Is it “old English music”? Do they have Sacred Harp singing in England and other countries?
Sacred Harp singing, and the American singing-school movement of which it was a part, have antecedents in efforts by John Playford to teach note-reading to London parish clerks in the late seventeenth century. The earliest American tunebooks borrowed their methods and repertory almost wholly from Playford’s psalters and method books. In England, the singing-school movement bore fruit in a renewed interest in psalmody in every region, as local singing-masters founded choirs, often supported by instruments, which sang and played both in parish churches (Anglican) and dissenting chapels. This movement, which declined after 1830, has undergone a vigorous revival in England, where it is known as “[west] gallery music” or “Georgian psalmody.” British singers are also aware of the American shape-note tradition, and have recently begun to organize Sacred Harp singings.
Sacred Harp singing, and the American singing-school movement of which it was a part, have antecedents in efforts by John Playford to teach note-reading to London parish clerks in the late seventeenth century. The earliest American tunebooks borrowed their methods and repertory almost wholly from Playford’s psalters and method books. In England, the singing-school movement bore fruit in a renewed interest in psalmody in every region, as local singing-masters founded choirs, often supported by instruments, which sang and played both in parish churches (Anglican) and dissenting chapels. This movement, which declined after 1830, has undergone a vigorous revival in England, where it is known as “[west] gallery music” or “Georgian psalmody.” British singers are also aware of the American shape-note tradition, and have organized Sacred Harp singings and conventions. II.
