SACRED HARP

Sacred Harp: translation

Compiled by Benjamin Franklin White (1800–1879) and published in Hamilton, Georgia, and Philadelphia in 1844, the most famous and widely used of the "shape-note" tune books. Shape-notes help singers find the pitch of printed notes by employing four differently shaped noteheads to indicate the solmization syllable of the tetrachord (mi-fa-sol-la). The system originated in Philadelphia in 1801 and versions of it spread to the rural south and midwestern United States.Sacred Harpwas revised in 1911, 1936, and 1991. It is still used today.

See alsoBillings, William; Gospel Song; Hymn; Spiritual.