Part of my new “quest for inner peace” has been exploring the history of my people here in Appalachia. The other day, when I felt so terribly lost and downtrodden in this messy world we are living in, I started reading a book by Foxfire Press about Aunt Arie…an octogenarian who lived in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. She was interviewed by the students who comprised the Foxfire program and became…by far…the most beloved and unforgettable character featured in their books.

As you know, when you go searching for information on something specific, the internet can be a treasure trove of delights to the senses. A search for Foxfire sent me to their Foxfire Heritage Museum…bought and developed by students with the proceeds from the books they published through Foxfire Press. Foxfire Heritage sent me to Appalachian Heritage. And somewhere along the line, I stumbled upon “shape note music”. 

I was a singer in school and was a member of choirs from sixth grade on through high school. I’ve always loved to sing. And, somewhere back in the recesses of my mind, I recalled hearing about shape notes but had never really studied it. Google rescued my weary heart by plopping me down in the middle of a world I never knew existed…nearly in my own back yard.

The “Sacred Harp” is not only a book of music composed with shape notes. It alludes to the human voice as an instrument…the sacred harp. Shape note, or sacred harp music, has a rich history. It was brought to America and quickly spread as a kind of worship music when there were no instruments. The music is based on either four or seven shapes, depending on your source, with each shape corresponding to a specific note.

This is not a kind of performance music. Shape note singers perform for each other…not for an audience. They sit in a square and the person leading selects the song. The singers go through the music singing the notes by their names…fa, sol, la, mi. Then the next round, they sing the “poetry”…the lyrics. The music is sung in four part harmony and it sounds old and rich and holy.

I found a wonderful page I want to share with you from the West Virginia Public Broadcasting website discussing the history of shape note singing and how the Covid Pandemic has affected their gatherings. On this page, you will find a twelve minute recording, a short two minute video of Sacred Harp singing with an explanation, and a collaborative project consisting of Shape Note Singers from around the world brought together virtually to sing Page No. 146: Hallelujah.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. It has offered me a strange kind of peace. The music moves me in a way that goes deep into my past generations…a sort of institutional or genetic memory. The kind where you know how to do something but there’s no reason you should because you’ve never done it before. I feel this same connection when I enter land where my forebears lived, even though I’d never been there.

Tomorrow, we will talk about another kind of virtual choir performance that one of my dear friends took part in. Till then…be good to each other.

You can find the story on Sacred Harp Singing HERE.

❤️

“When I was really hurting, I prayed to the Lord. He answered my prayer, and took my worries away. The Lord is on my side, and I am not afraid of what others can do to me.”

Psalms 118:5-6 CEV