Sacred Harp popular with youth choir in Brooklyn

By Daniel J. Kushner

 

BROOKLYN, NY — For young musicians who are called on to perform the works of contemporary composers, utilizing “extended techniques” that one might readily encounter in 20th century compositions is not unusual. Being asked to interpret music inspired by an early 19th-century American style of shape note singing called Sacred Harp is decidedly more uncommon.  

 

But in order to capture the energy of shape note singing in performance, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus singers first had to incorporate Sacred Harp’s distinctive technique into their already established vocal training. Dianne Berkun, the group’s Founder and Artistic Director, explains the process:

Shape note singing is almost by definition sung by amateurs — not trained singers. It is done purely for enjoyment and sense of community and not meant for performance. There is no requirement for perfecting the songs or for making any kind of prescribed sound. Some of the characteristics of this sound result from the fact that an untrained singer, one that is not naturally well developed, will have many byproducts from singing at sustained loud volumes over a range of pitches… So the challenge for our young singers is to work with the parameters they have — volume, register balance and vowel sound resonance — to approximate the vocal quality in a way that’s not overly taxing or fatiguing on their voices.

In working with her singers, Berkun employs Cross-Choral Training™, a program she co-developed with the chorus’s Voice Specialist Jeannette LoVetri in order to effectively prepare young musicians to interpret the greatest number of musical styles without sacrificing vocal health or the quality of vocal production. In the case of shape note singing, Berkun emphasizes good breath support and bright vowel sounds, rather than encouraging her singers to “belt it” or imitate an adult at full volume.