A song leader stands in the middle of the square leading the singers first through the notes to the songs and then through the lyrics, a practice emanating from the traditional singing school classes, where singers are taught to sing the notes and then the words. The musical style, however, predates the publication of the book. From the fuguing tunes of William Billings to the popular melodies of Jeremiah Ingalls, religious songs found widespread circulation in hymnbooks such as William Walker's Southern Harmony, which was popular throughout the South in the early nineteenth century. As the singing school tradition declined in New England the new shape-note songsters, such as Kentucky Harmony, Virginia Harmony, Union Harmony, and Southern Harmony gained widespread popularity in the South. It was in this setting that the Sacred Harp made its initial appearance in Georgia in 1844.
T here are three major revisions of the Sacred Harp that enjoy current usage.
The White revision, published in 1911 by J. L.White is now used only in a few isolated areas of north Georgia. The most recent revision, the Denson revision, published in 1935, is by far the most widely used of the Sacred Harp revisions. It is found at most Sacred Harp sings throughout Georgia, in North Alabama, and in parts of Mississippi and Tennessee. It is the Cooper revision of the Sacred Harp, first published in 1902, that is used by both white and black singers in South Alabama. Many of the melodies are adopted from traditional tunes including Celtic jigs and dance tunes.