I built this website to serve a need that was brought up during a meeting I attended. It was asked where to go to view upcoming singings now that the previous lists were no longer maintained. The answer was that the minutes book was the only source for most singings. The downside is that it is published in January and then static for the rest of the year; many singings are added throughout the year or have location changes. I got to thinking about a better way to list singings so that it could be searched more easily than pure text listings. I made a demo website and sent to the people from that meeting as an example of how it could be done. It was well received and as I continued to add to the demo, I eventually fell into making the full version of the website that you see here.
How It Works
The data for the singings were initially compiled based on the Sacred Harp Singings minutes book and the websites for Christian Harmony and the Cooper Book. Any time a singing update is posted to the Sacred Harp Friends Facebook group or to the listserv, I update the listing here. More importantly, a lot of the data has been submitted by users. When viewing the listing for any singing, you will see a note stating the date and the source of the info for the most recent update.
The tables and info pages run completely off an Excel file that feeds into a WordPress plugin. The dates for each singing are calculated using formulas which automatically calculate next year’s date once this year’s singing has passed. All the details shown on the info pages including the Google Maps window are contained in the Excel file. This allows for fairly easy updating of any new info and minimal maintenance from year to year.
It is worth noting that while email addresses are typically obscured by spelling out “at” and “dot com” on other singing websites (like I do in bold below), I do not think it is necessary for the data populated on the info pages. These are generated from your interactions with the table and should not be retrievable by web crawlers because they are not fixed web pages.
How You Can Help
These listings are only as good as what I have found or what has been submitted. There have been a lot of singings with outdated info or that are now inactive. I also know that a large percentage of the Regular Singings have outdated info.
You can help by reviewing listings for annual singings you attend and for regular local singings near you and verify they are correct. If there are discrepancies, please submit the correct info. In particular, it helps if you can link to a website or local Facebook group that can be checked in future years for singing details.
Contact
If you have any questions or suggestions you can contact me directly at shapenotesingings followed by gmail dot com. Please use the submit form for any singing updates because this form formats it for easy updating of the Excel file.
– Jeremiah Ledbetter