Sacramento Area Sacred Harp

About Sacred Harp  

Sacred Harp--3- and 4-part acapella singing --is also called “shape note” for the syllable shapes fa-sol-la-mi used to learn the tune before singing the words. It began in New England over 200 years ago and stayed lively in the American south. It is now sung nationwide and in other countries.  More about Sacred Harp music in Wikipedia. 

About Sacramento Area Sacred Harp

Our monthly singings are free and open to the public. Listeners and beginners are welcome. Ability to read music, while helpful, is definitely not required. We are not affiliated with any faith community, and participants come from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds.  The Sacramento Area monthly singings are informal and are not "minuted", i.e. we do not keep records of singing participants. 

When: We sing at 2-4 PM on the first Saturday of each month, rotating between Sacramento and Davis.  Check this website or sign up to receive email notifications for reminders and any updates. [Sign up link to be added.]

Locations:   The Davis singing is held at the Davis Friends Meetinghouse, 345 L St, Davis 95616.  The Sacramento singing is held in a private home backyard patio in east Sacramento.  To get the address of that home, email the host, stuart.pettygrove@gmail.com. We expect to have a signup link on this website soon. In April, we will sing in Grass Valley for the first time.

Light snacks are offered. Feel free to bring snacks, but this is not required.  

Songbooks:  We have loaner copies of both the 1991 Denson and the new 2025 Sacred Harp book. We now also have sale copies of the 2025 book available.

COVID:  We ask that participants perform a rapid test the day before or day of the sing.  DO NOT ATTEND if test is positive. Regardless of test results, do not attend if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID or other respiratory illness or if you are at risk for other reasons.  The Davis Friends Meetinghouse room where we sing has ceiling fans and two HEPA air purifiers.  In Sacramento, we sing outdoors on a backyard patio, weather permitting.