Category Archives: Singing Reports

Reports from Sacred Harp singings, singing schools, and tours.

150 Years and Counting: Heard County’s Hopewell Singing

The oldest continuous event in Heard County, Georgia, is a Sacred Harp singing begun right after the Civil War on the third Sunday in June. This June, the singing at Hopewell Primitive Baptist Church celebrated its 150th session with a … Continue reading

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Sacred Harp’s (All-)California Dreaming

On the weekend of January 16–17, 2016, an enthusiastic crowd of singers gathered in Poway, California, for the 28th All-California Sacred Harp Singing Convention. Poway, known as the “City in the Country,” is centrally located in San Diego County. The … Continue reading

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Regional Roots: Growing Sacred Harp in the Netherlands, Alaska, and British Columbia

Introduction Sacred Harp’s first wave of expansion beyond the southern United States was boosted by the dedication of dozens of long-time southern singers who traveled repeatedly to sing with newcomers across the country. These emissaries exemplified the sincere fellowship and … Continue reading

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406 and More, in Sweden

“Zack, I’ll never forget this as long as I live,” declared fellow singer Steve Schmidgall as our group turned to acknowledge the applause of the smiling crowd that had stopped to listen to this strange music we were singing in … Continue reading

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Old Strings on a New Harp

On Valentine’s Day, 2015, over one hundred people gathered at Cannon Chapel on the Emory University campus in Atlanta, Georgia, to celebrate the publication of the new Centennial Edition of Joseph Stephen James’s Original Sacred Harp, the 1911 precursor of … Continue reading

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Fasola Kids: Camp for a Recently Forged Singing Family

We begin below with a little bit of what the Youth Emphasis session of Camp Fasola 2014 meant to our kids, F. (9) and C. (7), in their own words. After their account, we offer some thoughts on our experience … Continue reading

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A Long Time Traveling: A Sacred Harp Tour to the UK Convention, Camp Fasola Europe, and the Poland Convention

Fourteen eager travelers met at the Atlanta Airport on Thursday, September 18, 2014, to begin a thirteen-day adventure that included the nineteenth annual UK Sacred Harp Convention, the second Camp Fasola Europe, and the third annual Poland Sacred Harp Convention. … Continue reading

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Traveling South (South Germany, That Is): Introducing Sacred Harp in a One-day Workshop

Although singers in Germany have been traveling between Frankfurt, Bremen, and Hamburg for some time now, the first opportunity to venture further south was presented to us in the autumn of 2014, when Andreas Ebert, director of the St. Martin … Continue reading

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Come Sound His Praise Abroad: A Report on the First Germany Sacred Harp Convention

Editor’s Note: On the first Sunday in June and the Saturday before, Germany joined the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Poland as the fourth European country to hold an annual Sacred Harp convention. Sacred Harp singings have been held in Germany … Continue reading

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“Oh, What a Happy Time”: The NEA National Heritage Fellows Concert in Washington D.C.

What are your hobbies? What are you passionate about? I bet most of you will say sports, reading, or cooking, right? Well, for me and many others, music is a passion—but not just any music: Sacred Harp singing. This tradition … Continue reading

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