Shape-note singing had been taught by preachers and missionaries during the second Great Awakening, as a way of evangelizing to people on the frontier and in rural areas.
The shape notes were an eight-note system used as an easy way to teach people melodies and harmonies for singing sacred music.
The second revision committee of the Sacred Harp in 1858-1859 consisted of B. F. White, R. F. Ball, J. T. Edmunds, A. Ogletree, E. T. Pound, J. P Reese, T. Waller, and A. S. Webster.
The Southern Musical Convention selected White, Edmund Dumas, R. F. M. Mann, Absalom Ogletree and Marion Patrick as the committee to revise the Sacred Harp in 1869–1870.
Not only did the convention provide a gathering for vocal musicians, but it also created an authoritative body to approve of teachers for singing schools.