Background by P. L. Brayfield to accompany a YouTube video:
Sacred Harp singers are among the most enthusiastic and energetic vocalists anywhere! Here they express their joy in singing a favorite shape note song for the Eastern season: William Billings’s 1787 composition [Easter Anthem] also known as ‘The Lord is Risen Indeed.’ Recorded at the Kalamazoo all-day singing, July 20, 2009. NOTE: on the video, the number for Eastern Anthem is mistakenly given as 238. If you start to sing from that page, you will still be singing Eastern Anthem, but you will be two pages ahead of everyone else 😉 The correct page, of course, is 236, as several viewers have reminded me!
The music, spread over four pages:
First page:
Continuation a:
Continuation b:
Conclusion:
April 20, 2014 at 5:31 pm |
We sang William Billings’ “Easter Anthem” today in Knoxville TN, from our own seven-note “New Harp of Columbia”. Managed to get through it without getting afoul of the repeats. We usually skip singing the shapes on Easter Anthem, though
April 20, 2014 at 6:14 pm |
Skipping the shapes is not at all uncommon for some complex songs, including Easter Anthem and Rose of Sharon.
April 20, 2014 at 6:17 pm |
We only skip singing the shapes on Easter Anthem. We don’t sing Rose of Sharon except at Camp DoReMi, where we can get a lot more proficient singers and leaders together to help us. See campdoremi.com