Regular Local Singings in or near Michigan   

East Lansing Singing
1st & 3rd Mondays, 7-9 PM
Edgewood United Church
469 Hagadorn, East Lansing, MI

Kalamazoo Singing
3rd Sundays from 4-6 pm
(Vaccination required)

Ann Arbor Singing
Second Sundays, 1-4 PM
The Ark, Ann Arbor

Grand Rapids Singing
1st Saturdays, 9:30-11:15 AM

Toronto/Ontario
Third Wednesdays
7:30-9:30

Nearby all-day singings

Midwest Convention
Chicago, Memorial Day weekend

Mid-Michigan All-Day singing
Faith Lutheran Church, Okemos, MI
May 11, 9:30-3 PM
Vaccination required

Michiana All-Day Singing
Fairview Grange, Dunlap, IN
tentative July 20, 2023

Kalamazoo All-Day Singing
Tentative July 21, 2023

Central Ontario All-Day Singing
Friends House, Toronto
August 31, 2023

Sacred Harp on youtube

2016 Michiana Singing
2016 Missouri Convention
2015 Midwest Convention (all)
2015 Mid-Michigan Singing
2014 Michiana Singing
2013 Kalamazoo Singing
2010 Alabama Sacred Harp Musical Convention
Video about Sacred Harp singing

Sign-up for email notices for local singings in East Lansing
and/or regional singings

What is Shape note singing about?

Brief history of the Mid-Michigan singing.

Shape Note singing resources:

Fasola.org
A compendium of things regarding shape note singing and The Sacred Harp.

Website of Dr. Warren Steel, author, scholar of shape note singing, organ, other music, folklore, etc., etc.

Wikipedia about shape note singing

Online Shape Note recordings

Martha Beverly's photos of singings

1835 Mason's Sacred Harp pdf
(unrelated to The Sacred Harp)

1856 American Church Harp pdf

1860 Sacred Harp pdf

Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp
trailer for the PBS documentary on Sacred Harp singing.

Return to site home

Shape Note Singing in Michigan.

Shape Note singing is a method of sight-reading music,
using shapes for the notes,
without having to learn each key signature.

We sing from The Sacred Harp on the
first and third Mondays of each month from 7-9 PM.

Edgewood United Church
469 N. Hagadorn
East Lansing
map


We also sing from The Christmas Harp, The Shenandoah Harmony, & The Missouri Harmony at times.

Questions: admin@fasolamichigan.org

We meet in the fireplace room, outside the sanctuary. The church doors are electronically controlled, so if you come after 8 PM, the doors will be locked—phone 517-775-9831 for access.

The shapes we use the four shape system:

Sacred Harp scale

fa

sol

la

fa

sol

la

mi

Movable shape-note scale, all keys

triangular shape "fa"

oval shape "sol"

rectangular shape "la"

triangular shape "fa"

oval shape "sol"

rectangular shape "La"

diamond shape "mi"

Sound of Music note names
(can be fixed or movable)

do

(c)

re

(d)

mi

(e)

fa

(f)

sol

(g)

la

(a)

ti

(b)


The four-shape system syllables, used by Sacred Harp singers, replace the first three notes of the do re mi syllables with fa sol la, and the mi replaces ti.

"Shape note" singers only learn one scale, which is moveable, whereas classical "round-note" musicians have 15 scales to learn for normal use.

The Sacred Harp has been published continuously since the 1840s. We sing for fun, not performance, so we don't always get it "right," but we mostly do, and even those songs that aren't sung perfectly are still rewarding, as the music and poetry are lovely.

Join Mid-Michigan singers on Facebook!

An example two-part shape note hymn from the American Church Harp (1856):

A Home in Heaven

 

 

This website maintained by Bob Borcherding, for questions or if you notice any errors, please email gapbob -(at)- yahoo.com. Last updated January 16, 2024.