Missouri Harmony - The 2005 Revised Edition

The 2005 Revised Edition

In 1990 the St. Louis Shape-note Singers decided to reprint The Missouri Harmony for historical as well as musical reasons. Before the Internet and online auctions, only a few of the fragile books were known to exist outside of library collections. The group fervently desired to mine the tune book for musical gems, those special tunes that endear this style of singing to its participants.

Initially, the group sang from photocopies of The Missouri Harmony, thanks to singer Jeanette Lowry, who tediously fed coins into a copy machine at the Library of Congress to obtain a complete set of its 240 pages. Upon hearing of her success, the St. Louis singing group was as excited as archaeologists discovering a promising site for excavation. About forty selections were brought back to life in 1991 by singers from six states, most likely the first time in the 20th century that a shape-note convention sang from The Missouri Harmony. Simultaneously, as the group was engrossed in discovering new treasures, they were also seeking a way for the book to be made generally available to fellow singers.

Serendipity led to a 1991 partnership with Dr. Shirley Bean, now retired, of the music faculty of the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She was especially knowledgeable about the book, having made it the topic of her doctoral dissertation. Three years and two publishers’ rejections later, the book was accepted by the University of Nebraska Press and printed in 1994 by its Bison Books division. This softbound facsimile of the ninth edition is still available as of this publication date, and Dr. Bean’s introduction provides a condensed and updated synopsis of her dissertation. An acknowledgment page thanks Raymond C. Hamrick of Georgia for the loan of his tune book and “the St. Louis Shape-note Singers for their interest and support.”

The facsimile tune book’s much anticipated musical debut took place at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. To increase interest in the music, and as an aid to learning some of the songs in The Missouri Harmony, the St. Louis Shape-note Singers produced an a cappella recording in 1994.

Soon enough, however, practical issues quashed the initial excitement generated by the facsimile. The original printing on porous paper resulted in blurry notes and words that were difficult to read. Errors in the placement of notes on the staff and word misspellings were numerous. Singers also noted a frustrating, albeit sometimes amusing, tendency of repeated words to sometimes conclude with “&c.” As a final frustration, it was difficult to hold the softbound book open when standing up to lead a song.

Some favorites were reset using music notation software and the group gathered these into a booklet for use at the 1997 Missouri Singing Convention. Even though it was not intended as such, it quickly became a “best-seller” among shape-note singers, who paid three dollars to defray copying costs. The clear musical notes and easy-to-read texts spoiled them, and they were no longer content to struggle with the reprint. Singers repeatedly requested that the St. Louis group reset all the tunes, and print a hardbound edition of The Missouri Harmony.

The publication committee put out its call for new music, and received fifty-three submissions from composers in eight states and one each from England and Canada. The committee was delighted to receive new compositions from some of today’s “most eminent authors” including P. Dan Brittain, Judy Hauff and Ted Johnson.

New tune names are largely unrelated to the text, and reflect names of geographical landmarks or people held in esteem by the composer. “Meek” is named for singer Bob Meek of Kentucky, “Regina’s Song”, for the daughter of Lorraine and John Bayer of Ohio, and “Hauff” for sisters Judy and Melanie of Chicago. Among the place names are “Maquoketa” (pronounced Muh-KO-kuh-tuh), the name of a river and town in Iowa, and “Pinckney”, the wide spot on Missouri Highway 94 that is home to St. John’s Church and the Missouri State Convention. The publication committee is also pleased to include “Wings of Song,” named in honor of the compilers of The Missouri Harmony, 2005 edition.

-– Pete Ellertsen and Karen Isbell

This article originally appeared as introductory material to The Missouri Harmony 2005 edition, revised by Wings of Song. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2005. Used with permission.