San Diego area – Now shall my inward joys arise

For the convenience of out-of-town singers attending the Jolly Memorial all-day singings, the time of the regular fourth Sunday local singing in San Diego was moved to the morning.

I arrived in the Oldtown neighborhood of San Diego at 9:30, half an hour before the singing was to start. There weren’t yet many tourists, and I wandered around the State Park for a few minutes before heading over the Adobe Chapel at ten of ten. A couple of the San Diego singers were already there, and greeted me cheerfully. Jerry and Carla Schreiber, clearly the central figures of San Diego local singings, showed up soon afterwards.

We waited for a good twenty minutes for someone from the Save Our Heritage Organization (the building’s owner) to come open the chapel for us; Jerry called two or three times to find out when they could send someone over. At last, we decided to start signing outdoors, and had just started singing the notes of Windham when the person with the key arrived an opened up the building.

Jolly Memorial all-day singing

The Jolly Memorial All-day Singing is held in a building in Old Poway Park in Poway, California, and sponsored by San Diego area Sacred Harp singers. There were more than 40 singers who came at some time during the day, but the most I counted at any one time was 36. I was told that it was a lighter turnout than usual. There were three of us down from the San Francisco Bay area, and several from Los Angeles, but I believe all those who came were from California. At the end of the day, the secretary of the singing told us that 28 people led a total of 70 songs; most of those who led songs led three songs.

Although there wasn’t a large number of people, the singing was loud, accurate, and joyful. It seemed to me that a few strong voices pretty much carried each section, with the rest of us filling out the sound. The resonance of the space also helped; with a wood floor and ceiling, the sound was mellow and lively.

As with any singing, there were some minor local peculiarities. The singing did not open with “Holy Manna,” nor did it close with “Parting Hand” (the closing song was “Christian’s Farewell,” which I have heard used to close local singing sessions). One person pitched all the songs (with the exception of two or three people who pitched their own songs), and occasionally she used a tuning fork as she was deciding what pitch to give. No collection was taken, since there was no charge for using the building — typically the biggest single cost for an all-day singing — and the chairman of the singing paid for whatever other minor incidental expenses arose. There were two business sessions, one at the beginning of the day to formally elect the officers (who were already carrying out their duties), and one at the end of the day for resolutions, etc.