Making a joyful sound
through Sacred Harp singing
Web page and photos
by Ed Williams
Auburn, Alabama
July 14, 2003
http://fasola.org/
Sacred
Harp singing comes to Auburn
Staff
report
The
Opelika-Auburn News
July
9, 2003
The tradition of Sacred Harp singings has faded from most modern churches, but pockets of devotion still remain in the Deep South. Recently, a singing was held at Mt. Pisgah Church in Chambers county that attracted more than 100 people from all over the South, as well as far away as Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota.
Longtime Sacred harp aficionados Don and Karen Clark of LaFayette organized the event. It was an attempt to revive the tradition that had all but died out in the Auburn area since the 1980s, when singings were quite common.
The summer meeting of the Lee County Historical Society will bring back to Lee County a bit of this musical heritage. The Clarks of LaFayette, Stanley Smith of Ozark and others who have struggled to keep Sacred H Harp singing alive in this are area will present a program of instruction and singing on Sunday, July 13, 2003.
Acoustics are important to Sacred Harp singing, and the 133-year-old wood of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (formerly the Ebenezer Baptist Church) structure are perfect for such a program. For this reason, the summer meting of the Lee County Historical society will be held Sunday afternoon, July 13, at 2:30 p.m. at the Auburn University Universalist Fellowship n Thach Avenue in Auburn. The public is encourage d too attend.
Music will reverberate from the walls of the historic, 19th century , wooden
church building just like it did 100 years ago. The program will begin
at 2:30 p.m. and conclude with homemade ice cream to help soothe the vocal
chords. Even if you don't know a fa-so-la from a do-re-me, you'll
appreciate experiencing this part of southern musical and religious heritage.
