Shaped note singing is still around.  Hymnals in some of the churches here
in Arkansas still have them.  I could play the piano easier using shape
notes than the round notes; however, can't do either.  I remember attending
a shape note singing school back in the early 1950s in Eastern Arkansas.
That didn't take either.  There are still gospel singing conventions in some
of the more rural counties that use shape note song books.  Tonight, a four
day gospel sing begins in honor of Albert Brumley in an 11,000 seat Barnhill
Fieldhouse in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Albert Brumley published a number of
song books using shape notes only.

Cary Anderson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gail Shea" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 1:37 PM
Subject: Shaped Note singing


> (I I well-remember theall-day singing at Weaver's Mennonite Church in
> Rockingham County on eachNew Years Day during the late 1930s and 1940s,
using
> the Harmonia Sacrabook, sung a capella using shape notes. The church was
> always filled to
> capacity. More than two generations have passed since that time, so I have
> no living references for you. Singer's Glen was the early seat for that
kind
> of music- mid-19th century (the Showalters), before Ruebush brought it to
> Dayton near the end of the century.)
>
> It was Joseph Funk, an 18th Century Mennonite Renaissance man (musician,
> printer, progressive church leader) whose "Harmonia Sacra" songbooks and
> training programs were so instrumental in the shaped-note singing
movement.
> His fame was such that the western Rockingham County village where he
lived
> was re-named Singers Glen in his honor.  Funk's family, including Ruebush,
> continued his work.
>        In the early 20th Century, traditional "all-day sings" evolved as
> "old-folks sings," because older generations had been taught shaped-note
> singing in the Funk tradition.
>        The New Years Singing at Weaver's Mennonite Church still takes
place,
> along with a half-dozen other Valley sings, including the first Sunday in
> August (this Sunday) "all day sing and dinner on the ground" at the
Valley's
> earliest Mennonite-connected church, the tiny restored Mill Creek or Mauck
> Meeting House at Hamburg in Page County..  It is a truly wonderful
occasion.
>        Dates, locations and contacts are available through the invaluable
> Lois Bowman and Harold Huber at the Menno Simons Historical Library at
> Eastern Mennonite University (www.emu.edu.)
>        From the Page County Heritage Association website: "Mauck Meeting
> House one mile west of Luray at Hamburg has been listed in the Virginia
> Historic Landmarks Register. The original log structure was built by the
> neighbors for religious purposes, commonly called and known as "Mauck
Meeting
> House." The "neighbors," most of whom were Mennonites from Switzerland and
> Southern Germany, built it probably around 1770. It was constructed of
large
> pine logs neatly dovetailed at the corners, whitewashed inside and out and
> roofed with chestnut shingles which was typical of most local construction
at
> that time."
> Gail Nardi
>
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