Also in use was the Sternhold and Hopkins’ Whole Booke of Psalmes (London 1562). Its users were referred to Ravenscroft’s Psalter (London 1621) for the many tunes to which metrical versions of the psalms could be sung. The first edition of the Bay Psalm Book (Cambridge 1640), the first book printed in the colonies, contained no music. There are many documents which testify to the fact that our Pilgrim father could and did sing in four-part harmony, often accompanied by lute, viol, virginal, or psaltery. It is truly said that “necessity is the mother of invention” and necessity certainly existed in the infant days of the Republic. To understand the “Why,” the need for a teaching aid that would be easily applicable to even the least musically trained among us, we must go back to the days of colonial America and consider the conditions prevailing then. Courtesy of the Library of Congress and David Rubenstein. Title page of the first edition of the Bay Psalm Book (1640), the first book printed in the American colonies. This article ammunition for those who may need an array of facts to hurl at the scoffer of the future. The attempt to explain just how the shapes promote rapid, accurate sight reading-even in children with no previous training in music-evokes a blank look or an amused shake of the head and sometimes the condescending, “It can’t be done.” All vastly frustrating to the Sacred Harper who knows that it can be-and is-done. All other familiar signs of standard notation are the same, but the squares, triangles, ovals, and diamonds adorning the staff are somewhat puzzling to the musician who cut his teeth on round notes. One facet of Sacred Harp music that seems to intrigue the newcomer to our midst is the peculiar (to them) shapes that decorate the note-heads. We have included both 1965 versions of the essay below as downloadable PDF files. On matters of punctuation and style it generally adopts Miller’s changes and a handful of our own. Where the two versions differ substantively, this version generally retains Hamrick’s original language. This version of Hamrick’s essay draws on the author’s original typescript, preserved in the Raymond Hamrick Papers at Emory University’s Pitts Theology Library, as well as the published version, which was edited by Priestley Miller. Hamrick’s evocative retelling of this story capitalizes on what at the time was a “growing recognition being extended by music educators, musicologists, musicians, and academic communities.” Hamrick took pleasure in reporting this newfound appreciation, yet noted that it “merely confirms what have known all along.” 4 (September 20, 1965), Hamrick places shape-notes in the context of American vocal music history, from their advent in the colonial era through the twentieth century. Editor’s Note: In this essay, first published in The Harpeth Valley Sacred Harp News 2, no.
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