Singing school
Some are held under the auspices of particular Protestant denominations that maintain a tradition of a cappella singing, such as the Church of Christ and the Primitive Baptists.
Others are associated with Sacred Harp, Southern Gospel, and similar singing traditions, whose music is religious in character but sung outside the context of church services.
The "usual way" consisted of the entire congregation singing in unison tunes passed on by oral tradition, often by lining out.
By the end of the 18th century, the singing school manuals had become standardized in an oblong-shaped tunebook, usually containing tunes with only one stanza of text.
Early shape note systems were an extension of "Old English" or "Lancashire" sol-fa, developed in Britain in the 17th century, with the intention of teaching school children to sing, and remained in use there until the 20th.
The use of "shape-notes" themselves was an American innovation, first put into use in 1798 in Philadelphia and soon popular in the many hymn collections published in the early 19th century.
However, advocates of European classical music like Lowell Mason sought to suppress the tradition in favor of a more cosmopolitan idiom, which came to be taught at public schools.
[3] Eventually, singing schools in the north faded to obscurity, while in the south and west they became a prominent social event for small-town Americans looking for something to do.
Laura Ingalls Wilder related attending a singing school as a young lady in These Happy Golden Years, one of the Little House books.
Singing schools began to hold less interest for the general public as time went on and could rarely get attendance from an entire town.
In the case of Sacred Harp singing schools, students usually attended because of their interest in the Sacred Harp singing tradition; in other schools, students attended because of an interest in vocal church music, especially for those churches that maintain an all-a capella music tradition.
Camp Fasola, which was founded in 2003, is an attempt by Sacred Harp enthusiasts to establish a permanent annual singing school.
In southern gospel singing schools, convention songbooks are used to teach sight-singing, music theory, and conducting.
Most southern gospel schools also focus extensively on song leading, the ability to direct a group in vocal music.
Many singing schools have published their own small textbooks on music theory, harmony, and song and lyric composition.
