Old Time Hymns

Santee Man Preserves Old-Time Tradition of Southern Gospel Songs

The first time I saw Carroll Lunsford, he smiled grandfatherly at me and said I was most welcome to join the Sacred Harp singing group. A friend had taken me to hear and sing along “if you want to,” she’d told me, and within minutes I was carried away by an other-worldly sound.

Carroll took the tenor side of the four-square form of this singing which dates back a couple of centuries. Think of that chapel scene in “Cold Mountain” where Nicole Kidman joins in singing a haunting little number called “I’m Going Home.”

At my first Sacred Harp singing group, meeting at the time in a church in El Cajon, I took my place in the trebles, or sopranos. On my left side was the tenor side of the four-square; to my right were the altos. Straight ahead were the bass singers. As I sang in that odd counter-point harmony that is a trademark of Sacred Harp, I looked around. Carroll had his hymn book open, but he had his eyes closed, singing by memory every note and word.

I kept returning to the “sings,” as they call them, always reassured by Carroll’s calming presence and confident singing near me.  After I’d sung a couple of times with the group, Carroll looked over at me and asked if I wanted to request a song. I shrugged my shoulders, timid. “I know what you want,” he said, reassuringly. “Number 282.”

It was what everyone calls my song, since they know it’s my favorite: “I’m Going Home,” and I sang strong and loud like a bird, with Carroll crooning in rich tenor melody.

Sacred Harp singing is often called shape-note singing, referring to a different shape to each of the four syllables—fa, so, la, me—in the musical scale. The shapes facilitate music reading for people who are not familiar with the musical scale. After a singing of the shape-notes, the people all sing the song straight through, no practicing until perfect, no choir director stopping to correct someone’s pitch.

 “We like to say that if you can hear someone else next to you singing off-key, then you’re not singing loud enough,” says Carroll.

“The sacred harp is the voice,” Carroll explained.

But unlike the traditional harp whose strings are plucked gently, creating angelic strumming sounds, Sacred Harp singing is loud and strong.

The whole idea is for everyone to sing out as loud as they can.

 “It’s singing therapy,” Carroll said.

Old Time Religion – Retro Hymns Drum Tutorial | AnderKamp Music

Since I started the Horns & Rhythm – Retro Hymns project, I’ve had the idea of doing tutorials for rhythm section players to help them better get the idea of the groove/feel of the arrangements. It’s all good to write out the drum pattern, but MOST musicians are visual and it’s easier when you watch a video of it anyway. Besides that…I think it’s super cool (but I don’t get out of the house much, admittedly). Chirp. Chirp.

With the help of Brent Clifford (from www.theBrentClifford.com ) (leave him alone, his name.com was already taken, it’s not an ego thing) , I’ve shot videos of the drum grooves for all 11 songs in the series.