Guy Banks and the Brandywine singers will perform.

This is a rare opportunity for Wrightstown Meeting, and you won't want to miss it. Plan to bring a dish for the pot luck and stay to enjoy the presentation and share this experience with us.

Come to the November 4th Meet and Eat and join some Brandywine singers as we attempt to demystify shape note singing.  Songs are sung a capella, and represent composers from the English West Gallery tradition; early New England composers like Wm. Billings and Daniel Read are included in the green cover FGC Hymnal. 

After our repast, chairs will be arranged in a "hollow square" formation, not far from the wall monitor.  After the Brandywine singers open with a song we'll face the monitor and learn how the shaped note heads correspond to musical solfege: Fa So La, rather than Do Re Mi.  We will sing the major scale, thence, the minor scale.  We should see that a certain shape represents a certain degree of the scale. 

After those rudiments all are invited to sing with the Brandywine singers.  If you don't feel confident, get close enough to hear one of the Brandywine singers; in that context they are known as "Ringers."   We'll probably include one or two traditional  pieces; and a song or more composed in the singing school tradition by living composers.  Thirty-five or forty minutes may not be enough time to cover all that, but those who can stay longer are welcome to sing with the Brandywine singers.