Download or read book A Companion to the New Harp of Columbia written by Marion J. Hatchett and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The shape-note tradition first flourished in the small towns and rural areas of early America. Church-sponsored "singing schools" taught a form of musical notation in which the notes were assigned different shapes to indicate variations in pitch; this method worked well with congregants who had little knowledge of standard musical notation. Today many enthusiasts carry on the shape-note tradition, and The New Harp of Columbia (recently published in a "restored edition" by the University of Tennessee Press) is one of five shape-note singing-manuals still in use."--Jacket.