Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings

For the second year running, a reluctant decision was made to cancel our singing due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation. Instead, it was agreed that a memorial lesson should be sent by email to the Fasola Singings List by Rebecca Over on the day of the singing.

The memorial lesson is as follows:

Many singers have thankfully and gratefully seen their singing and personal lives return to almost normal this year. But others, though physically fit and longing to sing, remain shut in their homes, their counties and their countries by ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. We should remember that they are still not able to sing with the singers and the Sacred Harp communities they hold most dear. To these people cards, letters, emails and telephone calls are even more important now than they were this time last year. We need to keep in touch, to reassure them that they are missed and to help them look forward to what surely must be better days to come. There are many others who are sick and unable to attend singings right now. Contacting them and those caring for them to show our love and support is just as important as ever it was. In particular today we think of Virginia Dyer, Barry Rollins, Ed and Margaret Thacker, Leslie Gilmore, Tim Reynolds, Rodney Ivey, and David Jackson. We also hold in our hearts all those supporting and caring for them in difficult times.

For all these our song is 330b. Paine Denson, composer of this tune, attended our singing in the 1930s and 1940s. He served as Chairman in 1937, Vice Chairman in 1941, and often served on the Memorial Committee.

Now we remember those who have passed away during the past year. The longer we sing, the more rich and varied associations we have with some of the songs in our book. In common with a lot of other singers I have notes on many of the pages. Whenever these songs are called or I lead them myself I read my notes and smile as treasured memories come to mind. The note might be that someone invited me to lead the song with them at a particular singing, that another singer and I learned the song together sitting on their porch during a certain summer, or that members of a particular singing family loved and love the soaring treble line of another song. I might have written that someone often leads a song because they like it and it was the first song they learned in singing school. Many notes are “This is a favorite song of” followed by the name of a singer I know well. As the years pass and I buy new books and new editions more of these notes will be copied over using “was” inserted of “is”. Two of these notes mark songs much loved by Coy Ivey. Those who we remember today are Ann Mauldin Chalker, Coy Ivey, Helen Louise Price, Mary Ruth Stifel, Dr William (Bill) Stewart, Ken Sundberg—Alabama; Dr Harry Eskew, David Russell Grant, Charles Mack Langley, Agnes Todd—Georgia; Peter Golden—Maine; Curtis Owen—Texas and Adrian Bolge—England, United Kingdom.

For all these our song is 420. Thomas B. McGraw, composer of this tune, led music at our singing 1913 through 1970. He served as Chairman in 1931, Vice Chairman in 1946, and frequently served as Secretary or member of the Memorial or Arranging Committees. His wife Octavia was a member of the Bishop family, one of the most prominent singing families of the Mount Zion community. This song was named for her parents, both of whom passed away in 1934.

The following prayer to close our lesson comes from Karen Rollins of Bowdon, Georgia, who regularly attends our singing: In the past year, God has called from our midst the beloved brothers and sisters listed above. We will miss them and our singings will be weakened by their loss. We humbly trust and pray that God will console the families of those deceased members and will heal their broken hearts. We have sung in their memory to show our love for them. We also have sung for those who are sick and shut-in. We know that many among us have suffered hardships of illness and isolation during this long period of the pandemic. We ask you, dear heavenly Father, to heal and console those on this list and we thank you for the blessings of prayer, of song and of fellowship. Amen.

Respectfully submitted: Rebecca Over and Charles Woods (Mount Zion Memorial Committee), and Karen Rollins, on behalf of the Officers and Singers of the Mount Zion Memorial Singing.

Chairman—Gary Davis; Elected Secretary—Lela Crowder; Secretary this year—Rebecca Over; Memorial Committee—Charles Woods and Rebecca Over