The 1991 Edition is the more widely used edition of The Sacred Harp in use today, particularly in the north and central regions of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, and among the many Sacred Harp singers outside the South. In the lineage of Sacred Harp editions, it is a descendent of the 1844 tunebook The Sacred Harp by B.F. White and E. J. King, and, more immediately, is a major revision of, and successor to, the Denson Revision of the Original Sacred Harp. To compile the 1991 Edition, a music committee of prominent Sacred Harp singers chaired by Hugh McGraw added 62 songs and deleted 46 rarely sung older songs and anthems. The added songs include late 18th- and early 19th-century classics of New England and Southern origin and new songs by living composers from the South, Northeast, and Midwest. The scores of all 554 songs were entirely retypeset for easier legibility. Sources and dates of tunes and texts were revised to reflect modern scholarship by Professors Warren Steel and William J. Reynolds. There is a new Rudiments section relevant to modern singers by John Garst. This edition has been very enthusiastically received by the Sacred Harp community as well as by hymnologists. The current printing is the eighth or higher. Typographical errors in the initial printings were gradually corrected in subsequent printings. ISBN 0-9727398-0-7. Note new prices effective January 2006: The basic price without shipping is $15.00 per copy; the price including shipping via USPS Media Rate (Fourth Class) Insured to the 48 states is $19.95 per copy for up to five copies. The price of a case of six books is $90 without shipping; the total price including shipping via USPS Media Rate Insured is $103.50 per case. Larger orders should be in multiples of six books. Faster insured shipping by FedEx Ground and FedEx Home is also possible and is similar in cost to USPS for the eastern US. Order from the Sacred Harp Publishing Co., c/o Richard Mauldin, Executive Secretary, P.O. Box 637, Chelsea, AL 35043-0637. Make checks payable to Sacred Harp Publishing Co. Credit cards and Paypal are not accepted. The book is also sold at a higher "retail" price at music stores such as Dale Music Co. of Silver Spring, MD (phone 800-779-6874) and the House of Musical Traditions, Takoma Park, MD (phone 301-270-9090).
Abridged from Shape Note Resource Guide[ Sacred Harp Singing | Warren Steel | Music Dept. | UM Home ]