Savannah Sacred Harp Singers

    Music has always been an important part of my life. From the time I could walk, I could not resist a piano at any home we were visiting. I’m sure this drove the adults to distraction, but they must have moved to another room and left me to bang away. By the time I was ten, we had a piano at home, and my mother played it and offered to teach my eight-year-old brother. They purchased a saxophone for me that year, and in spite of my pleadings Mom said that since my brother didn’t have an instrument, it wouldn’t be fair for me to also learn to play the piano. I played the saxophone constantly. With the first paycheck I earned from a summer job, I bought a ukulele to take on band trips to sing with the other members. We sang popular folk songs mostly. After my wife and I were married, we began going to church but eventually dropped out. After about three years, I decided to visit a local church. More than anything else, I was affected that day by the hymns we sang.

    I was aware of the genre of hymns I categorized as Southern Harmony and especially enjoyed them without considering what about them was different. In 2006, I heard an advertisement for a program about to be aired on public television called "Awake My Soul." Planning to record it on VCR, I got a tape ready. That program was preceded by a documentary on the Carter family of Tennessee. I recorded both shows. I don’t think I’ve watched the Carter family documentary but once since then, but I watched "Awake My Soul" over and over playing it for anyone who would sit still for it. I began to realize that the strange harmonies of Sacred Harp were the thing that most attracted me. I was intrigued by the fact that all ages and classes of people would get together to sing in a very democratic way. I realized that I was being dishonest not to purchase the documentary I was enjoying so much, so I searched for it on the internet. There I found fasola.org, purchased the CD, and discovered there was a group singing in Savannah.

    My first time to sing with a group was in Feb, 2007 in Savannah. I didn’t know the tunes and was terribly distracted trying to read and sing the music on one line while the words were on another. Had I learned to play the piano, this might have been much easier. I found that I could enter the music on Noteworthy Composer and sing along with it. I remembered that Hugh McGraw had said on "Awake My Soul" that it takes four years to learn to sing, so I set out to learn with as much enthusiasm as I had as a child for the saxophone. The following month I went to the singing and heard that a trip was planned to Hoboken for their annual sing. I thought New Jersey was a long way to go for a singing, but was surprised to learn that Hoboken, GA was near Waycross. I went to Hoboken and was overwhelmed – at times in tears. I was hooked!

    I’ve been singing with the shape note singers in Savannah for about two years now and been back to Hoboken for a second time. I’ve become familiar with lots of the tunes and learned to sing the shapes if its not too fast. I hope to learn to sing the pitch associated with each note within the next couple of years. Then I’ll be able to sight-read shape note music as I’ve seen others do. Don’t laugh, its possible! Over these past two years, I’ve amazingly been able to meet and sing with several of the people featured on "Awake My Soul", something I never even considered in 2006. I guarantee, I’d never have been able to do that with the Carter family. Most of all, I’ve truly enjoyed the singing and the fellowship with the diverse group from Savannah.