Relaxed Sacred Harp singing afternoon in Todmorden
Saturday 28 June 1.30-4.30pm
Natural Endings, Todmorden Hall, Rise Lane OL14 7A
Beginners and experienced singers alike will be warmly welcomed. Though not a full workshop, an introduction to the fundamentals of our singing practice will be given at the beginning.
This will be a fairly informal singing and you are welcome to join for as much or as little of it as you like; feel free to drop in and out as desired. We’ll sing from around 1.30 – 4.30pm, with a break or two, after which we’ll head for a drink at one of the local pubs, which everyone is welcome to join us for.
We’ll be singing from the 1991 edition of The Sacred Harp – loaner books will be available.
Location
The venue for this singing will be the beautiful hall of Natural Endings Funeral Directors on Rise Lane. A converted post office depot, this unique space is now a lovely, light-filled place of peace and community, used to host funeral services and cultural events.
It’s just next to Todmorden train station (1 min walk). Todmorden is in the Upper Calder Valley, a pretty market town set in stunning walking country. It’s just 20-25 minutes on the train from Manchester Victoria station or 50 minutes from Leeds.
It’s also easy to get to on major road networks (about 1 hour from Manchester, 1h20 from Leeds, 1h40 from Sheffield).
The venue is in the centre of a small but vibrant town. Parking spots are at a premium on Saturdays and the venue itself doesn’t have a car park as such, so please allow extra time for parking. There are a few on-street parking spots outside Natural Endings, and some parking spaces around the corner opposite the train station and also a couple of pay and display car parks in town only a few minutes’ walk away. Let us know if you need more information.
Access
The building itself is accessible for wheelchair users and the toilet is accessible.
Todmorden is full of old stone buildings and winding streets, so is difficult to navigate by wheelchair – some roads (including Rise Lane itself) are rather steep for wheelchair use, dropped pavements can be hit & miss and many cafes and shops are not wheelchair accessible. However, it’s not impossible to get around, it just needs a bit of planning – so if you need advice just let us know.
Blue Badge parking is limited – if you need an accessible space please let us know and we’ll liaise with you directly about this. We can also help if you need to drop someone off whilst you go and park.
Food & Drink
There’s no dinner on the grounds, it’s just a relaxed afternoon singing.
Eat before you arrive, or feel free to bring a packed lunch/snacks for the break.
There is a little kitchen area set in a corner of the large singing room. It’s too small to make drinks for everyone in a short interval, so wherever possible, please bring your own flask of tea/coffee or bottle of soft drink and use the kitchen during the singing to top up.
New to Sacred Harp?
Sacred Harp is a shape note singing tradition that originated in America in the late 1800s, drawing on the hymns and folk tunes of the time. It is sung in four part harmony, with no instruments accompanying the singers.
Sacred Harp is accessible, communal and participatory, not performative. So there’s no ‘choir practice’ – you just turn up and sing.
We sing from a book of hymns called The Sacred Harp. People from all faiths and none are welcome: our focus is purely on the camaraderie of making music together.
Manchester Sacred Harp is a friendly group who get together for the love of singing. We’re a small group – numbers fluctuate each time, depending on who can make it (there’s no expectation to always attend). It’s not a fixed group – it’s open to anybody, so you’re welcome to just come along and try it.
There is a mixture of abilities, and the voices of the most experienced singers help you to follow the tune. You won’t be asked to sing alone, and there’s no audience. It’s all about power of many voices joined in harmony.
Participants sit in an open square, the singers in each of the four sections facing towards each other. Each section sings a different part of the harmony.
First of all, everyone sounds out the tune together using just the four shape notes (fa, so, la, mi). Then we sing it through with the words using the Sacred Harp tune book. Shapenotes were designed to make it easier to follow a tune for people who don’t read music. But there’s no real need to follow the notes – you simply need to listen and join in – you’ll pick it up as you go along.
Go to FAQs for more information, and our page What is Sacred Harp? gives more background on the tradition.
Alternatively this lovely short video gives a useful explanation of Sacred Harp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVYYoxSYqIk
Any questions?
Manchester Sacred Harp 