The Sacred Harp tunebook represents a tradition of community part-singing that goes back to Revolutionary-era New England and is today widespread and lively. Sacred Harp (or fasola, or four-shape shapenote) singing has a distinctive sound (loud, open, rhythmic), text repertory (death-haunted hymns), organization (democratic), form in space (the hollow square), and look on the page (the triangular, oval, square, and diamond note heads).
At Open Stages, members of the New York shapenote community will sing some characteristic tunes from the tradition.