Christian's Farewell 347

American shape note singers of Cork, Ireland, sing Christian's Farewell at the School of Music, UCC.

As part of a module taught by Juniper Hill in UCC's School of Music, a group of students have gathered weekly since spring 2009 to learn and sing music from the beautiful American Sacred Harp singing tradition. As the shapes took hold of our hearts, so did word begin to spread of this awe-inspiring music, and so it is that a growing number of Cork-based shape singers - no longer just students - are meeting up even outside term times to sing our hearts out in the spine-tingling singing tradition that is the Sacred Harp. All are welcome to join, we'll take newcomers through the basics in how to sight-sing and ye can feel comfortable in the knowledge that mistakes don't matter - it'll come with practice and time!

Ireland's first shape note convention takes place in spring 2011, March 4-6. If anyone is interested in coming from overseas, arrangements will be made for places to stay and so on. We bid you to come!

For more info: http://www.music.ucc.ie/shapenote/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sacred
• harp
• shape
• note
• singing
• Cork
• Ireland
• Christian's
• Farewell
• 347
• music
• UCC

[Tragicpeot]

Where can i find a song book? I'm in the US, a web site maybe?

[Sadhbhishness]

@Tragicpeot Hi! I believe you can get them from the website called 'originalsacredharp'

There is such an amazing wealth of music in the book! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do in Cork =)

[Sadhbhishness]

@APayne1979 We'd love absolutely nothing more than to have you here! If you want to contact us directly about anything, we have a Facebook page, just type in Shacred Harp Singers of Cork, or else you can just contact me on Youtube. You'd be better off using Facebook though, I'm rarely singned into this thing... I should probably change that, looking at the view count! Hope to hear from you =)

[mh605]

@uaigneach Raymond Hamrick wrote a number of songs--among them 503b and 347 (Christian's Farewell).

[uaigneach]

@mh605 Ah - my apologies. I'm a newcomer to live Sacred Harp (a listener only, alas) and very far from being able to identify songs by their numbers. Who did write 347? I love Christian's Farewell (and this montage) and want it for my funeral. Not imminent I hope - but it's best to be prepared 8-)

[mh605]

@uaigneach No--if you look at what I said above, I said he dreamt 503b, which he did. I wasn't talking about 347.

[uaigneach]

@mh605 In the 'Awake My Soul' documentary Hamrick does tell this story - but applies it to a completely different song.

[ClaireConrad]

Congratulations on Ireland's FIRST ANNUAL a capella shape-note singing convention!!!! About a third of my ancestors are said to have been Irish. I adore singing, and discovering this tradition thrilled me as much as it obviously does you, to judge by your faces. . . . Your sound is tuneful, strong, and joyous. I hope to join you some other year. . . . You are part of what seems to be growing into a world-sweeping movement.

[tivey]

Your enthusiasm for this singing is inspiring.

[Sadhbhishness]

@rrwaxer See my reply to APayne1979, same goes here! We'd really love to have as many people from the States as possible, singers from the place of shape-note's birth, many of whom would be coming back to a land of their origin... Poetic a notion on so many levels, I think, and an opportunity to make some really good memories. Please get in touch if you'd like to know more! We're arranging committes for accomadation and so forth, we should be well organised =)