History
Although the privilege of leading is currently extended by and large to anyone who wishes to lead, this was not always so. Around the turn of the 20th century, leading was normally assigned to a small group of experienced singers. This earlier practice explains the traditional terminology whereby a turn of leading is called a "lesson" and the group of singers a "class." Earlier leaders, being experts who wielded authority, would have been in a position actually to instruct the group, as respected senior leaders will sometimes do even today.
Read more about this topic: Leading Sacred Harp Music
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
—Henry Geldzahler (1935–1994)
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)