This is so exciting- I will have to spend some time singing through this.

The original tune for the Sanctus (which was the first thing I wrote, BTW) was from an apparently rare Shaker chant titled "Holy Angel."

It is performed on Joel Cohen's (AMAZING) CD of Shaker Music with Boston Camerata, track 14.

I say "apparently rare" because it seems (from what I can gather) that the tune/text were found by Cohen (and/or his researchers) in the Shaker archives. I have several books on Shaker music and some hymnals, and I haven't found any other references to it anywhere.

I really wish the Shakers (and everyone else) would get with the program and digitize their archives.

Also- is that in Finale? If so- could you send it my way?

It is performed on Joel Cohen's (AMAZING) CD of Shaker Music with Boston Camerata, track 14.

Yes, that is where I've heard it! My pastor has that CD and was playing in the office one day; it's a wonderful recording.

Also- is that in Finale? If so- could you send it my way?

No, MuseScore. The program has the option (in the Save As menu) to save as a Finale file, but I don't know how well it works since I don't have finale. I could try, and see if it works.

My motto when trying to write in this style is WWWWD (What Would William Walker Do?).

I've had a chance to sing and play through this.

I LIKE IT

I am by no means an expert on Early American harmonic practice (which is why I haven't done this myself), but it sounds authentic enough to me.

Anyone else who might know care to weigh in?

>>We're auditioning it tonight, Adam.
Would you mind recording it?


Also:
HERE is a Finale file with the Harmonization.
(Melody is doubled, so it looks like SSATB.)
I just entered notes quickly in my existing file- I haven't done any layout clean up yet.

I'm confused- Salieri's original is only two pages.

That makes so much sense...
also, I am disappoint.

My Agnus or my Sanctus?

Agnus, Adam. We don't rehearse in the church, but in a dry room. But if we can manage to make it cohesive, I'll record either tonight or next Wednesday.

Adam, it works quite well and we were about to record it a capella when some vagrant off the street interrupted our rehearsal! Real buzz kill. I figured that the "Hosanna" sections were to be "unleashed" in the forte/tissimo range, with the rest at about mf, given the rise and fall of the lines. Very sweet blend of chant "feel" and the whole Americana vibe.
Heath, your "Taste and See" will be sung Sunday at our choir Mass. Suh-weet. Will try to record Sunday.

It must be the night for homeless people to drop in on choir rehearsals. We had a poor unwashed street guy for a while sitting in the back of the church, talking out loud while we sang, even in our tony colonial suburb.

Even the sparrow finds a home.

========

Mrcopper:

chonak is quite right. The original full setting is here:
http://musicforsunday.com/files/mass-of-the-blessed-fire.pdf

If you would like to compose your own arrangement, please feel free to do so.

Just because it is early American in feel-intent, doesn't mean it shouldn't be crafted by standards applicable then (ie, Mozart thru Brahms).

Actually, Early American (Shape Note, Sacred Harp, Southern Harmony) follows a somewhat different set of "rules" than European Common Practice.

(And, in my opinion, the Europeanization of American hymnody is one of the more regretful things to happen to Protestant music in this country.)

Here is a setting of the Kyrie which I sketched last night. Following the practice of William Billings, when there is a single voice singing the melody, it may be a solo, and whene'er the Full choir sings the tune is in the Tenor. (Shown by the designations "Verse" and "Full".) Contrary octave doublings of Tenor & Treble included per Billings, et al. (These doublings are also sometimes used with Alto and Bass.)

EDIT: Please see updated Kyrie setting, below!

Agnus Dei completed, attached below.

This is wonderful. I'm so thrilled you are doing this!

Mr. Copper, the bar numbering is off from what the bars actually are (since I hid some bar-lines), are you talking about the last "Lord have mercy"?

Believe it or not, I agonized over that measure; I tried changing the voicing of that chord, substituting other chords, etc., and they all left me with the feeling that it sounded more like Mozart/Haydn/Fux than Sacred Harp/Shape Note/Early American, and to be honest, I'm still not 100% happy with it. Does anyone have any suggestions--that won't make it sound like Fux?

I was referring to "Christ", I guess actually visible bar 4, and looking at it again, same in bar 2. In harmony terms, it's ii to I 6/4, (implied V): not only change the root on the third quarter, but I'd suggest after that second big beat, fourth quarter, you go ahead and resolve the F down to an E on the 5th quarter in the alto.

One fix, given that you accept parallel octaves, is to give the bass a dotted half Bb, give the alto stepwise resolution on beat 5 to an E, then carry on as you have it. Beat 10, bass, quarter C might be better too.

Your bar 6 is, as you say, a little unsatisfactory too. I'd use a half note Bb then a B natural on beat 3 in bass, and half note F then quarter G in soprano. But then I'm not composing it, am i?

What Adam said is certainly true, and often fruitful when trying to fix a spot:

focusing on the internal logic of the individual part melodies (so long as no undue dissonances are created) seems to get better results.

I did try an E there in the alto, but then moved it up to the F because the E seemed extremely out of place - I hear this movement in Bb major not F (the key sig. is one flat because that's what Adam had)

I actually agonized about the key sigs quite a bit and was never really satisfied. And I cannot really remember what made me go one way or the other.

Add an E-flat if you think it's a good idea.

Modalism, something something.

Sang the Sanctus with my choir last night.
Easy. Sounds great. Seems idiomatic.

Love it.

I have to admit it's getting better, a little better, all the time.

Consider an invertible counterpoint: soprano, bar 2 and 4: dotted half Bb, half G, quarter Bb, dotted half Bb, dotted half Bb (hitting "-cy" a beat earlier than the other voices. Then, bar 6, the bass can do the same thing two octaves lower. The tenor will thereby, I think, be more clear.

Sacred Harp and Southern Harmony (and other similar traditions) tend to be wholly homophonic in their composition (and heterophonic in their execution), since they are congregational idioms.

Yes, there tends to be two styles: "plain-tune" and "fuguing-tune"; sometimes both styles occur within the same piece - fuguing tunes always begin with a homophonic section, and Anthems often alternate the two - but homophonic sections are strict as far as text underlay is concerned.

Most authentic editions (in "plain-tune" sections/pieces) only print the text under the treble part and under the tenor part, some books have the text printed only under the tenor.

Gospel Acclamations below