Inclusivity

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The Shenandoah Harmony Publishing Company and the co-authors of The Shenandoah Harmony are committed to building a welcoming and affirming shape note singing community. Currently, there is a much needed discussion about racial and gender inclusion in singing and we feel compelled to address this. Read more

Questioning the Unanswered Cadence

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There's sometimes an audible gasp from the class after singing REDEEMING GRACE, THE HUMBLE PENITENT, or Allison Blake Steel's arrangement of HICKS' FAREWELL. Why the surprise?

Long-lost Shenandoah tunebook found

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It's rare to discover lost shape-note songs, let alone entire books, so I was completely floored to find that a copy of the long-lost James P. Carrell's Songs of Zion (1821) was recently cataloged by the University of Virginia. Songs of Zion…

239 Voice to the Shepherds

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It's rare to find a totally unknown American Christmas carol, and such a beautiful - though challenging - melody to boot.  We found it under the title FREE GRACE on page 36 of George Miller's Methodist Camp-Meeting Hymn Book from Dayton,…

Singing Judith Brock and Polly Gould

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A wonderful anecdote in this 1902 History of Newbury, Vermont (see embedded text below) gives the background on Jeremiah Ingalls' song LAMENTATION (ShH 258), written for the death of young Judith Brock. [BROCK], JUDITH, b. Aug 6, 1783;…

Charts and graphs, oh my!

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Being a mathematically-inclined person, I'm always interested in the stories one can tease out of data...  Now that we've got the book mostly mapped out, I made a chart displaying the first publication dates of the songs.  Each dot in the…

184 Sinai

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We first encountered ShH 184 SINAI (1801) in Hauser’s Hesperian Harp (1848). It is the best known composition of the teenaged Woodruff, who drowned at the age of nineteen. Back in the day, the alto, or counter, part was often sung by boys,…

Identity Crisis: The Real M.Kyes

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In the current pre-publication packet some of you may have noticed that the composer of the anthem ShH 453 CRUCIFIXION is no longer given as “M. Kyes”. The identity of this composer has been a tantalizing enigma for some time; who could…

Editing songs in the ShH

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Now that our preview packet is out, we've received several questions and comments about our editorial policy.  As the ``resident academic'' on the music committee, I thought I'd try to explain our process for everyone.  This is the result…

Sources of The Shenandoah Harmony

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I hope you've had a chance to check out our preview packet!  You will notice that each song---with the exception of songs by living composers---has a little code in the top corner of the page.  The letters tell you the source and the numbers…