For information about Sacred Harp singing in Ohio, visit our home page.

This page was originall compiled by Eric Conrad and is still under development, so the other links will probably be more helpful for now. Try them. If there's a question you think should be answered here, email me at callistc-at-muohio.edu (email address altered to foil spammers).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Table of Contents

• About Sacred Harp singing
  • Shaped notes
  • Tune books
  • Song titles
  • Composers
  • Authors
  • Leading
  • Performances and singing schools
• About Sacred Harp singing in Ohio
• About the homepage

About Sacred Harp singing

• Warren Steel's Shape note singing FAQ answers many questions about Sacred Harp and and other kinds of shape note singing.

Shaped Notes

• What are the shape notes, the shaped notes, the patent notes, or the buckwheat notes that seem to get mentioned in connection with American spiritual folksong, and Sacred Harp singing in particular?

  In standard musical notation, the notes are written using what are sometimes called round notes, that is, an oval with a stem or flag.  (In some older song books, a diamond was used instead of an oval.)  In 1800, a songbook called The Easy Instructor used four shapes for the note heads, a triangle for the first and fourth note of the major scale (do and fa), an oval for the second and fifth (re and sol), a square for the third and sixth (mi and la), and a diamond for the seventh (ti).  Apart from the four shapes, the musical notation was very standard.

  Figure 1. The four shapes.

  	triangle	faw (fa)	represents the first (tonic) and fourth tones of the major scale
  	circle	so (sol)	represents the second and fifth (dominant) tones of the major scale
  	square	law (la)	represents the third and sixth tones of the major scale
  	diamond	mi	represents the seventh (leading) tone of the major scale

• Whoa!  With seven notes in a major scale (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti), why not seven shapes?

  Because English and American singers did not typically sing a major scale as:

  do re mi fa sol la ti do

  Instead they typically intoned the scale as follows:

  fa sol la fa sol la mi fa

  In the United States, this often came out as:

  faw so law faw so law mi faw

  People versed in music theory will recognize a few facts about this particular way of singing the scale.  First, the half-tones in the major scale always come before faw.  Second, the distance between any two consecutive notes with the same name is always either a perfect fourth or a perfect fifth.

• Okay, why even fuss with this?  Isn't standard musical notation complicated enough without all these shapes?

  Curiously, the shapes make it much easier to read music, not harder.  First, they make it easier to identify the important notes of the scale.  Second, certain sequences of notes occur in quite a few songs, and seeing and sounding out the shapes helps people recognize these sequences when they occur.

• Now why are you still using four shapes?

  Not all shape note singers use just four shapes -- many songbooks are published that use seven-shape systems.  But those of us who are accustomed to four shapes find that the four note system works just fine.

Tune Books

• What books do you use?

  The Ohio groups use The Original Sacred Harp, 1991 Denson Revision, a four-shape tunebook which is a direct descendent of The Sacred Harp, an 1844 tunebook edited by B. F. White and E. J. King.  This book has wide use amoung four-shape singers in the South, and is probably the most widely used tunebook among Northern singers.

• Do I need to buy a copy of this book?

  Most of our groups have a few extra loaner copies for use by visitors.  If you want to purchase a copy, these loaner copies usually sell for for $14.00 to $16.00 per book.

  The Denson Book is also available by mail order from the Sacred Harp Publishing Company for about $15.50 per copy including postage.  For information about mail order purchase, see Stephen Sabol's Resource List.

• Are there other shape note tunebooks in use?  How can I get copies?

  Yes, a number of other tunebooks are in use -- both four-shape and seven-shape.  For futher information about a number of these tunebooks, see Stephen Sabol's Resource List.

Song Titles

• Why do many of the songs have names like Rockport and Greenwich?

  In many of the shape note songbooks, inluding the Denson Revision of the Original Sacred Harp, the tune names are used as song titles.  (For example, the familiar folk hymn Amazing Grace is known to Denson Book singers by the name New Britain -- the same text is also set to a less familiar hymn named Jewett.)  Many of these tunes were named after towns and other places.  As an example, singing master Daniel Read named the fuguing tune Greenwich after the town of Greenwich, Connecticutt.

  Not all the shape note singing books follow this convention.  The so-called Cooper Book, another revision of the Sacred Harp, typically uses titles based on the poetry.

Composers

Authors

• Who is Isaac Watts?

  Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was an English dissenter and minister who, in his early twenties, wrote a large body of hymns and psalms.  A number of his hymns and psalms are still widely sung as texts in the four-shape tunebooks.

  Among singers of the Sacred Harp and even among contemporary composers of Sacred Harp music, Watts is easily the most popular writer of texts.

  A number of Dr. Watts' psalm and hymn texts are available online at http://www.ccel.org/w/watts/psalmshymns/TOC.htm.  A short biography of Dr. Watts and some links to other resources are available online at http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps027.shtml

Song Leading

• Who leads the music?

  In most Sacred Harp singing groups, anyone and everyone is encourage to lead.  At singing conventions, it is not unusual to see singers, old and young, beginning and experienced, all having the opportunity to lead a few songs.

• Why are people other than the song leader beating time with their arms?

  Both to help inexperienced song leaders to improve their leading skills, and as a way to improve one's own singing by keeping better track of time.

• How does a person lead a song?

  It's easy!

  1. Stand in the center of the square facing the tenor (melody) section.
  2. Call out the page number of the song and optionally the title.
  3. Give the pitch or have someone give the pitch.
  4. Give any special instructions such as what verses to sing and which optional repeats are to be taken.
  5. Make eye contact with the front row tenors and start beating.  They'll help!

  If you haven't heard shape note harmonies from the center of the square, you haven't heard shape note harmony!

• What is it that people are doing with their arms?

  In Sacred Harp tradition, songs are normally led "in two's" or "in three's".

  Songs that are written in 2/2, 2/4 or 4/4 time are collectively called duple time -- these are treated as if each measure was two beats per measure of music.  The song leader's arm goes down on the first beat and up on the second beat.  (See the next two questions for more on 4/4 time.)  Down up.

  Songs that are written in 3/2, 3/4 or 3/8 time are collectively called triple time -- each measure of music has three beats.  The song leader's arm goes down a little on the first beat and pauses, continues down on the second beat, and goes up on the third beat.  Down down up.  (A seated singer often modifies the pattern to a triangle, first going down, then left, and finally diagonally back up,)

  Songs that are written in 6/4, or 6/8 time are collectively called compound time -- each measure of music (six beats) is treated as just two beats (as fast jigs are normally played).  The song leader's arm goes down on the half of the measure and up on the second half.  Down up.

  In Southern Harmony tradition, 4/4 songs are normally sung a bit slower than in Sared Harp tradition.  In this tradition, a 4/4 song is typically led as written, with four beats to a measure, with the right arm going first down, second left, third right, and fourth up.  Down right left up.  (But when leading with the left arm, it is a bit easier to go down left right up.)

  Here's a little table on customary beating of songs:

  Time Signature	Beats per measure	Beat as though there were	The arm goes
  2/2 or 2/4	two	two beats per measure	Down up
  3/4	three	three beats per measure	Down down up
  4/4 fast	four	two beats per measure	Down up
  4/4 slow	four	four beats per measure	Down right left up
  6/4 or 6/8 fast	six	two beats per measure	Down up

• This song is in 4/4 time and the song leader lead each measure with down-up (2 beats to a measure).  Why?

  In Sacred Harp tradition this is usually but not always the case.  In some other traditions, such as the Southern Harmony singing tradition of Benton, Kentucky, 4/4 songs are customarily led with a down-left-right-up arm motion (4 beats to a measure).  Why?  Partly because that's simply the way people learned to lead.  And it's partly because 4/4 tempos in Sacred Harp tradition are often quite fast.

• In a Southern Harmony singing, several of the leaders started each verse by saying "Down left".  Why?

  A large number of of 4/4 time songs start with a two beat rest.  In teaching a song, a choir leader might say "one two" to give the tempo for the song.  Since the customary beating of 4/4 songs is down-left-right-up, the name of the motion replaces the number of the beat.

Performances and Singing Schools

• How do I book a group for a performance?

  Do keep in mind that we are primarily singing groups and not performing groups.  Some groups are willing to schedule performances, and others are not.  Some groups may be available to host a singing school.  The only way to find out is to ask.

• What is a singing school?

  Among shape note singers today, a singing school is a class (usually anywhere from an hour to about four hours in length) on shape note singing.  A typical singing school would include:

  • an introduction to the shapes and how they are used to help read music;
  • song-leading techniques; and most importantly,
  • singing

  In addition, some history or tradition might be included in the lessons.

• Can you tell me a bit more about this tradition of singing schools?

  The singing schools used to be longer.  In eighteenth century New England, they were often associated with a particular musician.  As the religious music of New England became displaced by the hymn singing styles of Continental Europe, the music travelled west and south, taught by itinerant song book editors.

• And how do the shaped notes fit in all of this?

  The shaped notes were an invention that dated to 1800, in a song book called The Easy Instructor.  For the most part, the New England Singing Schools used standard musical notation or round notes.  It was the song book compilers who popularized the shaped notes used today, carrying them west and south.  Since musically untrained people can learn to read shaped notes systems much faster than they can learn standard musical notation, the shaped notes method proved a boon to the travelling song book compilers.

• And how would I "book" a singing school?

  One possibility is to contact a prominent shape note singer and invite him.  Another possibility is to make arrangements with a nearby singing group.

About Sacred Harp singing in Ohio

• The Ohio Convention

  A history of Sacred Harp singing conventions in Ohio, by John Bealle.

About the Ohio Sacred Harp homepage

• What are these "Validate this page" banners?

  I've attempted to keep the pages on this site compatible with as many web browsers as possible, both old and new.  One objective of the XHTML/strict standard is backward compatibility with older web browsers.  (Text-only browsers like Lynx won't render the images and may also do a poor job of rendering the tables, but I've tried to minimize the use of images and tables.)

  The banners are mostly for my own use, so that, when I make changes, I can check the updated page for compliance with the XHTML standard.  Of course, if you want to try validating the page yourself, please feel free to do so!

  If you run into a compatibility issues, please let me know.  Send me email describing the problem as best as you can.  Also let me know the name and version of your web browser.
  
  [Note: the above was prepared by Eric Conrad and may not apply to the current configuration. -- Cleve Callison, March 2004]

• Why so few graphics?

  Graphics take a long time to download, especially over a modem.