"I've learn'd to sing a glad new song": singing sacred harp with the Ottawa shape note chorus

Aalders, Julie (2011) "I've learn'd to sing a glad new song": singing sacred harp with the Ottawa shape note chorus. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis explores how Sacred Harp - a choral tradition of the Southern United States with deep rural and religious roots - is expressed within the urban, Northern, and secular context of The Ottawa Shape Note Chorus. Through an examination of the social and musical practices of the Ottawa group, this thesis will demonstrate the extent to which these regional and religious contextual differences are bridged by the overarching communal and personal meanings that singers draw from practicing Sacred Harp. In examining how the Ottawa group's interaction with the tradition creates a communal expression of sacred song, this thesis will explore how the Northern revival of Sacred Harp relates both to the breakdown of the traditional community within, and the secularization of postmodern society. Doing so will illuminate the contextual flexibility of Sacred Harp and the use of folk revivalism as a means of restoring engagement with community and with the sacred.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
URI: http://research.library.mun.ca/id/eprint/9813
Item ID: 9813
Additional Information: Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-153)
Department(s): Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of > Folklore
Date: 2011
Date Type: Submission
Library of Congress Subject Heading: Shape-note singing--Ontario--Ottawa; Choral music--Ontario--Ottawa; Sacred vocal music--Ontario--Ottawa; Folk music--Ontario--Ottawa.

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