The Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention is an annual gathering of
shape note
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteh ...
singers. Songs are sung
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
from the ''
Sacred Harp'' tune book. The convention was organized on April 28, 1900, at the Round Top School House, in
Caldwell County, Texas, as the South Union Singing Convention. It is the second oldest continuous Sacred Harp convention in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Several older conventions are no longer extant.
During its history, the Southwest Texas Musical Convention has been held in at least a dozen Texas counties. Originally an annual two or three day convention, the delegates later changed to meet on each fifth weekend of the year. The Convention presently meets on Saturday and Sunday of fifth-Sunday weekends in the spring and fall. The spring session is held at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, at
McMahan, Texas. The fall session is held in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. The current
tunebook in use by the convention is ''The Sacred Harp, Revised Cooper Edition, 2012'', first revised by
W. M. Cooper and others in 1902.
References
*''The Sacred Harp: a Tradition and Its Music'', by Buell E. Cobb
*''White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands'', by George Pullen Jackson
External links
Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention- 2004 online minutes
Texas Sacred Harp Historical pageSelection of songs from 2011 spring session
Sacred Harp
Organizations based in Texas
{{Texas-stub