5 Responses to The Pitcher’s Role in Sacred Harp Music

  1. David Brodeur says:

    I love how Hugh has changed “squeaking and grumbling” to “squealing and grunting,” as though there were a bunch of little pigs in the room!

  2. G. Z. Thompson says:

    I would be interested in whether specific songs are consistently pitched, e.g. whether this distribution is the same for every song or whether what we’re seeing is that some songs are consistently pitched at -2.5 to -2 and a lot more songs are consistently pitched at -.5 to -1 etc.

  3. This is a great article. Everything mentioned here is interesting and informative, including the stats on where most songs fall in relation to piano pitch. I have found this to be the same in my own Sacred Harp recordings. I personally believe that modern piano tuning was influenced over the decades by instrumentalists (stringed instruments in particular) constantly seeking greater acoustical power. Hence tighter strings and higher pitches. The average pitch at a Sacred Harp singing is more natural to the voice.

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