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FOLKLIFE FOLKLIFE
ASSOCIATION
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DALE COUNTY SEVEN-SHAPE SINGING CONVENTION MUSICS OF ALABAMA:
Shape-note singing conventions have flourished in Alabama since the mid 19th century. Usually not associated with church services, organized Christian singing conventions in the past were often the most popular events occurring in rural communities. These regional singing conventions filled churches or singing halls to capacity, even to overflowing. These were the times to renew acquaintances and make new friends. Many a young man or woman found a mate during a singing and many friendships were cemented. People rode on horseback and in mule-drawn wagons or walked for miles to attend a much-anticipated weekend singing once the crops were "laid by" for the summer. There often were so many singers in attendance that not everyone could have his turn to lead a song before the two-to-three day convention ended. Singing schools, teaching the rudiments of music to children, were often set up in advance of an annual convention. Convention hosts would put up "devoted" singers the nights when they could not possibly make the trip back after a day of singing. Singing would last all day and some conventioneers would gather again to sing late into the night after supper. Shape-note music is a method designed to aid singers in sight reading music by assigning a geometric shape to each note on a scale. The oldest method of this type is the four-shape notation found in Sacred Harp music, sometimes called "fa-so-la." The American four-shape system derived from the Old World usage of syllables "faw-sol-law-faw-sol-law-me" when singing the major scale. Four-shape singing began in New England in the early 1800s and eventually flowered in the rural South. Only four shapes are used, since only four syllables are used for the seven primary notes of the scale. Various books were written using the four-shape system in the United States. Later editions and revisions of B. F. White's Sacred Harp, originally published in 1844, are used by most Alabama's Sacred Harp singers. A closely related shape-note singing tradition, sometimes called "new book gospel singing," began soon after the Civil War when the Reubusch-Kieffer Company in Dayton, Virginia began printing books of newly-composed music based on a system of seven different geometric shapes for the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti solemnization of the musical scale. According to gospel scholar Charles Wolfe, "The newer songbooks were designed not so much for formal church service, but for special singings and for 'singing conventions' in which many of the singers in a county-wide area might gather to try their hand at sight reading the songs in the new books. In some areas, competitions were held to see who could sight sing or direct songs they had never seen before." Conventions were set up similar to Sacred Harp four-shape conventions already in existence. The new book seven-shape songs were (and still are) composed by those devoted to local singing conventions. They mail their compositions to a variety of different companies in the hopes of being published, and without remuneration. The song below is an example of a newly composed song. Note that between the verse the leader directs the group to speed up the rhythm because she thinks it's too slow. Most singers in conventions are excellent sight readers of music, some may be singing the song for the first time. "Look Up,"
Glen Wilson music, Gerald A Beathard lyrics, 1998.
Cumberland Valley Music Company (Eugene McKinnon), used
by permission. Recorded by Steve
Grauberger 7-18-98 at Pleasant Hill Methodist Church in
Ozark, Alabama |
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