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6 May 2004 from Maggie
from the American Angels CD by Anonymous
4
written by Marcia Genensky, a member of the group
The story of the rural American sacred music opens
with the attempts of certain 18th century colonists to improve upon
the "lining out" of psalms, in which a deacon read a line
of text and the congregation echo'ed. They introduced singing schools
where students practiced singing the octave scale with European
solmization syllables, fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa and learned to
sing in 3- or 4-part harmony.
By the early 19th century singing schools had begun
to spread to the rural south, where they thrived for well over a
century. Singing school masters now published tunebooks containing
a new "patented" notation using four different shapes
for noteheads (triangle for fa, circle for sol, rectangle for la
and diamond for mi) intended to help students learn to read music
more quickly and easily.
A new seven-shape notation system was invented in
the 1840s, and singing school masters began teaching the more familiar
do re mi fa sol la ti syllables. The first seven-shape tunebooks
resembled their four-shape counterparts in format and content althought
they favored camp revival songs over earlier styles. They also contained
some new gospel songs identifiable by their simple, melody-driven
European harmonies and their optimistic or pleading texts.
Several four-shape tunebooks have remained in
continuous use since the 1800s. The Sacred Harp first appeared in
1844 and is still used at traditional "sings" where participants
continue the singing-school practice of singing the tunes through
with the fa sol la syllables first and then singing the text. New
songs have been added to the Sacred Harp over time.
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