Overview

A compelling account of contemporary Sacred Harp singing, Traveling Home describes how this vibrant musical tradition brings together Americans of widely divergent religious and political beliefs. Named after the most popular of the nineteenth-century shape-note tunebooks--which employed an innovative notation system to teach singers to read music--Sacred Harp singing has been part of rural Southern life for more than 150 years.  In the wake of the folk revival of the 1950s and '60s, this participatory musical tradition attracted new singers from all over America. All-day ""singings"" from The Sacred Harp now take place across the country, creating a diverse and far-flung musical community. Meanwhile, the advent of internet discussion boards and increasing circulation of singer-produced recordings have changed the nature of traditional transmission and sharpened debates about Sacred Harp as an ""authentic"" form of southern musical expression. Blending historical scholarship with wide-ranging fieldwork, Kiri Miller presents an engagingly written study of a musical movement that some have christened ""a quintessential expression of American democracy."" 

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9780252032141

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Reviews

Evocative, nuanced, never reductionistic, Miller's explorations of this vibrant tradition of American hymnody merits attention in Sacred Harp circles and beyond. --Christian Century Miller explains every aspect of the musical practice as both an observer and participant. The book is essential reading for anyone who has ever been stirred by singing the shapes. --Sing Out! [One of the] most penetrating and subtle ethnographic accounts of Sacred Harp singing. I wholeheartedly recommend the book to all interested in traditional music, issues of tradition and revival, diaspora and nostalgia, and religious life in the United States. --Journal of Folklore Research

Evocative, nuanced, never reductionistic, Miller's explorations of this vibrant tradition of American hymnody merits attention in Sacred Harp circles and beyond. -- Christian Century

[One of the] most penetrating and subtle ethnographic accounts of Sacred Harp singing. I wholeheartedly recommend the book to all interested in traditional music, issues of tradition and revival, diaspora and nostalgia, and religious life in the United States. --Journal of Folklore Research Miller explains every aspect of the musical practice as both an observer and participant. The book is essential reading for anyone who has ever been stirred by singing the shapes. --Sing Out! Evocative, nuanced, never reductionistic, Miller's explorations of this vibrant tradition of American hymnody merits attention in Sacred Harp circles and beyond. --Christian Century Traveling Home is an extraordinary intellectual and social achievement. Miller has broken new ground in the study of American religious music. --Journal of the Society for American Music Rich and worthwhile. --The Alabama Review Masterfully written, brimming with wit and interpretive energy, Traveling Home will undoubtedly become the definitive work on Sacred Harp singing. One of the best ethnographies of American vernacular music, Miller's book brilliantly succeeds in mapping the complex and shifting range of meanings that Sacred Harp singing holds for diverse participants and in showing why people are attracted to it. --David Stowe, author of How Sweet the Sound: Music in the Spiritual Lives of Americans Narratively evocative and theoretically sophisticated, Traveling Home depicts Sacred Harp singing traditions in compelling detail and explains how its revival succeeds in embracing seemingly incompatible strains: tradition and innovation, religious and secular participants, oral practice and musical literacy, and folk enthusiasts and musical professionals. Traveling Home is rich in stories that will delight Sacred Harp singers and in ideas that will impress social theorists. An engaging read. --R. Stephen Warner, author of A Church of Our Own: Disestablishment and Diversity in American Religion

Miller explains every aspect of the musical practice as both an observer and participant. The book is essential reading for anyone who has ever been stirred by singing the shapes. -- Sing Out!

[One of the] most penetrating and subtle ethnographic accounts of Sacred Harp singing. I wholeheartedly recommend the book to all interested in traditional music, issues of tradition and revival, diaspora and nostalgia, and religious life in the United States. -- Journal of Folklore Research

Author Information

Kiri Miller is an assistant professor of music at Brown University and the editor of The Chattahoochee Musical Convention, 1852-2002: A Sacred Harp Historical Sourcebook.

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