This is happening here in Olympia over the next two days - the music has been mezmerizing, fascinating, delightful. Even in those uncomfortable wooden pews, I was able to close my eyes and just float with the harmony and rhythm.
I picked up a CD by the Native American flutist that was there - it's playing now, and it is just so peaceful - the sound has this lyrical quality that doesn't force itself on you, rather it seems to wrap you in a wecloming sort of gauze.
I also attended a workshop on "Shape Note" singing - which for those of you that have read the "Little House" books, you might remember the "Singing School" that Laura and Manly attended - this was it. It is a fascinating thing. All minor scales are dorian mode, and the notes come in squares, cirles, triangles . . . a simplified apporach to music that basically calls for exuberant singers. *grin*
I haven't explained that well at all - it was fun to listen to - with my lungs still achy from pnuemonia, I didn't do more than hum. But the fugues are sure pretty -
It's somewhat similar to the "Song Circles" that many communities seem to have . . .
It makes me long to find the time and dedication to really practicing even one of the instruments I own on a regular basis and get involved with some sort of musical group again . . .
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If you're interested in what you call "Shape Note" singing, you should check out "Sacred Harp" music if you're ever in a community in the South where they do it. It's closely related, if not the same. The singers usually are on four sides of a square, one for each part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass). There's a raw, exuberant quality to the music that is spectacular. It's just a really awesome experience.
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My favorite sacred music discovery is "sacred steel" This is music which came out of a church in Pennsylvania, and a guy named Willie Eason, who used the pedal steel gitar to mimic the voice of the choir. Robert Randolph and the Family Band come from that tradition, but my favorite is The Campbell Brothers. http://www.campbellbrothers.com/Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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A particular time period, Mike. Beginning late 1300's/early 1400's, and going until Elizabethan. A lot of folks tend to lump medieval/renaissance/elizabethan into one category, though -
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ooh! I went to a shape note/sacred harp sing thing one time! It was amazingly fun (though my friend and I were younger than the rest of the group by about twenty or thirty years minimum...).
That festival sounds like fun!
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It was very fun - all the different sorts of music, and people.
When I went to college the first time around, one of the things I loved best was that there were several different options of live music every night of the week to choose from, participate in, enjoy. I don't believe I have ever really experienced anything quite like it since then, and I am always surprised at how much I miss it.
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Live music is very addictive, Shan. We are lucky to live in a very live music-filled area, and there is a shape not singing group I might check out with my daughter, so thanks for reminding me.
If you ever hear of a church which has "sacred steel" check it out! It is truly incredible. I don;t know if there are any out west. The Campbell Brothers play in their church in Rochester, NY.
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Click on "all day singings" and scroll down to the last link on the page. Here's a sample (appropriate to our current political rumblings):
quote:All Verses & Repeats
Dear Miss Grace Notes: My favorite song has several verses and when I lead it, I hate to leave any of them out. Lately at conventions I have noticed that some people seem to be irritated when others sing all the verses to a song or take all repeats. I though everyone was supposed to respect the leader's right to sing whatever and however he or she wants? ---Wants All Of #146
Gentle Singer: Miss Grace Notes sympathizes with your feelings. While going about her chores, she often adds multiple repeats to her favorite songs. She nevertheless recognizes that such indulgences on her own time might be inappropriate in group convention situations. If you are talking about three verses to a short song, a repeat on the last, why then we have no issue here. But Miss Grace Notes guesses that you have something more in mind. Sacred Harp singing, as your question suggests, is a democratic institution. The leader's space, however, should not be equated with the Senate floor in filibuster. Miss Grace Notes agrees that as the leader you have the right to set the way the song is to proceed. But she will not tell you that you can make everyone like it. Just as the class has a responsibility to follow the leader's choice and direction, the leader has a responsibility not to induce tedium. Convention etiquette is based on practical considerations and simply courtesy. If all verses are sung to every song, each with repeats, we will be singing until midnight, and by then everyone will be singing bass. Similarly, there is a place for a six-page anthem sung with both notes and words -- your shower stall, perhaps, on a Friday evening, or in the car on your way to an out-of-town session. If you launch into such at a large all-day singing, you should do so with the realization that you will have displaced two or three other leaders and exhausted the charity of your acquaintances. Miss Grace Notes has always believed that one of the characteristics of a good leader -- along with sureness, presence, time and such -- is a sense of what the class of singers wants, and to what it will cheerfully give its assent. Sometimes that may mean singing an extra verse or, in rare instances, taking another repeat. Seasoning -- in both the leader's space and the singer's chair -- will lead to a sense of when to take such a liberty. In the meantime, you are encouraged to follow the pattern of experienced leaders you admire. See what boundaries they observe, and stay well within their good example. A final distinction, then: someone set for the gallows the following day will no doubt be indulged by the group in a request to have all five verses to his favorite song sung with repeats. Anyone else making such a stand at a crowded convention should not be surprised to see a noose materialize midway through the lesson.
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