As many of you know, there has been a growing interest in Sacred Harp singing in several European countries and elsewhere around the globe. This is quite exciting for many of us, and several singers have made trips abroad to support this growing interest and these growing communities. One issue that has arisen is that the cost of shipping books overseas is prohibitive for many that might wish to take a seat around the hollow square. In an effort to help with this issue, The Sacred Harp Publishing Company is offering a discount for our international singers.

The cost for a case of books (6) is now the same as for a U.S. order—$135.00/case. Please note: this rate applies to case sales only (not individual orders).

First put in place in place in 2012, this rate applies to any international case order and remains in effect. The Board of Directors re-evaluates this offering annually at their meeting in October.

If you would like to buy a case of books for one of the developing overseas groups, or if you have any other questions regarding this, please contact the ordering team at ordering@originalsacredharp.com.

Singing as we go!

The Sacred Harp Publishing Company

Note: This post was updated on March 14, 2014.

Six months after Aldo Ceresa and four car-loads of Cork singers introduced Sacred Harp singing to Belfast, Northern Ireland, Aldo was back teaching more Belfast newcomers how to sing their fa-sol-las. Shirley-Anne McMillan attended the March Belfast singing school and wrote about her experiences as a newcomer on her blog in “Fa So La!”

The Sacred Harp Publishing Company has decided to offer some special holiday pricing on The Makers of the Sacred Harp by Warren Steel and Richard Hulan and on The Legacy of the Sacred Harp by Chloe Webb.

The Basics:

• Buy any one paperback for $15.00 ($11.50 + $3.50 shipping).
• Buy any 2 for $25.00 ($20.00 + $5.00 shipping)

Order copies of The Makers of the Sacred Harp or The Legacy of the Sacred Harp.

When the “footnotes” were removed from the Original Sacred Harp tune book, the Board of Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company desired to have a companion book written which would provide information about the tune writers and hymn writers for compositions in the book. It took longer than originally anticipated to have such a book written.

It is with a sense of joy and relief that the Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company can now say: “The companion book is complete and ready to ship!”

The Makers of the Sacred Harp by Warren Steel with Dick Hulan is in GA and orders which have been received will be mailed today, Friday, November 19. This is a great day for our company a definitive work that tells the story of the Sacred Harp and the 1991 Edition is available.

Of course, the tune and hymn writers featured in our book also have compositions in other shape note books so this work will also be a useful reference for those tune books.

To order yourself a copy of the book visit our ordering page.

PayPal is available so the need to write checks and address envelopes for payment are over!

Many of the Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company will also have copies of the book at singings and conventions if you wish to obtain one in that manner.

Thanks for waiting for this book. The wait is over!!

We are now accepting PayPal as a form of payment on the Sacred Harp Publishing Co. web site. You can still send us a check, but you can now also place orders for The Sacred Harp, The Makers of the Sacred Harp, or Chloe Webb’s Legacy of the Sacred Harp online at the following pages:

• The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition
• The Makers of the Sacred Harp
• Legacy of the Sacred Harp

We are also offering discounted shipping on orders for multiple copies of any of the above books, as well as on cases of The Sacred Harp. Visit the pages above for details.

Please contact the ordering team with any questions.

Dr. Warren Steel’s The Makers of the Sacred Harp, the much anticipated companion to The Sacred Harp, is now available for pre-order. Place your order now and we will ship out your book as soon as copies arrive at Headquarters later this month.

The Makers of the Sacred Harp features the history of every tune and text in our song book, from B.F. White and E.J. King, to living composers such as Raymond C. Hamrick and Hugh McGraw. Makers is a must-have for every singer and makes a great gift.

Copies are available for $15/book + $3.50 shipping via USPS anywhere in the continental U.S. Shipping for additional copies is only $1.25.

The Sacred Harp Publishing Company has purchased copies of The Legacy of the Sacred Harp by Chloe Webb, of Fort Worth, TX. Chloe and Doug Webb have been loyal and deeply committed Sacred Harp singers for many years. They have traveled to singings all over the country in recent years.

Chloe discovered a link to her family’s rich singing history when she was given an old Sacred Harp tune book that her grandmother bequeathed to her. This tune book began a long “personal and emotional journey” for Chloe to find our as much about her family and the connection to Sacred Harp singing. Her book is the result many years of “digging and reading old documents.” The book will be a delight for Sacred Harp singers to read.

Some comments from Chloe about the book:

I can briefly say that it is a memoir of my family line through the past 400 years to the early days of Jamestown, linked through the generations by fasola Sacred Harp music. I’ll elaborate to say that an ancestor, Sir George Yeardley, as Governor of the Virginia Colony, established in 1619 the first representative government in the New World. Within thirty days of this historic event, this same man accepted the first ship of Africans in Virginia, thus setting in motions the events that would lead to slavery in our country and the bloodiest war in our nation’s history.

The family genealogy had already been researched and published. I think you may be aware that my own search for personal stories began with an 1869 edition of The Sacred Harp bequeathed to me by my grandmother, Terry Dumas Nolan, who had received the book in the same way from her grandfather, whose brother was Edmund Dumas, the Sacred Harp composer. Along with other individual accounts told in historical context, my book reveals a fascinating link with Shakespeare (with examples of his use of fasola music) and the hurricane that inspired his play, The Tempest.

Chloe Webb’s book is now available from the Sacred Harp Publishing Company for $17/book including shipping anywhere in the continental United States.
Visit our page on The Legacy of the Sacred Harp for ordering information.

The long wait for The Makers of the Sacred Harp book is almost over. The latest information from the University of Illinois Press is that this book by Warren Steel and Dick Hulan will be in stores or ready to ship from other sources on either 29 November or 6 December (exact date TBD).

The Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc, placed a large pre-print order for soft back copies of this book a year ago. These books will be for sale to singers as soon as they arrive and are ready for release on the official publication date.

The Board of Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company has established a price of $15.00 per paper back copy of the book. If mailed, there will be an additional cost for shipping. The total price, however, will be competitive with other vendors of the book.

Some of the Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company will also have copies of the books available at singings soon after the publication date.

A limited number of hard back copies of the book will also be available. (The hard back copies will not have paper jackets, per the Univ. of Ill. Press). The cost of these hard back copies will be $50.00, and if shipped, cost of shipping will be added.

As soon as the official publication date is determined by the University of Illinois Press a subsequent post will announce the date. The shipping cost for both the paper back and hard back copies will also be specified.

John Plunkett and Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg will coordinate shipping both these new books and will assist in shipping Sacred Harp tune books.

Thank you very much and we look forward to providing additional information soon.