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Australian Convention

The 9th Australian Sacred Harp Convention will be held in Victoria on the weekend of 23 to 25 January 2026.

Friday January 23rd:

Evening social: Cultural Walking Tour and Dinner in Melbourne – BOOKING ESSENTIAL
4:45pm: meet for Birrarung Wilam (River Camp) Walking Tour with the Koori Heritage Centre.
6:15pm: Dinner at Riverland Bar.

Check the Discussion tab on the Facebook event post here for more details on how to RSVP.

Saturday January 24th:

Sacred Harp (2025 edition) singing all day
Brunswick Uniting Church Community Hall (212-214 Sydney Road, Brunswick)
9:00am registration
9:30am singing school
10am-4pm singing (lunch at 12:30).
Social event at a nearby venue to follow.

Sunday January 25th:

Sacred Harp (2025 edition) singing from 12.30pm
Brunswick Uniting Church Community Hall
Morning free for church, sleep-ins, gallery visits
12 noon relaxed shared “leftovers” lunch.
12:30pm-4pm, more singing!

Monday January 26th:

Alternate “Black and Tan” book singing
Brunswick Uniting Church Community Hall (212-214 Sydney Road, Brunswick). Timing to be confirmed.
Christian Harmony in the first session. Shenandoah Harmony in the second session.

PAST CONVENTIONS

The 8th Australian Sacred Harp Convention was held in Sydney over the weekend of 25 – 27 January 2025.

Check out photos from a wonderful weekend of singing (including a walking/singing tour of Sydney) on the Sydney Shape Note Singers Facebook page here and here.

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What’s this all about?

In this April 2025 episode of Heart and Soul (BBC Sounds) Sacred Harp pioneer and former punk frontman, Tim Eriksen, explores the resurgence of shape note singing and how it is managing to remain inclusive despite increasing political polarisation in the wider culture.

Kevin Barrans, a singer from Washington State in the US, provides an excellent overview of Sacred Harp Singing in this video from Seattle’s Art Zone.

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Upcoming singings

The annual Sydney All-Day Singing will be held on Saturday 20 September 2025

Booler Community Centre, 25-27 Lambert Street, Camperdown, New South Wales

For more information, check the event listing on Sydney Shape Note Singers on Facebook

This will likely be the last All-Day Singing from the 1991 Denson edition!

The 5th Kyneton All-Day Singing will be held on Saturday 29 November 2025

Red Brick Hall, 23 Yaldwyn Street, Kyneton, Victoria

For more information, see the Kyneton page, the Sacred Harp Melbourne Facebook page, or email Lauren at kynetonsacredharp [at] gmail.com

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Quote Note

The rich multicultural history of Protestant music, which absorbed in the folk styles of each region that was converted, is reflected in the repertory of the Sacred Harpers. There is the influence of John Calvin and the 1539 Genevan Psaltery and of the brilliant Scots psalmodists later in the sixteenth century, where unison and heterophony were fostered; of the musical reformers of the Anglican service; of the radical Methodists, like John and Charles Wesley, who brought many British folk and popular tunes into the hymnals by setting religious words to them; and, all-pervasive, of the Baptists, who led the way in the popular religious revivals in Britain and America and thus introduced many folk tunes and much folksy singing into the church.

From White Spirituals from the Sacred Harp, by Alan Lomax

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Quote note

“At a point, in the peaking rush of all that harmony, with so many bold, rushing voices around me, it seemed that not just we, but the song itself began to sing! It seemed to just catch fire and burn across us.” — Buell Cobb, Like Cords Around My Heart

The hollow square

The hollow square ready to welcome singers at the Dickson Street Space. By Meg Quinlisk (Sydney Shapenote Singers).
The hollow square ready to welcome singers at the Dickson Street Space. By Meg Quinlisk (Sydney Shapenote Singers).

Quote note

“Nothing is weirder than Sacred Harp. Its favored subject matter–the pilgrim, the grave, Christ’s blood–is stark; its style–severe fourths and otherworldly open fifths–has been obsolete for more than a century. Its notation, in which triangles, circles and squares indicate pitch, looks like cuneiform. Yet it exudes power and integrity. Five people sound like a choir; a dozen like a hundred.” — David Van Biema, Give Me That Old-Time Singing, Time Magazine 2008

Quote note

“My music teacher offered twittering madrigals and something about how, in Italy, in Italy, the oranges hang on the tree. He treated me – the humiliation of it – as a soprano.

These, by contrast, are the six elements of a Sacred Harp alto: rage, darkness, motherhood, earth, malice, and sex. Once you feel it, you can always do it. You know where to go for it, though it will cost you.”
― Mary Rose O’Reilley, The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

Welcome to the Australian Sacred Harp community

Hello!

We’re excitedly working towards this becoming a portal for information about singing Sacred Harp and other sources of shape note music in Australia.

If you are coordinating singings in Australia and would like to include your information, or  if you would like more information please contact Ruby Foster.

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