Resources
Fasola - For all things Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Seven Shapes Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Shenandoah Harmony Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Shape Note Singings Schedule - Find regular and annual shape note singings around the world. Both searchable lists and map views are provided.
Buy Books
Don't be tricked into paying more than you should! These books are still in print and can be found at the following links.
(listed by most common usage in North Carolina)
The Sacred Harp (1991 Denson)
The Christian Harmony (2015 Folk Heritage Facsimile) "Walker" book
The Christian Harmony (2010) "Black" book
The Shenandoah Harmony
The Southern Harmony
The Sacred Harp (2012 Cooper) "Blue" book
For Newcomers
Lisa Grayson’s Beginner’s Guide is a great place to start. This document covers the musical fundamentals as well as some etiquette and history.
For a more thorough overview of how to read and sing shape note music, check out the Sacred Harp Singing School Workbook by David I. Lee and Karen E. Willard. The accompanying audio files are used to illustrate various ideas throughout the workbook.
For those who prefer video, you might like this livestream from the Virtual Camp Fasola 2021 where Lauren Bock teaches the rudiments. A briefer (but historically interesting) introduction by Sacred Harp legend Hugh McGraw can be found here.
To learn and practice particular songs, Sacred Harp Bremen provides audio tracks (sung by midi-robots) for every part for every song in the 1991 Sacred Harp songbook.
The FaSoLaMix iOS app also provides audio tracks for each part for 24 popular Sacred Harp songs, sung by experienced shape note singers. There’s a web version available too if you don’t use iOS.
Another experienced singer, Esther Morgan-Ellis, publishes a series of YouTube videos where she sings popular Sacred Harp songs, part by part.
If you want to focus your efforts on songs that are led most often, check out these statistics of how frequently each song has been called at conventions since 1995.
Fasola - For all things Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Seven Shapes Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Shenandoah Harmony Bremen - Hear Parts, Sing with Robots, and Other Useful Information!
Shape Note Singings Schedule - Find regular and annual shape note singings around the world. Both searchable lists and map views are provided.
Buy Books
Don't be tricked into paying more than you should! These books are still in print and can be found at the following links.
(listed by most common usage in North Carolina)
The Sacred Harp (1991 Denson)
The Christian Harmony (2015 Folk Heritage Facsimile) "Walker" book
The Christian Harmony (2010) "Black" book
The Shenandoah Harmony
The Southern Harmony
The Sacred Harp (2012 Cooper) "Blue" book
For Newcomers
Lisa Grayson’s Beginner’s Guide is a great place to start. This document covers the musical fundamentals as well as some etiquette and history.
For a more thorough overview of how to read and sing shape note music, check out the Sacred Harp Singing School Workbook by David I. Lee and Karen E. Willard. The accompanying audio files are used to illustrate various ideas throughout the workbook.
For those who prefer video, you might like this livestream from the Virtual Camp Fasola 2021 where Lauren Bock teaches the rudiments. A briefer (but historically interesting) introduction by Sacred Harp legend Hugh McGraw can be found here.
To learn and practice particular songs, Sacred Harp Bremen provides audio tracks (sung by midi-robots) for every part for every song in the 1991 Sacred Harp songbook.
The FaSoLaMix iOS app also provides audio tracks for each part for 24 popular Sacred Harp songs, sung by experienced shape note singers. There’s a web version available too if you don’t use iOS.
Another experienced singer, Esther Morgan-Ellis, publishes a series of YouTube videos where she sings popular Sacred Harp songs, part by part.
If you want to focus your efforts on songs that are led most often, check out these statistics of how frequently each song has been called at conventions since 1995.
