In Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism, Kiri
Miller traces the development of Sacred Harp singing and portrays its current
manifestations. Before the Revolutionary
war, the singing school movement was briefly successful in New England but came
under attack by the “better music movement.”
As shape-note singing was driven from the North, it was simultaneously
spreading and flourishing in the South. Its
acceptance there was partly due to the prevalence of Baptist sects, some of
which didn’t allow for instruments in church.
This early regional divide laid the foundation for shape-note singing as
a distinctly Southern tradition which remains a key differentiator among
members of the now national community of singers.
The
Sacred Harp, first published in 1844, was one of many shape-note books. It eventually became the most popular,
establishing itself in more and more conventions and churches in the
South. While such music was criticized
in the early 1800s for “technical crudity and impiety,” scholars a century
later praised the music, drawing on its “qualities of independence,
individualism, egalitarianism, and primitive power.” The practice took on many layers of
significance which sustain its vitality to the present day. It contributes to notions of regional identity,
national pride, Protestant spirituality, and even democracy and rejection of
conformism. Today, Sacred Harp
communities form in conventions held throughout the country. Its members identify with the music through
multiple modalities: historical, ethnic, philosophical, American, regional, musical,
and spiritual, to name a few.
Can a white Sacred Harp singer embrace and identify with
this music as a white tradition without being considered racist in a now
fervently egalitarian community?
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