COME AND SING with the Toronto Shape Note Group. We sing from The Sacred Harp songbook (2025 edition) on the third Wednesday of every month at Friends House in central Toronto and various weekend dates at the Tranzac. Check our calendar for up-to-date information. Experienced and not-so-experienced singers are welcome, and loaner books are available.
The Sacred Harp was first published in 1844, and people have gathered to sing from this book ever since. The book was newly revised in 2025. Singings happened largely in the southern United States until the 1980s, when the tradition began to spread north, and eventually all over the world. The Toronto Shape Note group formed in 2000, and we’ve been singing at least monthly ever since.
During the pandemic, we gathered online weekly to sing using Zoom. These singings had singers join us from other regions around the world. We also held outdoor distanced singings in Fred Hamilton Playground Park on Saturday afternoons.
Since emerging from pandemic restrictions, we sing monthly at Friends House (60 Lowther Ave. Toronto) and most months at the Tranzac (292 Brunswick Ave.
Toronto). We also have house singings using books besides the Sacred Harp, including Shenandoah Harmony, Northern Harmony, and Christian Harmony. Join our mailing list to keep informed. You can request to join our email list for notifications of upcoming singings at singing@torontoshapenote.org.
Also, you can join our Facebook group to keep up-to-date on many other shape-note singing events of interest.
We have connections with many other Ontario Shape Note groups, and we’ve all gathered together in August for the Central Ontario All-Day Singings over the years (with dinner on the grounds, of course!). The annual gathering changed to a two-day Convention in 2018, but sadly, the 2020 convention was postponed. Happily, we started the annual singing tradition again in August 2022.
I live south of Hamilton ON near Lake Erie and I am very interested in this form of singing. Are there any groups in the Hamilton/Niagara area?
Thank you.
I’m guessing the nearest singing to you would be the Guelph one, usually on the third Friday of the month. It’s held at Priory Park Baptist Church, 8 Torch Lane. Contact < bill.sue.woodward at sympatico.ca > for more information.
And then there is the annual all-day singing – which I highly recommend. It’s near Cambridge in North Dumfries on Saturday, August 27. Information here, or on Facebook.
And you are always welcome to join us in Toronto at our third-Wednesday singings if you are in the neighbourhood.
Hello,
I live near Lindsay, Ontario. Is there a way we could start a Shape Note singing group up here? Are there lessons in the music book that we could learn from?
Hi Anna. Anyone is welcome to start a group anywhere. The Sacred Harp book has a section called “Rudiments,” which explains much of what you need, but experience with an established group would be very helpful. In addition, there are many videos of Sacred Harp singings available on YouTube, including videos of streamed singings. These videos are usually of all-day or two-day singings, which are not exactly the same as a local “Night Singings,” which tend to be much smaller, and less structured.
One of our group has moved out within an hour’s drive of Lindsay. She is hoping to start a group at her place. If you like, I could pass on your information to her. And of course, if you are ever in Toronto, we’d love to have you join us.