Singings

Upcoming singings

The 13th Sydney All-Day Singing will be held on Saturday 18 April 2026

Venue: To be confirmed.

For more information, check back here or keep an eye on the Sydney Shape Note Singers page on Facebook.

The 1th Victorian All-Day Singing will be held in mid-2026

Date: to be confirmed.

Venue: Brunswick Uniting Church Hall, 212 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Victoria

For more information, check back here or keep an eye on the Sacred Harp Melbourne page on Facebook.

The 6th Kyneton All-Day Singing will be held on Saturday 21 November 2026

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

February 7, 2026 0

Australian Convention

The 10th Australian Sacred Harp Convention will be held in New South Wales on the weekend of 22 to 24 January 2027. More details to come.

PAST CONVENTIONS

The 9th Australian Sacred Harp Convention was held in Melbourne over the weekend of 23 – 25 January 2026.

Check out photos on the Melbourne Sacred Harp Facebook page here: Saturday (Day 1) and Sunday (Day 2)

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.

February 7, 2026 0

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