Category Archives: Harpeth Valley News

Featured articles from past issues of the Harpeth Valley Sacred Harp News the oldest and longest continuously published Sacred Harp newsletter.

I Remember: Ruth Denson Edwards on Her Sacred Harp Childhood

Posted on September 1, 2017 by

Editor’s Note: In this essay, “Queen of The Sacred Harp,” Ruth Denson Edwards shares memories of her musical childhood home. Just about every day somewhere in the world Sacred Harp singers find joy and spiritual fulfillment singing songs written by … Continue reading →

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The Twentieth Century Looks at William Billings

Posted on December 31, 2016 by

Editor’s Note: When Raymond C. Hamrick returned to Sacred Harp singing after World War II he was immediately drawn to the music of the eighteenth-century New England composer, William Billings. Billings also piqued Hamrick’s scholarly curiosity as this article—first published … Continue reading →

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The Curious History of Shape-Notes

Posted on December 31, 2016 by

Editor’s Note: In this essay, first published in The Harpeth Valley Sacred Harp News 2, no. 4 (September 20, 1965), Hamrick places shape-notes in the context of American vocal music history, from their advent in the colonial era through the twentieth … Continue reading →

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Some Dos and Don’ts for Sacred Harp Singers

Posted on December 31, 2015 by

Editor’s Note: Nashville Sacred Harp singer and aptly-named Presbyterian minister Priestley Miller wrote this pithy collection of Sacred Harp “dos and don’ts” in 1965. His admonitions retain their currency fifty years later. Contemporary singers too need the occasional reminder that … Continue reading →

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