It was by experiencing it that filmmakers Matt and Erica Hinton first struck on the idea to document the tradition and its modern day practitioners. �It became my desire for others to experience this moment as well,� he says on their website, �And so, if no one else was willing to step up and make a movie so I can blow my friends’ minds, I suppose we must do it.�  He also notes that documentary filmmakers are often told to stay objective, but their desire was to convey the emotion attached to Sacred Harp singing.
Sacred Harp singing, or shape note singing as it is also known, is one of the earliest known music traditions with roots that can be traced to 11th century Italy where a monk devised a method to teach the sight reading by incorporating a scale using syllables.  In the late 1600�s this notation came in to play in Europe as people tried to reform the music used in worship.
In the 1700�s singing schools were established throughout the New England area to help people learn music.  (These singing schools still continue in one form or another today.  They were still very prevalent in rural communities in the early 1900�s and offered exposure to music to such notables as the Carter Family and Bill Monroe.) A four syllable note scale was devised (as opposed to the normal seven) and two music teachers, William Smith and William Little added corresponding shapes to the notes to aid in recognition.
The music form of shape note singing did not follow the �accepted� rules of European music and was looked down upon as backward and undignified by the immigrants who were arriving en masse to the New England area.  This forced the tradition, which at that time was beginning to take a hold of the area, Southward and Westward with the expansion of the States.  As the tradition grew in the South, so did the proliferation of songbooks for use, the most enduring, The Sacred Harp, was published in Georgia in 1844.
The Hintons enlist the talents and memories of several people who have grown up in the Sacred Harp tradition in the film to tell the story of its creation and growth.  One of them is Jim Carnes who discovered Sacred Harp singing in his teens and is also a filmmaker on the subject as well as the author of one hymn in the current edition of The Sacred Harp.  Carnes gives, to me, the best reason as to why the Sacred Harp tradition continues to survive even against such obstacles as the �Better Music Movement� from Europe and the popularity of Gospel music: �It�s a formidable example of communal, shared artistic creation that is rare to the point of non-existence in many peoples� lives; Many people walking around today experience art only as consumers.�
To participate in Sacred Harp singing one does not have to be a trained vocalist or even adept at sight reading music.  It is different from the choral-type singing done in most congregations in that it is not designed for one part to be quieted while another part takes over, Sacred Harp is meant to be full-throated, full volume singing in unison.  In a Singing (the name for an event where the singers gather for the day), there is a leader in the Hollow Square.  To the leaders left are the trebles, behind are the altos, on the right are the basses, and in front are the tenors.  The leader beats time with a hand keeping everyone together.  The song finishes and it�s on to the next leader � no applause, it is not a performance.  Inside the hollow square is the best place to experience the singing because all four parts are coming directly at you.
A Singing can last from a couple of hours to an All-Day Singing, that includes another aspect of the tradition, Dinner on the Grounds (a pitch-in meal which gives the participants time to meet newcomers and catch up with regulars), which can cover anywhere from 90 to 100 songs.
Awake, My Soul does a great job of explaining the history behind the tradition giving an overview of each of the phases the tradition has gone through from the 1700�s to the Folk Revival interest in it in the 1960�s.  The information is presented compactly (the film clocks in at 1 hour 15 minutes), but entertainingly with the help of amateur Sacred Harp historian John Plunkett in writing and the editing of Jennifer Brooks (with narrator Jim Lauderdale).  The Hintons craft a film which uses the narratives of people who have been involved with the tradition to give it skin, people such as the entertaining and informative Raymond Hamrick, a 91 year old watch repairman who has been involved since childhood, even penning 6 songs in the newest revision of The Sacred Harp.  Or Hugh McGraw who in the Seventies, with a small group, traveled the country giving exhibitions on college campuses and thus sparking interest in yet another generation and has penned 8 songs in The Sacred Harp.
The film, and subject matter, is fascinating and informative.  Traditions such as Sacred Harp singing run the risk of dying out, but filmmakers like the Hintons do a great service to the American musical, and historical, communities by fanning the embers to cause interest in this tradition to continue to burn brightly.
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