Grace Mayell

June 30, 2020

American Music History
Daily Reflection #3

Although I am quite interested in the skills, foresight and wisdom held by Lowell Mason,

leader of the “better music movement” and pioneering founder of Public School Music

Education, what stood out to me most about Chapter 5 of the Ferris text as well as additional

articles, recordings and videos was the joy and community experienced through Sacred Harp

singing. I watched the movie ​Cold Mountain​ last year and distinctly held onto the memory of the

songs ​I’m Going Home​ and ​Idumea​. At the time, my husband and I discussed the two songs and

we talked about the raw vibrancy of the voices. On a separate occasion, my in-laws mentioned a

memory of attending a church in a Southern U. S. state where they encountered Sacred Harp

singing (they did not know what it was called) and described it to me as loud, communal, arms

waving and unlike anything they had ever heard before. I have to say, it is nice to have these

loose ends tied up and so thoroughly.

In the video resources, one of the aspects of Sacred Harp singing that stood out to me was

as mentioned earlier, the joy and community the participants so expressively display when

participating in Sacred Harp singing. Although the videos showed mostly older white, male,

Americans, as the videos showed footage closer to present day, there are more minority races as

well as more female and intergenerational representation. Kevin Barrans talked about how

although the text is from a sacred source, participants desire an environment to shed their

political views and simply sing in community. It was also interesting to hear David Warren Steel

share information of the female composers of Sacred Harp works such as Sarah Lancaster.
Jean Ferris. America’s Musical Landscape. (8th edition, 2019). McGraw Hill.