silversand

There’s an interesting thread developing on the shape note music discussion list right now about the compositional processes of Sacred Harp composers. This is something I’ve been thinking about lately since I’m considering focusing on the motivations and techniques of such composers for Tomie’s “Fieldwork as Art” class. I just posted these thoughts:

Thanks so much to Crystal for starting this thread. I’ve been wondering recently about others’ compositional processes. I’ve been composing Sacred Harp music for less than three years, so my knowledge is pretty limited. Nonetheless, I have thought a lot about how to write this kind of music and my process has developed a lot since I first wrote a fuging tune in the Spring of 2003.

I prefer composing with a text already in mind and I am a fan of word painting. I have had success writing the music first as well, though like Dan, I started out not bothering to write in meter, which was a disaster.

I sometimes follow McCurry’s preferred order for part writing: tenor, bass, treble, counter, but as a bass, I find it easiest to start with the bass and then proceed to tenor, treble, alto. Most often I write in fragments, still starting with a mix of bass and tenor, and filling in bits of the different parts as they come to me — especially when writing fuges.

I follow a number of guidelines for writing Sacred Harp music. My method of composing though, is more intuitive than deliberate. I find that the best music I write feels as though it just falls out of me as I write it. I often write my best when I’m tired, rushed, or distracted (and once wrote a pretty solid tune while still drugged after returning from the dentist!). Straight and away the best time to write new songs for me is right after a singing when all the songs sung that day are mixing and recombining in my head. All the good songs I write come out very quickly (usually in 2 hours or less) and often require very little revision.

So, applying rules to composition is not a matter of deliberately following them, but introducing them bit by bit, and internalizing them. Once I no longer have to think about the tenor and treble crossing, I can write music that naturally incorporates that feature of Sacred Harp music.

On to the rules:

First, some fundamental stuff that nonetheless hasn’t been stated yet: No (or very few) accidentals; Not much modulation. You can modulate briefly to a relative minor or to the dominant, and occasionally to a relative major, but that’s about it. Some anthems change key once or twice; Certain styles of Sacred Harp music employ gapped scales, restricting the available pitch set even further; Resolve to the tonic at the end of a piece, but otherwise, disregard western classical music theory guidelines for chord progressions.

1. Parts should cross frequently. I agree with what’s been said about tenor and treble crossing and sharing the same range, and was pleased to see McCurry’s statement about the tenor and bass crossing, which is something I tend to do as well. I even find that my alto line climbs above the treble or tenor once or twice in some tunes.
2. Parallel motion is fine, Parallel fifths, fourths, and octaves sound right, parallel thirds and sixths less so. In particular a stretch of parallel motion between the tenor and bass parts is a great way for those two parts to relate (see 159), and parallel motion between bass and alto as the two parts come in together in a fuging section is also very compelling (430, 440). Contrary motion should be much more common than parallel motion, but that is pretty much a natural byproduct of composing melodic parts.
3. Borrowing from other tunes is okay. I’ve felt that this was true, and Warren spoke about this at Camp Fasola this summer. Many Sacred Harp songs borrow from other tunes in the book. This makes uncommon or new tunes familiar and easy to sing, and it suits a singing tradition where several people may have the same favorite tune but it may only be sung once in a given day. It’s fine to borrow bits and pieces of melodies consciously, but I find that the best and most natural way to do this is to compose music while songs from an All Day Singing are still fresh in my head.
4. Each part should be melodic. Everyone seems to agree on this, and I think it’s the most important guideline. It’s also very hard, and I’m definitely not quite there yet. As has been discussed, this is a big part of what makes Sacred Harp “singers’ music.”

   It seems to me that the ideal here is actually somewhat complex, though. Alongside the ideal of a melody in every part, each part nonetheless has its own character. Alto parts, because they were written last or added in years later are often relatively flat and non-melodic, and flush out the harmony with more than their share of thirds and fifths. Bass lines are never flat, but instead are characterized by frequent large jumps (from tonic to fifth or fourth, from fifth back to tonic, up or down and octave on the tonic or fifth). Tenor lines tend to be the most melodic and thus run up and down the scale a lot with dramatic jumps thrown in. Treble lines seem to me to resemble tenor lines but a bit more disjointed and a little bit more likely to resolve to notes other than the tonic.

   As a bass, I like singing all these big jumps and I like the role my part often has as the foundation of the harmony. While my part may not have the melodic flare of the tenor or treble line, its a good vantage point from which to hear a song’s harmonies unfold and melodies entwine. Similarly, I’ve spoken to altos who enjoy the freedom their part’s relative flatness gives them to listen to the other parts and the unique perspective on a song’s harmony that their part contributes.

   So, while striving to make every part melodic is a worthy goal, I think writing natural, enjoyable, and easy to sing Sacred Harp music also involves paying heed to the unique character of each part.

5. Dissonances are appropriate in some circumstances but not in others. Sevenths are almost never okay. Seconds and ninths may appear occasionally in the context of stacks of fifths, but this only lends itself to more “quartal” styles of Sacred Harp music and isn’t appropriate, say for a song in the style of an old Billings anthem. Otherwise I generally just rely on my ear to tell me when a dissonance works.
6. In fuges, all the parts should have signposts in place where singers can find their way when they get lost. These resting places could be the repeated quarter notes or long held notes found in many fuging tunes. An actual rest works as well, provided that the next note is easy to find, and harmonic signposts like placing the tonic or the fifth in a rhythmically emphasized place can also help. It’s also important that the parts come together to sing on the same rhythm (more or less) at the end of the fuge. This allows everyone to find their way and finish singing strongly and loudly, which makes the whole song sound better and be more enjoyable.

Do others have any particular thoughts on writing fuging tunes?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 1st, 2005 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Shape Note Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.