2025 United Convention

[Dan Thoma]

Hello, Portland Singers!

A number of us Northwestern singers were able to make it to the United Convention this last weekend, which featured the roll-out of the new 2025 edition of our songbook, The Sacred Harp. It was quite an experience! The revision committee and the Atlanta singers did an incredible job. Friday featured a symposium covering all aspects of making the new edition. More than six hundred singers attended the convention Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, composers of new tunes (or their designees) led their songs. The arranging committee didn't think they'd be able to get through six hundred leaders on Sunday (and noted there are only 590 tunes in the book anyway), so each lesson was led by a "delegation," mostly grouped by geography.

Videos of the singings are posted on Youtube. Of particular interest to Pacific NW singers may be the following snippets. (I hope I didn't leave any of our locals out!)

Saturday a.m.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP48TAd3L10&t=3440s

David Wright, 184 And Jesus Crucified: 36:45

Dan Thoma, 463 Morel: 53:20

Thom Fahrbach 265 Gwehelog by Matthew Parkinson: 1:06:05

Peter Schinske 483 Golden Gardens: 2:26:04

Kevin Barrans, 334 Bainbridge Island: 2:30:35

Saturday p.m.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3HXLFa08g&t=382s

David Wright with his family, 263 Every Grace: 35:40

David Wright, 381 Wells Second: 1:25:30

David Wright with Erik Schwab, 526 Schwab: 1:49:50

Sunday p.m.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J1NuwlfPPc&t=1475s

Washington delegation #1, 280 Westford: 19:00

Oregon delegation, 276 Bridgewater: 22:10

Alaska delegation, 344 Rainbow: 1:02:10

Washington delegation #2, 426t Kelley: 1:39:00

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Sincerely,

Dan

[Thomas Fahrbach]

Thank you, Dan, for sharing this handy guide to the Revision Singing’s local highlights.  

I’m still processing whatever it was this weekend represented. To me it seems like something of a pivot point for this tradition. While it seems like sometimes there are ebbs and flows in the momentum of singing enthusiasm in our local community (and many others), the big picture of the global community of shape note singing is one of a tidal swell of young, old, diverse people from diverse communities--rural and urban.  The future of  the Sacred Harp seems secure. And I couldn't be happier to have you all to share this future. 

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: 'Dan Thoma' via Portland Sacred Harp Discussions <portlands...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2025 8:52:45 PM
To: portlands...@googlegroups.com <portlands...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [PoSH] 2025 United Convention

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Portland Sacred Harp Discussions" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to portlandsacredh...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/portlandsacredharp/06aa0d96-f3f7-408f-8838-be7eb8908cfb%40comcast.net.

[Betsy Jeronen]

Thank you so much Dan, for your sense of the weekend. For me, the strong sense of community generated by the love of singing this music was one I so wish could be replicated in our divided country today. The magic of music to bring people together is more powerful than any other endeavor. And we need that sense of community.

My admiration for David Ivey is boundless! To manage this endeavor with such grace is magical. And the dedication of the many people involved in the project could only be explained by love. We owe them our endless  gratitude.

Betsy

On Sep 15, 2025, at 7:12 PM, Thomas Fahrbach <tho...@hotmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/portlandsacredharp/MW2PR1501MB20091BA710198AFBFEE81FAA8014A%40MW2PR1501MB2009.namprd15.prod.outlook.com.