2. Word of Mouth ChoirRivers of Delight: American Folk Hymns From The Sacred Harp Tradition
I’ve been interested in Sacred Harp for a few years, since going to grad school in New England in Providence. In New England there is a pretty large community of sacred harp singers. It is something that originated mostly in the south but that is a tradition that has kind of gone up the east coast from the 1700s on. To me it’s really interesting because shape note singing does not require any kind of formal music education or any kind of formal music knowledge, you just learn what the shapes are and you sing them and it isn’t necessarily about having skill or tonality or creating a conventionally beautiful sound. It’s much more about the togetherness and having these different parts that are sung with great conviction.
On The Word Of Mouth Chorus record those are actually quite skilled vocalists and you get to hear each part in a different way than you would with a traditional large sacred harp chorus. I love the songs that they chose and I loved just the way that they perform them. It gives a little bit more detail to a lot of those songs that you don’t hear necessarily in a big group. Sacred Harp is a really fascinating practice.
