External links
- Cooper v. James, a report from the Music Copyright Infringement Resource.
- Union Harp and History of Songs
- Sacred Tunes and Hymns
Joseph Stephen James, [1] of Douglasville, Georgia, was a lawyer, community leader, shape note singer, composer, and a reviser of the tunebook known as The Sacred Harp .
Joe S. James was born March 20, 1849, in Campbell County (now in Douglas County), the son of Stephen and Martha (Shipleigh) James. He was an attorney and was active in local civic and political life. He was the first mayor of Douglasville, was instrumental in the establishment of Douglasville College, in obtaining the city's first water and phone systems, and in bringing several industries to the city. James held membership in the Methodist Church and the Masonic Lodge. He was owner and editor of The New South, newspaper of the city of Douglasville.
J. S. James married Margaret Elizabeth Maxwell in 1869, and they had seven children: Margaret Odessa, Stephen Edwin, Infant twin sons, Eunice Lettitia, Lois Cleveland, and Joe S., Jr. He died in 1931 and is buried in Douglasville, Georgia.
In Sacred Harp singing, J. S. James was important as a musical leader, as an author of prose works, and as a tunebook editor. His works include A Brief History of the Sacred Harp and Its Author, B. F. White, Sr., and Contributors (1904), Union Harp and History of Songs (1909), Sacred Tunes and Hymns (1913), Explanation of the Sacred Harp (1920) and, probably most important, the Original Sacred Harp. The latter tunebook was released in 1911. It added alto parts to most of the songs and restored several songs that had been deleted in the 1869-70 revision of The Sacred Harp by B. F. White and the Southern Musical Convention. James supervised the revision and was head over a revision committee appointed by the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. This edition continued a tradition that stemmed from B. F. White's own time and in turn was extended in the so-called "Denson" revisions, which form the basis of the 1991 Edition, now the most widely used Sacred Harp volume. (For details of this history, see Sacred Harp.)
James' 1911 book quickly embroiled him in two controversies. He was sued by W. M. Cooper, editor of a rival Sacred Harp edition, for plagiarism of the alto parts as written by Cooper. James brought a suit against J. L. White for White's revision of The Sacred Harp, claiming infringement of copyright and seeking $3000 in damages. [2]
James led in organizing the United Sacred Harp Musical Association in 1904, which he hoped would function as a sort of "National Association" of Sacred Harp singings and conventions.
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff.
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since. Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker, first published in 1835. The book is notable for having originated or popularized several hymn tunes found in modern hymnals and shape note collections like The Sacred Harp.
William Walker was an American Baptist song leader, shape note "singing master", and compiler of four shape note tunebooks, most notable of which are the influential The Southern Harmony and the Christian Harmony, which has been in continuous use.
Benjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.
Thomas Jackson Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was the youngest of the four sons of the Levi Phillip Denson, a farmer, a gold miner in Arbacoochee, Cleburne County and a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Thomas J. Denson was born in 1863 in Arbacoochee and named after Stonewall Jackson. He was married to Amanda Burdette, a music and literary teacher, a singer, and song composer, until her death in 1910; she was the younger sister of Sidney Burdette, his brother's wife. They had five children: two sons, Paine W. Denson and William Howard Denson; and three daughters, Anna Eugenia Denson, Maggie Francis Denson, and Jarusha Henrietta Denson. In 1914, he married Lola Mahalia Akers, with whom he had three daughters: Violet Denson Hinton, Vera Denson Nunn, and Tommye Mahalia Denson Mauldin.
Seaborn McDaniel Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was a son of The Rev. Levi Phillips Denson, a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Seaborn Denson was born April 9, 1854 in Arbacoochee, Alabama. He married Sidney Burdette.
The East Texas Musical Convention, now usually called the East Texas Sacred Harp Convention, is an annual gathering of shape note singers. Songs are sung a cappella from the Sacred Harp tunebook. The Convention was organized in 1855, and is the oldest Sacred Harp convention in Texas, and the second oldest in the United States. The East Texas Convention was modeled after the older Southern Musical Convention established in 1845 by Benjamin Franklin White, the compiler of The Sacred Harp.
Wilson Marion Cooper of Dothan, Alabama, was a notable musician and music teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. Marion Cooper was born in Henry County, Alabama, the son of W. S. and Elizabeth Ann (Oates) Cooper. He was a cousin of Alabama governor William C. Oates.
James Landrum White was a shape note singing teacher, composer, and a reviser of his father's shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp.
The New Sacred Harp was a seven-shape note tune book released in 1884 through S.P. Richard & Son of Atlanta, Georgia.
David Patillo White (1828–1903) was a shape note singing teacher, composer, and a co-issuer, with his father, of the 1870 Sacred Harp. He was the second child of Benjamin Franklin White and Thurza Melvina Golightly, whose other children were William Decatur, Robert H., Mary Caroline, Nancy Ogburn, Thurza Melvina, Benjamin Franklin, Jr., James Landrum, and Martha America.
The Chattahoochee Musical Convention is a Sacred Harp singing convention. It is an annual gathering whose purposes are the singing of Sacred Harp music and fostering of bonds of fellowship among singers. It bears the distinction of being the oldest surviving Sacred Harp musical convention, having been founded in 1852.
Ananias Davisson was a singing school teacher, printer and compiler of shape note tunebooks. He is best known for his 1816 compilation Kentucky Harmony, which is the first Southern shape-note tunebook. According to musicologist George Pullen Jackson, Davisson's compilations are "pioneer repositories of a sort of song that the rural South really liked."
The Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention is an annual gathering of shape note singers. Songs are sung a cappella from the Sacred Harp tune book. The Convention was organized on April 28, 1900 at the Round Top School House, in Caldwell County, Texas, as the South Union Singing Convention. It is the second oldest continuous Sacred Harp convention in Texas. Several older conventions are no longer extant.
The Sacred Harp is a shape note tunebook, originally compiled in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King in Georgia and used to this day in revised form by Sacred Harp singers throughout America and overseas. This article is a historical overview and listing of the composers and poets who wrote the songs and texts of The Sacred Harp.
Hugh McGraw was a leading figure in contemporary Sacred Harp singing. He was the General Chairman of the committee that created the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp and played an important role in promoting the spread of Sacred Harp singing. Sacred Harp scholar Buell Cobb has called him "perhaps the chief promoter and good will agent of Sacred Harp music."
Elisha James King (1821-1844) was, with B. F. White, the compiler of The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnbook that came to be used widely in the rural South. In revised form, the book continues to be popular among singers to this day.
Alfred Marcus Cagle was an American hymnwriter known for his activities with the Sacred Harp movement.
