Moderator: Dave Roberts
James wrote: One aspect of singing that Kiri does not cover in depth is the risk to which the atheist/agnostic puts his or her soul.
That sounds bizarre as well as impolite. You mean they thought you should be singing a different part, or they thought you were singing the right part but in the wrong quadrant, or what? I've never seen anything remotely like that, but then I've only been present at four singings (two as a participant, two as a spectator), and three of those in Seattle (which is pretty far from either the deep South or Appalachia). (The fourth was in Birmingham, but in the context of the Hymn Society convention, so probably not typical in many ways of that area.)James wrote: I have been physically manhandled twice at SH singings because someone thought I was in the wrong place.
James wrote:Christian Harmony is a seven shape book. Many of the tunes and texts are identical to the Sacred Harp tunes. In her book, Kiri uses the term Tribe to discribe Sacred Harp singers. That being said, I belong to both tribes but sing Sacred Harp more often. Sacred Harp singing is 70 miles away. Christian Harmony singing is 400 miles away. Many singers sing from both books, and several times a year we have joint singings which gets interesting at times. Since Sacred Harp is the older book, SH singers are prone to think that joint singings should be run by SH rules. CH singers go back to rule one, which is that the class leader is in total control when he or she is in the center of the square. I have heard convention chairpersons call down a CH singer for beating time in four instead of two. There are other minor differences in style. The real difference in the two tribes is that CH singers are more humble in their singing and in their spirit. They tend to sing at slower tempos, lover volume and generally they are nicer people. I have been physically manhandled twice at SH singings because someone thought I was in the wrong place. That would never happen at a CH singing. CH people are simply nicer. The differences may be regional Black dirt deep south vs Appalachia.
I have sung from the Christmas Harp. Our SH singers frequently put aside their SH books to sing from AH during the advent/Christmas season.
Haruo wrote:Listen to the YouTube on the homepage of this Bremen (Germany) Sacred Harp group. Try to imagine how one could maintain one's atheism while participating in such singing.
Stephen Fox wrote:I was in his singing Sunday week ago at Henegar. He has been awarded the National Endowment for the National Heritage Fellowship award. More later.
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