What is the music of the Sacred Harp?
The Sacred Harp is an eclectic tune book, containing examples of several different forms, genres, and styles, and is written in four part “Shape-Notes”. Several of the tunes in The Sacred Harp were composed in England during the period 1690-1810, not for cathedrals or royal chapels, but for churches and chapels in towns and countryside, and for urban charity hospitals. Many tunes were written by New Englanders between 1770 and 1810. Among them were Boston tanner William Billings, New Haven merchant Daniel Read, and Vermont schoolmaster and innkeeper Justin Morgan. During the years 1810-1870, many more tunes were composed or adapted by southerners from popular or traditional songs, including marches, dance tunes, and camp-meeting spiritual songs. These composers include Ananias Davisson of Virginia, William Walker of South Carolina, and Sacred Harp compilers B.F. White and E.J. King of Georgia. Twentieth-century composers represented in the Sacred Harp include members of the McGraw fami
