The Southern Musical Convention was the first ''

Sacred Harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music which developed in New England and perpetuated in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a historically important shape notes, shape-note tunebook printed in ...

'' musical convention, organized by B. F. White and others in 1845. It was formed at Huntersville in

Upson County, Georgia Upson County is a county in the West Central region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,700. The county seat is Thomaston. The county was created on December 15, 1824. Upson County comprises the Thomas ...

. From its founding until 1867, White's ''The Sacred Harp'' was the "textbook" of the convention. It was a collection of songs notated by shape notes and featuring four-part harmonies. Shape-note singing had been taught by preachers and missionaries during the second

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, as a way of evangelizing to people on the frontier and in rural areas. They would collect at camp meetings and spend considerable time singing these hymns. The shape notes were an eight-note system used as an easy way to teach people melodies and harmonies for singing sacred music. After 1867, the Convention adopted a policy of using other song books. It gradually had less influence in the history of ''

.'' Under White's leadership, the Southern Musical Convention sponsored three revisions of the ''Sacred Harp'' (1850, 1859, 1869). The 1849-1850 committee consisted of B. F. White, Leonard P. Breedlove, E. L. King, Joel King, R. F. M. Mann, A. Ogletree, S. R. Pennick and J. R. Turner. The second revision committee of the ''Sacred Harp'' in 1858-1859 consisted of B. F. White, R. F. Ball, J. T. Edmunds, A. Ogletree, E. T. Pound, J. P Reese, T. Waller, and A. S. Webster. The Southern Musical Convention selected White, Edmund Dumas, R. F. M. Mann, Absalom Ogletree and Marion Patrick as the committee to revise the ''Sacred Harp'' in 1869–1870. Not only did the convention provide a gathering for vocal musicians, but it also created an authoritative body to approve of teachers for

singing schools A singing school is a school in which students are taught to sightread vocal music. Singing schools are a long-standing cultural institution in the U.S. Southern states, Southern United States. While some singing schools are offered for credit, mo ...

. In January 1852, the Convention authorized a newspaper, ''The Organ,'' which was published at

Hamilton, Georgia Hamilton is a city in, and the county seat of Harris County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,680 at the 2020 census, up from 307 at the 2000 census. Hist ...

the county seat of Harris County. B. F. White was "Superintendent" of the publication. The Southern Musical Convention supplied the pattern for many subsequent Sacred Harp musical organizations. These included the two oldest existing Sacred Harp Conventions: the Chattahoochee Musical Convention and the East Texas Musical Convention.

References

*''The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music'', by Buell E. Cobb, Sacred Harp 1845 in music Festivals established in 1845 Music festivals established in the 19th century {{music-event-stub