Regular Local Singings in or near Michigan
|
Shape Note Singing in Michigan.
The Mid-Michigan All day singing on May 10, 2025! Just around the corner!
***We have just started planning for an All-Day Singing on November 8th to sing out of the New Book that is being published in September! Details to be coming.***
Shape Note singing is a method of sight-reading music, using shapes for the notes, without having to learn each key signature.
We sing from The Sacred Harp on the
first and third Mondays of each month from 7-9 PM.
Edgewood United Church
469 N. Hagadorn
East Lansing
map
***Note that we are anxiously awaiting the publication of the
2025 edition of The Sacred Harp!***
We also sing from The Christmas Harp, The Shenandoah Harmony, & The Missouri Harmony at times.
Questions: admin@fasolamichigan.org
We meet in the fireplace room, outside the sanctuary. The church doors are electronically controlled, so if you come after 8 PM, the doors will be locked—phone 517-775-9831 for access.
The shapes we use the four shape system:
Sacred Harp scale |
fa |
sol |
la |
fa |
sol |
la |
mi |
Movable shape-note scale, all keys |

|

|

|

|

|

|

|
Sound of Music note names
(can be fixed or movable) |
do
(c) |
re
(d) |
mi
(e) |
fa
(f) |
sol
(g) |
la
(a) |
ti
(b) |
|
The four-shape system syllables, used by Sacred Harp singers, replace the first three notes of the do re mi syllables with fa sol la, and the mi replaces ti.
"Shape note" singers only learn one scale, which is moveable, whereas classical "round-note" musicians have 15 scales to learn for normal use.
The Sacred Harp has been published continuously since the 1840s. We sing for fun, not performance, so we don't always get it "right," but we mostly do, and even those songs that aren't sung perfectly are still rewarding, as the music and poetry are lovely.
Join Mid-Michigan singers on Facebook!
An example two-part shape note hymn from the American Church Harp (1856):

|