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There is just unbridled JOY in the Sacred Harp singing! Several years ago, we attended a concert of an 'Early Music' singing group, and they did this type of singing. In fact, that's the first time I'd heard the way the Do-Re-Mi of the notes is sung, before singing the actual words to the songs. The group was Anonymous 4, and they were touring in support of their American Angels CD.

I've been singing Sacred Harp for years! It's great stuff -- it's like being carried along on an enormous tidal wave of sound. Not for everybody, I guess, but I love it.

One of my cousins actually edited the OSH - Hugh McGraw out in Bremen GA.

There is an absolutely wonderful DVD out on the history and practice of the Sacred Harp - they even have a website.

Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp

Lots of fun stuff on the website, including lots of audio tracks and a trailer for the movie. The primary singers for the movie are a bit more polished than your average SH singers, but they are an actual SH group and they've retained the vigor and force of the old style singers.

I love one comment in the film -- one of the guys they interviewed said somebody asked him, "Do you want to sound like a bunch of uneducated Southerners?" and he said, "Well . . . YEAH!"

Just fyi -- SH singers don't use "do-re-mi" - they use "Fa-So-La". The scale is "Fa-So-La-Fa-So-La-Mi-Fa".

Sometimes SH singing is called "Fa-So-La Singing".

And it is really an education to try to sing the NAMES of the notes instead of the WORDS! You have to shift gears inside your head. I'm still not very good at it!