Performance Practice of Sacred Harp Music - The Pitch of Musical Notes

The Pitch of Musical Notes

Sacred Harp scholar Buell E. Cobb claims that the exact pitches of the musical scale are somewhat different when rendered by traditional singers. Most noticeably, the third degree of the major scale (in Sacred Harp terms, the boldface note of fa sol la fa sol la mi fa) is sung somewhat lower than it would be sung by performers of classical or popular music. According to Cobb, outsiders sometimes hear the traditional pitching as simply out of tune. In opposition to this, he asserts that the choice of pitches is part of the tradition and in context should be considered as correct.

Cobb marshals the intuitive judgments of traditional singers in support of this view. For example, the pitch preferences of traditional singers "may explain why the Sacred Harp singers have not responded favorably to recordings of their songs by trained choirs." Cobb quotes L. L. Welborn, a traditional singer:

They sing to a metallic key notation--the piano, you see. We sing vocally--in tune with each other.

Marini (2003) embellishes Cobb's characterization, focusing on the alto part (which will most often contain the third scale degree): "Altos, taxed with the musically least interesting part, make a virtue of necessity by creating subtle tunings for those few notes. Often they will sing their harmonies slightly flat or sharp, lending an archaic modal sound to the ensemble."