Sacred Harp Logo

This exhibit celebrates one of southeast Georgia's most distinctive and cherished traditions: the style of three or four part, unaccompanied religious singing called "Sacred Harp" which has been a part of the local community since the mid 1800s. The Sacred Harp singing style originated in colonial New England and later spread to the American South where states like Georgia continue singing traditions of great power and beauty.

Overview

This series includes administrative files, oral interviews, field notes, video recordings, audio recordings, correspondence, and photographs dealing with southeast Georgia Sacred Harp traditions. Most of the series is focused around documentation of community and family singing traditions of the Lee Family of Hoboken, and the Hoboken Sacred Harp monthly sings that occur the Saturday before the third Sunday of each month in the Hoboken Elementary School. David I. Lee, his cousins Tollie Lee and Clarke Lee , and parents Johnny and Delorese Lee, are major consultants, although various other individuals were interviewed. Several special events are also documented: the annual Hoboken All-Day Sing (March); the Georgia-Florida-Alabama Tri-State Singing Convention, which is in Hoboken every third year; the Silas Lee Memorial Sing which took place at the 2000 Florida Folk Festival in White Springs; and the Library of Congress Local Legacies materials prepared by David I. Lee, including recordings of the Lee Family singing in the old "Hoboken-style" at the home of Johnny and Delorese Lee, Hoboken (1999). Related sings in Hilliard and Nathalene, Florida, both no longer extant, are also documented. A major sub-focus of the series is singing schools, which in Hoboken occur before the monthly sings in January and February; singing schools given by members of the Lee family to the national Sacred Harp community in various locations also are included. A rare singing of a "drone" is documented in both video and audio from the January, 2001, singing school.The series includes copies of various historic recordings of Hoboken-style singing, including recordings of Silas Lee, the late singing school teacher and song leader from Hoboken, along with family and friends at the 1958 Florida Folk Festival, and various family recordings assembled by David I. Lee of Hoboken and copied for archival preservation by Paul Butterfield of Winter Park, FL. Finally, the series includes materials used in creating "Let Us Sing": Southeast Georgia Sacred Harp, a permanent exhibit installed at the Okefenokee Heritage Center in Waycross (August 2001), co-curated by David I. Lee and Laurie K. Sommers with funding from the Georgia Council for the Arts.

Let Us Sing: Southeast Georgia Sacred Harp

Radio Programs

  • Sacred Harp, Hoboken, Georgia, from Wiregrass Ways, originally broadcast on Georgia Public Radio, 1999 Play
  • Singing Schools, with David I. Lee, Hoboken, Georgia from Wiregrass Ways, originally broadcast on Georgia Public Radio, 1999 Play
  • Chesser Homestead Open House, with members of the Chesser and Roddenberry families, from Sounds of South Georgia, originally broadcast on Georgia Public Radio, 2006 Play
  • Pulse of the Planet four-part ( 1, 2, 3, 4) feature on Sacred Harp in Hoboken, with Jim Metzner, originally broadcast on PRI, 2000 Play 1 Play 2 Play 3 Play 4
  • Sacred Harp, Hoboken, Georgia, from Wiregrass Ways, originally broadcast on Georgia Public Radio, 1999 Play
  • Sacred Harp, Hoboken, Georgia, from Wiregrass Ways, originally broadcast on Georgia Public Radio, 1999 Play
  • Hoboken-Style Sacred Harp from the Florida Folk Festival, produced by William B. Dudley for the Florida Humanities Council, 2000 Play

Reports

Hands holding a shape-note hymn book.

WHAT IS SACRED HARP?

This exhibit celebrates one of southeast Georgia’s most distinctive and cherished traditions: a style of three or four part, unaccompanied religious singing called “Sacred Harp” which has been part of local community life since the mid- 1800s. The Sacred Harp singing style originated in colonial New England and later spread to the American South where states like Georgia continue singing traditions of great power and beauty. The name “Sacred Harp” comes from the most common songbook used in this singing style, The Sacred Harp, first published in 1844 by B. F. White of Hamilton, Georgia. Although originally written for use in Protestant church services, The Sacred Harp has become the centerpiece of a nondenominational community singing tradition that typically takes place outside formal worship.

A woman stands leading a sing from the middle of a seated group.

PATENT NOTES

Sacred Harp singing uses a music notation system called “patent notes” in which the pitches fa, sol, la, and mi of the European scale each are written with a different shaped note head. By reading the shapes of the notes and knowing their relative position on the musical scale, singers do not need formal music education. Sacred Harp singers typically sit in a hollow square formation with the bass, treble, alto, and tenor singers grouped facing inward. The song leader stands in the middle to sound the starting pitches and to beat time with his or her hand as the group first sings the note names and then repeats the tune using the words. Jenny Steuver, pictured above, leads the group from the center of the hollow square: “It makes me feel really good because singing is one of the things I really love....”.

Exterior view of Hoboken, Georgia Highschool

SACRED HARP IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

Since the 1800s, families in southeast Georgia have gathered to sing at organized singing events, reunions, weddings, baptisms, funerals, or for the sheer joy and comfort of singing in their home. The earliest record of the tradition comes from the Dowling family history: “At one period in his long life Lazarus (Dowling, born 1829) taught others the intricacies of Sacred Harp singing that he loved so much.” Over time Sacred Harp singing permeated entire communities; one of the strongest traditions continues in Hoboken. Cascade School and other rural one-room schools were once a favorite singing place, but in the late 1940s they were consolidated into larger schools located in town. In the early 1950s, Brantley County Superintendent Herschel Herrin and song leader Silas Lee proposed holding Sacred Harp sings at the Hoboken School, where monthly community sings continue to the present day.

Hoboken School, built in the 1920s, has been hosting monthly night sings and annual all-day sings for the Hoboken community since the early 1950s.

A woman stands leading a sing from the middle of a seated group.

HERITAGE

Silas Lee (grave marker shown here) married Lazarus Dowling’s granddaughter and like Dowling was a noted Sacred Harp teacher and song leader. Family members sang the Sacred Harp songs engraved on Lee’s headstone at his funeral.








Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2000

Old photo of the Chesser family on the porch.

THE CHESSER FAMILY

For generations, families have sung together for entertainment and worship. Here John Lee, his wife Sally Chesser Lee, and other family members sing “Sons of Sorrow” from The Sacred Harp, Chesser’s Island, Charlton County.










Photo by Francis Harper, courtesy of Delma Presley

Portrait of Lazarus Dowling

Lazarus Dowling

Sacred Harp singing was taught by singing school teachers who went from community to community showing young and old how to “read the notes,” “walk time,” and “sing the scale.” As a special treat, students occasionally performed a “drone” or human bagpipe, unique to southeast Georgia, with a central core of singers carr ying the tune, surrounded by three moving circles of singers who held the first, fifth, or eighth note of the scale. Singing school teachers usually lacked formal musical training but were in much demand as renowned and powerful singers. Lazarus Dowling, pictured at right, was the first in a line of Hoboken-area singing school teachers that includes Martin Dowling, Bill Guy, Silas Lee, Wilson Wainright, Clarke Lee, and David Lee. A century ago, parents required their children to attend these schools and paid the teacher for his effor ts with money, or more frequently, with food and goods produced on their family farm. Singing schools were scheduled according to the availability of a singing school teacher and ran for six or more consecutive weekends. Present-day singing schools are streamlined into two or three sessions.


Photo coutesy of Elvera Dowling Lee

David Lee speaks to a seated group.

SINGING SCHOOLS

David Lee teaches a singing school at Hoboken School.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

A woman stands leading a sing from the middle of a seated group.

TRADITION

Each generation passes on the knowledge and love of this music to the next. Here, Mary Elizabeth Lee (center) leads a song assisted by her father, Clarke Lee (center left).



A crowd makes their plates of food. A large feast is laid out on a long table.

COMMUNITY

To celebrate the end of singing school, the community held an all-day sing. Everyone brought dinner for a shared noon meal and then sang again until late in the afternoon. In 1996, the all-day sing tradition was revived at Hoboken School. Out-of-town visitors and farflung family members look forward to a day of heartfelt singing, fellowship, and a mouth-watering dinner on the grounds. Men grill chicken outside, while women of the community assemble a feast of homemade cakes, pies, meats...

During an all-day sing weekend women prepare huge meals to feed hungry participants.

Elvera Dowling and granddaughters.

FAMILY

At an all-day sing, Elvera Dowling Lee smiles as her grand- daughter, Lisa Harris, and Lisa’s daughters Diana and Olivia, soak up love and fellowship with the very air they breathe and the food they eat.




Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2000.

David Lee and Clarke Lee walk time as they lead a sing in a seated crowd.

HOBOKEN SINGING SCHOOL

David Lee and Clarke Lee walk time as they lead a sing held in 1997. In March of 2000, approximately 500 people from 14 states attended the all-day sing held at Hoboken School.






Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997

A group sings.

WHY WE SING

"When we're singing together, we are always facing each other. We're always singing to each other and for each other. Sacred Harp singing is a way of communicating. Our people can sing their love for each other in ways that they can't talk about. There's another place that we go when we're singing, and I don't know how to get to that place, except to go there by singing. The singing that we do with each other is bigger than we are. This singing is not anything that I could invent or discover. There's things that take place at these sings, there's power exhibited that people can't contrive. There is something here that had to come from Above. We can't make this up." -- David Lee, July 2000.

Love for each other and their way of life flows throughout the singing of this region. Above, Tollie Lee (leading) and his cousin, David Lee, make a connection through song.

A seated group sings sacred harp hymns.

MARS HILL

Singing together at Mars Hill Primitive Baptist Church in Hoboken.











Photo by Laura Densmore, 2000.

A congregation in an old-timey church.

HOBOKEN-STYLE SINGING

The Sacred Harp tradition of southeast Georgia has certain unique qualities. Singers not only beat time with their hands--a technique common to most Sacred Harp singers-- but they also walk time with their feet. Tempos are slower and melodies are more ornamented, characteristics that reflect a strong influence from Primitive Baptist hymn singing. The texts in Primitive Hymns by Benjamin Lloyd, a hymnal used by many Primitive Baptists, often are sung to Sacred Harp melodies. Until 1994, the southeast Georgia tradition remained largely unknown to the national community of Sacred Harp singers. Since then, singers from around the country visit Hoboken and have invited local song leaders to teach singing schools as far away as Seattle and London. Scholars and singers of Sacred Harp now recognize "Hoboken style" as one of the great singing traditions in the United States.

Singing for worship gives a sense of grace and purpose to the singing. Tunes that were memorized from The Sacred Harp are used in churches like Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, Charlton County, shown here.


Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

Bryant Lee teaches a group.

TEACHING

Bryant Lee, son of singing school teacher David I. Lee, walks time in the manner unique to Hoboken.


Photo by Laura Densmore, 2000.

A group sings in a living room setting.

PILGRAMS HARP

Members of the Lee family sing from the Pilgrims Harp, a compilation of locally sung Sacred Harp songs, for a documentary recording to be placed in the Librar y of Congress “Local Legacies” collection.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

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This website is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency the National Endowment for the Arts.

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