minor tunes 89.4% / 10.6% (168:20)

Most common keys Bb major (94) F major (21) A major (15) G major (14) D major (8) Number of tunes found in None Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 13 texts repeated; 12 texts duplicated once, one text present three times (―From all that dwell below the skies‖) Stylistic diversity (repertoire Plain 156 (83%) by % of each genre) Fuging 19 (10.1%) Set piece 10 (5.3%) Anthem 2 (1%) Round 1 (0.5%)

Sacred/secular content? Sacred and secular (incl. nationalistic pieces like 144 THE PATRIOT)

Age profile (number of tunes in repertoire composed per decade, 1750 - present) GeoH 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Number/% of survey Own: 76 (21.9%) respondents owning and Use: 72 (20.7%) having used this collection Notes -The frontmatter of the book is perhaps the briefest of any collection in this study, though there is an appendix containing ―a bit of a tribute to the importance of the ties between the music of The Georgian Harmony and the Sacred Harp music sung in South Georgia.‖ (unnumbered, [257]), including sketches and brief

269

histories of seven historical singing venues, including Liberty Hill Church, a 19th century structure in Lamar County, GA, and the site of the first Georgian Harmony singing on 4 September, 2010. Also included are four pages of a facsimile of the proceedings of the 1948 South Georgia Sacred Harp Singing Convention, Crisp Co., Georgia. -This is the only collection in which Isaac Watts is not the most common text source. Lloyd‘s Hymnal is widely used in Primitive Baptist circles, a sect of Christianity which has historically embraced the shape note idiom, and the denomination to which Hamrick belonged.

270

Tunebook Profile: The Trumpet

Title The Trumpet: A thrice-annual periodical for singers and writers of dispersed harmony & fasola music14 Editor(s) Original 2011 editorial board:

Will Fitzgerald Thomas A. Malone Robert L. Vaughn Date first published/ January 2011/ Edition and year of All 12 editions of 5 published volumes examined examined copy (through 5.1, September 2015) Place published Online Publisher The Trumpet Dimension 27.9x21.6cm (oblong)15 Format(s) available Digital periodical; originally thrice annually, then twice annually through Vol. 5, ed. 1.16 Price new Available for free download Pages 196 pages of music total Tunes 180 Tunes given as page Page17 number or piece number? Rudiments? No. Each edition does contain a preface of between three and six pages, containing a note from the editorial, and in many cases also containing one or two additional articles in the preface. In some instances, these are personal reflections or singing lore, poems, or articles on historical figures such as Truman Wetmore (an early American composer) and James P. Carrell (compiler of the Virginia Harmony) Index/Indices Index of each edition by page number available in the frontmatter Disposition of Historical and modern, but heavily modern, with an emphasis on never contents before published fasola music. Submissions of new pieces were invited with each edition, and these were curated Avg. year of 2004 composition

14 This is the title as given

15 Note that this is 8.5x11 inches in landscape format; the editors wished to preserve the traditional oblong formatting of the music, but wanted to make the music easily printable for the singer.

16 A print edition containing all of the published tunes

17 Note that this number only includes pages of music, and is continuous across editions

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2011 Median year 173 Contemporary Compositions Avg. year text 1792 authorship 1777 Median year Number of 20th- and 174 21st-century compositions Most common Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg (7) composers/sources Aldo Thomas Ceresa (5) (Number of tunes Fynn Titford-Mock represented in Linda Sides collection) P. Dan Brittain Wade Kotter Dan Thoma (4) Ed E. Thacker G.J. Hoffman Nikos Pappas

Five most common Isaac Watts (46)18 text authors John Newton (7) (Number of texts Anne Steele (5) represented in Charles Wesley collection) Ed E. Thacker (4) Robert Robinson (4) Samuel Medley (4) Samuel Stennett (4) Lisa Ballinger Geist (2) Philip Doddridge Scottish Psalter Avg. number of 2.6 verses Ratio of major/minor 55.1% / 44.9% (97:79)19 tunes E minor 28 Most common keys G major 27 F major 22 A major 16 A minor 13

19 This is an interesting shift: how does this compare to the books with 19th c roots (MOH and SH91)?

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F# minor 13 Number of tunes None found in Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 3 repeated texts, each duplicated once20 Stylistic diversity Plain 90 (50%) (repertoire by % of Fuging 69 (38.3%) each genre) Verse and chorus 11 (6.1%) Anthem 5 (2.8%) Set piece 5 (2.8%)

Sacred/secular Both; vast diversity of content and sources. content?

Age profile (number 140 of tunes in repertoire composed per 120 decade, 1750- 100 2000)21 80

0 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Number/% of survey respondents owning This volume not included in the survey and using this collection Notes -An interesting revival of an old idiom of fasola transmission (cf. B.F. White‘s The Organ and Aldine Kieffer‘s Musical Million). -In spite of the very modern average age of composition, note that composers still favor setting older texts, and disproportionately still Isaac Watts

20 ―As pants the hart‖, ―Come, thou fount of ev‘ry blessing‖, and ―On Jordan‘s stormy banks I stand‖.

21 Obviously, the data for The Trumpet stands out, due to the fact that – unlike all the other collections – it had a specific emphasis on new compositions.

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Tunebook Profile: The Shenandoah Harmony

Title The Shenandoah Harmony: A collection of shape-note tunes, ancient and modern, for singing groups large or small Editorial Committee Myles Louis Dakan, John W. del Re, Leyland W. del Re, Rachel Wells Hall, PhD, Daniel L. Hunter, Kelly Macklin, Nora Miller, Robert Stoddard (Adjunct) Date first published/ 2012/ Edition and year of examined 2014 printing (third) of the first ed., with corrections copy Place published Boyce, VA Publisher The Shenandoah Harmony Publishing Corporation Dimensons 18.5 x 26cm (oblong) Format(s) available Hard-cover Price new $25 in person, $22 at singings and by mail/online ordering Pages 472 Tunes 468 Tunes given as page number Page or piece number? Rudiments? Yes, or similar; very concise – 2 pp. Brief introduction including the names of the shapes; the arrangement in which singers should sit; notes on style, keying, and leading; page layout; practice tune (WHEN JESUS WEPT, Billings (1770)) Index/Indices Table of Contents ([iii]), Selected Bibliography (vi), Source and Composer Index (458-460), Index of First Lines (461-467), Index of Song Titles (468-472) Disposition of contents Ostensibly arbitrary Avg. year of composition 1839

Median year 1820

Contemporary 62 compositions Five most common Ananias Davisson22 (b.1780-1857)23 (20)

22 This illustrates very well one of the problems intrinsic to this type of study; because the source of much of the early 19th century music in this tradition is unknown, either due to the folk origins of many of the tunes or by the liberal and not-always-well-credited sharing of musical material between tunebook compilers, it is hard to know who should properly be credited for what. For instance, 23 tunes are credited to Davisson in the index of the Shenandoah Harmony, and first among them is 12t LIBERTY HALL. In the pages of the book, the composer field is given as ―arr. Lucius Chapin, 1801 & Davisson, 1816‖. Because Chapin himself was a shape note composer living and working at the same time as Davisson, the intuitive explanation is that Davisson simply added an alto part or made minor modifications. The tune is found in William Hauser‘s Hesperian Harp of 1848 at the bottom of page 56, with four parts. It appears that the only modifications made between the version of LIBERTY HALL in the Hesperian Harp and the Shenandoah Harmony is that the former includes more ornamentation in the form of dotted rhythms and passing tones, which the latter has written out. Perhaps this modification is Davisson‘s contribution; in any event, the Hesperian Harp credits only ―Chapin‖, without any first name, and as a result I believe omitting this from Davisson‘s credits in my tabulation is justified. However, there are a number of instances like this without clear-cut

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composers/sources Jeremiah Ingalls (b.1764-1838) (17) William Billings (b.1746-1800) (15) William Walker (b.1809-1875) (13) John G. McCurry (b.1821-1886) (11) Avg. year text authorship 1762 Median year 1759 Five most common text Isaac Watts (158) authors/sources Charles Wesley (16) John Newton (14) Philip Doddridge (7) Caleb Jarvis Taylor (7) Joseph Hart (7) John Leland (6) John Adam Granade (6) Avg. Number of verses 1.9 Ratio of major/minor tunes 47.4% / 52.6% (222:246)

Most common keys A minor 98 E minor 61 G major 55 A major 45 C major 41 Number of tunes found in 3 Horn‘s core American hymn tune repertoire Repeated texts? 20 repeated texts; one repeated four times (―While shepherds watch‘d their flocks by night‖), one repeated three times (―The God of glory sends his summons forth‖), and the rest duplicated a single time Stylistic diversity (repertoire Plain 266 (56.8%) by % of each genre) Fuging 165 (34.6%) Verse and Chorus 22 (4.7%) Set piece 13 (2.8%) Ballad 2 (0.4%) Anthem 1 (0.2%)

Sacred/secular content? Both

answers that a general caveat is warranted. This data, as data in any humanities research, must be taken to be, at most, supporting evidence in the form of one reading of history, and should not be understood in the same way as clear-cut empirical data as generated in the hard sciences.

23 All dates given as they appear in the ―Source and Composer Index‖, Shenandoah Harmony 458-460.

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Age profile (number of tunes 70 in repertoire composed per decade, 1700-2010)24 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Number/% of survey 212 (61.1%) respondents owning and 224 (64.6%) having used this collection Notes -Many more 2 part tunes in this collection than others -Multilingual; incl. German tunes from sources like Die Union Choral Harmonie (e.g. DIANA 201)

24 For an unknown reason, the editors of this collection only gave the dates of composition for 18th and 19th century composers; to approximate the date of composition of the contemporary pieces, these were estimated by adding 40 years to the date of the composer‘s birth. That this methodology is imperfect is clear by the fact that one piece is depicted as being composed after the publication of the book. It is hoped that the reader will understand that this – along with the rest of the charts and figures in this study – is best understood as graphical approximations of the historical character of the tunebook, rather than a scientifically precise chart.

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APPENDIX C TUNEBOOK CATALOGUE

A Catalogue of Fasola Tunebooks, 1801 – 2018

Catalogue number Title Compiler/Editor(s) Ed. Place of Pub./ Bib.25 Publisher 2018.NC.2018 American Harmony: Cooke, Nym 1st ed. Boston, MA OWN Inspired Choral Robert Godine Miniatures from New England, 1770–1811 and from the Mid- Atlantic, Appalachian, Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern States in the two centuries following 2016.MJW.2016 The Greenwood Walter, Micah John 2nd Online OWN Harmony Self 2016.KFK.2001 The Harp of Kammerer, Kurt F. Smashwords Online - OWN Nauvoo: Songs, edition Smashwords.com Hymns and Ballads from Nauvoo, Illinois (1839-1846) 2015.TBM-T.2011 The Trumpet Hall, Rachel Wells, No. 5, vol. 1 Online OWN Robert L. Vaughn, (September 2015) Will Fitzgerald Leach Belleman, and Tarik Wareh, eds., Thomas B Malone, founding editor 2015.JSJ.1911 Original Sacred James, Joseph S.; Reprint of the 2nd Atlanta, GA WS Harp, Centennial Karlsberg, JP, ed. James revision Edition Pitts Theology Library and the Sacred Harp Publishing Company 2014.MLD.2012 The Shenandoah Dakan, M. L., 3rd printing, with Boyce, VA OWN Harmony: A Daniel L. Hunter, corrections collection of shape- John W. del Re, The Shenandoah note tunes, ancient Kellly Macklin, Harmony and modern, for Leyland W. del Re, Publishing singing groups large Nora Miller, Racher Company or small Wells Hall, Robert Stoddard (adjunct) (Members of Music Committee) 2014.GK.2014 Kairos for All Kastelle, Gabriel 1st ed. Unknown OWN

25 For an explanation of these bibliographic abbreviations, please see the end of this appendix.

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2014.FEB.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 4, vol. 1 Online OWN T.2011 Rachel Wells Hall, (February 2014) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds., Thomas B Malone, founding editor 2014.DEC.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 4, vol. 2 Online OWN T.2011 Rachel Wells Hall, (December 2014) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds., Thomas B Malone, founding editor 2013.DV.2013 Liturgical Harp Vinson, Duncan 1st ed. Online OWN 2013.NOV.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Malone, No. 3, vol. 3 Online OWN T.2011 and Vaughn, eds. (November 2013) 2013.AUG.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Malone, No. 3, vol. 2 Online OWN T.2011 and Vaughn, eds. (August 2013) 2013.FEB.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Malone, No. 3, vol. 1 Online OWN T.2011 and Vaughn, eds. (February 2013)

2012.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp, Lee, Johnny and 7th ed. OWN Revised Cooper Karen Willard, Edition Revision Committee 2012.RH.2012 The Georgian Hamrick, Raymond 2nd ed. Commerce, GA OWN Harmony: A Collection of HYMNS and FUGING TUNES in the SHAPE-NOTE TRADITION 2012.MLD.2012 The Shenandoah Dakan, M. L., 1st ed. Boyce, VA OWN Harmony: A Daniel L. Hunter, collection of shape- John W. del Re, The Shenandoah note tunes, ancient Kellly Macklin, Harmony and modern, for Leyland W. del Re, Publishing singing groups large Nora Miller, Rachel Company or small Wells Hall, Robert Stoddard (adjunct) (Members of Music Committee) 2012.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony: Gordon, Larry and 5th ed. Marshfield, VT OWN Plain Tunes, Anthony G. Hymns, and Barrand Anthems from the New England Singing School Tradition and the Contemporary Shape-Note Tradition 2012.SEP.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 2, vol. 3 Online OWN T.2011 Thomas A Malone, (September 2012) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds. 2012.MAY.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 2, vol. 2 Online OWN T.2011 Thomas A Malone, (May 2012) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds.

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2012.JAN.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 2, vol. 1 Online OWN T.2011 Thomas A Malone, (January 2012) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds. 2011.TBM-T.2011 The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 1, vol. 1 Online OWN Thomas A Malone, (January 2011) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds.

2011.TBM-C.2011 The Champlain Malone, Thomas B. 1st ed. OWN Harmony: An Original Collection of Spiritual songs, Hymns, Odes, Fugues, & Anthems in Three and Four Part Harmony 2011.OCT.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 1, vol. 3 Online OWN T.2011 Thomas A Malone, (October 2011) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds. 2011.JAN.TBM- The Trumpet Fitzgerald, Will, No. 1, vol. 2 Online OWN T.2011 Thomas A Malone, (June 2011) and Robert L. Vaughn, eds. 2010.KW.2010 Willard Hymnary: Willard, Karen 1st ed. Online OWN An Illustrated Album of Hymns for all the Family to Enjoy 2009.KW.1994 An American Willard, Karen 3rd Buckley, WA OWN Christmas Harp 2008.JGM.1855 The Social Harp Patterson, Daniel Facsimile reprint Athens, GA OWN and John Garst University of Georgia Press 2008.JF.1832 The Harmonia Gingerich, James N. 26th Online OWN Sacra, Being a and Will Fitzgerald Compilation Of James N. Genuine Church Gingerich and Music, Comprising Will Fitzgerald a Great Variety of Metres, Harmonized for Three and Four Voices: Together with a Copious Explication of the Principles of Vocal Music. Exemplified and Illustrated with Tables, in a Plain and Comprehensive Manner 2007.JLW.1844 The Sacred Harp, White, J.L.; 4th (reprinting) RDL Fourth Edition typesetting by (Retypesetting of…) Karen Willard

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2006.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp, Etheridge, John, 6th Samson, AL OWN Revised Cooper Pres., Tommie Sacred Harp Book Edition Spurlock, Vice Co., Inc. Pres., Bill Aplin, Secretary/Treasurer; Eva Padgett, Johnny Lee, Tom Owen, Karen Willard, Stanley Smith 2005.JI.1805 The "Connexion" Ingalls, Jeremiah; Reprint and Newbury, VT OWN and Jeremiah Ingalls Thomas B. Malone, retypesetting of Self-published Society Bicentennial ed. 1805 collection Edition, 1805-2005 of The Christian Harmony, Or, Songster's Companion 2005.ADC.1820 The Missouri Wings of Song, First Wings of St. Louis, MO OWN Harmony editorial committee Song ed. Missouri Historical Society Press 2004.KW.1994 An American Willard, Karen 3rd ed. Buckley, WA OWN Christmas Harp 2004.DD.2004 High Desert Davis, Daniel 1st ed. OWN Harmony 2003.SAM.2003 Norumbega Marini, Stephen A. 1st ed. Jackson, MS OWN Harmony University Press of Mississippi 2002.CN.2002 September Psalms: Noren, Chris 1st ed. OWN The Shape-Note Community Remembers 2002.CM.2002 Oberlin Harmony: Maher, Chloe and 1st ed. Oberlin, OH OWN Songs We Like To Charles Wells Sing 2001.SK.2001 An Eclectic Kellam, Sharon 1st ed. Boone, NC OWN Harmony II: A Collection of Tunes Eclectic Harmony In a great variety of II Music Styles and Metres Committee from early seven- shape songbooks in use today & new compositions Submitted for the Spiritual Upliftment and Enjoyment 2001.LG.2001 The New Grayson, Lisa 1st ed. Chicago, IL OWN Millennium Harp: A Collection of shape note compositions in the tradition of The Sacred Harp 2001.KFK.2001 The Harp of Nauvoo Kammerer, Kurt F. 1st ed. OWN 1999.LB.1999 An Eclectic Bryant, Liz (Chair) 1st ed. Atlanta OWN Harmony 1999.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony Gordon, Larry and 4th ed. Plainfield, VT OWN Anthony G. Barrand

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1999.?.1999 Keystone Harmony Unlocated 1st ed. OWN 1995.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony Barrand, Anthony 3rd Plainfield, VT OWN Plain Tunes, Fuging G., Larry Gordon, Tunes and Anthems and Carole Moody Northern from the Early and Crompton Harmony Contemporary New Publishing England Singing Company Traditions 1994.KW.1994 An American Willard, Karen 1st ed. OWN Christmas Harp 1994.GW.1994 The Sacred Harper's Wright, Glen and 1st ed. Belmont, MA OWN Companion: A Susan Mampre Musica Collection of Hymns and Anthems in Traditional Shape Note Style by Contemporary Composers 1994.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D., Paperback reprint OWN Harmony and Shirley Bean of 1846 ed. 1993.TE.1993 The New Eriksen, Timothy unlocated Northampton, MDJ Northampton MA Collection of Sacred and Secular Northampton Harmony Harmony 1993.JF.1832 Harmonia Sacra Gingerich, James 25th OWN Nelson 1992.LG.1992 Emerald Stream Gordon, Larry unlocated Plainfield, VT MDJ By the Author 1992.JP.1992 Wisconsin Harmony Page, James unlocated Madison, WI MDJ By the Author

1992.JJ.1934 The Colored Sacred Jackson, Judge; H. 1992 Reprint of OWN Harp J. Jackson 1934 1991.PD.1936 The Sacred Harp, McGraw, Hugh, Carrollton, GA OWN 1991 Edition: The general chairman; Sacred Harp Best Collection of Richard DeLong, Publishing Sacred Songs, Raymond Hamrick, Company Hymns, Odes, and David Ivey, Toney Anthems Ever Smith, Jeff Offered the Singing Sheppard, Terry L. Public for General Wooten Use 1991.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony Barrand, Anthony 2nd ed. Plainfield, VT OWN G., Larry Gordon, and Carole Moody Crompton 1988.NM.1988 Hamm Harmony Bruce, Neely 1st ed. Middletown, CT OWN By the author 1985.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony Barrand, Anthony Revised reissue OWN G. and Carole Moody 1984.PD.1936 The Sacred Harp McGraw, Hugh? RDL 1984.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony: Barrand, Anthony Plainfield, VT OWN Plain Tunes, Fuging C., Larry Gordon, Tunes and Anthems and Carol Moody, Northern from the New eds. Harmony England Singing Publishing School Tradition

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1980.AGB.1980 Northern Harmony: Barrand, Anthony 1st ed. Marlboro, VT OWN A Collection of G. and Carole Privately Tunes by Early New Moody published England Composers 1976.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias, Reprint of 1st ed. Minneapolis, MN RS [Facsimile Reprint] Irving Lowens, Ed. Augsburg 1973.JJ.1934 The Colored Sacred Jackson, Judge Revised ed. Montgomery, AL RS Harp Paragon Press

1973.JGM.1855 The Social Harp… McCurry, John G. Daniel W. Athens, GA RS Patterson and John Garst, eds. University of Facsimile reprint Georgia Press 1971.PD.1936 Original Sacred McGraw, Hugh, Fourth Denson Cullman, AL RS, RDL Harp Chairman of the Music Committee Sacred Harp Publishing Co., Inc. 1968.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp Reynolds, William Facsimile of 3rd Nashville, TN RS B., Ed. ed. Broadman Press 1966.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Wilcox, Glenn C., Los Angeles, CA RS ed. Pro Musicamericana 1966.PD.1936 Original Sacred McGraw, Hugh, Third Denson RS, RDL Harp Chairman of the Music Committee 1964.JW.1813 Wyeth's Repository, Lowens, Irving, ed. Facsimile of 2nd New York RS Part II ed. Da Capo 1960.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp Cooper, W.M. 6th RDL 1960.PD.1936 Original Sacred Cagle, A. M. RS Harp (Supplement), Denson, Paine, and Thomas J. Denson 1960.PD.1936 The Sacred Harp Denson, Paine, and Second Denson RDL Thomas J. Denson; W.B. Matthews, president SHPC 1960.JLW.1844 The Sacred Harp White, J. L., chief 12th ed. Troy, AL RS ed. Sacred Harp Book Co. 1950.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp Cooper, W.M. 5th RDL 1949.JLW.1844 The Sacred Harp White, J. L., chief Troy & Dothan, RS ed. AL W. M. Cooper

1939.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William New York RS Hastings House for Young Men's Progress Club, Benton, KY 1936.PD.1936 Original Sacred Denson, Paine, and First Denson Cullman, AL RS, RDL Harp, Denson Thomas J. Denson revision Sacred Harp Revision Publishing Company

282

1934.JJ.1934 The Colored Sacred Jackson, Judge Ozark, AL RS Harp. For Singing Dale County Class, Singing Musical Institute School, Convention, and Alabama and and General Use in Florida Union Christian Work and State Conventions Fellowship. 1929.JSJ.1911 The Sacred Harp James, Joseph S. Reproduction of Atlanta, GA RS 1911 James ed. Ruralist Press (per RDL) 1927.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp Cooper, W.M. 4th RDL 1921.JSJ.1911 The Sacred Harp James, Joseph S. Reproduction of RDL 1911 1913.JSJ.1913 Sacred Tunes and James, Joseph S. 1st ed. OWN Hymns 1911.JSJ.1911 Original Sacred James, Joseph 1st James ed. Cullman, AL RDL, RS Harp copyrighted by Stephen, ed.. Sacred Harp Pub. Joe S. James 1911 Seaborn McDaniel Co. Denson, musical ed., 1911.JLW.1844 The Sacred Harp, White, James 4th ed., "[J.L.] RS, RDL Fourth Edition with Landrum, chief ed. White" edition Supplement 1909.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp Cooper, W.M. 3rd RDL 1909.JSJ.1909 Union Harp and James, Joseph S. 1st ed. Douglasville, GA OWN History of Songs: Brief Sketch of the Authors of Hymns and Tunes; Newly Arranged Tune and Song Book Consisting of Sacred Tunes, Songs and Anthems; Prepared for Churches, Sunday- Schools, Singing Schools, Conventions and all Public Gatherings, As Well as Private Classes and the Home 1909.JLW.1844 The Sacred Harp, a White, James L., et 5th ed. RDL, RS collection of Psalm al. and Hymn Tunes, Odes and Anthems, Selected from the most eminent authors; Fifth Edition entirely Remolded and Improved. Containing nearly one hundred select pieces, arranged and prepared for this work. Compiled and prepared by J.L. White and Others 1907.WMC.1902 The Sacred Harp Cooper, W.M. 2nd (first revision RDL of the revision)

283

1902.WMC.1902 The B.F. White Cooper, W. M. First Cooper RDL Sacred Harp as revision Revised & Improved by W. M. Cooper and others 1887.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. New York RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William of Tunes… C. [probably, per T. Mason and G. R.S.] Lane 1879.RMI.1879 New Life: or, songs McIntosh, R.M. Nashville, TN OWN and tunes for Southern Sunday-schools, Methodist prayer meetings, Publishing House and revival occasions 1873.RMI.1873 The Gem: A Book McIntosh, Rigdon Nashville, TN OWN of Songs and Tunes M., and Atticus G. A.H. Redford for for the Sunday Haygood, eds. the Methodist School; with Episcopal Church, occasional pieces South for the choir 1870.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas. R. 8th ed. Hellertown, PA RS Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie… Printed by Wm. H. Knauss 1870.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp . . . White, Benjamin RS Franklin and D[avid] P[atillo] White. 1869.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas. R. 7th ed. Allentown, PA RS Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie… E. D. Leisenring & Co. 1869.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp White, B.F., 4th ed. Entirely Atlanta, GA RDL, RS Dumas, Edmund, remodeled Charles P. Byrd Absalom Ogletree, containing one R. F. M. Mann, and hundred and Marion Patrick, eds thirty new and selected pieces, expressly arranged and prepared for this book, compiled by a committee appointed by "The Southern Musical Convention"; incl. both supplements; both supplements and core rep. altered; new supplement added [RDL] 1868.JGM.1855 The Social Harp… McCurry, John G. Philadelphia, PA RS S. C. Collins 1867.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas. R. Hellertown, PA RS Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie… 1859.TRW.1859 Pennsylvänische Weber, Thomas. R. Allentown, PA RS Sammlung von By the Compiler Kirchen-Musick

284

1859.TRW.1852 The Juvenile Weber, Thomas. R. RS Harmony 1859.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas. R. 5th ed. RS Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie… 1859.JGM.1855 The Social Harp… McCurry, John G. RS 1859.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp, A White, B.F., E.T. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA RDL, RS Collection of Psalm Pound, J.P. Rees, S.C. Collins for and Hymn Tunes, R.F. Ball, A. the Proprietors; Odes, and Anthems, Ogletree, T. Waller, selected from the J.T. Edmunds, A.S. Hamilton, GA most eminent Webster White, authors: Together Massengale & with nearly one Co. hundred pieces never before published; suited to most metres, and well adapted to churches of every denomination, singing schools, and private societies. With Plain rules for learners. To which is added Appendix I, Containing a variety of standard and favorite tunes not comprised in the body of the wrok, compiled by a committee appointed by The Southern Musical Convention, also Appendix II, containing 77 pieces of new composition by distinguished writers never before published

285

1857.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1856.WRR.1848 The American Rhinehart, William Dayton, OH RS Church Harp… R. 1855.TRW.1855 The Juvenile Weber, Thomas R. Allentown, PA RS Singing School 1855.TRW.1853 Die Neue Choral Weber, Thomas R. 2nd ed. RS Harmonie 1855.TBM.1837 Sacred Songs for Hastings, Thomas New ed. revised New York and RS Family and Social and enlarged Boston Worship...New ed. revised and enlarged American Tract Society 1855.JGM.1855 The Social Harp, A McCurry, John G. Philadelphia, PA RS Collection of Tunes, Odes, Anthems, and T. K. Collins, Jr., Set Pieces, Selected For the Proprietor from Various Authors: Together with Much New Music Never Before Published; Suited to All Metres, and Well Adapted to All Denominations, Singing-Schools, and Private Societies. With a Full Exposition of the Rudiments of Music. And the Art of Musical Composition so Simplified that the Most Unlearned Person Can Comprehend It with the Utmost Faculty.

286

1855.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 21st ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection Moore, Wilstach, of Psalm and Hymn Keys and Tunes and Anthems, Overend from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1854.WW.1835 The Southern Walker, William New edition, Philadelphia, PA RS Harmony and thoroughly E. W. Musical Companion revised and Miller/Miller and greatly improved Burlock 1854.WH.1845 The Minstrel of Hunter, William Philadelphia, PA RS Zion… and Samuel Higgins and Wakefield Perkinpine 1854.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas R. 4th ed. Published by the RS Pennsylvänische Compiler Choral Harmonie… 1854.JW.1854 The Seraphina Winebrenner, John Harrisburg, PA RS and Leopold By the Compiler Meignen 1854.JJF.1854 Die Cantica Sacra; Fast, J. J. Hudson, OH RS eine Sammlung von Hudson Book Co. Kirchengesängen, enthaltend, enbst einigen neuen stücken, eine Auserlesene Auswahl deutscher und englischer Choraele, Coralgesaenge, Psalmodie, etc. entnommen den besten Werken Europa's und Amerika's . . .mit deutschem end Englischem Texte. 1853.TRW.1853 Die Neue Choral Weber, Thomas R. Hellertown, PA RS Harmonie 1853.SMM.1844 Die neue choral Musselmann, S. M. RS Harmonie 1853.IBW.1853 Harp of the South Woodbury, Isaac New York RS Baker Mason Brothers

287

1853.CD.1849 The Devotional Dingley, Charles RS Harmonist: A Collection of Sacred Music, Comprising A Large Variety of New and Original Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, etc. In Addition to Many of the Most Popular Tunes in Common Use. Presenting a Greater Number of Metres than any Book Heretofore Published. To Which Is Prefixed a Progressive System of Elementary Instruction for Schools and Private Tuition 1852.WH.1848 Hesperian Harp Hauser, William Philadelphia, PA RS T. K. and P. J. Collins 1852.TRW.1852 The Juvenile Weber, Thomas R. Allentown, PA RS Harmony 1852.CD.1849 The Devotional Dingley, Charles T. Carlton and Z. RS Harmonist: A Phillips Collection of Sacred Music, Comprising A Large Variety of New and Original Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, etc. In Addition to Many of the Most Popular Tunes in Common Use. Presenting a Greater Number of Metres than any Book Heretofore Published. To Which Is Prefixed a Progressive System of Elementary Instruction for Schools and Private Tuition 1851.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William Philadelphia, PA RS Cowperthwaite

288

1851.CD.1849 The Devotional Dingley, Charles RS Harmonist: A Collection of Sacred Music, Comprising A Large Variety of New and Original Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, etc. In Addition to Many of the Most Popular Tunes in Common Use. Presenting a Greater Number of Metres than any Book Heretofore Published. To Which Is Prefixed a Progressive System of Elementary Instruction for Schools and Private Tuition 1850.WRR.1848 The American Rhinehart, William Cincinnati, OH RS Church Harp… R. J. A. Janus for H. S. & J. Applegate 1850.WH.1845 The Minstrel of Hunter, William Philadelphia, PA RS Zion… and Samuel John Ball Wakefield

1850.TRW.1850 Die neue Harmonie, Weber, Thomas R. Allentown, PA RS enthaltend eine gute Auswahl von geistlichen Liedern, s.s.w., versehen mit Deutscehm und Englishem Texte; zum Gebrauch für Familien, Sing- Schulen, Sonntags- und Wochen- Schulen. The New Harmony, containing an ample assorment of sacred tunes, &c. provided with German and English text; designed for the use of families, singing- schools, Sabbath and common schools.

289

1850.CD.1849 The Devotional Dingley, Charles RS Harmonist: A Collection of Sacred Music, Comprising A Large Variety of New and Original Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, etc. In Addition to Many of the Most Popular Tunes in Common Use. Presenting a Greater Number of Metres than any Book Heretofore Published. To Which Is Prefixed a Progressive System of Elementary Instruction for Schools and Private Tuition 1850.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D., 20th ed., revised, Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Charles Warren, ed. enlarged, and Choice Collection corrected William Phillips of Psalm and Hymn and Co. Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1849.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas R. 2nd ed. RS Pennsylvänische Choral Harmonie… 1849.LJJ.1849 Southern Minstrel Jones, Lazarus J. Philadelphia, PA RS Grigg, Elliot and Co. 1849.EB.1849 The Manual of the Ball, Eli Richmond, VA, RS Sacred Choir: A Harrold & Selection of Tunes Murray; and Hymns, from the Most Approved Philadelphia, Authors, Adapted to Thomas, Public Worship, to Cowperthwait Revivals, to Prayer Meetings, and to Family Worship.

290

1849.CD.1849 The Devotional Dingley, Charles New York RS Harmonist: A Collection of Sacred George Lane and Music, Comprising Levi Scott A Large Variety of New and Original Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, etc. In Addition to Many of the Most Popular Tunes in Common Use. Presenting a Greater Number of Metres than any Book Heretofore Published. To Which Is Prefixed a Progressive System of Elementary Instruction for Schools and Private Tuition

1849.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp White, B.F., Joel 2nd ed; incl. Philadelphia, PA RDL, RS King, Leonard P. supplement S. C. Collins, Jr. Breedlove, Absalom Ogletree, S.R. Penick, J.R. Turner, R.F.M. Mann, E.J. King 1849.AA.1847 The Ohio Auld, Alexander 2nd ed. OWN Harmonist, a Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, from the Best Authors, to which is Added a Supplement of Temperance Songs, also Containing the Rudiments of Music on a Plain and Concise Plan. Enlarged and revised ed. 1848.WRR.1848 The American Rhinehart, William Germantown, OH RS Church Harp; R. W. R. Rhinehart Containing a Choice Selection of Hymns and Tunes, Comprising a Variety of Metres Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Families. 1848.WH.1848 Hesperian Harp Hauser, William Philadelphia, PA RS For the Author

291

1848.SJ.1848 Sacred Harmony: A Jackson, Samuel New York RS Collection of Music, and T. Goodbon Adapted to the George Lane and Greatest Variety fo Charles B. Tippett Metres Now in Use. . .and, for special occasions, a choice selection of sentences, anthems, motets, and chants, harmonized by Samuel Jackson, with an improved system of elementary instruction. Patent note ed. 1848.GH.1848 The Union Hendrickson, Mountain Valley RS Harmony or A George [Singer's Glen], Choice Collection VA of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Joseph Funk and Anthems, On a New Sons System of Musical Notation, in Three Parts. Selected from the Most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies. 1848.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 19th ed. Wm. Phillips & RS Harmony; Or a Son. Stereotype Choice Collection edition of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1847b.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William Philadelphia, PA RS E. W. Miller 1847b.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and Benjamin Parke Geo[rge] Fleming

292

1847.WW.1835 The Southern Walker, William New edition, Philadelphia, PA RS Harmony and improved and Cowperthwait Musical Companion enlarged 1847.JHH.1840 The Social Lyrist… Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS H[oyt] B. Parker 1847.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 15th ed. RS Musick… H[oyt] and Geo[rge] Fleming 1847.JF.1832 4th ed., improved Funk, Joseph 4th ed. Mountain Valley RS and enlarged, with [Now Singer's the appendage Glen], VA blended with the J. Funk & S. Funk body of the work. 1847.AWJ.1847 The Eclectic Johnson, Andrew 2nd ed., revised Shelbyville, TN HE Harmony, W. and improved containing A Plain N.O. Wallace & and Easy Co., Printers Introduction to the grounds of Music, in as short a Manner as would be Expedient, in Two Parts; And A Choice Collection of such tunes as are in use in congregations, concerts, or singing socieities, and among revivalists, together with several pieces never before publsihed. 1847.AA.1847 The Ohio Auld, Alexander 1st ed. Washington, OH OWN Harmonist: A and Joshua Martin Collection of Psalm J.A. and U.P. and Hymn Tunes, James, from the Best Authors to Which is Added a Supplement of Temperance Songs, for the Use of Congregations, Singing Schools, Temperance Meetings, and Musical Associations, Consisting of Three Parts: Part I and III Contain the Seven Syllables in Patent Notes; Part II Contains the Four Syllables in Patent Notes; Also Containing the Rudiments of Music, on a Plain and Concise Plan

293

1846.WW.1846 The Southern and Walker, William Philadelphia, PA RS Western Pocket Harmonist, Intended Cowperthwait and as an Appendix to Co. The Southern Harmony; Embracing the Principal Hymns, Songs, Choruses, and Revival Tunes, Usually Sung at Protracted and Campmeetings of Different Denominations of Christians throughout the Southern and Western States; Also, a Number of CHoice Pieces for the Church and Social Singing Societies, To Which Is Prefixed, a Concise Introduction to the Grounds of Music. 1846.SW.1844 The Western Harp: Wakefield, Samuel 3rd ed., With Pittsburgh, PA RS Containing a Valuable and Charles H. Kay Collection of Sacred large additions. Music, Original and Selected . . .Together with a Concise Introduction to the Art of Singing 1846.GH.1846 The Southern Hood, George Philadelphia, PA RS Church Melodist: A Collection of Sacred Hogan and Music, Consisting Thompson of a Great Variety of the Most Approved Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Anthems, Sentences, Chants, etc. Selected and Original; Intended for the Use of Schools, Choirs, and Social Meetings; Arranged for Four Voices, With a Figured Bass for the Organ or Piano Forte. To which is prefixed, a full and complete inductive elementary treatise, with practical exercises.

294

1846.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 18th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1845.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William Philadelphia, PA RS Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. 1845.WH.1845 The Minstrel of Hunter, William Philadelphia, PA RS Zion: A Book of and Samuel Sorin and Ball Religious Songs, Wakefield Accompanied with Appropriate Music, Chiefly Original. 1845.WCB.1837 The Harmonist: Brown, William C., RS Being a Collection Gabriel P of Tunes… Disosway, Daniel Ayres, and Samuel Ashmead 1845.JWS.1836 The Valley Steffey, John W. Harrisonburg, VA RS Harmonist… Henry T. Wartman, Printer. 1845.EWB.1845 Supplement to the Bliss, E.W. Toronto, ON, OWN Sacred Harmony: Canada Consisting of a Choice Collection Anson Green, of Hymn Tunes, Printed by J.H. Sentences, and Lawrence Anthems, Selected from the Compostions of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, and Others; Including The Elementary Instruction, On the System of Pestalozzi, as adopted by the Boston Academy of Music

295

1844.TRW.1844 Die Weber, Thomas R. Allentown, PA RS Pennsylvänische By the Compiler Choral Harmonie. The Pennsylvania Choral Harmony, Containing the Principal Church Melodies Provided with German and English Text. 1844.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. New York RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William G. Lane and C. B. of Tunes… C. [probably, per Tippett R.S.] 1844.SW.1844 Western Harp. Wakefield, Samuel Pittsburgh, PA RS Charles H. Kay 1844.SMM.1844 Die neue choral Musselmann, S. M. Harrisburg, PA RS Harmonie, Hickok and enthaltend die Cantine vornehmsten Kirchen Melodien, eingerichtet zum Gebrauche aller christlichen Religionen von jeden Benennungen, und auf drei Stimmen gesetzt. Absonderlich eingerichtet zum öffentlichen Gottesdienste, als: Kirchen, Versammlungen und Singschulen. Komponirt und zusammengetragen von S. M. Musselmann. 1844.FW.1840 Pennsylvänische Wyeth, Francis? RS Sammlung von Kirchen-Musik… 1844.BFW.1844 The Sacred Harp, a White, Benjamin Philadelphia, PA RS, RDL Collection of Psalm Franklin and Elisha T. K. & P. G. and Hymn Tunes, James King Collins Odes, and Anthems, Selected from the Most Eminent Authors: Together with Nearly One Hundred Pieces Never Before Published; Suited to Most Metres, And Well Adapted to Churches of Every Denomination, Singing Schools, and Private Societies. With plain rules for learners.

296

1844.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 17th ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Phillips and Choice Collection Reynolds of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1843.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William of Tunes… C. [probably, per R.S.] 1843.JHH.1840 The Social Lyrist… Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS H[oyt] Hickok and Cantine 1842c.TH.1842 Sacred Songs for Hastings, Thomas New York RS Family and Social D. Fanshaw Worship 1842b.TH.1842 Sacred Songs for Hastings, Thomas RS Family and Social Worship 1842.TH.1842 Sacred Songs for Hastings, Thomas New York RS Family and Social American Tract Worship: Society Comprising the Most Approved Spiritual Hymns with Chaste and Popular Tunes 1842.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William of Tunes… C. [probably, per R.S.] 1842.JF.1832 3rd ed., improved Funk, Joseph 3rd ed. Harrisonburg, VA RS and enlarged, Henry T. besides an Wartmann appendage of 40 pages of choice music.

297

1842.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 16th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1841.WBS.1831 The Western Lyre… Snyder, William B., 2nd ed. Cincinnati, OH RS and W. L. Chappell W. L. Chappell 1841.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. New York RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William of Tunes… C. [probably, per G. Lane and P. P. R.S.] Sandford 1841.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 8th ed. RS Brunswick Cornelius Van Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce 1841.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 15th ed. Philadelphia, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and J. Whetham Geo[rge] Fleming Richmond, VA Yale and Wyatt 1841.HS.1831 The Church Smith, Henry 20th ed. RS Harmony… 1841.GM.1841 The Methodist Miller, George Dayton, OH OWN Camp-Meeting B.F. Ellis Hymn Book Containing a Variety of Almost Entire New Tunes, the Most of Which Have Been Set in Order by the Compiler, and Are Confidently Recommended to Christians of Every Denomination, as Calculated to Be Used, Either in Times of Public Worship, Private Societies, or Camp Meeting and Especially in Times of Revivals, &c.

298

1841.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 15th ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a E. Morgan and Choice Collection Co. of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1840b.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and W. Orville Geo[rge] Fleming Hickok 1840.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. RS Being a Collection OR Brown, William of Tunes… C. [probably, per R.S.] 1840.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., RS Brunswick Cornelius Van

Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce.

1840.JHH.1840 The Social Lyrist; A Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS Collection of H[oyt], and W. W. Orville Sentimental, Orville Hickock Hickok Patriotic, and Pious Songs Set to Music, arr. For One, Two, and Three Voices 1840.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and Whetham Geo[rge] Fleming 1840.JBJ.1838 The Knoxville Jackson, John B. Pumpkintown, RS Harmony of Music East Tennessee Made Easy D. and M. Shields and Co., and John Jackson

299

1840.FW.1840 Pennsylvänische Wyeth, Francis? Harrisburg, PA RS Sammlung von F. [J.] Wyeth Kirchen-Musik, enthaltend eine gute auswahl von Psalmen, und geistlichen Liedern, u.s.w., mit englischem und deutschem Texte. Zum gebrauche für familien, singschulen und muskalischen gesellschaften. 1840.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 14th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1839.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 11th ed. RS Musick… H[oyt] and Geo[rge] Fleming

1839.HCE.1833 …Sechste Eyer, Heinrich 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA RS vermehrte und [Henry] C. John Fagan verbesserte Ausgabe/…6th ed., with additions and improvements. 1839.AWJ.1839 The American Johnson, Andrew Nashville, TN OWN Harmony W.

300

1839.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 13th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1838.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William Spartanburg, SC RS For the Author 1838.WW.1835 Southern Harmony Walker, William Spartanburg, SC RS

Published by the Author 1838.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 8th ed. RS Brunswick Cornelius Van Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce. 1838.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and J Whetham Geo[rge] Fleming New York D. Appleton and Co. 1838.JBJ.1838 The Knoxville Jackson, John B. Madisonville, TN RS Harmony of Music D. & M. Shields Made Easy 1838.ASH.1835 Introduction to Hayden, Amos Pittsburgh, PA RS Sacred Music... Sutton Johnston and Enlarged and Stockton improved

301

1838.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 12th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1837.WC.1837 Union Harmony: or Caldwell, William Maryville, TN RS Family Musician, F. A. Parham Being a Choice Selection of Tunes, Selected from the Works of the Most Eminent Authors, Ancient and Modern. Together with a Large Number of Original Tunes, Composed and Harmonized by the Author, To Which is Prefixed a Comprehensive View of the Rudiments of Music, Abridged and Adapted to the Capacity of the Young.

302

1837.TBM.1837 The Harmonist: Mason, Timothy B. New York RS Being a Collection and G. Lane of Tunes from the T. Mason and G. Most Approved Lane Authors; Adapted to Every Variety of Metre in the Methodist Hymn- book. And, for Particular Occasions, A Selection of Anthems, Pieces, and Sentences. New Edition, in Patent Notes -- Revised and Greatly Enlarged. 1837.SW.1832 The Christian's Wakefield, Samuel Corrected, Cincinnati, OH RS Harp… enlarged, and Johnston & much improved Stockton by Lazarus B. M'Lain; pages given as 164, 64 1837.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] 7th ed. RS Musick… H[oyt] and Geo[rge] Fleming 1837.HS.1831 The Church Smith, Henry 8th ed. RS Harmony… 1837.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 11th ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a E. Morgan and Choice Collection Son of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]] 1836.WCK.1825 The Juvenile Knight, William C. 16th RS Harmony…16th ed., revised and corrected 1836.SJ.1836 Zion's Harp Jenks, Stephen Cincinnati, OH OWN J. A. James for J. Fisher & Son

303

1836.RW.1832 Lexington Cabinet Willis, Robert ―Latest improved Cincinnati, OH RS and Repository of edition‖ J. A. James & Co. Sacred Music 1836.LM.1834 The Sacred Harp, or Mason, Lowell and Cincinnati, OH RS Eclectic Harmony… Timothy B. Mason Robinson Pratt and Co. 1836.JWS.1836 The Valley Steffey, John W. Winchester, VA RS Harmonist, Robinson and Containing a Hollis Collection of Tunes from the Most Approved Authors, Adapted to a Variety of Metres. Also -- A Selection of set pieces and Anthems. 1836.JPC.1831 The Virginia Carrell, James P. 2nd ed., revised Winchester, VA RS Harmony, A New and David L. and enlarged by Robinson & and Choice Clayton D. L. Clayton Hollis Selection of Psalm & Hymn Tunes, Anthems & Set Pieces, In Three and Four Parts, Some of Which Have Never Before Been Published – Prepared for the Use of Singing Societies, Teachers of Sacred Music, And Individual Instruction. To Which Is Prefixed an Introduction Explanatory of the System, And a Series Of Progressive Lessons. 1836.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] Philadelphia, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and J. Whetham Geo[rge] Fleming

304

1836.HCE.1833 Die Union Choral Eyer, Heinrich RS Harmonie, [Henry] C. enthaltend drie und vierstimmig ausgesetzte Melodien, mit deutschem und englischem Texte; sowohl zum Gebrauche beim öffentlichen Gottesdienste aller christlichen Confessionen, als auch für Singschulen und Privatgesellschaften. 2. und verbesserte Aufl. The Union Choral Harmony, consisting of Sacred Music, with German and English lines to each tune, adapted to the use of Christian Churches of every denomination, comprising a number of the most popular melodies in the United States; to which is added a number of tunes which have never before been published, some of which have been lately composed for this work, by different authors. Together with a conside introduction to the Art of Singing; for the use of Scholars and persons wishing to qualify themselves for participating in Divine Worship

305

1836.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 10th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur 1835.WW.1835 The Southern Walker, William New Haven, CT RS Harmony, and Musical Nathan Whiting Companion: for the author Containing a Choice Collection of Tunes, Hymns, Psalms, Odes, and Anthems; Selected from the Most Eminent Authors in the United States: Together with Nearly One Hundred New Tunes, Whuch Have Never Before Been Published; Suited to Most of the Meters Contained in Watts's Hymns and Psalms, Mercer's Cluster, Dossey's Choice, Dover Selection, Methodist Hymn Book, and Baptist Harmony; and Well Adapted to Christian Churches of Every Denomination, Singing Schools, and Private Societies: Also, an Easy Introduction to the Ground of Music, the Rudiments of Music, and Plain Rules for Beginners.

306

1835.WBS.1831 The Western Lyre… Snyder, William B., Cincinnati, OH RS and W. L. Chappell W. L. Chappell and Corey & Fairbank 1835.LM.1834 The Sacred Harp, or Mason, Lowell and New ed., revised RS Eclectic Harmony… Timothy Battelle and corrected Mason 1835.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 7th ed. RS Brunswick Cornelius Van Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce. 1835.JF.1832 A Compilation of Funk, Joseph 2nd ed. RS Genuine Church Music, Comprimising a Variety of Metres, All Harmonized for Three Voices; Together with a Copious Elucidation of the Science of Vocal Music. 1835.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman Revised, enlarged Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony and much improved Johnston and Stockton 1835.ASH.1835 Introduction to Hayden, Amos Pittsburgh, PA RS Sacred Music; Sutton Comprising the Necessary Rudiments, with a Choice Collection of Tunes 1835.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. New [9th] RS Harmony; Or a edition; 40p Choice Collection supplement w/29 of Psalm and Hymn tunes added Tunes and Anthems, from Eminent Authors: With an Introduction to Grounds and Rudiments of Music. To which is added a supplement, containing a number of admired tunes of the various metres, and several choice pieces, selected from some of the most approved collections of sacred music, by an amateur [may be Timothy Flint [note from R.S.?]]

307

1834b.HS.1831 The Church Smith, Henry 4th ed., improved RS Harmony. and enlarged Containing a Selection of Approved Psalm and Hymn Tunes, with Additions and Improvements, Adapted to the Divine Worship of the Various Religious Denominations, and a Concise Introduction to Music; Including Also a Second Part or Supplement, Containing a Variety of Tunes Suitable for Singing SChools and Private Societies. 1834.LM.1834 The Sacred Harp, or Mason, Lowell and Cincinnati, OH RS Eclectic Harmony: Timothy Battelle Truman and A Collection of Mason Smith Church Music Consisting of a Great Variety of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Anthems, Sacred Songs and Chants, Original and Selected: Including Many New and Beautiful Subjects from the Most Eminent Composers, Harmonized and Arranged Expressly for This Work. 1834.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John RS Repository…

1834.JHH.1834 Evangelical Musick; Hickok, J[ohn] Carlisle, PA RS or, The Sacred H[oyt] and G. Fleming Minstrel and Sacred Geo[rge] Fleming Harp United: Consisting of a Great Variety of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Set Pieces, Anthems, &c., &c., &c. of the Most Approved Character 1834.JHH.1834 Evangelical Hickok, J[ohn] Harrisburg, PA RS Musick… H[oyt] and Hickock and Geo[rge] Fleming Cantine

308

1834.HS.1831 The Church Smith, Henry 3rd ed., imp and Chambersburg, RS Harmony. enlarged PA Containing a Selection of Printed for the Approved Psalm Proprietor by and Hymn Tunes . . Henry Ruby .Including also a Second Part of Supplement, Containing a Variety of Tunes suitable for Singing Schools and Private Societies. 1834.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 8th ed. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1833.WCK.1825 The Juvenile Knight, William C. 15th ed. RS Harmony…15th ed., revised and corrected 1833.JWP.1832 The Western Palmer, James W. 2nd ed., enlarged Louisville, KY RS Harmonic J. W. Palmer and Companion… Morton & Smith 1833.JSM.1833 The Methodist Smith, John M. et Revised from New York RS Harmonist, al. 1822 by George B. Waugh and T. Containing a Great Coles and Others Mason Variety of Tunes Collected from the Best Authors, Adapted to All the Various Metres in the Methodist Hymm Book, and Designed for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. To which is added a choice selection of anthems and pieces for particulars occasions.

309

1833.HCE.1833 Die Union Choral Eyer, Heinrich Harrisburg, PA RS Harmonie, [Henry] C. Francis Wyeth enthaltend kirchen- melodien, mit deutschen und englischen wörtern versehen. 1833.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 7th ed RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1832?.WBS.1831 The Western Lyre… Snyder, William B., J. A. James for RS and W. L. Chappell W. L. Chappell 1832.SW.1832 The Christian's Wakefield, Samuel Pittsburgh, PA RS Harp, Containing a Johnston and Choice Selection of Stockton Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Suited to the Various Metres Now in Use Among the Different Religious Denominations in the United States: Designed for the Use of Public and Family Worship. 1832.RW.1832 Lexington Cabinet Willis, Robert Louisville, KY RS and Repository of Norwood and Sacred Music Palmer 1832.JWP.1832 The Western Palmer, James W. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmonic Companion: Morgan, Lodge Containing Most of and Fisher the Tunes used in Divine Worship in the Western Country, Selected from Eminent Composers. 1832.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 6th ed. RS Brunswick Cornelius Van Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce.

310

1832.JL.1832 The Christian Lyre: Leavitt, Joshua New York RS Adapted for Use in Jonathan Leavitt Families, Prayer Meetings, and Revivals of Religion. The Music printed in Patent Notes. First Patent Note Edition. 1832.JHH.1832 The Sacred Harp, Hickok, J[ohn] Lewistown, PA RS Containing Part H[oyt] First, a Clear Printed by Compendium of the Shugert and Rules and Principles Cummings of Vocal Music. Part Second, a Collection of the Most Approved Church Tunes, Arranged for Three or Four Voices; with a Large Number of Select Hymns, and a Few Set Pieces; Designed To Furnish Singing- Schols and Societies, and Worshipping Assemblies, of Every Denomination; with a Complete Set of Tunes, Adapted to All Metres in Common Use. Part Third, a Collection of Popular Airs, and Devotional Hymns, Designed More Immediately for Prayer Meetings and Social Circles, than Schools and Societies. 1832.JF.1832 A Compilation of Funk, Joseph Winchester, VA RS Genuine Church J. W. Hollis Music, Comprimising a Variety of Metres, All Harmonized for Three Voices; Together with a Copious Elucidation of the Science of Vocal Music. [Harmonia Sacra] 1832.AMSG.1831 Sweets of Music Gordon, A. M. S. Pittsburgh, PA RS and T. W. Haynes Cramer and Spear

311

1832.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. Revised and RS Harmony; Or a improved Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1831.WRR.1831 American or Union Rhinehart, William Chambersburg, RS Harmonist, Or a R. PA Choice Collection Printed by Henry of Psalm Tunes, Ruby Hymns and Anthems, Selected from the Most Approved Authors, and Well Adapted To All Christian Churches, Singing Schools and Private Families. 1831.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1831.WCK.1825 The Juvenile Knight, William C. 5th ed. RS Harmony… 1831.WBS.1831 The Western Lyre; Snyder, William B., Cincinnati, OH RS A New Selection of and W. L. Chappell J. W. Wood Sacred Music, From the Best Authors, Including a Number of New and Original Tunes, With a Concise Introduction to the Art of Singing.

312

1831.JPC.1831 The Virginia Carrell, James P. Winchester, VA RS Harmony, A New and David L. Samuel H. Davis and Choice Clayton Selection of Psalm & Hymn Tunes, Anthems & Set Pieces, In Three and Four Parts, Some of Which Have Never Before Been Published – Prepared for the Use of Singing Societies, Teachers of Sacred Music, And Individual Instruction. To Which Is Prefixed an Introduction Explanatory of the System, And a Series Of Progressive Lessons. 1831.HS.1831 The Church Smith, Henry Chambersburg, RS Harmony. PA Containing a Henry Ruby Selection of Approved Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Adapted to the Divine Worship of the Various Religious Denominations. 1831.HS.1831 Anhang, zur Schmidt [Smith], H. Chambersburg, RS Kirchen-Harmonie; PA Supplement to the Church Harmony 1831.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman 6th ed. Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony Johnston and Stockton 1831.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. RS Harmony; Or a Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners.

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1830.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1830.SW.1830 The American Wakefield, Samuel Pittsburgh, PA RS Repository of Cramer and Spear Sacred Music, containing a great variety of psalm and hymn tunes, original and selected 1830.JR.1821 Die Franklin Rothbaust, 2nd imp. Ed. Chambersburg, RS Harmonie… Johannes PA Henry Ruby 1830.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 4th ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Morgan and Choice Collection Sanxay of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1829.WCK.1825 2nd ed., enlarged Knight, William C. 2nd Cincinnati, OH RS and improved Morgan and Sanxay 1829.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 5th ed., enl. And RS Brunswick Cornelius Van improved Collection… Deventer, and John Frazce. 1829.JC.1829 Union Harmony; Cole, John Baltimore, MD RS Or, Music Made William and Easy: A New and Joseph Neal Pleasing Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes . . . Intended for the Use of Such Teachers as Are in the Habit of Using What Are Called the Patent Notes

314

1829.BS.1829 Columbian Shaw, Benjamin Cincinnati, OH NP Harmony, Or and Charles H. Lodge, Pilgrim's Musical Spilman L'Hommedieu Companion; being a and Hammond choice selection of tunes, selected from the works of the most eminent authors, ancient and modern. To which is added a succinct and comprehensive view of the rudiments of music. 1829.ADC.1829 United States Carden, Allen D. Nashville, TN RS Harmony, John S. Simpson Containing a Plain and Easy Introduction to the Grounds of Music, And a Choice Selection of Tunes for Church Service, Some of Them Entirely New, Suited to the Various Metres in Watts' Psalms and Hymns, And the Methodist and Baptist Hymn Books. To Which Are Added a Few of the Most Approved Anthems. 1828.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1828.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman 5th ed. Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony Johnston and Stockton 1827.MB.1827 Die Neue Harmonie, Bentz, Michael Gettysburg, PA RS oder eine neue Henry C. Sammlung von Neinstedt Kirchen-Musik 1827.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., 4th ed., enl and New Brunswick, RS Brunswick Cornelius Van imp. NJ Collection of Sacred Deventer, and John Terhune & Letson Music, Being a Frazce. Selection of Tunes from the Most Approved Authors in Europe and America. Designed Principally for the Use of Churches.

315

1827.JPH.1827 The Pennsylvania Hutson, John P. Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmonist, Cramer and Spear Containing a Choise Collection of Tunes, Grave and Sprightly, For Divine Service and Musical Refinement . . .To Which Is Prefixed, A Dissertation upon the True Taste in Church Music; Together with a Concise Introduction to the Rules of Music. Prepared for the use of scholars. In two parts. 1827.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. 3rd ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Drake and Choice Collection Conclin of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1826.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1826.SLM.1818 The Kentucky Metcalfe, Samuel 4th ed. RS Harmonist… Lytler 1826.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John 6th ed., improved RS Repository… and corrected 1826.EO.1826 The Sunday School Osborn, E. Philadelphia, PA OWN Music Book For Sale at the Depository of the American Sunday School Union 1826.AD.1825 A Small Collection Davisson, Ananias Mount Vernon, RS of Sacred Music, VA Chiefly Taken from By the Author the Kentucky Harmony and Supplement 1826.AD.1820 A Supplement to the Davisson, Ananias RS Kentucky Harmony

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1826.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias 5th ed. RS Or a choice collection of Psalm tunes Hymns and Anthems; in three parts. Taken from the most eminent Authors, and well adapted to Christian Churches; Singing Schools or private Societies. 1825.WM.1825 Columbian Moore, William Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; or, A Morgan, Lodge, Choice Collection and Fisher of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems, in Three Parts; The First Containing All the Plain and Easy Tunes Commonly Used in Time of Divine Service; The Second, The More Elegant Piecees Suitable for Singing Societies; And Lastly the Anthems; Selected from the Most Eminent Authors in America. 1825.WCK.1825 The Juvenile Knight, William C. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony, Or a Morgan, Lodge, Choice Collection and Fisher of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selected from the Most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to all Christian Churches, Singing Schools . . . Together with the rules of singing, and an explanation of the rules and principles of the ground work of music.

317

1825.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. Morgan, Lodge, RS Harmony; Or a and Fisher Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1825.AD.1825 A Small Collection Davisson, Ananias Harrisonburg, VA RS of Sacred Music, By the Author Chiefly Taken from the Kentucky Harmony and Supplement 1824.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1824.FL.1824 Songs of Zion, Lewis, Freeman Pittsburgh, PA RS Containing a Choice Eichbaum and Collection of Psalm Johnston and Hymn Tunes, of the Various Metres, used By Christians of Every Denomination. To which is prefixed, a concise introduction to the rules of music. Prepared for the use of schools.

318

1824.ADC.1824 The Western Carden, Allen D., Nashville, TN RS Harmony, Or, The S[amuel] J. Rogers, Carden, Rogers Learner's Task F. Moore, and J. Made Easy: Green Containing a Plain and Easy Introduction to the Grounds of Music, and a Choice Collection of Tunes for Church Service, Some of Them Entirely New, Suited to the Various Metres in Watts' Hymns and Psalms, & The Methodist and Baptist Hymn Books. To Which Is Added A Few of the Most Approved Anthems. 1823.AJ.1818 Johnson's Tennessee Johnson, Alexander 3rd ed. DWM Harmony… 1822.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1822.SS.1822 The American St. John, Stephen Harrisburg, PA RS Harmonist, William Greer Containing Easy and Concise Rules of Music, Together with a Collection of the most Approved Psalm and Hymn Tunes; Together with odes, anthems and set pieces. 1822.SE.1822 Sacred Music, Ely, Seth Cincinnati, OH RS Containing a Great Morgan, Lodge, Variety of Psalm and Co., for the and Hymn Tunes Proprietors Selected Principally from the Most Eminent European Authors, The Greater Part of which were Never Published in the Patent Notes. To Which is Prefixed a Musical Grammar, a Musical Dictionary, etc.

319

1822.JWN.1817 The New- Nevius, John W., New York RS Brunswick Cornelius Van R. & W. A. Collection of Sacred Deventer, and John Bartow; William Music, Being a Frazce. Myer, printer. Selection of Tunes from the Most Approved Authors. Designed for the Use of Churches and Singing Societies. 1822.IG.1818 Choral-Harmonie. Gerhart, Isaac and 2nd ed. RS Enthaltend Kirchen- Johann F[rederick] Melodien, die bey Eyer allen Religions- Verfassungen gebräuchlich, auf vier Stimmen gesezt, unt mit einigen musikalischen stücken, nebst hinreichendem unterricht versehen, eingerichtet zur uebung der jungend und zum Gebrauch des öffentlichen Gottes-Dienstes, welches ohne und mit der Orgel kann gebraucht werden, wann ein organist die regeln der Musik beobachtet.

320

1821.JR.1821 Die Franklin Rothbaust, Harrisburg, PA RS harmonie, und Johannes J. Wyeth leichter Unterricht in der Vokal-Musik. Enthaltend, die vornehmsten Deutsch und Englischen Kirchen- Melodien; die by allen Religions- Verfassungen gebräuchlich, auf drey und vier Stimmen gesetzt: und mit den neuesten und vornehmsten musikalischen Stücken, von verschiedenen Dichtern und Componisten, sammt hinreichendem Unterricht versehen, eingerichtet für Singschulen. The Franklin Harmony and Easy Instructor in Vocal Music; Selected from the Most Eminent and Approved Authors in that Science, For the Use of Christian Churches of Every Denomination, Singing schools and Private societies. 1821.JD.1810 Leichter Unterricht Doll, Joseph RS In der Vocal Musik, Enthaltend, die vornehmsten Kirchen-Melodien, Die bey allen Religions- Verfassangen gebräuchlich sind, auf drey Stimen gesezt: Und mit den vornehmsten Musikalischen Stücken, von versehiedenen Dichtern und Componisten, Sament hinreichendem Unterricht versehen, singesichtet für Singschulen.

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1821.AJ.1818 Johnson's Tennessee Johnson, Alexander 2nd ed., revised RS Harmony… and enlarged 1821.AD.1821 Introduction to Davisson, Ananias Harrisonburg, VA RS Sacred Music Printed by the Extracted from the publisher Kentucky Harmony and Chiefly Intended for the Benefit of Young Scholars. 1821.AD.1820 A Supplement to the Davisson, Ananias RS Kentucky Harmony 1821.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias 4th ed. RS Or a choice collection of Psalm tunes Hymns and Anthems; in three parts. Taken from the most eminent Authors, and well adapted to Christian Churches; Singing Schools or private Societies. 1820b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1820.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1820.SLM.1818 The Kentucky Metcalfe, Samuel 2nd ed. RS Harmonist… Lytler 1820.JW.1813 Wyeth's Repository, Wyeth, John 2nd ed. RS Part II 1820.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John 5th ed. RS Repository… 1820.JC.1820 Songs of Zion Carrell [Or Carroll], Harrisonburg, VA RS James P. Ananias Davisson 1820.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman 4th ed. RS Harmony 1820.ADC.1820 The Missouri Carden, Allen D. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony; Or a Morgan, Lodge Choice Collection and Company of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and Anthems, Selectedfrom the most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to All Christian Churches, Singing Schools, and Private Societies, Together with an Introduction to Grounds of Music, The Rudiments of Music and Plain Rules for Beginners. 1820.AD.1820 A Supplement to the Davisson, Ananias Harrisonburg, VA RS Kentucky Harmony Printed and Sold by the Author

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1819b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1819.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1819.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias 3rd ed. RS Or a choice collection of Psalm tunes Hymns and Anthems; in three parts. Taken from the most eminent Authors, and well adapted to Christian Churches; Singing Schools or private Societies. 1818b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1818.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1818.SLM.1818 The Kentucky Metcalfe, Samuel Cincinnati, OH RS Harmonist, Being a Lytler Morgan, Lodge Choice Selection of and Co. Sacred Music, From the Most Eminent and Approved Authors in that Science, For the Use of Christian Churches of Every Denomination, Singing Schools, and Private Societies: Together with an Explanation of the Rules and Principles of Composition, and Rules for Learners. 1818.JWN.1817 The New Brunswick Nevius, John W., 2nd ed., rev. New Brunswick, RS Collection of Sacred Cornelius Van NJ Music… Deventer, and John W. Myer Frazce. 1818.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John 4th ed. RS Repository…

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1818.JMB.1818 The Virginia Sacred Boyd, James M Winchester, VA RS Harp Musical J. Foster Repository, Being a Complete Collection of Pslam and Hymn Tunes, Original and Carefully Selected from the Most Celebrated Modern Authors, both European and American, and Designed for the Use of Different religious Denominations, Musical Socieities and Schools in the United States 1818.IG.1818 Choral-Harmonie. Gerhart, Isaac and Harrisburg, PA RS Enthaltend Kirchen- Johann F[rederick] John Wyeth Melodien, die bey Eyer allen Religions- Verfassungen gebräuchlich, auf vier Stimmen gesezt, unt mit einigen musikalischen stücken, nebst hinreichendem unterricht versehen, eingerichtet zur uebung der jungend und zum Gebrauch des öffentlichen Gottes-Dienstes, welches ohne und mit der Orgel kann gebraucht werden, wann ein organist die regeln der Musik beobachtet. 1818.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman 3rd ed. Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony Cramer and Spear

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1818.AJ.1818 Johnson's Tennessee Johnson, Alexander Cincinnati, OH RS Harmony, Morgan, Lodge, Containing I. A and Co. copious introduction to the grounds of music. II. The rudiments of music, and plain rules for beginners, exhibited in the form of questions and answers. III. A collection of the most approved Psalm tunes and anthems, selected with care, from the best publications extant; with a few that are original, suited to a variety of meters. Published principally for the use of singing schools. 1817b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor, Little, William and Revised and RS Revised and William Smith Enlarged Edition Enlarged Edition 1817.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1817.WG.1817 The Virginia Sacred Gillet, Wheeler Winchester, VA RS Minstrel, J. Foster Containing a Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes; Suited to many of the Metres Now in Use Among the Different Religious Denominations in the United States; and Selected from Celebrated and Approved Authors - - European and American, For the Purpose of Public and Family Worship. 1817.JWN.1817 The New Brunswick Nevius, John W., New Brunswick, RS Collection of Sacred Cornelius Van NJ Music: Being a Deventer, and John J. W. Nevius & Choice Selection of Frazce. W. Myer Tunes, for the Use of Churches, from the Most Celebrated Authors, in Europe and America.

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1817.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias 2nd ed. RS Or a choice collection of Psalm tunes Hymns and Anthems; in three parts. Taken from the most eminent Authors, and well adapted to Christian Churches; Singing Schools or private Societies. 1816b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1816.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith

1816.TAMF.1816 The Columbian Flint, Timothy A. Cincinnati, OH RS Harmonist: In Two M. Coleman and Parts. To Which Phillips Music Is Prefixed a Dissertation upon the True Taste in Church Music. 1816.JF.1816 Die allgemein Funk, Joseph Harrisonburg, VA RS nützliche Choral- Laurentz Music, enthaltend: Wartmann auserlesene Melodien, welche bey allen Religions- Verfessungen gebräuchliche sing. Auf zwey Stimmen gesetzt. Begleitet, mit einer Vorrede, über die Music, oder Tonkunst; und mit einer, zum Grunde der Vocal-Music vollständigen Einleitung. Eingerichtet zum Gebrauch des öffentlichen Gottesdienstes, Sing-Schulen und Priva-Uebungen.

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1816.JA.1816 Pittsburgh Selection Armstrong, John Pittsburgh, PA RS of Psalm Tunes: or Cramer, Spere, Ancient Church and Eichbaum music Revived. Containing a Variety of Plain Psalm Tunes, the Most Suitable to be Used in Divine Service. To which is annexed, a few pieces, of a more delicate construction, proper to be performed by a choir of good musicians 1816.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman 2nd ed. Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony Robert Ferguson 1816.AD.1816 Kentucky Harmony Davisson, Ananias Harrisonburg, VA RS Or a choice By the Publisher collection of Psalm tunes Hymns and Anthems; in three parts. Taken from the most eminent Authors, and well adapted to Christian Churches; Singing Schools or private Societies. 1815b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1815.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1815.RP.1813 Patterson's Church Patterson, Robert 2nd ed. Cincinnati, OH RS Music Looker and Wallace 1815.JM.1815 Western Harmonist M'Cormick, John. Cincinnati, OH RS Looker and Wallace 1815.JD.1815 Leichter Unterrich Doll, Joseph Harrisburg, PA RS in der vocal music, Johan [John] Enthaltend eine Wyeth Sammlung Geistreicher Gesange. Vol. II 1815.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman RS Harmony 1814b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1814.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith

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1814.JD.1810 Leichter Unterricht Doll, Joseph RS In der Vocal Musik, Enthaltend, die vornehmsten Kirchen-Melodien, Die bey allen Religions- Verfassangen gebräuchlich sind, auf drey Stimen gesezt: Und mit den vornehmsten Musikalischen Stücken, von versehiedenen Dichtern und Componisten, Sament hinreichendem Unterricht versehen, singesichtet für Singschulen. 1814.FL.1814 The Beauties of Lewis, Freeman Pittsburgh, PA RS Harmony, Cramer, Spear, Containing the and Eichbaum Rudiments of Music on a New and Improved Plan; Including, With the Rules of Singing an Explanation of the Rules and Principles of Composition. Together with an Extensive Collection of Sacred Music, Consisting of Plain Tunes, Fuges, Anthems, etc. some of which are entirely new. To the whole is added an appendix, containing explanations of musical terms, characters, etc. original and selected.

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1814.AF.1809 The Delaware Fobes, Azariah RS Harmony: A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, From the Most Approved Authors: Together with Several Tunes Never Before Published: Containing the Rudiments of Music on a Plain and Concise Plan 1813c.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1813b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1813.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1813.RP.1813 Patterson's Church Patterson, Robert Cincinnati, OH RS Music, Containing Browne and the Plain Tunes Looker Used in Divine Worship by the Churches of the Western Country. 1813.JW.1813 Wyeth's Repository Wyeth, John Harrisburg, PA RS of Sacred Music. John Wyeth Part second. Original and Selected from the Most Eminent and Approved Authors in That Science, For the Use of Christian Churches, Singing Schools and Private Societies. Together with a Plain and Concise Introduction to the Grounds of Music, and Rules for Learners. 1812.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1812.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John 3rd ed. RS Repository…

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1812.CW.1812 Sacred Music in Woodward, Charles Philadelphia, PA RS Miniature; M. Cary for W. Containing a Choice W. Woodward Selection of Nearly One Hundred and Fifty Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Set in Three Pars. -- Chiefly New: Adapted to Public and Family Worship, and Including a Great Variety of Metres from Dr. Watts', Rippon's, the Methodist, and Other Hymn Books: A Great Proportion of Which Are the Production of a Celebrated COmposer in England, Where They are Highly Esteemed Together with Others Composed Expressly for the Work. 1811.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1811.JW.1810 Wyeth's Wyeth, John 2nd ed. RS Repository… 1811.AL.1811 Select Harmony Law, Andrew Philadelphia, PA RS Containing in a For the Author, Plain and Concise by Robert and Manner the Rules of William Carr Singing and Easy Lessons for Learners, Together with a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes. Printed upon the Author's New Plan With Lines and Spaces. 1811.AA.1807 Philadelphia Adgate, Andrew OWN Harmony: Or, A Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems 1810b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1810.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith

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1810.JW.1810 Wyeth's Repository Wyeth, John (1770- Harrisburg, PA RS of Sacred Music. 1858) John Wyeth Selected from the most eminent and approved authors in that science, For the use of Christian Churches of every denomination, Singing Schools and Private Societies. Together with a plain and concise Introduction to the Grounds of Music, And Rules fofr learners. 1810.JD.1810 Leichter Unterricht Doll, Joseph Harrisburg, PA RS In der Vocal Musik, Johan [John] Enthaltend, die Wyeth vornehmsten Kirchen-Melodien, Die bey allen Religions- Verfassangen gebräuchlich sind, auf drey Stimen gesezt: Und mit den vornehmsten Musikalischen Stücken, von versehiedenen Dichtern und Componisten, Sament hinreichendem Unterricht versehen, singesichtet für Singschulen. 1809.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor, Little, William and RS Containing I. The William Smith Rudiments of Music . . .II. A Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes . . . 1809.WG.1809 The Maryland Gillet, Wheeler Baltimore, MD RS Selection of Sacred Wheeler ,Gillet Music, From the and Co. Best Authors, Ancient and Modern, in Three and Four Parts. 1809.CW.1807 Ecclesiae Harmonia. Woodward, Charles 2nd ed., improved Philadelphia, PA RS A Selection of and John Aitken. and enlarged by W. W. Woodward Sacred Music. the addition of upwards of 40 tunes including anthems and pieces.

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1809.AL.1809 The Art of Playing Law, Andrew Philadelphia, PA RS the Organ and Piano Forte, or Characters Adapted to the Instruments 1809.AF.1809 The Delaware Fobes, Azariah Philadelphia, PA RS Harmony: A W. M'Culloch Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, From the Most Approved Authors: Together with Several Tunes Never Before Published: Containing the Rudiments of Music on a Plain and Concise Plan 1808.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1807b.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1807.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1807.JJH.1807 A Collection of Husband, John Lancaster, PA RS Hymns and Psalms Jenkins for the use of Singing Schools and Musical Societies. 1807.CW.1807 Ecclesiae Harmonia. Woodward, Charles Philadelphia, PA RS A Selection of and John Aitken. By the Author Sacred Music. 1807.AL.1807 Harmonic Law, Andrew Philadelphia, PA RS Companion and By the author and Guide to Social David Hogan Worship: Being a Choice Selection of Tunes, Adapted to the Various Psalms and Hymns, Used by the Different Societies in the United States; Together with the Principles of Music, and Easy Lessons for Learners. Printed upon the author's new plan. 1807.AA.1807 Philadelphia Adgate, Andrew, 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA RS Harmony: Or, A John Jenkins M. Carey Collection of Psalm Husband Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems 1806.WS.1803 The Easy Instructor Smith, William, and RS William Little 1806.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and Websters and RS William Smith Skinner, and Daniel Steele

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1805.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and Albany, NY RS William Smith Printed by Charles R. and George Webster, and Daniel Steele, Proprietors of the Copy-right 1803.WS.1803 The Easy Instructor, Smith, William, and Hopewell, NJ RS or A New Method William Little William Smith of Teaching Sacred and Co. Harmony. Part II. Containing the Rudiments of Music on an improved plan. With a choice collection of Psalm Tunes, a Number of Which Are Entirely New 1803.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1803.AL.1803 The Art of Singing; Law, Andrew Cambridge, MA RS In Three Parts: to W. Hilliard wit, I. The Musical Primer, II. The Christian Harmony, III. The Musical Magazine. 4th ed. With additions and improvements. Printed upon a new plan. 1802.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor Little, William and RS William Smith 1801.WL.1801 The Easy Instructor, or A Little, Philadelphia, PA RS New method of teaching William and Sacred Harmony. William Containing the Rudiments Smith of Music on an improved plan, wherein the naming and timing the notes are familiarized to the weakest capacity. --With a choice collection of Psalm Tunes and Anthems from the most celebrated Authors, with a number composed in Europe and America, entirely new; suited to all the metres sung in the different Churches in the United States. Published for the use of singing Societies in general, but more particularly for those who have not the advantage of an instructor.

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Bibliographic abbreviations used in this catalogue:

MDJ: Johnson, Mark David. “The ‘Sacred Harp’ in the Urban North: 1970-1995.” D.M.A. Diss., Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 1996.

NP: Pappas, Nikos. ―Bibliography of sources included in Southern and Western American Sacred Music and Influential Sources (1700-1870).‖ May 2013, available at http://apps.lib.ua.edu/blogs/adhc/files/2013/06/Bibliography-of-sources-included-in-SWASMIS-6-26- 13.pdf (retrieved 5 January 2018).

OWN: Original research

RDL: DeLong, Richard. Sacred Harp Printing History, National Sacred Harp Newsletter., Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1985: p.3.

RS: Stanislaw, Richard J. A Checklist of Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks. New York: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 1978.

WS: Steel, Warren, ―1. Tunebooks, Music Books, and Hymnals.‖ Available at http://home.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/chap01.html

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LIST OF REFERENCES

Anderson, John David. The Sacred Harp: Certain Historical Considerations. M.M. thesis: University of Cincinnati College Concervatory of Music, 1961.

Bealle, John. Public Worship, Private Faith: Sacred Harp and American Folksong. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1997.

Belcher, Supply, and H. Wiley Hitchcock, ed. The Harmony of Maine. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.

Buechner, Alan C. ―Lowell Mason: Not the ‗Father of Singing Among the Children‘.‖ The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 3, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 41-47

Campbell, Gavin James. ―‗Old Can Be Used Instead of New‘: Shape-Note Singing and the Crisis of the New South, 1880-1920.‖ The Journal of American Folklore 100, No. 436 (Spring 1997): 169-188.

Caudle, Judy, David Ivey, and Angela Myers, eds. Sacred Harp Singings, 2017-2018.Anniston, AL: Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, 2017.

Cross, Virginia Ann. The Development of Sunday School Hymnody in the United States of America, 1816-1869. D.M.A. thesis: New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1985.

Cowdery, James. ―A Fresh Look at the Concept of Tune Family.‖ Ethnomusicology 28, no. 3 (September 1984): 495-504.

Davidson, Donald. ―The White Spirituals and Their Historian.‖ The Sewannee Review 51, no. 4 (October – December 1943): 589-598.

Davis, Clinton Ross. Beyond Revival: Composition and Compilation Amidst the Sacred Harp Revival. PhD Dissertation: University of California San Diego, 2016.

Daw, Carl, Jr., ed. ―814. We Walk by Faith and not by Sight (DUNLAP‘S CREEK)‖ in Glory to God: A Companion. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016): 775.

Eskew, Harry. ―Using Early American Hymnals and Tunebooks.‖ Notes of the Music Library Association 27, No. 1 (September 1970): 19-23.

Fawcett-Yeske, Maxine. ―Stylistic Development in the Fuging Tunes of William Billings.‖ The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 8, No.1 (1996): 32-46.

Fitzgerald, Will, Thomas Malone, and Robert Vaughn. ―About The Trumpet.‖ Accessed 10 July, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20130728205017/http://singthetrumpet.com:80/about/.

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Hall, Rachel Wells. ―The Making of The Shenandoah Harmony.‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company Newsletter 2, no. 1 (March 2013), accessed 19 May, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170421051010/http://originalsacredharp.com/2013/07/29/t he-making-of-the-shenandoah-harmony/.

Hamrick, Raymond. ―The composer‘s debt to Shape Notes.‖ National Sacred Harp Newsletter 2, no. 6 (November 1986): 3.

Hollingsworth, John. ―The Making of The Georgian Harmony.‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, December 31, 2016, accessed August 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170706141932/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/t he-making-of-the-georgian-harmony/.

Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio: An Encyclopedia of the State. Columbus, OH: H. Howe & Sons, 1890.

Jackson, George Pullen. ―Some Factors in the Diffusion of American Religious Folksongs.‖ The Journal of American Folklore 65, No. 258 (Oct. – Dec. 1952): 365-369

_____ White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singing and Buckwheat Notes. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1933.

Jason, Philip K. ―Modern Versions of the Villanelle.‖ College Literature 7, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 136-145.

Jex, Shaun. ―‗Help Me to Sing‘: Raymond Hamrick as Composer and Teacher.‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company 5, no. 1, accessed May 19, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170407151224/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/ help-me-to-sing-raymond-hamrick-as-composer-and-teacher/.

Johnson, Mark David. The ‗Sacred Harp‘ in the Urban North: 1970-1995. DMA Dissertation: Louisiana State University, 1996.

Kahre, Sarah. Schism and Sacred Harp: The Formation of the Twentieth-Century Tunebook Lines. PhD Dissertation: Florida State University, 2015.

Karlsberg, Jesse P. ―Raymond C. Hamrick‘s Contributions to Sacred Harp Singing and Scholarship.‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, December 31, 2016, accessed August 8, 2017 at https://web.archive.org/web/20170706141901/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/r aymond-c-hamricks-contributions-to-sacred-harp-singing-and-scholarship/

Kieffer, Aldine S. ―A Brief History of Patent Notes,‖ The Musical Million 10, no. 9 (1879): 136.

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Kuralt, Charles. Interview with Alan Lomax. CBS Sunday Morning. CBS, 1991, accessed December 8, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcX56sTPWp0.

Lomax, Alan. Alan Lomax on the Sacred Harp (1982). Association for Cultural Equity, 1982. Video recording. Available at https://web.archive.org/web/20160404235304/http://www.culturalequity.org/rc/videos/vi deo-guide_sh_2.php

_____ and Raymond Hamrick. ―‗My Interest Was in the Background of the Music‘: Raymond C. Hamrick and Alan Lomax in Conversation.‖ Sacred Harp Publishing Company, December 31, 2016, accessed August 27, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170719130553/http://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/ my-interest-was-in-the-background-of-the-music-raymond-c-hamrick-and-alan-lomax-in- conversation/.

_____ with Phil Summerlin and Buell Cobb. June 6, 1982, accessed September 6, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3mb3Ya9OUc.

Lowens, Irving. ―John Tufts‘ ‗Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes‘ (1721-1744): The First American Music Textbook.‖ Journal of Research in Music Education 2, No. 2 (Autumn 1954): 89-102.

_____. ―Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second: A Northern Precursor of Southern Folk Hymnody.‖ Journal of the American Musicological Society 5 (1952): 138-155.

_____ and Allen P. Britton. ―The Easy Instructor (1798-1831): A History and Bibliography of the First Shape Note Tune Book.‖ Journal of Research in Music Education 1, No. 1 (Spring 1953): 30-55.

Malone, Thomas B. The Rudiments as ―Right Action‖: Pedagogy and Praxis in the Traditional Sacred Harp Singing School. DMA Dissertation: Boston University, 2009.

Marini, Stephen A. ―The New England Singing School: Ritual Change and Religious Culture in Revolutionary America.‖ Religion Compass 5, no. 6 (June 2011): 247-258.

Marrocco, W. Thomas. ―The Notation in American Sacred Music Collections.‖ Acta Musicologica 36, Fasc. 2/3 (Apr. - Sep., 1964): 136-142.

Mennel, Christina. ―Timothy B. Mason and The Sacred Harp (1834).‖ The Hymn 49, No. 2 (April 1998): 30-34.

Miller, Kiri. Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

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Murrell, Irvin Henry, Jr. 1984. An Examination of Southern Ante-Bellum Baptist Hymnals and Tunebooks as Indicators of the Congregational Hymn and Tune Repertories of the Period With an Analysis of Representative Tunes. D.M.A. thesis, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Music, David W. ―Alexander Johnson and the Tennessee Harmony.‖ Current Musicology no. 37- 38 (Spring-Fall 1984): 59-73.

_____, ed. A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns from Southern United States Tune Books, 1816-1861. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2005.

Norton, Kay. ―Who Lost the South?‖ American Music 21, No. 4 (Winter 2003), 391-411.

Parker, Cornelius, John P. Rees, and James M. Hamrick. ―Report on Memoirs.‖ Address given to the 1880 Chattahoochee Convention, August 1, 1880.

Parker, Nora, ed. Directory and Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings, 1992 and 1993. Temple, GA: Sacred Harp Publishing Company, 1993.

Reed, Joel F. ―Shape-Note Singing at 2500 Feet.‖ In Hymnology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Harry Eskew, Paul R. Powell, ed. Fenton, MO: MorningStar Music Publishers, 2008.

Scholten, James. ―The Tunebook that Roars: The Sound and Style of Sacred Harp Singing.‖ Music Educators Journal 66, No. 6 (February 1980): 32-38.

Scott, Joseph Dennie. 1987. The Tunebooks of William Hauser (The Hesperian Harp, The Olive Leaf). D.M.A. thesis, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Siltman, Bobby Lawrence. The Three-Voice Folk-Hymns of William Walker from Southern Harmony. M.M. Thesis: Hardin-Simmons University, 1963.

Sommers, Laurie K. ―Hoboken Style: Meaning and Change in Okefenokee Sacred Harp Singing.‖ Southern Spaces (August 2010), http://www.southernspaces.org/2010/hoboken-style-meaning-and-change-okefenokee- sacred-harp-singing\

Stanislaw, Richard J. A Checklist of Four-Shape Shape-Note Tunebooks. New York: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 1978.

Steel, David W. ―Lazarus J. Jones and The Southern Minstrel (1848).‖ American Music 6, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 123-157.

Symmes, Thomas. The Reasonableness of Regular Singing. Boston, MA: Green for Gerrish, 1720.

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Taddie, Daniel. ―Solmization, Scale, and Key in Nineteenth Century Four-Shape Tunebooks: Theory and Practice.‖ American Music 14, No. 1 (Spring 1996): 42-64.

Walker, William, and Glenn C. Wilcox, ed. The Southern Harmony. Los Angeles: Pro Musicamericana, 1966.

Walter, Thomas. The Grounds and Rules of Music Explained. Boston, MA: Samuel Gerrish, 1746.

Weeks, Lyman Horace. A History of Paper-manufacturing in the United States, 1690-1916. New York: The Lockwood Trade Journal Company, 1916.

Westerbeck, Jenelle Louise. Sacred Harp Singing In Practice: A Bridge To Choral Performance, DMA Thesis: University of Southern California, 2005.

Wolf, John Quincy. ―The Sacred Harp in Northeast Mississippi.‖ Mississippi Folklore Register 4, no. 2 (Summer, 1970).

Wolfe, Irving. "Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson" (address given to the Nashville Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, Nashville, TN, Sepember 12, 1965), available online through Sacred Harp Publishing Company, http://originalsacredharp.com/2014/05/12/our-debt-to-george-pullen-jackson/ .

Wyeth, John, and Irving Lowens, ed. Wyeth‘s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second. New York: Da Capo Press, 1964.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

A. Mitchell V. Stecker received the BA (Linguistics) and BMus from the University of

Florida in 2014, studying principally with Dr. Laura Ellis. He began singing shape-note music in

2012, with the Sweetwater Sacred Harp Singers in Micanopy, Florida. Since August 2018,

Mitchell has served as the Director of Chapel Music and Carillonneur at The Citadel (Charleston,

SC), and has organized and coordinated a weekly Southern Harmony singing in the historic

Summerall Chapel since his arrival. In addition to fasola music, Mitchell‘s other scholarly interests include campanological topics, and Peter Benoit and the Flemish Romantic period.

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