I belong to the singing Haynes family of Sand Mountain Alabama and we have had the longest running family reunion and sacred harp singing in this country since 1897. I enjoyed this very much thank you for sharing. Some of us were in the movie Cold Mountain singing sacred harp.
What energy! This should be sung at sunrise services everywhere! Sharing it with our pastor who oversees our music dept. knowing it will lift his spirits as he labors to bring our community an Easter production. Thanks once again for preserving wonderful works.
@MancaLaura Well, Sacred Harp singing is always 'to the max.' And like this recording, done by amateurs who do it for the joy of singing together. I'm sure there are beautiful professional recordings of this anthem out there for those who want more refinement, but for sheer joy of singing, I don't think this one can be beat!
Even more amazing:This is not a 'long-established group,' but a random group of singers who came from various states to participate in the annual all-day singing at Kalamazoo I am sure that among them are singers from Chicago & downstate Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri, and probably a few other states & Canada. It's like a singing 'jam.' Put out the invitation, people come & bring their books, and whoever shows up, sings together.No hard work, call the song, sing it. call another song.
I love this so much. I have come back and watched this video many times just to be reminded that singing for joy is the most delightful and uplifting thing to do and also to watch.
I come back to listen to it time and again. It always gives me a lift. These singers are putting heart and soul into it and I can feel the vibrations of the Holy Spirit come through the air via my computer. God is wonderful, He will reach us wherever we are to remind us that we He is always with us, comforting us.
those loud voices definitely maxed-out the recording device. I wish it was a better recording, without the clipping, but at least it gives me a hint of what joyful and powerful voices were reverberating through that room!
Well, there is Shenandoah Harmony (I wish they had chosen a different acronym for their book so we didn't have to type it out every darn time!), and Christian Harmony (both books), and the _American Vocalist_ if you go to Union, Maine in the summer. Those are all pretty much like singing Sacred Harp. Perhaps you were actually thinking "there is nothing like singing shapenote"?
I'm always amazed at the speed and precision of these long-established groups - it took my small group about a year to get "Easter Anthem" to a reasonable level of 'performance' - I know it's not really a performance, but to get it all to hang together even adequately was hard work.
It's not because it's a "long-established group", it has more to do with having a certain critical mass of people who are experienced in shape notes and who know the song pretty well. If you have a high enough percentage of people like that, they can pull off just about any song quite well, and the less-experienced follow their lead. You could have almost total strangers in the room and they could do it. With smaller sings you are more likely to end up with a bunch of people who aren't familiar enough with the song, and no-one next to them to follow when it's time to come in with their part, and so the mess it up. That's my theory anyway; a large group usually can get through everything you throw at it with little faltering, but a smaller group can fail quite easily, especially a song that a lot of them aren't familiar with.
I wonder how high the decibel level got right in the middle of the "hollow square" during this lively song? In a room with hard surfaces like this one, it must get LOUD! When I was teenager (late 70s, early 80s), my grandparents used to travel all over East Texas going to "singin' conventions". My parents and I just thought they were church services (people singing standard hymns). If only I had known what I missed out on. My grandparents are gone and I think most of the conventions are too.
Surely, that's Hugh McGraw sitting in the first row of the basses. He and Richard de Long helped us start the Potomac River Sacred Harp Convention in 1990 or 1991. Nothing else like it.
@SufferinSprings You are so right. It's pretty intense when the singers really get into it. Sort of the rock concert level of group singing. I don't know if there are fewer singing conventions in Texas, but I do know that there are still a good many, and that in the last 20 years or so, Sacred Harp singing and conventions have proliferated all over the country. You can find out when and where by checking out fasola.org, the national website.
@PLBrayfield Thank you! I will check that out. I love group singing and inspirational music, but generally can't stand actual church services. I think I'd really enjoy being a part of keeping this old tradition alive.
Sacred Harp is just Christians meeting together to worship God, and so is church, in a way. If you don't have any respect for church you're not going to have any respect for sings.
Let me say up front that I am not an effete musical snob. I grew up in the Deep South and stood around my aunt's piano singing "Sweet Prospect." I got my undergraduate degree from a school in Appalachia where I sang not only Bach and Bruckner in the university choir but in a southern music group, learning "Way Up In The Heavenly Land." I make no claim to being a professional musician but I have sung a lot of shape note and I do know what I'm talking about. I am not suggesting that Sacred Harp singing should be performed only by trained singers. That idea, in fact, would run counter to its cultural and historical roots. What I am saying is that even the least experienced group can sing with some sensitivity to text, tempo, and tuning, Leaders can communicate to participants the simple concept that any activity done to the glory of God should be done as well as possible. Listening to this recording, you can hear some good singers. Unfortunately, they are nearly drowned out by people who seem more concerned with waving their arms up and down than by giving much thought to the sounds they are making. Not every person is suited to doing every thing, no matter how much they want to. I shouldn't be trying to plumb houses or cut hair and some of these folks shouldn't be trying to sing.
@SufferinSprings Pretty sure the number of conventions is increasing. Maybe not in East Texas, but all over everywhere else. Sacred Harp is getting more popular all the time (here's hoping it never gets TOO popular though). They are taking it up in Europe, in the cities. If East Texas is loosing conventions, then you're doing something wrong!
The Lord is ris’n indeed! Hallelujah! Now is Christ risen from the dead, And become the first-fruits of them that slept. Hallelujah, and did He rise? did He rise? Hear it ye nations! hear it, Oh ye dead! He rose, He burst the bars of death And triumphed o’er the grave. Then I rose, then first humanity Triumphant passed the crystal ports of light And seized eternal youth. Man, all immortal hail, Hail heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man, Thine’s all the glory, Man’s the boundless bliss. www.sacredharpbremen.org/lieder/200-bis-299/236-easter-anthem
This is one of my favorite pieces. However, I must say I've heard better renditions. Was it necessary to SCREAM all the way through it? There seemed to be no attempt to blend, nor to capture the nuances of the text.
It's funny how people seem to enjoy the anthems so much, yet rarely call them. My dad has been on a "Save the Anthems" crusad for decades, lest they drop them from the next edition.
justforever96 Maybe singers are not sure they could lead the anthems they enjoy. But tell your dad to continue, but not to worry! At the singings I attend, anthems are called fairly frequently. On my channel I have posted Southwell, Claremont, Sermon on the Mount, and Heavenly Vision, all from singings I attended, and I know of a vid of Ode on Science which I led at Kalamazoo. I don't think there's any chance these will be dropped, at least not from the 'red book' Sacred Harp.
My understanding and experience with my little practice group is that folks don't normally call them because doing so leaves less time for more 'lessons.' I sure hope the anthems won't be left out of any future edition of the Sacred Harp.
Isn't it just possible that Billings would be gratified that groups of singers such as this get so much joy out of singing his compositions simply for their own pleasure and that of others who like what they hear? If you don't like it, why not just move on & search for a version that fits your standards?
@@PLBrayfield It is possible but I doubt it. I would assume that, if Billings took the trouble to compose and publish this anthem, he did so with the expectation that it would be performed in a manner befitting sacred music. I have heard some very fine amateur Sacred Harp performances. This, sadly, is not one of them. Enthusiasm is never a very satisfactory substitute for competence.
@@omniryx1 I have no doubt that you "have heard some very fine Sacred Harp performances." This event, however, was not a performance, but a Sacred Harp convention, with no distinction between audience and performers. Anyone is welcome to sit and listen at a Sacred Harp singing, but the events are not intended to please a passive audience; they are for the benefit of the singers, who, for reasons ranging from the wish to glorify the Almighty to the wish to have a large helping of pecan pie, attend as equal participants coming together to sing.
I belong to the singing Haynes family of Sand Mountain Alabama and we have had the longest running family reunion and sacred harp singing in this country since 1897. I enjoyed this very much thank you for sharing. Some of us were in the movie Cold Mountain singing sacred harp.
Your family introduced me to this at St. Dunstans in Auburn. Best day in a church EVER
What energy! This should be sung at sunrise services everywhere!
Sharing it with our pastor who oversees our music dept. knowing it will lift his spirits as he labors to bring our community an Easter production.
Thanks once again for preserving wonderful works.
@MancaLaura Well, Sacred Harp singing is always 'to the max.' And like this recording, done by amateurs who do it for the joy of singing together. I'm sure there are beautiful professional recordings of this anthem out there for those who want more refinement, but for sheer joy of singing, I don't think this one can be beat!
Even more amazing:This is not a 'long-established group,' but a random group of singers who came from various states to participate in the annual all-day singing at Kalamazoo I am sure that among them are singers from Chicago & downstate Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri, and probably a few other states & Canada. It's like a singing 'jam.' Put out the invitation, people come & bring their books, and whoever shows up, sings together.No hard work, call the song, sing it. call another song.
This is also a very good recording. So many times, the beauty of the harmony fails to be captured effectively.
That's a good way to describe sings.
This is my favourite YT video of all time and I have watched thousands of UA-cam videos.
Still the best one ever!
I love this so much. I have come back and watched this video many times just to be reminded that singing for joy is the most delightful and uplifting thing to do and also to watch.
So glad whenever someone enjoys one of my videos. I agree - this song is so uplifting to one's spirits!
Me too !!!!!! This is fascinating !
Hope to see you at a sing soon!
Back again, love this video more and more!
AWESOME. I am happy to have been there!!
BEST EASTER ANTHEM EVER!
I come back to listen to it time and again. It always gives me a lift. These singers are putting heart and soul into it and I can feel the vibrations of the Holy Spirit come through the air via my computer. God is wonderful, He will reach us wherever we are to remind us that we He is always with us, comforting us.
those loud voices definitely maxed-out the recording device. I wish it was a better recording, without the clipping, but at least it gives me a hint of what joyful and powerful voices were reverberating through that room!
Nothing like Sacred Harp!
Well, there is Shenandoah Harmony (I wish they had chosen a different acronym for their book so we didn't have to type it out every darn time!), and Christian Harmony (both books), and the _American Vocalist_ if you go to Union, Maine in the summer. Those are all pretty much like singing Sacred Harp. Perhaps you were actually thinking "there is nothing like singing shapenote"?
I'm always amazed at the speed and precision of these long-established groups - it took my small group about a year to get "Easter Anthem" to a reasonable level of 'performance' - I know it's not really a performance, but to get it all to hang together even adequately was hard work.
It's not because it's a "long-established group", it has more to do with having a certain critical mass of people who are experienced in shape notes and who know the song pretty well. If you have a high enough percentage of people like that, they can pull off just about any song quite well, and the less-experienced follow their lead. You could have almost total strangers in the room and they could do it. With smaller sings you are more likely to end up with a bunch of people who aren't familiar enough with the song, and no-one next to them to follow when it's time to come in with their part, and so the mess it up. That's my theory anyway; a large group usually can get through everything you throw at it with little faltering, but a smaller group can fail quite easily, especially a song that a lot of them aren't familiar with.
I wonder how high the decibel level got right in the middle of the "hollow square" during this lively song? In a room with hard surfaces like this one, it must get LOUD! When I was teenager (late 70s, early 80s), my grandparents used to travel all over East Texas going to "singin' conventions". My parents and I just thought they were church services (people singing standard hymns). If only I had known what I missed out on. My grandparents are gone and I think most of the conventions are too.
I love these, but wish the words were on the screen too! :) Sacred Harp Sing Along! :)
Truly love this
Just wonderful .. Thanks Guy
Wow! That really is energetic. I really enjoyed that.
Surely, that's Hugh McGraw sitting in the first row of the basses. He and Richard de Long helped us start the Potomac River Sacred Harp Convention in 1990 or 1991. Nothing else like it.
If you're talking about the fellow closest to the tenor section, I believe that's the late Darrell Swarens.
Back again, I so love this video.
Powerful stuff. Love it.
Really well done. Watch and listen to the group from Cork do it. Wow.
Wow! With better sound recording, this is one that meets the quality of Cork! Inspiring!
@SufferinSprings You are so right. It's pretty intense when the singers really get into it. Sort of the rock concert level of group singing. I don't know if there are fewer singing conventions in Texas, but I do know that there are still a good many, and that in the last 20 years or so, Sacred Harp singing and conventions have proliferated all over the country. You can find out when and where by checking out fasola.org, the national website.
EXcellent!
@PLBrayfield Thank you! I will check that out. I love group singing and inspirational music, but generally can't stand actual church services. I think I'd really enjoy being a part of keeping this old tradition alive.
Sacred Harp is just Christians meeting together to worship God, and so is church, in a way. If you don't have any respect for church you're not going to have any respect for sings.
Let me say up front that I am not an effete musical snob. I grew up in the Deep South and stood around my aunt's piano singing "Sweet Prospect." I got my undergraduate degree from a school in Appalachia where I sang not only Bach and Bruckner in the university choir but in a southern music group, learning "Way Up In The Heavenly Land." I make no claim to being a professional musician but I have sung a lot of shape note and I do know what I'm talking about. I am not suggesting that Sacred Harp singing should be performed only by trained singers. That idea, in fact, would run counter to its cultural and historical roots. What I am saying is that even the least experienced group can sing with some sensitivity to text, tempo, and tuning, Leaders can communicate to participants the simple concept that any activity done to the glory of God should be done as well as possible. Listening to this recording, you can hear some good singers. Unfortunately, they are nearly drowned out by people who seem more concerned with waving their arms up and down than by giving much thought to the sounds they are making. Not every person is suited to doing every thing, no matter how much they want to. I shouldn't be trying to plumb houses or cut hair and some of these folks shouldn't be trying to sing.
OK, you can have the last word. Let's move on.
Such a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothin'!
@SufferinSprings
Pretty sure the number of conventions is increasing. Maybe not in East Texas, but all over everywhere else. Sacred Harp is getting more popular all the time (here's hoping it never gets TOO popular though). They are taking it up in Europe, in the cities. If East Texas is loosing conventions, then you're doing something wrong!
yeeeeeeooow!
The Lord is ris’n indeed! Hallelujah!
Now is Christ risen from the dead,
And become the first-fruits of them that slept.
Hallelujah, and did He rise? did He rise?
Hear it ye nations! hear it, Oh ye dead!
He rose, He burst the bars of death
And triumphed o’er the grave.
Then I rose, then first humanity
Triumphant passed the crystal ports of light
And seized eternal youth.
Man, all immortal hail,
Hail heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man,
Thine’s all the glory,
Man’s the boundless bliss.
www.sacredharpbremen.org/lieder/200-bis-299/236-easter-anthem
the videos title was not kidding
This is one of my favorite pieces. However, I must say I've heard better renditions. Was it necessary to SCREAM all the way through it? There seemed to be no attempt to blend, nor to capture the nuances of the text.
It's funny how people seem to enjoy the anthems so much, yet rarely call them. My dad has been on a "Save the Anthems" crusad for decades, lest they drop them from the next edition.
justforever96 Maybe singers are not sure they could lead the anthems they enjoy. But tell your dad to continue, but not to worry! At the singings I attend, anthems are called fairly frequently. On my channel I have posted Southwell, Claremont, Sermon on the Mount, and Heavenly Vision, all from singings I attended, and I know of a vid of Ode on Science which I led at Kalamazoo. I don't think there's any chance these will be dropped, at least not from the 'red book' Sacred Harp.
My understanding and experience with my little practice group is that folks don't normally call them because doing so leaves less time for more 'lessons.' I sure hope the anthems won't be left out of any future edition of the Sacred Harp.
when anthems are called at our monthly singing in Louisville, KY, we usually skip the notes and go straight to the words.
We do them a lot in our area, it's a blue book area though, don't know 'bout y'all.
Familiar faces...
Absolutely criminal to butcher a lovely anthem in this fashion. William Billings surely is turning over in his grave.
Isn't it just possible that Billings would be gratified that groups of singers such as this get so much joy out of singing his compositions simply for their own pleasure and that of others who like what they hear? If you don't like it, why not just move on & search for a version that fits your standards?
@@PLBrayfield It is possible but I doubt it. I would assume that, if Billings took the trouble to compose and publish this anthem, he did so with the expectation that it would be performed in a manner befitting sacred music. I have heard some very fine amateur Sacred Harp performances. This, sadly, is not one of them. Enthusiasm is never a very satisfactory substitute for competence.
@@omniryx1 We'll never know, will we? So, each to his/her own taste.
@@omniryx1 I have no doubt that you "have heard some very fine Sacred Harp performances." This event, however, was not a performance, but a Sacred Harp convention, with no distinction between audience and performers. Anyone is welcome to sit and listen at a Sacred Harp singing, but the events are not intended to please a passive audience; they are for the benefit of the singers, who, for reasons ranging from the wish to glorify the Almighty to the wish to have a large helping of pecan pie, attend as equal participants coming together to sing.
If you'd talk this way to all these good people, many of them probably decades older than you, you'd probably talk that way to your own mother!
shouting. Yuck.