School in which students are taught to sightread vocal music
O, tell me young friends, while the morning's fair and cool, O where, tell me where, shall I find your singing school. You'll find it under the tall oak where the leaves do shake and blow, You'll find a half hundred a-singing faw, sol, [law].
A singing school is a school in which students are taught to sightread vocal music. Singing schools are a long-standing cultural institution in the Southern United States. While some singing schools are offered for credit, most are informal programs.
Historically, singing schools have been strongly affiliated with Protestant Christianity. Some are held under the auspices of particular Protestant denominations that maintain a tradition of a cappella singing, such as the Church of Christ and the Primitive Baptists. Others are associated with Sacred Harp, Southern Gospel, and similar singing traditions, whose music is religious in character but sung outside the context of church services.
Often the music taught in singing schools uses shape note or "buckwheat" notation, in which the notes are assigned particular shapes to indicate their pitch. There are two main varieties: the four-note, or fasola, system used in Sacred Harp music, and the seven-note system developed by Jesse B. Aikin used in southern gospel music. Some churches, including some Baptist churches (though fewer and fewer), use hymnals printed in shape notes.
C Major Scale in 7 Shape System
History
Origins
Benjamin Dearborn's singing school announcement in the New Hampshire Gazette, April 5, 1783
The first American singing schools began in New England in the early 1700s as an effort to spread the use of written music in congregational singing.[2][3] In some denominations, controversies existed on whether congregations should sing audibly, and whether singing should be limited to the Psalms of David. This New England controversy centered around "regular singing" versus the "usual way". The "usual way" consisted of the entire congregation singing in unison tunes passed on by oral tradition, often by lining out.[3] "Regular singing" consisted of singing by note or rule.[4] Though intended for the entire congregation, "regular singing" sometimes divided the congregation into singers and non-singers. MassachusettsministersJohn Tufts and Thomas Walter were among the leaders in this "reform movement". Tufts' An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes is generally considered the first singing school manual. By the middle of the 18th century, the arguments for "regular singing" had generally won the day.
Singing school of Keene, New Hampshire, circa 1880s
By the end of the 18th century, the singing school manuals had become standardized in an oblong-shaped tunebook, usually containing tunes with only one stanza of text. William Billings was one of the most important of the New England singing school teachers of this period. One of his singing schools was held in 1774 in Stoughton, Massachusetts. According to Hall, "The school taught by William Billings is the first and only one with all the pupils given." A few members of this singing school later helped organize the Stoughton Musical Society in 1786, now the oldest surviving choral society in the United States.
New systems of music notation, including shape notes, were developed by singing school teachers as an aid in learning to sing by sight. Early shape note systems were an extension of "Old English" or "Lancashire" sol-fa, developed in Britain in the 17th century, with the intention of teaching school children to sing, and remained in use there until the 20th. This system was used in America from the late 17th century. The use of "shape-notes" themselves was an American innovation, first put into use in 1798 in Philadelphia and soon popular in the many hymn collections published in the early 19th century.[5] The four-shape "fasola" system was prominent before the Civil War and survives largely in the Sacred Harp tradition, while various seven-shape systems gained popularity beginning in the 1860s and are still seen in some denominational hymnals and in Southern Gospel music.
By the 1820s, the "Yankee singing school" had become a nationwide phenomenon. However, advocates of European classical music like Lowell Mason sought to suppress the tradition in favor of a more cosmopolitan idiom, which came to be taught at public schools.[3] Eventually, singing schools in the north faded to obscurity, while in the south and west they became a prominent social event for small-town Americans looking for something to do.
Continued use in the South
Singing schools were often taught by traveling singing masters who would stay in a location for a few weeks and teach a singing school.[6] A singing school would be a large social event for a town; sometimes nearly everyone in the town would attend and people would come from many miles away. Many young men and women saw singing schools as important to their courtship traditions. Sometimes the entire life of a town would be put on hold as everyone came out to singing school. In this way, singing schools resembled tent revivals.
One common tradition was the "singing school picture" taken of the teacher and students on the last day of school. Many old black and white photographs exist as records of these events from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; genealogical researchers often find these records useful. The pictures were often taken in front of a blackboard with the name of the teacher and date of the school. Some of these pictures show small classes, while others record very large schools.
Singing school conducted at Jacksonville as part of six-day Extension school in August, 1915.
Singing schools underwent many changes as cities grew and the population moved away from an agrarian lifestyle. One of the most notable changes was the length of schools; at one time it was common for schools to last four weeks. This was shortened over time, and today most of the larger singing schools last for two weeks, though the Gospel Singers of America School of Gospel Music still lasts for three weeks.
Singing schools began to hold less interest for the general public as time went on and could rarely get attendance from an entire town. Instead, schools were attended by interested students from a much larger region. In the case of Sacred Harp singing schools, students usually attended because of their interest in the Sacred Harp singing tradition; in other schools, students attended because of an interest in vocal church music, especially for those churches that maintain an all-a capella music tradition.
The tradition of having singing school masters who traveled between various towns where they held singing schools faded away in favor of holding annual schools in the same location. Primitive Baptists have established three permanently located singing schools in the state of Texas (Harmony Hill at Azle, Harmony Plains at Cone, and Melody Grove at Warren). There are several non-denominational seven-shape singing schools throughout the southern United States, including the North Georgia School of Gospel Music in Georgia, Ben Speer's Stamps-Baxter School of Music in Tennessee, Cumberland Valley School of Gospel Music in Tennessee and the Alabama School of Gospel Music in Alabama. Camp Fasola, which was founded in 2003, is an attempt by Sacred Harp enthusiasts to establish a permanent annual singing school.
Singing schools are also common in Missionary Baptist churches, as well as rural churches across the South, including Methodist, Church of God, Southern Baptist, and other denominations. Many of these churches still prefer to use shape note hymnals, as opposed to round note versions that many denominational publishing houses provide. In southern gospel singing schools, convention songbooks are used to teach sight-singing, music theory, and conducting. Some music publishing companies have also published music theory books for use in the schools.[8]
Curriculum
The basic subjects taught at singing schools are music theory and sight reading (the ability to sing a piece of music on first reading). Most southern gospel schools also focus extensively on song leading, the ability to direct a group in vocal music. Song leading requires both music theory skills and public speaking skills. In addition, many schools teach composition and ear training. Most song leading classes are open to both genders, but some schools are associated with Christian religious traditions that allow only male leadership and therefore only offer such classes to males.
Sacred Harp singing schools use one or more of the 20th century editions of The Sacred Harp as curriculum. Some of these schools are one-day workshops held in conjunction with a singing convention. The emphasis is on teaching newcomers and advanced musicians the note system and traditions of Sacred Harp.
Many singing schools have published their own small textbooks on music theory, harmony, and song and lyric composition. These are often offered to students as part of the tuition charge of the school.[citation needed]Some schools, such as Cumberland Valley School of Gospel Music, include in the tuition charge a convention songbook rather than a textbook. At some schools students purchase a pitch pipe or tuning fork. Primitive Baptists commonly practice pitching by ear rather than with a pitch pipe. Southern gospel schools primarily use the piano as accompaniment. Pitch pipes are sometimes used in individual classes for brief practice.
It is common for students to continue to return to their singing school year after year, even after completing the entire curriculum the school offers, for additional practice as well as for the social opportunity the school represents. Many singing school students eventually become teachers. Though singing schools are not as prominent today as they were, for many people they are still an important yearly event.
↑ Sung to the tune of Bluebells of Scotland. The Social Harp was compiled by John Gordon McCurry in Georgia in 1855. This song is attributed to J. H. Moss. The last three syllables are the ordinary designations for the musical pitch of the last three notes in the song in four-shape systems of shape notes. Information from Art of the States: Singing School, which also offers a recorded performance.
↑ Eskew, Harry; Hugh T. McElrath (n.d.). Sing with Understanding. Broadman Press. ISBN0-8054-6809-9.
↑ The word "regular" nowadays has multiple meanings; what was meant by "regular" at the time (Marini 2003, 75) was "according to rule", following the original Latin regula, meaning "rule". See Oxford English Dictionary, entry for "regular".
↑ Scholes. P., The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford, 1970, (p.564)
Bandel, Betty (n.d.) Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land: the Life of Justin Morgan
Blevins, Brooks (2016). "Where everything new is old again: Southern gospel singing schools". Southern Cultures. 4: 135.
Cheek, Curtis Leo (1968) The Singing School and Shaped-Note Tradition, by Curtis Leo Cheek (thesis in partial fulfillment of a Doctor of Musical Arts, University of Southern California)
Foote, Henry Wilder (n.d.) Three Centuries of American Hymnody
Goff, James R. (2002). Close harmony: a history of southern gospel. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN9780807853467.
Hall, Roger L. (2012) Old Stoughton: Singing Meetings and Concerts
Jones, Burt (n.d.) A Practical Handbook for Singing and Songleading
Marini, Stephen A. (2003) Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Shearon, Stephen (2010). I'll keep on singing: the Southern gospel convention tradition. Murfreesboro: Middle Tennessee State University.
Video documentaries
Shearon, Stephen, and Mary Nichols, prod. (2010) "I'll Keep On Singing": The Southern Gospel Convention Tradition.
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. 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.
Lowell Mason was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1,600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known work includes an arrangement of "Joy to the World" and the tune Bethany, which sets the hymn text Nearer, My God, to Thee. Mason also set music to Mary Had A Little Lamb. He is largely credited with introducing music into American public schools, and is considered the first important U.S. music educator. He has also been criticized for helping to largely eliminate the robust tradition of participatory sacred music that flourished in North America before his time.
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.
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 Southern Musical Convention was the first Sacred Harp musical convention, organized by B. F. White and others in 1845. It was formed at Huntersville in Upson County, Georgia.
The Christian Harmony is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker. The book was released in 1866. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing.
Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. Sometimes known as "quartet music" for its traditional "four men and a piano" set up, southern gospel has evolved over the years into a popular form of music across the United States and overseas, especially among baby boomers and those living in the Southern United States. Like other forms of music, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of southern gospel varies according to the cultural and social context. It is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace.
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 Union Harmony is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Caldwell. The book was released in 1837, and is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing.
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.
Lining out or hymn lining, called precenting the line in Scotland, is a form of a cappella hymn-singing or hymnody in which a leader, often called the clerk or precentor, gives each line of a hymn tune as it is to be sung, usually in a chanted form giving or suggesting the tune. It can be considered a form of call and response. First referred to as "the old way of singing" in eighteenth-century Britain, it has influenced twentieth century popular music singing styles.
Charles Davis Tillman —also known as Charlie D. Tillman, Charles Tillman, Charlie Tillman, and C. D. Tillman—was a popularizer of the gospel song. He had a knack for adopting material from eclectic sources and flowing it into the mix now known as southern gospel, becoming one of the formative influences on that genre.
"What Wondrous Love Is This" is a Christian folk hymn from the American South. Its text was first published in 1811, during the Second Great Awakening, and its melody derived from a popular English ballad. Today it is a widely known hymn included in hymnals of many Christian denominations.
The Shenandoah Harmony is a 2013 republication of the works of Ananias Davisson (1780–1857) and other composers of his era, in the format used by modern shape note singing groups. Although a number of new shape note tune books were compiled and published in the two decades leading up to the publication of the Shenandoah Harmony, this volume is notable as "the largest new four-shape tunebook published for more than 150 years." The book is named after Shenandoah Valley, whose importance in the emergence of a distinctive Southern shape-note singing tradition has been noted by many musicologists. Authentic South reporter Kelley Libby of WFAE, attending an all-day singing in Cross Keys, felt "transported to the Shenandoah Valley of the 1800s."
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