Sacred Harp

The Original Sacred Harp is a shape-note hymnal first published in 1844 by Benjamin Franklin White and in print continuously since then, last revised in 1991.

While many of the early tunes were composed in New England, interest had died out in the North when the "new style" of singing swept through about 1800, and had survived principally in the South until recent years.

Over the past decade interest has spread and in addition to local groups singing monthly or weekly, several times per year there are conventions devoted to singing from the Sacred Harp in various locations throughout the United States and Canada.

For more detail, see Warren Steel's Sacred Harp page. Dr. Steel has been singing and studying this music for many years and is a contributor to the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp.

The 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp is available in bookstores or directly from Sacred Harp Publishing Co., 1010 Waddell St., Bremen, GA 30110.