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At our September 2023 sing |
Come Sing With Us! Beginners are welcome. Next local sing: Schedule Change: |
Our group has been shape note singing in the Kaw Valley (northeast Kansas) since 1991. Shape note singing is a very community-oriented, inclusive form of singing. No experience is necessary, and we charge no admission fee or dues, though donations to our venues for the use of their space are welcome. While most of the tunes in the book we sing from (which dates back to the 1840's) are hymns and anthems, we are a cultural, not religion-based organization. Come see what it is about at one of our upcoming events listed below! On the web, you can visit the Sacred Harp Page or the Fasola Home Page to learn more about shape note singing in general.
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Our Upcoming Singing EventsWe have returned to in-person singing, moving to 2nd Sundays monthly at Unity of Lawrence, 9th and Madeline Lane, about 0.4 mile west of Iowa St (US-59) in Lawrence, KS. Check back here for details on our future sings! Sunday, October 13, 2024, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Join us from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm for our regular monthly shape note sing, now on the second Sunday of the month. We will sing at Unity of Lawrence at 900 Madeline Lane in Lawrence, KS. Directions to our usual sing location Unity of Lawrence is located at the corner of 9th and Madeline Lane in Lawrence. From Kansas City via K-10: Approaching Lawrence stay on K-10 until you
reach the US-59 exit. From I-70: Get off at the West Lawrence exit (#202). Regular Shape-Note Singing Nearby:
What It Sounds LikeTo those used to the tight harmonies and polished dynamics of modern and commercial music, shape note singing will sound quite different. It is typically sung full voice (no or very few written dynamics), and tends to have more open harmonies. It is done for the joy of singing, not as a rehearsed performance. Traditionally the first time through a song, we "sing the shapes", singing the fa, sol, la, and mi syllables that go with the four shapes of notes (triangle, oval, rectangle, and diamond) printed in shape note music. (So if we were singing the shapes of the four notes in our logo, we would sing sol fa la mi.) The advantage to singing the shapes the first time through is not needing to look back and forth between the words and the music - the shape of the musical note tells you what to sing. The following mp3 file from one of our sings in 1998 was chosen not for its quality, but as representative of the tunes and process of shape note singing. It starts with one person pitching the tune, since shape note tunes are pitched wherever convenient for the range of those present at a sing. Next, the tune is sung once through singing the shapes, and then it is sung through with the words. As you can hear, a few people started with the words by accident, but quickly corrected themselves. Mistakes happen - we accept them. But we also enjoy when a tune falls into place particularly well. Since we are sitting in a square, with one part singing on each of the sides, it can be very powerful when you hear all four parts coming together full force in harmony. Here is Africa, #178 in the Sacred Harp, sung at one of our sings, in MP3 format. You can also listen to #217, Ballstown, recorded at our Feb 4, 2012 sing, on YouTube. What We Typically SingThere is a tradition of keeping minutes of what is sung at shape note / Sacred Harp gatherings.
We don't always get around to it. But you can look here at some of the minutes we have kept to get a
feel for which songs we sing frequently. Recent sings: 2024: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September Tunes sung Feb 2009-Jan 2012, ordered by number of times sung: Some older sings: |
Some non-shapenote Lawrence music and dance events of interest...Lawrence Civic Choir - Community Choir in the Lawrence, KS area. Americana Music Academy - Teaching America's music in Lawrence, KS Lawrence Barn Dance Association - Contra Dancing in the Lawrence, KS area. International Folk Dance - in Lawrence, Kansas For more music and dance in Kansas...
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