Lowcountry Sacred Harp

Here in Charleston, SC, we sing shape note music from The Sacred Harp, edition 2025, and from The Shenandoah Harmony from 2 until 4 pm each month on the Saturday before the fourth Sunday.  Beginners and visitors are always welcome!  We have extra songbooks for loan.  The calendar shows specific dates and times for the 2025 - 2026 season.  Minutes of nearly all singings since the summer of 2016 are posted.

The Circular Congregational Church graciously continues hosting us each month , providing the lovely "Wingard Room" and courtyard as weather permits.

The Wingard Room is on the second floor of the new wing of Lance Hall at the historic Circular Congregational Church, located at 150 Meeting Street in Charleston.  Lance Hall is the two-story building in the southeastern corner of the churchyard. The Wingard Room is accessed from within the courtyard.  Walk up the exterior stairs or ride the elevator, then walk down the cloister.  Seeing us through the glass walls, you can't miss us.

For a fee, parking is available at the city garage or in the bank parking lot just west of the churchyard.  Enter either lot from Cumberland Street. Note for the city garage:  take the ticket with you.  When you return to the garage, pay for the parking using a credit card in one of the kiosks on the first floor of the garage.

All Day Singing

Now in 2026 is our 14ᵗʰ annual all day singing which will be in the Upper Lance Hall of the Circular Congregational Church.   The book is the green 2025 edition of the Sacred Harp.  On Saturday 23 May 2026, our schedule will be conventional:

Morning
9:30 beginner's lesson by Prof. (of mathematics) Thomas A. Ivey (who is equally adept at the theory and practice of the solfege and of mathematics)
10:00 Morning Session with a short break for beverages and such around 11:00
12:00 Dinner on the Grounds ("DOG") right there in the large Upper Lance Hall with the hollow square
Afternoon
1:00 Afternoon Session with a short break around 2:00
3:00 Final announcements, final tune, and benediction

Detailed directions and description of accommodations for the ambulantly challenged are in this linked page.

Saturday 23 May is the second day of seventeen of the Spoleto Festival USA and of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival .  The city of Charleston will be full with the arts of all varieties:  high and low, complex and simple.

A full 8.5x11" flier is available below as a pdf document.  Also below is a pdf document which can be cut into thirds for giving as handouts.

Previous Annual All-Day Singings

We thank the clergy and staff of Saint Philip's for opening their doors to us to allow our voices to ring in the beautiful space.  I especially thank organist and choir master Chris Walchesky for staying with us the entire day.

For some photographs from this singing in May 2025, follow this link to Google Photos.

For some more photographs from our 2023 annual singing at Saint Philip's Church, follow this link.

For some photographs from our 2018 singing at the John Wesley United Methodist Church, follow this link.

For more information:

You may contact me, Stephen, by email to ss_jones "at" bellsouth "dot" net or to ssj29403 "at" gmail "dot" com.

Also see us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1131342130242092/

For more shape note singing within driving distance, consider the Savannah Sacred Harp Singers who meet at the Whitefield Center, 106 East 37th Street, Savannah, Georgia, from 1 to 3 pm on the Saturday before the second Sunday of each month..

In North Carolina, our friends in the "triangle" sing in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill monthly.

Resources:

Much more information about The Sacred Harp and shape note singing in general is available at the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association.

Older but still valid information about the Lowcountry Sacred Harp is at Tom's site:  http://iveyt.people.cofc.edu/Shapenote/default.html