page_title: Sacred Harp
hierarchical_section_title: Sacred Harp
caption_attribution_description: English: The tune "Windham" as it appears in The Sacred Harp, 1911 edition. (The work appears in almost identical form in other editions of the Sacred Harp.)
context_page_description: Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since. Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
  Sacred Harp music is performed a cappella and originated as Protestant music.
context_section_description: Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since.  Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
  Sacred Harp music is performed a cappella (voice only, without instruments) and originated as Protestant music.
caption: Windham (38b) from the Sacred Harp, showing the four-shape notation and the traditional oblong layout
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