162 Bloor Street West, at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road
Join us for Eucharist in the hollow square, featuring at least seven hymns from the shape note singing tradition of The Sacred Harp hymnbook. Our congregational voices will be supported by experienced singers of this unique music tradition. Come worship and sing!
Thanks to everyone who came to sing. Both days were special, and it was great to get back to Detweiler Meetinghouse.
Saturday: 70 singers from 3 provinces and 6 states; 37 leaders led 77. Sunday: 53 singers from 3 provinces and 6 states; 41 leaders led 61 songs. Friday: We didn’t count how many Shenandoah songs were lead on Friday evening. It was a bunch!
This year on August 24 and 25 we will host our third two-day convention. After holding a couple of all-day singings post-COVID, we are ready to hold a convention once again.
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, there will be a Shenandoah Singing at the Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30p.m.
And we’ll hold an Evening Social on Saturday, August 24. Details will be available at the singing.
We are offering limited house accommodations for out-of-town singers, and arranging carpools for travel to Detweiler on Sunday. Please Contact Em Ekelund (emilyekelund@gmail.com)for more information.
The 2023 Central Ontario All-Day Singing was our 16th annual, held on Saturday, August 26 at Friends House in Toronto. The Friday night before we held an informal Shenandoah Harmony singing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In April 2020 the Toronto group started singing together weekly using Zoom. We were inspired by visiting online and singing with the Montreal Group to see how it worked. So we decided to try it here in Toronto, and have been gathering online to sing weekly since then.
We open the Zoom session each Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Eastern time and chat or check technology for fifteen minutes. Then we start the singing at 7:30. We sing from the Denson 1991 Sacred Harp book. We start with songs lead by pairs or single singers with the rest of us on mute. This is due to the lag that would otherwise cause our voices to combine at different times—making it sound pretty bad. After a break, we start a playlist of various Youtube singings. Requests are done in advance to avoid delays between songs. Here is the Current Zoom link which is also posted in our Facebook group and in the mailing list emails (Send an email to Pleasance to receive these).
In addition to the weekly Denson singing, we also hold a First-Sunday-of-the-Month singing from the Shenandoah Harmony. This singing is usually held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The link will be posted in our Facebook group before the singing and in the mailing list emails.
Facebook Streaming is an ingenious method using Facebook Live video to daisy-chain singers together. It can also work with Instagram. Check out this Facebook group for more info.
Dispersed Harmonies is a group of singers from all over who make separate video recordings that are submitted and mixed together afterward. Here’s a Youtube playlist of songs they’ve done.
Thanks to everyone who came and sang with us at our second annual weekend convention August 24-25, 2019. We look forward to doing it all again next year on the fourth Sunday in August and the Friday night and Saturday before. Please mark your calendars now!
