Did you know that The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition will feature a brand new, bespoke music font? The Sacred Harp Publishing Company commissioned music type designer Jeff Kellem to develop a font with noteheads in every shape and duration along with clefs, rests, and numerous other musical symbols.
A diagram of the durations of notes using each of the four shapes and rests featuring the “Collins” music typeface.
Kellem worked with a team of Sacred Harp singers with expertise in music typesetting and design to strike a perfect balance between tradition, readability, and elegance, marking the first time in our tunebook’s history that we as singers have been able to make our book and our notes look exactly the way we want. Each glyph was carefully designed to evoke the aesthetic of historical tunebooks while embracing the advantages of contemporary digital typesetting and printing. The notes are clear and easily distinguishable even in the densest pages of music—you’re going to be amazed when you see “Bear Creek” (p. 269)!
Examples of music from The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition set using the “Collins” typeface.
Major triads set in the “Collins” font.
The new music typeface is named “Collins” in honor of the T. K. & P. G. Collins printing firm of Philadelphia who produced the first edition of The Sacred Harp in 1844. The Sacred Harp Publishing Company has decided to make the typeface available for free to Sacred Harp singers soon after the release of The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition. Thanks to Jeff Kellem of Slanted Hall Type Foundry along with creative consultants Jesse P. Karlsberg, Rachel W. Hall, Fynnian Titford-Mock, Michael Spencer, and Lindy Groening. We hope you will enjoy this preview of our tunebook’s new look!
The treble and bass clefs in the “Collins” font.
