Editing Southern Harmony

{{Short description|Shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker}}
{{for|the composition by William Duckworth|Southern Harmony (Duckworth)}}
{{for|the Black Crowes album|The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Southern_Harmony_and_Musical_Companion.jpg|right|thumb|Front cover of ''The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion'' tunebook compiled by William Walker.]]

The '''''Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion''''' is a [[shape note]] hymn and tune book compiled by [[William Walker (composer)|William Walker]], first published in 1835. The book is notable for having originated or popularized several hymn tunes found in modern [[hymnal]]s and shape note collections like ''[[The Sacred Harp]]''.

== The music and its notation ==
{{See also|shape note}}[[File:New Britain Southern Harmony Amazing Grace.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Original long hymnal with shape note music notation of a tune titled "New Britain" set to Newton's first verse, with four subsequent verses printed below. Underneath is another hymn titled "Cookham".|An 1847 publication of ''Southern Harmony'', showing the title "New Britain" ("[[Amazing Grace]]") and [[shape note]] music. {{audio|New Britain Southern Harmony Amazing Grace.mid|Play}}]]

The roots of ''Southern Harmony'' singing, like the [[Sacred Harp]], are found in the American colonial era, when [[singing school]]s convened to provide instruction in choral singing, especially for use in [[church service]]s. This practice remained popular with [[Baptist]]s in the [[Southern United States|South]] long after it fell from use in other regions.

In 1801, a book called ''[[The Easy Instructor]]''{{Efn |''The Easy Instructor, Part II'' (1803) attributes the invention of shape notes to 'J. Conly of Philadelphia'.}} by William Smith and William Little was published for the use of this movement; its distinguishing feature was [[Shape note|the use of four separate shapes]] that indicated the notes according to the rules of [[solfege]].  A triangle indicated ''fa'', a circle ''sol'', a square ''la'' and a diamond, ''mi.''  To avoid proliferating shapes excessively, each shape (and its associated syllable) except for ''mi'' was assigned to two notes of the musical scale.  A major scale in the system would be noted ''Fa – Sol – La – Fa – Sol – La – Mi – Fa'', and a minor scale would be ''La – Mi – Fa – Sol – La – Fa – Sol – La.''

== History ==
''The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion'' was compiled by William "Singin' Billy" Walker and printed in 1835, with subsequent editions printed in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]]. It contained 335 songs, went through several editions, and became one of the most popular southern tunebooks in the 19th century. In 1867 Walker claimed over 600,000 copies had been sold. Walker added an appendix of additional tunes in 1840 with a further enlargement in 1847. An 1854 revision deleted several tunes and added still more.  The present edition is a facsimile reprint of the 1854 edition.

In 1866, Walker published a tunebook entitled ''[[The Christian Harmony]]'', in which he changed from four shape to seven shape notation. He incorporated over half of the contents of ''The Southern Harmony'' in the ''Christian Harmony.''  Walker died on September 30, 1887.

The ''Southern Harmony'' has remained unchanged since 1854, unlike its counterpart the ''[[Sacred Harp]]'', which went through several revisions in the 20th century. About 75% of the songs are presented in three-part harmony.

Besides Walker, notable contributors to ''Southern Harmony'' included [[Matilda T. Durham]] and [[John Gill Landrum]].<ref name="SteelHulan2010">{{cite book|author1=David Warren Steel|author2=Richard H. Hulan|title=The Makers of the Sacred Harp|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xt_h13E3k60C&pg=PA114|year=2010|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-07760-9|pages=114–}}</ref>

==Related==
The American composer [[William Duckworth (composer)|William Duckworth]] used some of the songs in the Southern Harmony as a starting point for his own minimalist choral arrangements of the [[Southern Harmony (Duckworth)|same name]].

Composer [[Donald Grantham]] also composed a four-movement piece for [[wind ensemble]] based on the anthology, entitled ''Southern Harmony''.

[[The Black Crowes]] named their second album ''[[The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion]]'' after this song anthology.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Citation | title = Big Singing Day in Benton, Kentucky: A Study of the History, Ethnic Identity and Musical Style of Southern Harmony Singers | first = Deborah Carlton | last = Loftis | type = Ph.D. dissertation | publisher = University of Kentucky | year = 1987}}.
* {{Citation | title = Spiritual Folk-songs of Early America | first = George Pullen | last = Jackson}}.
* {{Citation | title = White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands | first = George Pullen | last = Jackson | year = 1932 | author-mask = 3}}.
* {{Citation | title = The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion | first = William | last = Walker | date = 29 September 1993 | publisher = University Press of Kentucky | isbn = 0-8131-1859-X}}.

See also the bibliographic entries under [[Shape note]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* {{Citation | url = http://christopherjhoh.com/HohMadeMusic/showcomp.php?compid=134 | title = A Few Plain Hints: William Walker's Words for Singers | type = choral piece | last = Hoh | first = Christopher}}.
* {{Citation | url = https://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony.html | title = The Southern Harmony | edition = online | publisher = The Christian Classics Ethereal Library}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1232 | title = The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion | publisher = Kentucky press}}.
* {{IMSLP|work=The Southern Harmony (Walker, William)}}
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[[Category:Shape note]]
[[Category:Hymnals]]
[[Category:Christian music media]]
[[Category:1835 in music]]
[[Category:1835 in Christianity]]
[[Category:1835 books]]