where and when to sing around the world
- Regular local singings (shapenotesingings.com)
- Regular local singings (fasola.org & olemiss.edu)
- Annual singings (shapenotesingings.com)
- Various annual singing lists (olemis.edu)
learning, guides & tips
- A Beginner’s Guide to Shape-Note Singing (Detailed 18-page PDF of hints, stories, advice, and minutiae by Lisa Grayson)
- First time at a Sacred Harp singing? (Excellent 2-page guide for beginners by Lisa Grayson)
- Shape Note Singing Lesson (Plans put together by the Smithsonian to teach a class about Shape-note music.)
- Camp FaSoLa lessons (YouTube playlist of various lessons from the camp over the years.)
websites
- FaSoLa.org (Central site for The Sacred Harp information. A wealth of information: music, history, traditional singing practices, singing schools, singings, and singing conventions.)
- Camp FaSoLa (Annual camp in Alabama for learning about and singing from The Sacred Harp.)
- originalsacredharp.com (Website of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Publishers of The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition)
- SING LOUD! (Self-decribed as the “ultimate guide to the captivating world of shape-note singing” and they might be right. A blog, resources, education, projects, history, lists, and more. Check it out, and don’t forget to sing loud!)
songs
- Indexes of various types (FaSoLa.org)
- Sacred Harp words and playable parts (sacredharpbremen.org has a player that allows hearing each part and a scan of the music for each song.)
- Shenandoah words and playable parts (shenandoah.harmony.sacredharpbremen.org)
- Sacred Harp Friends Favorites (YouTube playlist of over 50 songs)
- Sacred Harp playlist (compiled by Steve Brett of over 40 songs on YouTube)
films – documentaries – videos
- Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp (2006 documentary, not currently streaming, DVD on ebay.ca, CD on Amazon.ca, and a review)
- Shape, Rattle & Roll (German documentary on YouTube, with subtitles)
- Shape Note Singing in Minnesota (Explainer video from 2017)
- Cold Mountain – trailer (2003 Academy-Award-winning movie featured two Sacred Harp songs: I’m Going Home 282 and Idumea 47b.)
- 1982: Georgia Sacred Harp (Alan Lomax archive footage from a 1982 Sacred Harp singing at the Holly Springs Baptist Church in Georgia and of a number of its participants individually in North Alabama and North Georgia.)
- Sweet Is the Day (2001 documentary tells the story of the Wootten family on Sand Mountain, Georgia, who have helped Sacred Harp music survive.)
- Sing Loud dot Org (A collection of one- to three-hour long videos of southern singings recorded over the last couple of decades. If you haven’t been to an all-day singing, these are an excellent way to see how they work.)
articles
- Shape, rattle and roll: The amazing survival of shape-note singing (Shape-note singing was America’s first music craze, and 150 years on, it’s still going; article by The Guardian.)
- This old Southern tradition bridges new cultural divides (An article on the history of Liberty Baptist Church in Henagar, Alabama from Al.com)
- “Like Pieces in a Puzzle”: Online Sacred Harp Singing During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Research article by Esther M. Morgan-Ellis)
- For the Joy of It: Teaching English With Shape Notes (Article by Tim Cook)
- “Wood Street”: On the sound and Psalm 137 references of the Sacred Harp song (Article by David W. Stowe on the song by Judy Hauff, Wood Street 504)
- Let Everybody Sing (Article by Chuck Reece in The Bitter Southerner with photographs by Johnathon Kelso)
- Vital Sparks (A blog by Will Fitzgerald: “Occasional essays on the texts found in The Sacred Harp and related tune books.”)
- Hoboken Style: Meaning and Change in Okefenokee Sacred Harp Singing (This essay explores “Hoboken-style” Sacred Harp singing of the Okefenokee region of southeast Georgia and northeast Florida.)