New Jordan

[Robert Vaughn]

I have a question about the tune NEW JORDAN from The Easy Instructor (442 in the 1991 edition and also found at the following links).

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/ssb/display.cfm?TitleID=610&Format=jpg&PageNum=301

http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/398.jpg

 

I've always thought the tune seemed a little "weird" -- not in a musically bad way, I like it; but that something seems or feels different about it from the average minor tunes in The Sacred Harp. I can't really put my finger on it, and maybe it is just my imagination. Is there anything about the way it is put together that stands out as different and gives it a little different sound?

 

Thanks.

 

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

[Mark Wingate]

Would that more were weird in that way!

My musical group had been singing it off and on with just two parts.  When we added a third voice, the tune of the verse struck her as very "arbitrary" and it took a while for it to hang together for her.  I think that's evidence that it is something of a different species.

It has a lusty energy, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it had a secular life before it settled down between the oblong covers.

Mark Wingate

Nashville

www.kindlingstone.com

[ipse]

Greetings,

This tune is written as minor, without accidentals in any of the parts.
The range of the melody is unusual, an octave and a fifth. This could
be construed as the final on the octave, or the melody wandering an
octave below the tonic. The melody can be solmized on sol, re or la.
The first two seem to me more likely:

S L Tb D R Mb F s l tb d r
R M F S L Tb D r m f s l
or
s l tb d r mb f  s' l' t'b d' r'
r m f s l tb d  r' m' f' s' l'

"b" following mi or ti indicates a flat.
It will be "noted" that mi and ti here represent the semitones
(half-steps). This has been discussed before. Some recent usage
favors fa over ti in this regard. "mi-ti", however, is much older,
and in my opinion is better suited to modal analysis.

I follow Sharp and Jackson (and Horn, to some degree) in
thinking that hexatonic and heptatonic melodies will favor
one of the several pentatonic scales they may contain. Which
is determined by examining the relative prominence of the
prospective semitones.

Since a semitone occupies the sixth in both the sol and re scales,
the debate is between the third and second degrees, respectively.
The third is quite active in the present example, which might be
seen (heard) to favor the re scale. However, closer examination
of the melody reveals the occurrence of pentatonic motifs
characteristic of the sol scale, to wit:
measures 9-10:  la FA sol
measure 13:  quite tellingly, the pentatonic triad on the minor seventh:
do la FA
again in measure 20: la sol FA RE
measures 26-27: and again, here the final cadence:
RE FA sol la sol

For this reason, I favor a construction on sol.
This brings up another point: it is my observation that
traditional melodies favor mi-natural and ti-flat. In the
present case, that would tempt one to raise the sixth.
The single instance of an a in measure 13 parallels d and f
(the notes, not intervals) in the neighboring staves, forming
a diminished triad, which suggests raising the its fifth
(the sixth in melodic context) to form a minor triad.

Best wishes,

David Jensen

On 9/2/2012 12:29 PM, Robert Vaughn wrote:

I have a question about the tune NEW JORDAN from The Easy Instructor (442 in the 1991 edition and also found at the following links).

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/ssb/display.cfm?TitleID=610&Format=jpg&PageNum=301

http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/398.jpg

I've always thought the tune seemed a little "weird" -- not in a musically bad way, I like it; but that something seems or feels different about it from the average minor tunes in The Sacred Harp. I can't really put my finger on it, and maybe it is just my imagination. Is there anything about the way it is put together that stands out as different and gives it a little different sound?

[Wade Kotter]

Robert:

Robert:

I've also sensed something different about this very interesting tune but have never put a finger on it, although I haven't looked at the structure in any detail. I'm interested to see what others have to say. Too bad we can't id the composer with certainty. We might then be able to compare it to other tunes by the same composer. Interestingly, Davisson attributed NEW JORDAN to "Shumway" (ie, Nehemiah Shumway) in "A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony." That's presumably where Hauser got his attribution for the "Hesperian Harp" version that you gave the link to. You can see Robert Stoddard's transcription of Davission's version here:

http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/051%20New%20Jordan.pdf

Robert chose to change the tune attribution from "Shumway" as Davisson had it to "The Easy Instructor, 1815," which is perfectly understandable since the 1815 "Easy Instructor" printing is unattributed. But Warren mentions in "The Makers..." that Nehemiah Shumway is known to have contributed tunes to "The Easy Instructor," which suggests that Davisson's attribution might be correct. If the tune is by Shumway, it might be interesting to compare NEW JORDAN to tunes we know are by Shumway to see if we can find any sort of pattern. One tune we might look at is LAMBERTON in the "Hesperian Harp:"

http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/253.jpg

Even though SCHENECTADY (192) and BALLSTOWN (217) are in major, looking are them might be instructive as well. Of course, comparing Shumway's tunes to NEW JORDAN might become a wild goose chase, but even wild goose chases can be fun (and instructive). Finally, I think it's Matt Bell who has professed a strong liking for Shumway's compositions. Perhaps he'll chime in.

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT

---

From: Robert Vaughn <rl_v...@yahoo.com>
To: Fasola discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 2, 2012 1:29 PM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] New Jordan

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[Wade Kotter]

Thanks, Nick. I agree that it's unlikely that Shumway wrote the tune; I said it might be a wild goose chase.:-)  You're explanation of it's "weirdness" makes sense to me. Have you found any other settings predating the 1815 Easy Instructor?

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Nikos Pappas <nikos.a...@gmail.com>
To: wadek...@yahoo.com
Cc: "rl_v...@yahoo.com" <rl_v...@yahoo.com>; Fasola discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] New Jordan

Tom Malone and I had an online conversation about this tune a couple of years ago.  I thought these excerpts might be of interest for the group.  Actually, the earliest setting that I've come across predates the Easy Instructor setting by almost 10 years!  It's found in:

Phiney, Elihu and Joseph Williams. “Joseph Williams’s Book. This Book in Cooperstown was bought| And for it, I a long time sought| I bought it of Elihu Phiney| And gave for it a half a Guinea. Dec. 1. 1806.” Cooperstown, N.Y., 1806. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA.

This source is a large manuscript, about 185 pages, and is well worth looking at.  It also reveals the importance manuscripts can serve for providing a fuller picture of a tune's history and transformation.  It also reveals what tunes were popular around Cooperstown, NY at a time when very few sources (besides Nathaniel Billings' tunebooks) are known to emanate from this part of the state.  It is unlikely that Nehemiah Shumway composed the tune for a number of reasons. 

Williams bought the manuscript off of Elihu Phin(n)ey, a musician and printer in Cooperstown, NY.  Phin(n)ey had lived in Cooperstown since at least the last decade of the 18th century, as he printed H. Fransworth's An Oration on Music. Delivered at the Court-house in Cooperstown, in Otsego; April, 1794: at the Conclusion of a Singing School, Taught by Nathaniel Billings in 1795 (Evans number 28650).  This is the only known connection between the two individuals that I know of.  Perhaps with some digging, some info. might resurface.  Phinney also printed, presumably with his brother, two editions of the popular, The Gamut, or Scale of Music in Otsego ca. 1810-12.  These are listed in the American Sacred Music Imprints 1698-1810, Items 215 and 216.

Judging by the quality of Phin(n)ey's hand in the manuscript, he was quite competent at writing music and must have been at least some form of musician.  Because the manuscript was sold to Williams in 1806, all tunes date from no later than 1806, given the single hand found throughout the book.  Although not credited to him, Phinney could've possibly been its composer.  Two instances of dates occur at the beginning and end of the manuscript: one is appended to CONCORD with the date 1806 on p. 23, and FUNERAL ANTHEM dated "Jany. 1807" on one of the final pages, p. 181.  That would mean that the manuscript would probably date no later than January of 1807. 

I had thought about the fact that Williams might have acted as a copyist.  It's also possible that Williams paid Phiney to copy the book with the purchase or contract occurring in December and the contractual arrangement completed the following month.  The chances seem slim to find another sample of Williams' or Phiney's handwriting.  I was leaning towards Phiney acting as the agent for copying simply because Phiney worked as a printer and it would seem strange to sell a blank music book with hand-drawn staves, as opposed to the more common blank printed manuscript pages that occur at the back of gamut publications, of which Phiney himself published at least two examples.  Acquiring a music type font is one thing - blank staves are another.  But of course this is speculation.  Whether by Williams or Phiney, the manuscript was completed apparently in a month's time.  Significantly, no tunes by Shumway appear in this manuscript, it being mostly Connecticut tunes and a few New York tunes like SARDINIA. 

The setting, in the homophonic passages maintains an almost identical setting as found in later publications, including the red book edition of the Sacred Harp.  However, as you'll see, the fuging passages differ quite a bit - what becomes an antiphonal response to the treble line (Sweet fields arrayed in living green) after the initial fuging passage, is instead another fuging passage with the alto entering in the middle of the treble's declamation.  The pedal tone textual overlap in the bass is also held longer in the manuscript source, reinforcing its role not just of providing a pedal bass to underlay the treble line, but rather to reinforce the new fuging procedure beginning with this treble line in the manuscript.

In regards to its weirdness, I think there is another explanation for it too.  It is not a hexatonic or heptatonic tune; it uses all seven notes of the natural minor scale.  In contrast, I would say that the reason for its weirdness is the fact that it ignores the fifth scale degree almost entirely.  With the exception of the initial note, none of the other instances really stress a V or dominant chord other than near the end of the fuging section (m. 20).  Thus, it does not function in the way that popular music from that time period generally does, centering on the tonic (I), dominant (V), and subdominant (IV) chords.  Billings and other composers of his ilk almost always provided a V-I cadence at some point in a piece.  This tune does not.  Even that initial fifth scale degree melodic note is placed with a tonic sonority.  Instead, the melody places much greater emphasis on the seventh scale degree with two phrases coming to rest on this note in the melody (phrase one in m. 5, the penultimate phrase in m. 25).  The first time it spells out an open E chord, the second an open B chord.  This tonal ambiguity does not give the listener a sense of harmonic arrival at any point other than the conclusion of each of the two basic sections on the tonic.  This result is the weirdness I think Bob alluded to in his post.

For what it's worth.

Nikos Pappas, Tscls, AL

[Warren Steel]

At 04:48 PM 9/14/2012, Mark Wingate wrote:
>It has a lusty energy, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it had a
>secular life before it settled down between the oblong covers.

Oddly enough, it did have a secular life, or afterlife,
in Joseph Anthony, The Western Minstrel (1831), where the
words are a paean to Washington by Robert Stevenson Coffin
(1797-1827). See http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/texts/NewJordan.txt
Coffin, who in his brief life was beset by many obstacles, gave
credit to one Quaker benefactor, adding that "if the principles
of Friends prevailed in their purity over the civilized world,
men might call themselves christians with a great deal more
truth than they at present do: hereafter, I will grasp the
hand of the Jew, of the Mahometan, and the Hindo--they are my
brothers." If you really like NEW JORDAN, sing it to these
four stanzas with "lusty energy"....

When freedom midst the battle storm
Her weary hand reclined:
And round her fair majestic form,
Oppression fain had twined;
Amidst the din--behind the cloud,
Great Washington appeared;
With daring hand, rolled back the shroud,
And thus the sufferer cheered.

Spurn, spurn despair!--Be great, be free!
With giant strength arise;
Stretch, stretch thy pinions, Liberty,
Thy flag plant in the skies!
Clothe, clothe thyself in glory's robe,
Let stars they banners gem;
Rule, rule the sea--possess the globe--
Wear victory's diadem.

Go tell the world, a world is born,
Another orb gives light;
Another sun illumes the morn,
Another star the night;
Be just, be brave!--and let thy name
Henceforth Columbia be;
Wear, wear the oaken wreath of fame,
The wreath of Liberty!

He said, and lo! the stars of night
Forth to her banner flew;
And morn, with pencil dipt in light,
Her blushes on it drew.
Columbia's chieftain seized the prize,
(All gloriously unfurled,)
Flew with it to his native skies,
And waved it o'er the world.





--
Warren Steel mu...@olemiss.edu
Professor of Music University of Mississippi
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/

[Nikos Pappas]

[Thomas Malone]

Hello all -

I want to chime in and say that Nikos' discovery of this manuscript source from almost ten years before the Easy Instructor is pretty amazing!

It reminds me of something that Nym Cooke once said to me when I first visited the American Antiquarian Society's collection in Worcester, Mass.

Nym told me, "get into the manuscripts, that's where all the good stuff is . . ."

So clearly Nikos found something here that really makes that point better than I can!

I will add this though --

Justin Squizzero and I did some study on the tune one night and he proposed the idea that the song may be a "minor companion" of 189 Montgomery which is in C major.

The version we have in the Sacred Harp might not seem related to 189, but when you compare with the original Easy Instructor version, or the version here from the Phinney manuscript - and go through it phrase by phrase - you will see it right away. It is as clear as 440 and 441.

Lastly "C minor" is a very rare key in the Sacred Harp. Before the addition of Poland on page 86 in the 1991 ed. this would have been the only minor song pitched on that letter.

It just sits in a weird part of the voice. Anyone who keys music knows that 86 is not really keyed like anything else in the book -- anything except 442.

Just tossing my two cents in -- and acknowledging Justin and Nikos for their insights on this 'one of a kind' tune.

Tom Malone

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--
Dr. Thomas B. Malone
Lecturer in Music Education
Coordinator, Choral and Community Music
UMass Lowell
thomas...@uml.edu
cell 617.308.1939

[invisibl...@gmail.com]

New Jordan has been a top favorite of mine since my earliest exposure to Sacred Harp.  It is probably the best example in the book of how to use "natural" dynamics as a composer - the gradual dropping out of alto and tenor, the treble "solo" and homophonic re-entry of all the parts together create an unparalleled sense of excitement.  Before the Sacred Harp even existed, this anonymous composer gave us a model of how to masterfully manipulate group dynamics in a genre (mostly) without any intentional dynamic adjustments on the part of individual singers.  A couple other things:

1. Don't rule out the minor third.  If you're like me, you might fall into the habit of frowning on heavy use of the third of a chord in "fasola" style music, particularly in minor tunes, particularly in the tonic chord.  (This especially describes me when Johnny-come-lately arrangers try to pretty up the harmony of a Good Old Song.)  However, the trebles in New Jordan provide prominent thirds of the tonic chord in a few places, such as the last chord before the fugue, and the first few notes following their "solo."  Especially given the height of that note in this key, those thirds are essential to creating the dramatic, unsettled mood we love in this song.  As a songwriter, don't rule anything out.

2. The only remarkable similarity I notice between New Jordan and Shumway's work is the use of a melodic device I associate with him - a series of descending thirds that outline a seventh chord.  You can see it in Schenectady, tenor, mm. 14-15, and Ballstown, treble, mm. 15-16 (and foreshadowed by the tenors a measure earlier).  I feel like I've observed this in others of his works (maybe in the Missouri Harmony?), but I don't have access to those right now.  Anyway, the tenors do it in New Jordan just after they enter the fugue, mm. 12-13.  Needless to say, Shumway neither invented nor patented the descending seventh chord, but it's just something I've noticed.

Matt Bell

[Nikos Pappas]

One other note.  When I said that it is not heptatonic, I meant that it doesn't necessarily show strictly modal characteristics as implied by the use of the term heptatonic.  Rather, the tonality is more ambiguous than modal as a result of the consonantal counterpoint among the voices.  Obviously it uses seven notes of the scale (hepta-).  I just didn't necessarily see the modal characteristics.  It seems to defy modality and tonality at the same time, which might also contribute to its weirdness.

Nikos Pappas
Tscls, AL

[Nikos Pappas]

Wade, another possible pre-1815 EI setting is in a manuscript supplement to Phinney's Otsego, NY gamut held by the American Antiquarian Society.  It is an undated manuscript, but the gamut itself was published sometime between 1807 and 1812.  The version found in this source is identical to the Phinney manuscript but is copied in shape-note notation.

Nikos Pappas
Tscls, AL

[ipse]

Greetings,

On 9/19/2012 2:30 PM, Nikos Pappas wrote:
> In contrast, I would say that the reason for its weirdness is the fact that it ignores the fifth
> scale degree almost entirely.  With the exception of the initial note, none of the other instances
> really stress a V or dominant chord other than near the end of the fuging section (m. 20). 

To what does this statement refer? The first note is the fifth of a quartal dyad on the tonic.
The fifth also features prominently through the rest of the melody. Many early nineteenth-century
arrangements, fuging tunes in particular, are polyphonic rather than chordal in nature.

> Billings and other composers of his ilk

Autodidact, although conditioned by the “common practice” composition of the
Colonial period, rather than the (quartal) oral tradition that informs many folkish
 arrangements of the early nineteenth century.

On 9/19/2012 2:44 PM, Ted Mercer wrote:
> Has this become the "doremi" list? Is there some reason the analysis,
> whatever it is, cannot be framed in the musical language of fasola
Fasola solmization in this context would be far more confusing than doremi.
This does suggest a point. Fasola preserves archaic English solmization,
in which the octave (as in doremi) is not fully developed. This subject was
discussed by Max Weber in “The Rational and Social Foundations of Music”
(1921, Eng. tr. 1958).

Best wishes,

David Jensen

[Robert Vaughn]

Thanks, Tom. All the points that Nikos made about NEW JORDAN made sense to me concerning its "weirdness". The C minor key may be part of what is doing it for me, because POLAND is a tune that I think of as sounding a "weird" -- in a very good way!

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

---

From: Thomas Malone <shap...@gmail.com>

[Peter]

Ah ha! A place where a groundling like me can wedge into this conversation :-)

If we pitch and sing in keys of convenience, how does the printed key contribute to anything? Understand that some keys evoke a response - I half remember a quote that C# minor (?) was the key of melancholy and despair. Otherwise jiggering the pitched song should mitigate the weirdness.

All the best, Peter

-------- Original Message --------
From: Robert Vaughn <rl_v...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thu Sep 20 07:31:27 EDT 2012
To: Thomas Malone <shap...@gmail.com>, "nikos.a...@gmail.com" <nikos.a...@gmail.com>
Cc: "wadek...@yahoo.com" <wadek...@yahoo.com>, Fasola discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] New Jordan

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Peter

[jfra...@mchsi.com]

As a treble who pitches on occasion, my method is to first look at the key signature, then the treble and tenor high notes. Then I sound the tonic, the chord, and end with the tenor note. I don't have perfect pitch, but can hear in my head about where I think the piece should be pitched and move it down if needed. I can usually hear whether my tonic note is about right after I sound it. So I do find the key signature helpful.

Janet Fraembs
Charleston IL

[Leslie Booher]

At Camp DoReMi this year, the person who taught pitching (Nathan Rees, I think) said that he views songs as being in the F range or the B range.  (He said that D works differently, but I didn't get that far.  I was too entranced with the light that had just gone on in my head.  <G>)  Anyway, he keeps a mental or muscle memory of an F.  He starts there with the Doh.  If it needs to go up or down, you can work from the F.  If the song is in the B range, he uses the F as his Sol, then sings Doh for the B.  Same thing with working around a bit to get the correct pitch. 

 

I was thrilled to finally understand something about pitching.  It had been mud to me before.  And I'm sure that this can somehow be translated into the four-shape tradition, so don't dis me for being a seven-shape singer.  <G> 

 

Leslie

 

"Oh give me tears for others' woes, And patience for my own!" 
                (from 'Christian Harmony', p. 67b, Dundee) 

[Robert Vaughn]

Peter,

 

From a layman's point of view, I would say it is not the fact that it is in "C minor"--because literally it probably won't be--but that we normally don't start that high with the tonic note so are singing in something of a different range than we do most of the time.

 

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

From: Peter <ppa...@yahoo.com>
To: rl_v...@yahoo.com; Thomas Malone <shap...@gmail.com>; "nikos.a...@gmail.com" <nikos.a...@gmail.com>
Cc: "wadek...@yahoo.com" <wadek...@yahoo.com>; Fasola discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:50 AM

Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] New Jordan

[Rachel Hall]

I've been thinking about this conversation recently.  As I mentioned in a more recent thread about the BOURBON/DISMISSION family, I'm very interested in the tunebook compilation and revision process and the existence of multiple versions of the same piece.  I'll be co-teaching a class about this at camp this summer, and all these discussions have been most helpful!  I hope some of us can continue this conversation in person.

I transcribed the manuscript copy that Nikos sent in shapes - see attached.  I was interested in how the tune made its way into the Sacred Harp, and where exactly the changes occurred.  In the file, the colored notes are those that deviate from The Sacred Harp, 1991.  The brief history is

(1) The Easy Instructor (1815-1817) has a version almost identical to this manuscript, but in four shapes.  This version appeared as late as 1850 in the round-note Ancient Harmony Revived - an interesting book because it shows that some New England music made its way into shapes and back again - for example, the two versions of Friendship are Davisson's, from Kentucky Harmony ed.2 (via Missouri Harmony?) & Morgan's Judgment Anthem is also a shape-note version.

(2) A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (1820) contains the precursor to the SH version, credited to "Shumway."  The last fugue is removed and replaced with all the parts entering simultaneously after the treble solo. Perhaps Davisson made these revisions, and perhaps not.  I'm not sure that he did - I've found that Davisson's revisions are rarely as slick as this.  He generally tries to make the parts more interesting, often adding more vocal movement, especially to the alto part, but doesn't usually make radical changes to the overall structure of the piece.  In addition, I think he would have credited himself for a major revision like this, as he does in other tunes.

The Supplement version appeared in The Hesperian Harp (1848) and was added to the SH in 1850.  I believe it was removed in 1869 (?) and restored in 1911, with edits.  The 1911 note is "The tune was originally credited to Thomas, but no data can be found of him. The tune has been remodeled and re-arranged by S. M. Denson and J. S. James so as to make practically a new tune in several respects, and a lot of corrections made. When properly rendered will prove to be a fine piece of minor music."  (However, the changes made are actually minimal - see the blue notes in the attachment.)  The 1991 version is the same as the 1911 version.

This shows some of the subtleties of both compilation and revision.  Sometimes an original song had nice features that got lost or confused in later books, but other times later editors made changes that made the song more singable, or just different in an interesting way.

best,

Rachel