Month: December 2025

Some Shape Note Singing Signage

Signage from the Young People’s Singing, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 30, 2023. Photo by Shawn Taylor
Signage from the Rocky Mountain Convention—Colorado Session, Westminster, Colorado, July 24, 2024. Photo by Shawn Taylor
Signage from the Fasola Omaha Nebraska Singing, Omaha, Nebraska, October 2024. Photo by Shawn Taylor
Signage from the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Convention, Northampton, Massachusetts, March 11, 2024. Photo by Shawn Taylor
Signage from a house singing, Atlanta, Georgia, December 17, 2022. Photo by Shawn Taylor
Signage from a singing school, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 28, 2023. Photo by Shawn Taylor

Ted Mercer’s Marginalia

Beloved Chicago singer, the late Ted Mercer, had a biting sense of humor and lots of opinions, which he shared liberally.

Here are two examples of the many critical “marginalia” he meticulously stamped into his copy of the 1991 Edition.

  • “ONLY WITH ALCOHOL” on page 263, DODDRIDGE
  • “FROM THE AWKWARD MELODEON” on page 169, DARTMOUTH
  • “YIKES” on page 490, MY SHEPHERD GUIDES

These were recently shared by Judy Hauff on Sacred Harp Friends on the occasion of Ted’s birthday. The book is now in the possession of Lisa Grayson. Anyone who ever sat near Ted in a singing remembers these fondly.

Talk about visual transmission of Sacred Harp culture!