Sacred Harp

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Here in the American South, we love a good old traditional community gathering. Sacred

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Harp singing has been preserved in this region and can be experienced several times a year.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Join us at the table to hear more about Sacred Harp.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Steel Magnolias Podcast. We are two sisters here to have uplifting conversations

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: about life in the South. The South is full of beautiful diversity in landscape, people groups

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and culture and we want to showcase each part. We've got plenty of room at our table so pull up

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: your chair. Welcome back to the table I'm Laura Beth and I'm Lainie and we're finally covering

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Sacred Harp singing today. Now I feel like this has been on our list forever. Is that right?

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Super early on. Maybe the original list? We should go back and look at the original list that

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you texted me. I know but you texted me. Like when we were like, should we do a podcast? It wasn't

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: on that because it was a conversation with Stan Thrasher that brought it up. Okay. That put

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: it on the list but it was super early on. Well we have very few topics that were that early

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: on that we have yet to cover so I'm glad that we're finally getting this one on the airwaves.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I know and part of the reason we hadn't done it is we wanted to experience it. Yes. And our particular

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: region specifically Nashville area I don't think has these singing as frequently as some other

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: areas like they're often in East Tennessee. Yes Alabama a lot. Yeah Georgia yes. And so

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: we wanted to experience it before we discussed it and that's part of why it hasn't happened. Well

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and we knew yet we're not seeing them regularly on like the city of Nashville's calendar of events

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: but we were like we're close enough that we're going to get to one of these one day. We're

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: going to make this happen. And we did and you'll hear all about that later. Well I wasn't

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: familiar with Sacred Harp when it was first mentioned. For me either. And so let's just

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: start really with a very basic overview. It is just kind of a way of choral music,

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: sung acapella. It didn't actually originate in the south. It was really more up in New England

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: where it was started but we're the ones that are keeping it alive is how I would say it.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: As with so many things I would say. Yes. So for all of the slack that the Southerners get

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: for being traditional there's a lot of beautiful things that are preserved. Absolutely. So rather

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: than emphasizing technique and precision like classical music pieces the reading of these

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: shape notes and they are shape notes and I'll talk about that more in just a minute focuses

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: really on like you said in your intro bringing a community of people together in song and worship.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So that note reading being shapes lowered the bar in terms of the people that knew how to read

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: the music. That's correct translated easier for those that wanted to participate and I would say

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: just in case this is sounding vaguely familiar to someone I wanted to kind of go over some different

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: things that you've heard it that you might hear it called. Yeah. Some people say Faso

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: La singing. Yes, rightly so. And those are the four notes. Yeah. Right. That's why that is called

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_01]: that shape note singing which is what you're talking about that it's instead of the traditional

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: reading of music they made the notes shapes or even Christian harmony. Yes. Is another name for this

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: style of singing. So if you've heard any of those in your neck of the woods that's what we're

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: talking about. That's what we're talking about. We have a unique tie into today's topic because

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: we just recently learned that our great grandfather Hampton Stubblefield once taught shape note or

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Sacred Heart singing while he lived in East Tennessee. Yes. How cool is that so cool. I think

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: it's so interesting how as a young person you so want your own identity and to fly in your own

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01]: directions and the older you get you want to know your roots and know about the people in

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: your family and then they're gone. Yeah. So it'd be much better to desire it while you're young

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: with somebody that's older might be around still to tell you about them. I know and I have just

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_01]: found that so much in the last 10 years that I just want to know my roots more, more, more,

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: more, more. Me too. Right. So we didn't know that great grandfather and would love to have

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: at least known him but my gosh to see him teach shape note would been really fun. Well

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a group called Foxfire that we've done an episode on this podcast. Foxfire is an organization

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: whose mission is to preserve and develop the public appreciation for Southern Appalachian history

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and I thought they had a really good overview that I'll just read real quick of Sacred

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Heart or Shape Note singing. They said in Appalachia shape note singing dominated musical

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and religious groups. The shapes enable those who cannot read or cannot read music to understand

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the melody and flow of the music. Shape note music also lacks a key signature making it more

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: approachable to a wider audience. This was interesting too. So like in rural areas,

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: this was super popular because they had small little independent farms and this was just

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: yet another way for community to come together and like relationships really were formed,

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: friendships and maybe even like marital relationships formed from these gatherings.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Is that not so cool? Well I will say, I will add this is typically the lyrics and such are written

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: from Protestant Christian perspective. The Sacred Heart is the name of the actual hymnal

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_01]: yes that these songs are in. Yes. That's where that name comes from and

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I also gleaned a lot of information as I have for so many episodes from the Encyclopedia of

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Southern Culture book. That massive book. That book has got to weigh at least 20 pounds

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and yeah they had a great write up as well. I don't think I need to add to what you just

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: said because you got the point across beautifully but it has a drawing of how the layout of

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: the room. It talks about lots of different hymnals that came about. There's of course with everything

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: there begins to be some division too of like we use this hymnal and we use the revised version

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and you start to hear like you know some different names mentioned of like well they use the

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Cooper version and we use the white version and well meaning two different people's last

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: names. Okay yeah that kind of thing. This is funny how we find divisions and all the time things all

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: the time but ultimately the heart behind it being community gathering worship music so beautiful

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: beautiful. Yeah if you have seen the movie Cold Mountain yeah with Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger,

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Jude Law, Jude Law in that movie. I mean that movie's probably is that 20 years old.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Close to it and these days yeah there's a scene where they're inside of a church and they've

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: just gotten word that the civil war is breaking out and they've wanted that to be and so the singing

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_01]: that's happening in that scene is Shape Note or Sacred Heart singing. Yeah and yeah so if you

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: want to see what Nicole Kidman and Jude Law look like while they're singing Shape Notes

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you can tune in but what I thought was cool was I looked up you know like the soundtrack for that

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: film and there are two songs that are Sacred Heart that actually made the whole soundtrack

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and they recorded them at Liberty Baptist Church on Alabama's Sand Mountain and then they took bits

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: of the stars voices and blended them in. Okay so what you're hearing in the movie is primarily

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Liberty Baptist singing. Isn't that interesting? But you can see when they kind of get close on

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Nicole's face it's her singing just that little blended bit. That's so cute well they see it in

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: like a formation I would call like a hollow square with the four parts yeah sitting together so all

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: your bases are together your altos are all together etc yeah and there's a leader in the middle yes

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and that usually rotates who's leading yeah the song they get to pick what song they lead and

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was so cool how they'll do the first round using fossil law right not the

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: lyrics from the hymnal right but just the fossil law lyrics. So a triangle represents the pho okay

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: did you already have this no in your notes you're gonna say so a circle for the soul so a square for

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_00]: law and a diamond for me okay so I mean we're talking like the Doha dear kind of Doha me

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: so yeah so those are the four it is just the four tone scale that and they keep rhythm with this hand

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: motion almost like the brave's chop the tomahawk chop it's like a thrashing of the air that's how

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: the time is kept by the leader for sure but then you notice in that square formation several other

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: others are doing it to keep the rhythm as well yeah so yeah like you said tenors base alto and

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_00]: treble they're each on a side this is just so foreign to me I'm like how in the world do you know

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I know where to go how to sit because this is very infrequent gatherings at this time you know in

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: this now in this day yeah so maybe once a year twice a year you know maybe quarterly people that

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_01]: are really into it are going from one to another yeah there's a young man who I know in this area

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01]: who goes to a lot of them in Alabama yeah and so just interesting how you seek it out when it

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and I've heard that it as with so many things once it's in you like you seek it out right so

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: feeds your soul well yeah and then you're on the email list right you know you get made friends

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and right you know about it but yeah it's just those four tones and the very first sacred

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: heart book was published in 1844 so when we went now these some of these songs and hams were written

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: in the 1600s 1700s by names you would know Isaac Watts Charles Wesley John Newton John Newton yeah

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah so cool and these oh go ahead no you go ahead well I was just gonna say these are usually

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: in churches but often they're even in like community centers we went to one that was in a

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: courthouse that was so interesting to me that was up on the second floor of the courthouse yeah I mean

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01]: it's basically a community gathering right wherever that might happen and then I love that

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_01]: it often includes dinner on the grounds and the one we went to we didn't participate in this part

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_01]: but they were having a man we make spread of a potluck we asked a good covered dish yeah so I even

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_01]: heard somebody saying did you bring your fried pies and she said she did yeah she was like hiding

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: them in the cooler so they didn't get gone at the break like the word was out on her fried pies

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: so we went to see a sacred harp in Coleman Alabama which is about 50 miles north of Birmingham

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and like you said it was a gathering right there in the courthouse this particular gathering takes

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: place on a Saturday Sunday the same weekend every year in July so this one is just a year yeah but

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: it's an all-day event they had coffee and doughnuts there when you arrived then they sang then they

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: took a break go back to singing and then yes the whole I mean six foot table after six foot

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: table lined the hallway with the covered dish carriers galore one of the things that was really

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_01]: touching to me um in the one that we went to was at the very beginning one of the members who had

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: participated for years and years and years and years had passed away and never seen never

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_01]: laid eyes on any of these people in my life and I found myself kind of tearing up me too hearing

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: them talk about this man the first song they sang was one that he often led and just seeing how

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_01]: something um especially faith-based and that we share in common with one another

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_01]: how it really feeds you and you start to bond over this commonality yeah and it was just very

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: touching even though I don't know this man at all right it was still so moving to hear people share

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: about how much they missed him I would fully agree I felt welcomed I felt included we were given a name

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: tag we were invited a loner book invited to sing if we wanted to sing or lead if we wanted to

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: lead I looked at Lainey like this is the very thing I thought might happen and it's happening

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00]: she was like you don't have to but if you want to just sign up right here but even those things that

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: welcoming hospitality the thing that really took it to a place of unity was just the faith in the

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: room and that shared foundation yeah so cool so so cool I would say a majority of the

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: singers there were older than me yeah but there were some that were younger than me like and

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that we even saw two women that looked so similar but in different generations like strong

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: nose both wearing glasses it was like they're clearly related yes and probably a grandmother

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_01]: granddaughter yeah scenario that's what it looked like and just knowing that things are passed to

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: the next generation that's why we started this podcast exactly just wanting to see some of the

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: good parts of culture preserved and so it warmed my heart to see that happening there

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah and again they really would love for you to participate right to come ready to sing

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and use your gifting because there's not a pretense of only lead or only participate if

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you're really good they really you could tell clearly want you to participate just for the

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: sake of participating that's right but don't be afraid to not you know or don't not go because

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't know how to read shape notes oh no this gathering for sure didn't have any problem with

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: having a listening section I mean we were in a courthouse so they were up in front of the

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: judges uh yeah desk or console and then we were in the pews of back in the in the crowds

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: pews yeah but like you said they warm up with using the fossil army let's play a clip of the warm up

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: okay and that therefore you can get an idea of just kind of how the songs warm up before words

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_00]: are even spoken and then from there they would go into the actual lyrics from the song that's right

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_01]: now broadly speaking and I'm re I'm just going to read directly from this encyclopedia of southern

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_01]: culture because I like how they word this broadly speaking the music in the sacred harp

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_01]: may roughly be divided into three categories number one Psalm or hymn tunes ranging from those

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_01]: of metrically Psalmidae and of 18th century American oh my gosh these words hymnidae okay

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: never used that word no number two is the fusing tunes tunes in which all voices move together

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_01]: in the opening phrases followed by a second section in which the voices interseparately

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: in imitation and then move together once again to approach the final cadence

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and number three longer pieces normally designated odes or anthems these pieces often

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: with prose texts such as scripture are multi-sectional and are generally regarded as the most challenging

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_01]: to the singers okay since I'm not musical I don't really understand all the differences but I could

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: tell in watching it some differences yes of songs yes and I was also just um two observations

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I made in what we observed one was the just solidness of the lyrics of old just like in an

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: old hymnal where you're like this is trident right and number two I was really observing that so many

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: of them were birthed I'm sure out of hard times because they were very forward looking into like

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_01]: being in heaven or in the sweet by and by if you will you know like yeah not just focusing on the

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: now but the what's to come yeah and I mean lots of mournful sorts of sounding lyrics too because of the

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean death was so much more common right pain difficulty suffering that was a lot more

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: absolutely same kind of thing where it was birthed out of pain but looking ahead and when things would

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_00]: be better that there is hope yeah right yeah that's very true and yeah we like you said we just

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_00]: enjoyed having the lyrics in front of us so that we could also read along because yeah we weren't

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_00]: familiar with these songs but we were certainly familiar with the names like you wrote earlier

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I know I just really was blown away with some of these publication dates I know I would point

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: sometimes and you had already noticed it too but I would be like oh my gosh this is from the 1600s

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: yes like we weren't even a country yet I know I know so what else would you say about go go go

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: experience this find like we can put links to where you can find by state yes I have a link at

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: fossil law dot org that is one and also christian harmony dot org okay they have on there you know

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's listed by state by state you can find by country on fossil law I know probably on that

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_00]: one too this that there's not just a united states you know gathering so if you're in another

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_00]: country maybe there's one near you as well I got tickled when I saw christian harmony I'm being

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_01]: honest I'm like oh christian harmony sounds like a harmony but maybe it would be where you meet someone

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: that's where their relationships bloomed the town sing yes we would highly encourage you to check

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: the portion that I recorded from our favorite from that day it was called traveling yes I probably

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_00]: liked it for the name but also such influx or fluctuation yeah on the ranges and it was just

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_00]: it was definitely more one of the more unique ones that we heard so this is traveling by

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Samuel crossman it's from 1664 and I just hope it blesses you so we'll leave you with that

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_01]: peace be with y'all and go find some singing near you it will feed your soul that's right