Southern Wisconsin All-Day Shape Note Singing

press release: The Madison Sacred Harp Singers will sponsor the Thirty-first Annual Southern Wisconsin All-Day Shape-Note Singing on Saturday, November 11, 2017.  The singing will be held from 10:00 AM - 3:15 PM at Bethany United Methodist Church, 3910 Mineral Point Road, Madison.  There will be a potluck lunch at noon, and people attending from the area are asked to bring a dish to pass or a non-alcoholic beverage. Singers will use The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition, the most popular shape-note tunebook used today. Loaner books will be available.  Any interested person is welcome to attend, either to sing or to listen.

The event is free, but the sponsors will take a collection to help meet expenses. Shape-note, or “fasola,” is an American tradition of participatory choral singing. The music features folk and folk-like melodies harmonized in an unorthodox style. Participants sit in a square formation and face the center, singing a capella in an energetic, uninhibited manner. For more information, call Jim Page at (608) 422-1534 (cell).