Syracuse shape note singing

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Rachel Fox Von Swearingen

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Mar 24, 2020, 9:07:57ā€ÆPM3/24/20
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Hello, Syracuse shape note folks,

Just checking in with everyone, hoping you're all ok. Please take care of yourselves, both physically and mentally. Daegan and I are just fine, as are our parents, so we are very fortunate.

For right now, just to confirm, there will be no local Syracuse 2nd Sunday shape note singing in April. We had originally canceled it due to conflicts with Easter and were intending to attend the Rochester regional Sacred Harp singing the following week. However, in light of the need for us to stay home and protect our communities and families, that regional singing has also been cancelled.Ā 

I've removed our singing dates from our website for now. I'm not sure whether we will be able to get together in May... I'm open to the possibility, but let's play that by ear. I adore singing with everyone, but I also don't want to put any of our beloved singers, family, and friends at risk.Ā 

If you're interested in practicing a bit or exploring, here's a few resources you might find useful:

1) Sacred Harp BremenĀ https://sacredharpbremen.org/en/home/
our awesome German Sacred Harp singing community posts MIDI audio files for each individual voice part for each song in the Sacred Harp. Practice your part!

2) Shenandoah Harmony videos on YouTubeĀ https://www.youtube.com/user/ShenandoahHarmony
explore the tunes from the Shenandoah Harmony. (that's the tan book you've seen at our recent singings. I'm buying a box to bring the next time we sing together)

3) Sacred Harp Friends Facebook GroupĀ https://www.facebook.com/groups/288062357886428/
This page is focused on sharing posts and info about Sacred Harp singing. They are a very knowledgeable group!

Our Albany friends maintain a very good list of all-day singings in the northeast. Check out the upcoming dates to look forward to when we can sing together again!

All the best, and all the best music, and all the best health,
Cheers,
Rachel



Joy Pople

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Mar 24, 2020, 9:34:06ā€ÆPM3/24/20
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Thanks! Be well.
Joy
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Joy Pople

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Apr 26, 2020, 9:39:45ā€ÆPM4/26/20
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Consider this virtual singing.

Joy

Seth Rutledge

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Apr 27, 2020, 11:50:25ā€ÆAM4/27/20
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How do we do that?

On Apr 26, 2020, at 8:39 PM, 'Joy Pople' via Syracuse Sacred Harp <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

ļ»æ

Jessica M Rice

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Apr 27, 2020, 12:47:58ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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My two cents ā€“

Ā 

One person to start by recording selection, setting key and tempo to a song that most Syracuse people may have heard.Ā 

Ā 

Others record while listening to that one person, so as to keep tempo/pitch as close as possible. Listen to her on headphones, just recording your voice. Ā Send videos in for combining.Ā 

Ā 

I can video-edit (unless we have a real pro in the group) but the closer audio-wise we are on recording, the less fussing with sound will be needed.Ā  It will never be perfect, but thatā€™s not the point anyway!Ā  šŸ˜Š

Ā 

If anyoneā€™s interested, just chime in!Ā  Ā (pun intended)

Ā 

-Jessica

Jason Law

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Apr 27, 2020, 12:55:00ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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I'm game. I promise to wear pants.

Jason

Joy Pople

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Apr 27, 2020, 1:04:07ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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I am game.
Joy

Jessica M Rice

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Apr 27, 2020, 1:06:48ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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Okay, maybe a good place to start would be to share possible song choices.Ā  Simple is goodā€¦

And we can see if others would like to do this.

Kaaren Remley

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Apr 27, 2020, 2:09:14ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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I don't have a book yet but I've always wanted one.Ā  How would I purchase one and join in?
Kaaren

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/cbd880dd62ae459597fa25f3d4bcd6cb%40syr.edu.

Jessica M Rice

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Apr 27, 2020, 2:47:56ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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Hi, Kaaren,

Ā 

If you scroll down you should see a letter from Rachel Fox Von Swearingen fox.von.s...@gmail.com

Ā 

She is the Syracuse area groupā€™s organizer and would be the person to ask!Ā  šŸ˜Š

vhus...@aol.com

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Apr 27, 2020, 5:25:33ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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Hi Kaaren,
Ā  The Sacred Harp is generally available from the Sacred Harp Publishing Company (I believe that there is a link to their site on fasola.org).Ā  Local groups also sometimes have books to sell.Ā  At this time, the Ithaca group does have some books for sale; the price of the books that we have is $23 (to cover our cost), and we would need to add a shipping cost.Ā Ā 
Ā  Glad you are thinking about it.
Ā  Ginny (from the Ithaca Sacred Harp singing group).


-----Original Message-----
From: Kaaren Remley <kaaren...@gmail.com>
To: syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com; Kaaren Remley <kaaren...@gmail.com>

Sarah Elaine Bratt

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Apr 27, 2020, 9:57:17ā€ÆPM4/27/20
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im in! Also need a book, or a pic of the song we are doing!

** My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule **

Sarah Bratt
PhD Candidate | she/her
Information Science & Technology
Syracuse University School of Information StudiesĀ 
tweetĀ @SarahSbrattĀ webĀ techniquecallyblog.wordpress.com

Most recent publications:
Bratt, S., Qin, J., & Hemsley, J. (2019, January). A Closer Look at Data Co-authorship: Team size trends in ā€˜big scienceā€™. InĀ 17th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2019Ā (pp. 2664-2665). International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics.
Ā 
Qin, J., Hemsley, J., & Bratt, S. (2019). Collaboration Capacity: Measuring the Impact of Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Collaboration Networks.Ā International Journal of Technology Management,Ā 22, 636-655.
From: vhuszagh via Syracuse Sacred Harp <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2020 5:25 PM
To: kaaren...@gmail.com <kaaren...@gmail.com>; syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com>

Jessica M Rice

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Apr 28, 2020, 8:08:15ā€ÆAM4/28/20
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Okay.Ā  So it looks like at this point, these people have expressed some interest in trying to make a video:

(let me know if Iā€™m wrong)

Ā 

Sarah

Kaaren

Joy

Jessica

Seth

Ā 

In order to proceed, we need to determine if we have all parts represented, and pick a song.

I can sing bass if itā€™s not really low, and alto.

Ā 

Ideas on a song?Ā  Iā€™m not a good person to pick one.Ā  šŸ˜Š Ā We can figure out how to get people a copy once we know what we have selected.

And, we need a volunteer song leader!

Ā 

-Jessica

Jason Law

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Apr 28, 2020, 4:03:16ā€ÆPM4/28/20
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I'm in! I did sing bass once..

May I suggest 49 top or bottom (old hundred, the very familiar doxology, or Mear with which we usually open our singing).

63 Coronation which we also know.

I hope we can get Rachel's attention.

Jason

vhus...@aol.com

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Apr 28, 2020, 5:03:26ā€ÆPM4/28/20
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You can sometimes find a copy of songs on the web (try fasola.org, and then go from there), if you cannot get hold of a book or photocopy or fax of the tune.Ā  Ginny


Sarah Elaine Bratt

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Apr 28, 2020, 11:08:34ā€ÆPM4/28/20
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I will look for 49 and 63! Will make a candle for anyone wiling to take a photo of the songs and post here, or fwd to my phone! (it's for educational purposes, right? #copyright #SorryRachel šŸ˜‚)

I can sing alto most comfortably.Ā 
But I can sing tenor and soprano too.

** My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule **

Sarah Bratt
PhD Candidate | she/her
Information Science & Technology
Syracuse University School of Information StudiesĀ 
tweetĀ @SarahSbrattĀ webĀ techniquecallyblog.wordpress.com

Most recent publications:
Bratt, S., Qin, J., & Hemsley, J. (2019, January). A Closer Look at Data Co-authorship: Team size trends in ā€˜big scienceā€™. InĀ 17th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2019Ā (pp. 2664-2665). International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics.
Ā 
Qin, J., Hemsley, J., & Bratt, S. (2019). Collaboration Capacity: Measuring the Impact of Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Collaboration Networks.Ā International Journal of Technology Management,Ā 22, 636-655.
From: vhuszagh via Syracuse Sacred Harp <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 5:03 PM
To: syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com>

Jacob Stebly

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Apr 28, 2020, 11:19:43ā€ÆPM4/28/20
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Hereā€™s a great resource for the book-less. It has the music for every tune as well as tracks for each voice part.Ā 

JacobĀ 

Sydney

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Apr 29, 2020, 6:35:28ā€ÆAM4/29/20
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I miss singing with you all and would love to participate virtually!
Best from Berlin,
Sydney

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/CALzQo%2B6gMMMeN37d7-WQYWEt87Ug5YUxq5Pe_nbptaT9MWeBcg%40mail.gmail.com.

B.E. Swetman

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Apr 29, 2020, 10:25:15ā€ÆAM4/29/20
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The Bremen Germany group has scans of the music in addition to the recordings https://sacredharpbremen.org/en/home/

I'm in Utica and still have a book or 2 for sale.

Barbara

Seth Rutledge

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Apr 29, 2020, 11:54:19ā€ÆAM4/29/20
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Does anyone know of a way to do a live singing virtual? Ā Maybe Skype?

On Apr 29, 2020, at 9:25 AM, B.E. Swetman <bswe...@hamilton.edu> wrote:

ļ»æ The Bremen Germany group has scans of the music in addition to the recordings https://sacredharpbremen.org/en/home/

Rachel Fox Von Swearingen

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Apr 29, 2020, 1:25:38ā€ÆPM4/29/20
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Hey, all!

I've caught up on the messages in this thread, and this makes me super excited, but also a bit tentative, as doing this is a lot of work. :) A few comments and a direction to go in:

-- Synchronous group music stuff (i.e. live on Skype/Zoom/etc) is a disaster. The higher ed community has already fully explored this in order to have orchestra/choir/chamber music rehearsals online, and even with the tech provided by a university, it is a no-go. Unfortunately, there's just too much delay. I think the edited video that Jessica is suggesting is the best.Ā 

-- Method for making the video: I'll reach out to a friend who participated in the Quarantine Chorus video that Joy initially shared, and to an SU friend who recently did a project like this.Ā  I'm pretty sure that the method that is used by choruses is toĀ use headphones and listen to a pre-recorded track of accompaniment (in our case, a publicly posted YouTube video of another Sacred Harp group) and then use personal laptop/computer setups to record singing along on their own video recording. That way, the singer can hear all of the parts together while they are singing. The important part is for the recording to just be of their voices and not pick up the audio from the singalong video, hence the need for headphones.

-- Technical needs: This type of project does require a fair amount of editing work. While I would love to have a big group, I know from speaking to my music director colleagues on the tech work on the back end (SU recently did a video of the HendricksĀ Chapel Choir), I think we need to limit the number of participants. More participants means maxing out the processing power and the memory available on the computer doing the editing, not to mention whether the software can handle that many individualĀ videos simultaneously. I have zero personal experience with video editing, but my impression from working with music industry students is that free or low cost software has limits on how manyĀ videos you can combine together and you need a pretty robust institutional-type of setup to do big projects.Ā 

-- Responsibility for editing/compiling: At the moment, it sounds like Jessica is our most experienced person.Ā Jessica, are you ok withĀ going forward with experimenting with the editing? and if so, what is your ballpark guess as to what your video editing capacity would be on number of participants?Ā  If someone else has more tech knowledge, please speak up, as we'd love your help.Ā 

-- Getting music scans: Agreed with Seth that the Bremen site is awesome for practicing parts and getting scans.Ā Ā https://sacredharpbremen.org/en/home/Ā I would like to encourage us to monetarily support the Sacred Harp Publishing Company as they are small and are the core of our modern Sacred Harp tradition, but I am not the copyright police and would not knock anyone who utilized the scans

-- Getting books: If someone who lives locally in Syracuse would like a Sacred Harp or a Shenandoah Harmony book, I have some brand new copies at my house that I'm happy to sell. $23 for the Sacred Harp and $26 for the Shenandoah Harmony. Those costs are based on list price plus shipping, which is what I paid to buy them. Privately email me and I'm happy to arrange a drop off. fox.von.s...@gmail.comĀ  Ā 

-- Tune selection:Ā Some tunes that we all know well: 146 Hallelujah (major, upbeat); 178 Africa (major); 155 Northfield (major, fuguing tune), 159 Wondrous Love (minor, upbeat), 209 Evening Shade (minor, fuguing). Maybe pick two? If someone wants to look more in-depth at texts, go for it.Ā 

Ā Side commentary wearing my music librarian hat: Free scans of post-1924 editions of the Sacred Harp posted on the web are very much against copyright law, especially for anything where the words and text of each individual work were written after 1924, where it infringes upon the owners of the work. The editorial effort that goes into those publications also has a copyright for that intellectual property, even the transcriptions of the pre-1924 works. Fair use (which includes educational use) would not cover what we are doing because it is making copies of entire musical works and we are not usingĀ them in a classroom. That being said, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company is not profit-oriented and will likely never pursue giving take-down notices to anyone posting scans, as they exist to promote and support our singing tradition. So, against copyright law, but virtually zero risk. (now removing music librarian hat)

Let me know what else you think!

Rachel

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/BD633AA4-C956-405F-8A31-FBAEFA834B35%40gmail.com.

Sarah Elaine Bratt

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Apr 29, 2020, 8:37:25ā€ÆPM4/29/20
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Duly noted on copyright. Thanks for the clarification!

** My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule **

Sarah Bratt
PhD Candidate | she/her
Information Science & Technology
Syracuse University School of Information StudiesĀ 
tweetĀ @SarahSbrattĀ webĀ techniquecallyblog.wordpress.com

Most recent publications:
Bratt, S., Qin, J., & Hemsley, J. (2019, January). A Closer Look at Data Co-authorship: Team size trends in ā€˜big scienceā€™. InĀ 17th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2019Ā (pp. 2664-2665). International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics.
Ā 
Qin, J., Hemsley, J., & Bratt, S. (2019). Collaboration Capacity: Measuring the Impact of Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Collaboration Networks.Ā International Journal of Technology Management,Ā 22, 636-655.
From: syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Rachel Fox Von Swearingen <fox.von.s...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:25 PM
To: syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com <syracuse-s...@googlegroups.com>

Linda Wobus

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May 1, 2020, 10:31:19ā€ÆAM5/1/20
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Here is a thought: what if we met in a parking lot somewhere, brought lawn chairs (on a nice day) and books, and sang for a while??

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/MN2PR01MB59512A8D3C6557315A03BC6ABFAA0%40MN2PR01MB5951.prod.exchangelabs.com.


--
Linda

Linda Wobus

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May 1, 2020, 10:32:00ā€ÆAM5/1/20
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with social distancing, that is!
--
Linda

vhus...@aol.com

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May 1, 2020, 6:06:57ā€ÆPM5/1/20
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The Ithaca group did this; met on a soccer field (on a windy day, by chance), and sat about 12-20 feet apart from each other; we also wore masks (to be super careful).Ā  If we hadn't had some background traffic noise and wind we might have heard each other better, but it really wasn't too bad and at least we were singing "together". Not sure if the masks were necessary, but we weren't taking any chances.
Ā  Ginny


Joy Pople

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May 1, 2020, 6:23:56ā€ÆPM5/1/20
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Could we meet at the amphitheater in Thornden Park?
Joy

Jason Law

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May 3, 2020, 9:03:19ā€ÆPM5/3/20
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Friends,
I would LOVE to sing with you in the world, however singing appears to be inordinately dangerous (see Skagit Valley Chorale).
Ginny points out that space and precautions dampen the experience we love.
Zoom is doable.

Jason

Peter Colman

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May 3, 2020, 10:46:57ā€ÆPM5/3/20
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I sure donā€™t want to die or even get sick and I donā€™t think the Zoom experience would satisfy me BUT Social Distancing at Thornden Park could work. Ā And are there any other possible sites? Ā Plus maybe a weekday would be better if the park gets crowded on Sunday afternoons unless it is raining.

Peter Colman


On May 3, 2020, at 9:03 PM, Jason Law <cazt...@gmail.com> wrote:

ļ»æ

Rachel Fox Von Swearingen

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May 4, 2020, 12:50:18ā€ÆPM5/4/20
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Hi all,

Jason absolutely brings up a good case with the Skagit Valley Chorale.Ā https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak

Basically, once we found out that COVID-19 can be transmitted through both droplets AND through aerosol (i.e. just exhaling, not limited to sneezing/coughing), that changes things. If we're carrying the virus, we are effectively creating an invisible fogĀ of sickness around us when we sing,Ā which produces a ton more aerosol than breathing normally or talking and it hangs out for a surprisingly long time. Things are still very early in scientifically studying things, but if you're curious, here's a professional vocal pedagogy instructor and choir director's summary of the situationĀ 

Singing, the Church, and COVID-19: A Caution for Moving Forward in Our Current Pandemic

Yes, being outdoors and spacing out would definitely help, but I'm not convinced that the greatly reduced enjoyment we would get is really worth the risks of me leading an in-person meeting, at least right now. I'm open to periodically re-evaluating this. If we do pursue it later, Peter has a good idea of exploring more quiet and out-of-the way places to sing. Singing outside in a public park with car/wind/people noise is really challenging to begin with, and we would then be sitting pretty far apart.Ā 

This does pain me. A lot. And I don't fault anyone for suggesting that we meet. If you're interested in reading another musician's thoughts (hey, I'm a librarian, I can't help myself), this blog post really spoke to me.

Tears of the Choir World

All the best, and I hope we can meet virtually this weekend. Please see my other email that I just sent for details on that.

Cheers,
Rachel

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/F450E5BF-B4C2-4E65-95B5-81C5B3A669D3%40windstream.net.

Kaaren Remley

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May 4, 2020, 7:04:17ā€ÆPM5/4/20
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If I were to purchase a copy of the songbook... where would I find it? (Title etc...)
KaarenĀ 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/syracuse-sacred-harp/MN2PR01MB5951A14800E6670A8A74AF10BFAD0%40MN2PR01MB5951.prod.exchangelabs.com.
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