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Photos by Arynne Fannin
Sacred Nine Project: Regret, Repent, Rejoice
The musical mindset of the white antebellum southern non-Catholic
Sunday, October 7, 3:00 PM, Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church
Friday, November 8, 2019, 1:00 PM, Fall Vocal Conference of LA ACDA
You think you know the beloved tune book, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (Southern Harmony, SH), but do you really? This famous collection is where we first see the text of "Amazing Grace" paired with the tune that we know. Equally amazing is that it also contains a song warning that those disloyal to the Catholic Church should be burned at the stake. We first find "What Wondrous Love Is This" in its familiar text-tune combination in Southern Harmony. However, you might exclaim, "What Twisted Texts are these, O My Soul!" when perusing an admonition to young people to avoid spending eternity with "fiery fiends." You may think you read "A Female Convert," at the top of one of the pages; instead, you actually read "The Female CONVICT," a sweet if morbid lullaby sung to a baby by its mother the night before she is to go to the gallows, for having committed, one assumes, a sin of the Scarlet Letter variety.
I sought out this tune book in the Fall of 2017, simply because I wanted to arrange one of the original sources of HOLY MANNA for a worship service. When I started leafing through the virtual facsimile, I was shocked to say the least, not by the attitudes expressed in these "fringe" pieces, but that the sentiments were written in verse and sung. I can hear a preacher hammering these platitudes to a congregation, but these backwards and austere values seemed too raw to be put in verse.
Upon reflection, I saw that there was nothing weird in this at all. Growing up Southern Baptist, hellfire and brimstone was as familiar as butter is to biscuits. Here's the drill, in my experience (and I'm being "flip" to get the point across): we are awful people and should be very ashamed (regret); the cure for the shame is to get saved (repent); then all is well, because you go to heaven when you die (rejoice). Most of the hymns in SH can be categorized as such. Click the navigation links above: “regret,” “repent,” “rejoice” will take you to discussions of the repertoire in each category. “Reshape” offers a background of shape note origins. “Revive” specifically discusses Southern Harmony. “Rethink” is a candid discussion of the racist elements of Southern Harmony, which I hope to the subject of a future project.
This is The Sacred Nine Project inaugural concert: Regret, Repent, Rejoice. It celebrates the beautiful music that comes from William Walker's "The Southern Harmony" (first published in 1835), while indicting some of the music for its shame-based theology
Here is an excerpt from our October 8, 2018 concert. An original take on this beloved hymn.
