Changes and Chances in a Multipart Singing Community and Its Tradition, before and throughout the Global Isolation

Abstract

The Sacred Harp community was among the groups most affected by pandemic seclusion. Their multipart singing practice is a cultural heritage that includes both oral and written traditions, and creates a strong interaction between people through formalized music codes and behaviours that emerge, develop, and manifest in highly iconic communal spaces. Since global isolation made live singing impossible, this trans-cultural community tried to preserve the continuity of its multipart singing tradition by developing a set of strategies based on virtual singing and online activities. Although the fundamental elements were drastically affected by the isolation, participants represented missing sound environments using all possible means to recreate the spirit and gestation of social singing. After participating as a singer with a local group during fieldwork, I had to reshape my research methods to the pandemic, focusing on aspects of music dissemination that are less evident during physical gatherings.

COVID-19 and Participatory Music-Making

“…Some of these, such as a video made to open the Minnesota State Sacred Harp Singing Convention, were intended to facilitate participation in the context of Zoom singings [51], while others-most notably a series of videos created by the group Dispersed Harmonies-were produced for the enjoyment of participants and posted online [56]. Many of these activities were coordinated using Facebook, which had already served an important role in facilitating communication before the pandemic [58]. While online singing served to sustain the activities of the shape-note community and was valued deeply by many singers, it was not accessible or appealing to everyone.…”