Regular Local Singings in or near Michigan
East Lansing Singing
1st & 3rd Mondays, 7-9 PM
Edgewood United Church
469 Hagadorn, East Lansing, MI
Kalamazoo Singing
3rd Sundays from 4-6 pm
Ann Arbor Singing
Second Sundays, 1-4 PM
The Ark, Ann Arbor
Grand Rapids Singing
1st Saturdays, 9:30-11:15 AMToronto/Ontario
Third Wednesdays
7:30-9:30Nearby all-day singings
Midwest Convention
Chicago, Memorial Day weekend
Univ. of Michigan All-day
(Ann Arbor)
April 13, 2024, Burton Tower, Ann Arbor, MIMid-Michigan All-Day singing
Faith Lutheran Church, Okemos, MI
May 11, 9:30-3 PM
Michiana All-Day Singing
Fairview Grange, Dunlap, IN
July 20, 2024, 2024
Kalamazoo All-Day Singing
July 21, 2024Central Ontario All-Day Singing
Friends House, Toronto
August 31, 2023
Sacred Harp on youtube
2016 Michiana Singing
2016 Missouri Convention
2015 Midwest Convention (all)
2015 Mid-Michigan Singing
2014 Michiana Singing
2013 Kalamazoo Singing
2010 Alabama Sacred Harp Musical Convention
Video about Sacred Harp singing
Sign-up for email notices for local singings in East Lansing
and/or regional singingsWhat is Shape note singing about?
Brief history of the Mid-Michigan singing.
Shape Note singing resources:
Fasola.org
A compendium of things regarding shape note singing and The Sacred Harp.
Website of Dr. Warren Steel, author, scholar of shape note singing, organ, other music, folklore, etc., etc.
Wikipedia about shape note singing
Martha Beverly's photos of singings
1835 Mason's Sacred Harp pdf
(unrelated to The Sacred Harp)Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp
trailer for the PBS documentary on Sacred Harp singing.
Shape Note Singing in Michigan.
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
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:
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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):
This website maintained by Bob Borcherding, for questions or if you notice any errors, please email gapbob -(at)- yahoo.com. Last updated May 8, 2024.