18th C. Singing School Weekend
Make A Tuneful Noise! Please join us for a weekend of harmony, singing and history. A workshop for absolute beginners and experienced singers alike. Tim Eriksen and Allison Steel will share their contagious love of singing with students as they delve into the Shape-Note style of singing used in The Sacred Harp, a song book first printed in 1844 and still actively in use today. Participants will learn the basic rudiments and explore the cultural and stylistic traditions of Sacred Harp-style singing, uplifted by a community of singers. Specific workshops will explore local 19th-century tune book “The Easy Instructor,” work of local composers, Abolitionist hymns, contemporary composition (write your own tunes), and more!
Guest lecture and workshop by Nym Cooke, leading scholar of 18th-century New England music, on the work of composer Walter Janes.
18th century Hearth Cooking Instructor Becky Hendricks will cook a traditional evening feast for us on the open hearth. We will all have an opportunity to lend a hand in the kitchen feeding this band of hungry singers and to learn about 18th century food-ways.
Simple dinner provided Friday, Simple lunch Saturday and Sunday and hearth-cooked feast Saturday night.
The workshop will begin at 6pm on Friday July 26th.
Duration: 2.5 Days
Dates: Friday 6pm July 26th - 28th 2024
Limited to: 30 Students
Instructors
Tim Eriksen
Acclaimed for transforming American tradition with his startling interpretations of old ballads, love songs, shape-note gospel and dance tunes from New England and Southern Appalachia. He is currently serving as musician in residence at Historic Deerfield and as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College. Known for extensive contributions to films including the Oscar winning “Cold Mountain” and 2023 cult horror phenomenon “The Outwaters,” his current projects include writing songs for Alison Krauss, performing with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and creating new works with pianist Omar Sosa for a follow-up to their twice GRAMMY nominated 2009 collaboration “Across the Divide.”
Allison Steel
Sacred Harp singer and shape-note composer who has been teaching singing schools all over the country and the world for more than 20 years. Worked as an Interpreter of history and music at Old Sturbridge Village.
Nym Cooke
Nym Cooke has been immersed in early American sacred music for fifty years, and in his retirement, he's having a ball finally looking--very closely--at absolutely everything a large number of libraries have of this music, both printed and manuscript. (The first 23 libraries' holdings are inventoried at earlyamericansacredmusic.org.) Nym's anthology American Harmony (Godine, 2017) seeks to fill several needs unaddressed by the other fine shape-note collections currently available. Nym is an experienced choral composer, arranger, and conductor; his chorus Wings of Song recently presented "Rough Seas, Safe Harbor," a program of mostly 19th-century chanteys, hymns, parlor songs, and other sea-related material. Nym's next book will be titled A Joyful Noise: Protestant Sacred Music in New England, 1720-1820