Six students and Stephen Miller, Professor of Music, participate in the 120th session of the United Convention of Sacred Harp singers.
Six students and Stephen Miller, Professor of Music, got in a University van at 5 a.m., Saturday, September 13 and drove to Atlanta. This inconveniently early travel indicated their determination to participate in the 120th session of the United Convention of Sacred Harp singers. The trip was made possible by the Center for Teaching and Office of Community Engagement.
Although an annual event, the United Convention this year was unique in that it doubled as the “launch” for the new (2025) edition of the Sacred Harp. This song book was first published in 1844 and most recently, in 1991. Excitement among Sacred Harp singers worldwide ran high for the new edition, and the Sewanee group joined about 700 other singers at the Foundry at Puritan Mill, near downtown Atlanta. The crowd included visitors from as far away as Australia and Germany, and National Public Radio did a special story on the festival.
All of the Sewanee student attendees are involved in MUSC254, a community engaged learning class through the Music Department. The Atlanta experience provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness some of our composer heroes in action and to recognize the worldwide impact of this southern style of music making. Students talked with singers from nearby and as far away as England and Australia, learning how non-southern singer/composers in the Sacred Harp idiom have taken the form to compose their own songs.
