Sacred Harp in the presence of Pope John Paul II

[Judah Dale]

Greetings!

I was reading an article about Hugh McGraw today, and it mentioned that he led a group that performed Sacred Harp music for Pope John Paul II in Washington D.C. during his first visit to the States in 1979. Does anyone have any additional information, or even video/audio recordings of this singing? This must be quite a notable moment in Sacred Harp history, and I'm surprised I've found no info about it outside this one article. As an Orthodox Christian, I'm especially fascinated by the relations between Sacred Harp and sacramental/high church traditions and figures.

-Judah

[Robert Vaughn]

Hi, Judah,

First I ever recall hearing of that. I searched and found a few newspaper mentions of it.

For examples:

“His most recent Sacred Harp performance was in Washington, D.C. He lead a group of 50 singers on the Mall while awaiting the appearance of Pope John Paul II.” 

“Forget the Words, Sing the Notes,” North Fulton Extra, The Atlanta Journal, Thursday, October 18, 1979, page 72H

“When Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Washington, D. C. in October 7, one of the traditional American musical groups represented in the service was the Sacred Harp singers of Alabama and Georgia…According to Hugh McGraw of Bremen, Ga., who led the singers in Washington, Sacred Harp music was chosen for the Mass, along with other styles, because it is an authentic, pure representation of a four-part harmony style that has now almost disappeared.” “Sacred Heart Subject of Documentary,” The Gaffney Ledger, Monday, November 12, 1979, page 7

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.

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[coo...@gmail.com]

Greetings, singers,

I’ve heard singers say that the “fa-la-la-la-la” in “Deck The Halls” was making fun of what were considered nonsense syllables of the old fasola singers that were still around when the song was written (apparently in 1862 by the Scottish musician, Thomas Oliphant). Does anyone know if that’s true or not, and if so, if there’s any documentation attesting to it? From what I’ve been able to dig up, repetitive syllables like that were a common practice in song construction since the English and Welsh madrigals of the 16th century, but I can’t find anything that links this to fasola. In any case, wouldn’t fasola have totally died out in the UK by 1862?

[coo...@gmail.com]

Sorry, I must have pressed some combination of keys that sent the message before I added my name at the bottom, Tim Cook

[David Warren Steel]

The balletti of G. G. Gastoldi (1591) with their fa la la refrains, were extremely popular, and imitated in England by Thomas Morley, as in "Now is the month of Maying." These are clearly the model for "Deck the halls," no relation to the sol-fa syllables, although Morley's 1597 theoretical treatise uses four syllable solmisation.
---Warren Steel

[coo...@gmail.com]

Warren, thanks for sharing that history. Would you happen to know if
Morley's fa la la refrains are actually on fa and la?
～Tim Cook

-----Original Message-----
From: David Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 3:17 AM
To: 'Fasola Discussions' <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>;
coo...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] RE: The origin of "fa-la-la-la-la" in
"Deck The Halls"

[Antonio James Higgins]

Morely's (and others') "fa-lal-la" refrains could be on any tone. Listen here to Morely's "Now is the Month of Maying" by the King's Singers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcpZWsDT6ug

or "Fyre, fyre my heart" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8nJK6uxHJg

Blessings,
A. J. Higgins

[David Olson]

The West Los Angeles Third Sunday Singing, hosted by Pat Keating and Bruce Hayes, has a tradition of singing "Deck The Halls" to the tune of SH 332 Sons of Sorrow during the month of December. Try it, it works! (fa-la-la-la-la-la-la on the 7-syllable lines) Those wishing for a pdf file please contact me privately. "Auld Lang Syne" (Bobbie Burns version) to SH 162 Plenary also available.

David Olson

(now in San Diego)

On Thu, Dec 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM <coo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings, singers,

I’ve heard singers say that the “fa-la-la-la-la” in “Deck The Halls” was making fun of what were considered nonsense syllables of the old fasola singers that were still around when the song was written (apparently in 1862 by the Scottish musician, Thomas Oliphant). Does anyone know if that’s true or not, and if so, if there’s any documentation attesting to it? From what I’ve been able to dig up, repetitive syllables like that were a common practice in song construction since the English and Welsh madrigals of the 16th century, but I can’t find anything that links this to fasola. In any case, wouldn’t fasola have totally died out in the UK by 1862?

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