Information – Toronto Shape Note Group

Central Ontario 16th Annual All-Day Singing on August 26th

You are invited to the 2023 Central Ontario All-Day Singing on the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in August. Plus, come sing from Shenandoah Harmony book on the Friday night before in an informal singing.

When:

Registration on Saturday, August 26, begins at 9:00 am
Singing will be from 10:00 am to approximately 3:30 pm (EDT), with midday dinner on the grounds.

Where: Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1C7.

Directions: Located in central Toronto, the Friends House is about a block north from the Bedford Street exit of the St. George TTC subway station. There is paid parking available on-street or in nearby parking lots.

COVID precautions:

We ask that singers bring proof of a negative test each day of singing and be mindful of their state of health and that of fellow singers.

Further precautions: Doors will be open and air purifiers will be running.

Check out the Facebook Event for more information. This is Ontario shape-note singers’ biggest event of the year, and one you absolutely shouldn’t miss! For questions, more info and/or to volunteer to help, contact singing@torontoshapenote.org.

Friday Evening Shenandoah Singing
Also at Friends House, we are holding a warm-up Friday evening singing, August 25th, 7:30-9:30 p.m. — an informal singing, primarily from The Shenandoah Harmony (with limited loaners available). More details in the Facebook event.

All-Day Singing FlyerDownload

Central Ontario All-Day Singing on August 27th

[Updated Location]

You are invited to the 2022 Central Ontario All-Day Singing on the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in August. And we’ve added a Friday night informal singing.

When:

Registration on Saturday, August 27, begins at 9:30am
Singing will be from 10:00am to approximately 3:30pm (EDT), with midday dinner on the grounds.

Where: Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1C7.

Vaccinations and Masking:

The Toronto Shape-Note Community is a loving community that cares for our most vulnerable members, and as vaccinations are proven to reduce the spread of Covid-19, we would prefer that all participants are vaccinated. While we do not have the capacity to check, nor the interest in engaging in a compliance-relationship with our friends, we do trust that all who choose to join us will respect that trust, and honour our community’s preference. In the same spirit, although we do not require masking, we encourage it out of care for others. We also encourage taking and passing a rapid test before arriving.

Further precautions: Doors will be open and fans and air purifiers will be running.

Check out the Facebook Event for more information. This is Ontario shape-note singers’ biggest event of the year, and one you absolutely shouldn’t miss!!! For questions, more info and/or to volunteer to help, contact torontoshapenotesinging@outlook.com.

Friday Evening Shenandoah Singing
Also at Friends House, we are holding a warm-up Friday evening singing, August 26th, 7:30-9:30 p.m. — an informal singing, primarily from The Shenandoah Harmony (with limited loaners available). More details in the Facebook event.

No 2021 Convention Again :-(

We had hoped to announce a 2021 Central Ontario Sacred Harp Convention this year, but it just wasn’t possible.

This past Saturday we held a special park singing at Fred Hamilton Playground in Toronto. At least ten singers from Toronto participated and we had memorial lesson but no dinner-on-the-grounds. Minutes will be submitted to mark the occasion.

Hopefully we will be back again in August 2022 when we’ll be thrilled to have you singing with us once more.

2020 Convention Cancelled

Please note the cancellation of the 2020 Central Ontario Sacred Harp Convention earlier planned for August 21-23.

Despite the cancellation, we hope you will contribute names and information for the Memorial lesson to Pleasance Crawford.

And please mark your calendars for ~~August 20-22, 2021~~ sometime in the future when we’ll be thrilled to have you singing with us once more.

Heather Schramm and Lloy Cook, Co-Chairs

Second Annual Central Ontario Sacred Harp Convention

This year on August 24 and 25 we will host our second two-day convention. After holding all-day singings for fourteen years, last year we decided to extend the gathering to multiple days of events, and we were really happy how it went, and all the wonderful singers who showed up.

The first day of this year’s singing is Saturday, August 24 at the Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue in a mid-town area of Toronto known as the Annex. Following that on Sunday, August 25 we return to the Detweiler Meetinghouse at 3445 Roseville Road, North Dumfries, Ontario. We’ll sing each day from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with midday dinner on the ground.

But there is more! On Friday evening, August 23 at 6:00 p.m. there will be a Singing School at the Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, in Toronto with special guest Lauren Bock of Decatur, Georgia, USA.

And we’ll hold an Evening Social on Saturday, August 24 at 6:00 p.m. at a location nearby. (RSVP to Pleasance Crawford for more details. There will be food at the social, but snack and beverage contributions are welcome.)

Download the flyer for more details or join our Facebook group for updates. We hope to see and hear you there!

First Annual Central Ontario Sacred Harp Convention

Our big expanded annual singing is coming up. This year on August 25 and 26 we will host our first two-day convention. After holding our all-day singings for fourteen years, we decided to extend the gathering this year to multiple days of events.

The first day of singing is Saturday, August 25 at the Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue in a mid-town area of Toronto known as the Annex. Following that on Sunday, August 26 we return to the Detweiler Meetinghouse at 3445 Roseville Road, North Dumfries, Ontario. We’ll sing each day from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with midday dinner on the ground.

But there is more! On Friday evening, August 24 at 6:00 p.m. there will be a Singing School at the Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, in Toronto with special guest Bridgett Hill Kennedy. And we’ll hold an Evening Social on Saturday, August 25 at 6:00 p.m. at a location nearby. (RSVP to Pleasance Crawford for more details. There will be food at the social, but snack and beverage contributions are welcome.)

Download the flyer for more details or join our Facebook group for updates. We hope to see and hear you there!

About the Toronto Shape Note Group

COME AND SING with the Toronto Shapenote Group the third Wednesday of every month from 7:30-9:30 pm. We sing from the The Sacred Harp, 1991 revision song book. Experienced and not so experienced singers are welcome, and loaner books are available.

We gather in the Music Room of Bloor Street United Church at 300 Bloor Street West (near Huron).

That’s a very short walk from the Spadina station on the Bloor line. There’s paid parking behind the building; there may also be on-street parking in the surrounding neighbourhood. Before 7 pm, enter by the westernmost (courtyard) door off Bloor: the one with the “300″ above it. After 7 pm, use the door at 470 Huron St., off the parking lot.

We also have a more informal singing earlier in the month at someone’s home. The day and time are variable, so join our mailing list to keep informed. You can join the email list by contacting Pleasance Crawford at pleasancecrawford at rogers.com

We have been singing together since the Fall of 2000. For years we met at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican, but their financial difficulties forced us to move to Bloor Street United.

We have connections with many other Ontario Shapenote groups, and we all gather together in August for the Central Ontario All-Day Sing (with dinner on the grounds, of course!).