Sacred Harp Singing - GHM 022-6 - Carroll Co., GA
Posted by: 
Lat34North
N 33° 40.992 W 085° 09.045
16S E 671417 N 3728565
Sacred Harp Singing located at the SE corner of US 27/I-20 interchange at Holly Springs Church north of Bowdon Junction. The marker is set back from the road and can be hard to see.
Waymark Code: WM3RDH
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 05/10/2008
Views: 35
Sacred Harp Singing
When Georgians B.F. White and E.J. King compiled the songbook, The Sacred HArp, in 1844, they were continuing a singing tradition, which would ultimately become identified with the book. Thousands of southerners would be exposed to music through the singing schools taught from the Sacred Harp.
Sacred Harp singing or Fasola singing uses four shapes to identify the notes to be sung and is performed without the assistance of musical instruments. Traditionally the singers solmize or 'sing' the notes, using the syllable 'fa,' 'sol,' 'la,' and 'mi' prior to singing the words. The singers gather at 'singings' and 'conventions' to perform the music. These gatherings are usually great social events and once were often the center of rural community activity, particulalrly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Holly Springs church very early became the site of what was to become one of the most popular of the 29th Century Sacred Harp singings in the country as the tradition spread far beyond the South.
GHM 022-6 Georgia Historic Marker 1980