Category: Just a Minute
The stories behind some of the more surprising incidents recorded in the Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings.
Tubby Walton, “An Indispensable Head Waiter” at the 1935 United Convention
A note in the minutes of the 1935 United Sacred Harp Musical Association suggests that the hardships of holding an urban Sacred Harp convention were as real eighty years ago as they are today. Singers today may be surprised to realize that a singing might rely on catered food even during the Depression. T. B.…
“With One Accord”: A UK West Gallery Quire at the National Convention, June 12, 1997
A note from the editor: This issue’s installment of “Just a Minute,” our examination of the story behind an unexpected line in the Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings, features a paragraph from the minutes documenting an unusual event: a performance by a musical ensemble at a Sacred Harp singing. The minutes of the 1997 National…
Harmony Primitive Baptist Church Singing, November 19, 1995: “The Traditional Window Opening”
With their standardized formatting and regimented lists of leaders and songs, the minutes might give the impression of a greater degree of order than actually reigns at any given singing. Longtime singers will attest that conventions don’t always proceed according to plan—and occasionally the minutes reflect those haphazard moments when things go awry. Few such…
You Are My Sunshine
I was recently reflecting (as many of us have) on my ten-year singing anniversary. The first all-day singing I attended was the William Walker Memorial at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The singing uses two books: The Sacred Harp and Walker’s Christian Harmony. Not knowing what to expect, I guess I should have been…
The Chattahoochee Convention, August 1, 1880: Memorial for Benjamin Franklin White
Benjamin Franklin White, co-compiler of The Sacred Harp, prolific composer, and the person largely responsible for building the traditions that continue to define Sacred Harp singing, died on December 5, 1879. The following year, the Chattahoochee Musical Convention, at that time a leading Sacred Harp singing institution, held a special memorial session in his honor. Cornelius…
Minnesota State Convention, September 28, 2002: “To the Puzzlement and Delight of All,” a “Surprise Wedding”
I was bound and determined after my split-up with a non-singer that my next partner was going to be a singer, so there were a lot of third dates at Sacred Harp singings. Lara liked the first one she went to, and her second singing was the 2001 Minnesota Cooper Book singing, held conveniently four…
Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church Singing, July 4, 1997: M. B. Forbes Playing the Harmonica
Anyone browsing the 1997 minutes from the singing at Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church in Ashland, Alabama might be a bit surprised to read of this lesson: “M. B. Forbes 164, 59 (on his harmonica).” After dinner, M. B. Forbes played the harmonica again, with a three song lesson of “Wildwood Flower,” 452, and “Silent…
