Questionnaire about "Sankta Harmonio"
Haruo (Leland)
General Questionnaire
Format
What medium/media do you intend to have the book available in (i.e. print, digital, other)?
Definitely print and digital; not sure what “other” might be, but I’m not opposed to the idea.
What layout will the book have (landscape/portrait/other)?
Landscape.
Will the book use the standard 4-note Fasola shape notes?
Yes. It may also contain some songs in 7-note Aikin shape notes.
Content
How large is the editorial/publication committee? How was the editorial committee chosen?
So far, I’m It. The book was my idea. I’m not opposed to a committee, but so far no one else has volunteered, and I’m not to the point where I’ll ask.
Was there or will there be a call for scores?
There probably will not be a formal “call for scores”, but I am certainly open to proposals and suggestions.
Is there anyone on the committee who has been involved in the publication of other recent collections of shape note music?
No.
Performance
Are there any groups that are intending to use this book regularly?
Not to my knowledge. I hope that once the book is available, such groups will appear.
Tradition
Do you see yourself as being a part of any larger tradition, i.e. following in one or more of the Sacred Harp, Missouri Harmony, etc. traditions? Does this collection follow one tradition? Does it represent a new artistic “striking out”?
The largest traditional influence, musically, will be Sacred Harp, but I expect the contents to draw also from most of the other major (and some minor) shape note traditions, including but not limited to Missouri Harmony, Southern Harmony, Christian Harmony, (New) Harp of Columbia, Indian Melodies, Northern Harmony, Hesperian Harp, Liturgical Harp, The Psalmist’s Harp and others. The “new striking out” will be more noticeable in the texts than the tunes, though, I think. There will, however, be at least a few tunes of Esperanto origin, like DOKSOLOGIO, LA VOJO (Harding), PREĜO, and LA ESPERO, hopefully in arrangements that enhance the joy of singing them in the hollow square.
Motivation
What is the motivation behind compiling and publishing this collection?
I hope to create and nurture interest in hollow-square singing in the Esperanto language community, to make a variety of texts in languages other than English available to shape note singers who will enjoy them, and to encourage the spread of shape note singing into countries and language communities where it is presently little known.
Questions about your collection specifically
Much of shape note singing today is practiced by singers without a religious affiliation/deeply held religious convictions. Are the texts in your collection mostly sacred, mostly secular, all of one, or a mixture of both.
The majority of the texts will, I’m sure, be on the sacred side à la Sacred Harp, but there will be at least some secular content and also probably some texts originating in religious contexts other than Christianity.
How many languages will be represented in the collection? How were these curated?
On the number of languages represented, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were in the neighborhood of 50. It is my intention that each song have texts in at least three langauges, and that each language be represented in at least three songs. With few (ideally, no) exceptions every song will be in English, Esperanto, and at least one other language. I’m not sure in what sense you mean “curated”. And although ideally the three (or more) texts with each tune would be translations one of another, or all translated from a single source text, there will probably be some cases where unrelated texts will appear together set to a single tune.
How would you characterize your view of and participation in the Esperanto movement? Do you view the Sankta Harmonio project as helping achieve the aims of that movement?
I have been a fairly active participant in the Esperanto movement since I taught myself the language in 1970. I’d been using Esperanto for a good 30 years or more before I first became aware of shape note singing as a present-day phenomenon. Among other things, about a dozen of my hymn texts (mostly translations, a few original) were published in the 2001 ecumenical Esperanto Christian hymnal Adoru; some of those will probably be in Sankta Harmonio, too. The Sankta Harmonio project is not intended particularly as a “movement” thing, but rather as providing another of the many cultural opportunities Esperanto speakers may avail themselves of. It will probably increase awareness of the existence and nature of Esperanto among non-Esperanto-speaking shape note singers, and if any singers are moved to actually learn the language as a result, yay. But that’s really tangential to the main purposes of the book.
What would you approximate as the ratio of new (i.e. composed after 1900) tunes to older (i.e. pre-1900) tunes that you’re intending to include in this collection?
Certainly the majority will be “older”, possibly a bit less predominantly so than in the 1991 Sacred Harp, but not a lot less.
Are the texts primarily newly composed, or are they translations of existing texts? If the latter, who has done the translating?
Most of the texts will be preexisting in at least one language. The Esperanto translations will often be my work, though for things like well-known Watts texts, there were usually well-established Esperanto versions before I came along, and Watts is also well represented in dozens of other languages.
How many people are involved in this project?
Three: mi, myself, and moi. (A joke; but it’s true that I am the prime mover.) I welcome others’ participation, and will be especially grateful if singers who know various languages check the workability of my pairings.
When do you anticipate releasing this collection?
Probably in the first few decades of the 21st century.