If you've read the opening lines of the blurb for STAINED you're probably wondering what sacred harp is all about? When I was a little girl I remember my grandmother speaking of singings, and of the people who went singing, but it wasn't until I was started researching STAINED that I realized just how important sacred harp is to the southern tradition.
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Sacred Harp
singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region
of the United States, especially along the Appalachian mountain range. The earliest
roots of Sacred Harp come from "country parish music" of early 18th
century England. This form of rural church music evolved a number of the
distinctive traits that were passed on from tradition to tradition, until they
ultimately became part of Sacred Harp singing. It is part of the larger
tradition of shape note
music.
Sacred Harp music is performed a capella (voice
only, without instruments) and originated as Protestant Christian
music. The songs sung are primarily from the book: The Sacred Harp. Sacred Harp refers to two passages in
the Bible by the apostle Paul, commanding the Ephesians and the Colossians to
sing "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in the
heart unto the Lord." As a child I remember my grandmother saying that
someone went to a singing. Sacred Harp singings happen during Sunday worship
and it also happen during special ‘singings’.
Sacred Harp groups always sing a cappella.
The singers arrange themselves in a hollow square, with rows of chairs or pews
on each side assigned to each of the four parts: treble,
alto,
tenor,
and bass.
The treble and tenor sections are usually mixed, with men and women singing the
notes an octave apart.
There is no single leader or conductor; rather,
the participants take turns in leading. The leader for a particular round
selects a song from the book, and "calls" it by its page number.
Leading is done in an open-palm style, standing in the middle of the square
facing the tenors.
Sacred Harp singing has experienced resurgence
in popularity, as new participants who did not grow up in the tradition
discover it. There are strong Sacred Harp singing communities in most major
urban areas of the United States, and in many rural areas, as well. One of the
first groups of singers formed outside the traditional Southern region of
Sacred Harp singing was in greater Chicago.
Sacred Harp is
mournful, but at the same time very beautiful. There are two fine examples of
Sacred Harp singing in the movies Cold Mountain and Lawless. Here's a video that explains how sacred harp singers sing the characters first and then the poetry with a familiar song, Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace is very important in STAINED and it's the reason Scarlett's mother is named Mazey Grace.
STAINED is being released August 20th and is the first book in the Carpetbaggers, Rebels, and Yankees Series. I hope you'll add it to your TBR list! GOODREADS
Thanks for stopping by. If you know anyone who sings sacred harp, or ever been to a singing, I'd love to hear about it. Please leave me a comment.
Happy Reading, Reviewing & Singing to You!
E
