1-27 Shape Note _ Ballad

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Music in American Cultures

27 January 2011


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Early European American music

Religious (shape note) and secular (ballad)

Variety of European nationalities andcultures within white racial category

Music serves as record of new anddistinct immigrant experiences andcultural change


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European migration to U.S. 1607 - First permanent settlement

New colonists come for political, economic,

social (religious) reasons

1619 - First African slaves to U.S.

1620 - Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock

1776 - Declaration of Independence 1787 - Constitution

1861- Civil War begins


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Shape-note Singing


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Early Anglo-American Music

Psalmody- Singing psalms from the Bible to simple

tunes- Often sung a cappella (without

accompaniment)

From the early 17 th century

Sung by lining out-Call and response the leader sings a line, thecongregation repeats


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Shape-note singing

A system of notation that uses shaped note-heads to make music easier to read

From the early 18 th century

Origins in New England singing schools


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also called:

Shape-note hymnody Sacred Harp singing

[Sacred Harp = human voice; also the name of a book of shape-note songs]


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Shape-note Singing


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Shape-note music andperformance

Open harmoniesmostly fourths and fifths Melody in the tenor part (not the soprano)

Tenor and treble (soprano) can be sung byboth men and women

Mostly Christian texts


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Seven-syllable system


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Four-syllable system


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remember:

Tenor (melody)

Soprano (harmony)

fa | la la | sol sol | la la | sol sol | la fala | sol fala | sol || sol | fa fa | la sol | la lasol | fa fa | sol fa | la sol | la | la ||

sol | fa lafa | la sol | fa la | sol sol | fa la fa | la sola | sol | solla | sollasol | falasol | falasol | sol sol | fa lafa | la sol | fa | fa


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Shape-note music andperformance

Hollow square Leadership rotates

Sing through songs on syllables, then words Pedagogical roots: the group is a class, to

lead is to give a lesson


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Books! Music literacy means printed music!

Books contained repertoire of oldsacred and secular songs with newharmonies and newly composed songs


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Community! Shape-note music sung in church, at religious

revivals, and at singings Singings retain church rootsno audience, everyone

participates


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Shape-note singing

A combination of making music and

reading musicso is folk music only oral tradition?

Provided a social space for its

participants


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Shape-note singing

Fell out of favor in New Englandwas

seen as too simple

In the 19 th century

Remained popular in the South; thus

came to be associated with rural, lesseducated Americans


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Beginner cheatsheet passed out atmany Sacred Harpsingings


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Today 18thCentury

19th Century


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Now, as a century ago, fasola singing, as it has cometo be called, is a way of life for thousands of ruralSoutherners. Independent and thoroughly democratic,the Sacred Harp remains today a vigorous tradition of

time-honored song, a living vestige of the past.

Buell Cobb, The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and its Music (1978), pg. 5


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Documentary: Awake, My Soul:

The Story of the Sacred Harp(2006)

These singers are surprisingly articulate, deeply thoughtful and

often very funny individuals who are passionate about Sacred Harpsinging.

www.awakemysoul.com


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Popular Images of Sacred Harp Today

Unchanged and ancient

Preserved in rural areas A Southern tradition


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And Whats at stake?

Why would urban Northerners claimallegiance to a tradition, and assert thatit is Southern, ancient, and unchanged?

Can something really remainunchanged?


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Ballad = song in which a series of versestelling a story, often about a historical eventor personal tragedy, are sung to a repeatingmelody


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Musical features of the ballad

Narrative - tell a story

Strophic form (AAA)

Dispassionate delivery - about story not thesinger

Oral tradition main form of transmission Much variation between singers, region, etc.


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Barbara Allen Texas Gladden (1895-1967)


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She walked up to sweet Willys bedsideYoung man I think youre dyingHe turned his face to the cold, cold wallAnd bursted out to crying

Do you remember the other day

Down at the tavern a-drinkingYou drank your health to the ladies all aroundAnd slighted Barbry Allen?

Oh no, oh no, oh no, said heI think you are mistakingI drank my health to the ladies all aroundMy love to Barbry Allen


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As she went walking up the roadShe heard some birds a-singing

And everyone it seemed to sayHard-hearted Barbry Allen

She looked to the east, she looked to the west

And spied the corpse a-comingOh bring him on, now let him downThat I might look upon him

The more she looked the more she weptShe bursted out to cryingI mightve saved this young mans lifeAnd kept him from hard [heart?] dying


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Oh mother, mother, go make my bedGo make it long and narrow

For Willys died for the love of meAnd I shall die for sorrow

They buried sweet Willy in the new church yard

And Barbry in the tower [?]On Willys grave sprang a bright red roseOn Barbry Allens a green briar

They grew as tall as the new church topThey could not grow any higher They wrapped and tied in a true-bow knotAnd the rose ran down the briar


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1st personLyrics / POV

Strong voice, nasal, emotionsame throughoutPerformance Style

ModerateTempo

Duple, irregular Meter / RhythmVoice (female), a cappellaInstrument(s)

Strophic (AAA)Form

BalladSong TypeTexas GladdenSinger(s)

Barbara AllenName of Song


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Ballads transform in U.S.

Broadsides - songs sold on large sheets Start to incorporate current and local

references and more urban content

Ballad operas also performed here Originally British tradition drawing from

ballad repertoire

Take on regional character


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Documents

1-27 Shape Note _ Ballad