The day after the All-Cal. The creeping crud has turned into bronchitis, and I can’t sing. All those Sacred Harp tunes going through my head from the last two days? — I’m reduced to playing them on the guitar. Blah.
So I’m amusing myself with trivia. In the photo below from day one of the 2015 All-California Sacred Harp Convention, which singer has been singing shape note music since the 1960s?
Esteban leading 228 Marlborough on day one of the 2015 All-California Convention.
Above: Altos.
Above: Trebles.
Above: Basses.
Above: The hollow square.
Above: Looking across the hollow square to the trebles.
Above: Bringing in the bass section.
Above: Back bench of the basses, with tenors beyond.
Above: Some of the best altos sit on the back bench.
Beverly Coates leading a class of about 150 singers in 448t Consecration.
(The lighting in this room proved a bigger challenge than my crappy little consumer camcorder could handle — so yes, everything looks a little green.)
Two photos from the 2015 Dominic Ciavonne Ziegler Memorial Singing on New Year’s Day, 2015.
Above: The old Felta Schoolhouse in Healdsburg, Calif. The setting of the Felta Schoolhouse reminds me a little of the setting of some of the traditional Southern singings, like Big Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. One of the best singing rooms in northern California.
Above: Marianne leading during the singing.
After the singing, a dozen of us went to Phil and Larry’s new house in Sebastopol for a little more singing. Their new house has an excellent singing room — you could hear every other voice clearly and distinctly. We sang ten or a dozen tunes before we gave out, but it was some of the best singing of the day. Mind you, nothing can replace the big sound of an all-day singing. But, as Susan pointed out, it can be very nice to sing when every singer is really listening to every other singer. We need both kinds of singings.