Northern Harmony Singing, Latham Singing
I only just got back home from a very full day of singing. I left Troy at around 8 AM for the Northern Harmony All-Day Singing, held this year in Westminster West Vermont, and finally returned (via the Albany monthly singing in Latham) at 11 PM.
Northern Harmony All-Day Singing
This is the third Northern Harmony singing I’ve been to since the event was started in 2000. This time around was the smallest crowd, but was also among the most concentrated and talented — featuring about 35 of the most capable shape note singers from Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. The singing was already pretty strong by the time I arrived with Pam (who picked me up in Troy) at about 10:30, and got stronger and stronger as the day went on.
In the second morning session I called Neely’s “Closing Year,” which had already been led, so I led Supply Belcher’s “The Lily” instead. For my second song I called another already-used song, “Bridgewater,” and ended up picking Seth Houston’s “Big Sky” spur of the moment, as a back up. In the afternoon I closed out the after-dinner session by leading Belcher’s “Reflection.” Of all these, “Reflection” went the best — the class quickly remembered how the song went and seemed to enjoy singing it.
In general, though, the afternoon sessions were excellent: incredibly loud for the number of singers present, with talented leaders selecting a good mix of fantastic fast-paced fuging tunes and slower gut-wrenching plain and fuging tunes in minor. Most of my favorites, including many of Neely’s songs got led. When the class had difficulty, Matt Wojcik, who was chair, did an excellent job of intervening and doing parts when necessary. The singing was run with a mix of traditional Sacred Harp singing formalities and informal flexibilty that matched the sensibility of the Northern Harmony tunebook quite well.
I had fun sitting with Matt, Rosie, and Linda during lunch, and had interesting conversations with a few people about composing shape note music. I learned from Robert, for example, that Bruce Randall writes a shape note song every morning, meaning he’s written over 3000. I thought I was prolific with my 40 or so.
Energy stayed high through the last section and the singing ended very strong. We all cleaned up and got ready to leave. In the basement of the church (where people were cleaning up the food), I found an 1855 oblong tunebook on top of a piano called the Ancient Harmony Revived. It was a roundnote book printed in the Northeast, but containging singing school music by New England and British authors, not the Lowell Mason-era music that followed. I think I remember reading somewhere about this book that it was published as a sort of nostalgic look back on the turn of the 18th Century.
Transition
On our way back to New York, Pam asked if I wanted her to drop my off in Troy or in Latham (for our monthly sing), and I said that I thought I should get home and do some work. A few minutes later, she said she still didn’t know whether she was going to go to Latham singing or not. I said that if she went I’d go with her, so we decided to attend, despite having already spent most of our voices (combined cough drop count: 11).
Latham
It turned out to be the right decision to go to the Latham singing. It was the first time at the singing this fall for Pam and me, and also for Jean and George. It was great to see them both as well as the other Albany-area singers. The mixture of campmeeting songs, 19th-Century fuging tunes, and singing school music was a great counterpart to a day of straight singing school music with the odd contemporary shape note tune thrown in.
The singing was well-attended, with about 20 people present and the sound was good, if a bit spotty (some songs, people just didn’t know). I called a number of newer favorites, including 39t, 101t, and 77. Despite myself, I sang loudly the whole time and completely blasted my voice to bits.
I made an announcement about the CAC event on Thursday and circulated a flyer I printed out this morning. Between this singing and the Northern Harmony singing, people took all the flyers, and a couple people may come on Thursday, though getting some to carry through may take a little more convincing.
So, I’m tired an exhausted but I had a great day. As usual, my mind is flooded with songs — stuff from the Northern Harmony and Sacred Harp and the usual viscous mash-up out of which I pull most of my own tunes. I might have to write a song or two before I go to bed.