<< Back 9/25/02 Mountain heritage celebrated SMN Sept. 28 Mountain Heritage Day, Western Carolina University’s annual celebration of mountain life, always has been a feast for the ears, from the toe-tapping sounds of banjo and fiddle, to the thunderous stomping of clogging teams, to the high-pitched whine of chainsaws at the woodcutting contest. But there is one festival sound that is distinctly different from the others, a haunting and majestic chorus of voices that links generations as young and old come together to carry on a sacred tradition – shape-note singing. Shape-note singing has held an honored place at Mountain Heritage Day since the festival’s early years, and two singings will be held at the 28th annual festival coming up Saturday, Sept. 28, on Western’s campus in Cullowhee. A way of notating music using different shapes of note heads on the musical staff, shape-note singing originated in Boston in the early 1800s and grew in popularity as it spread into the rural South. The music was first written in three-part harmony, but eventually a fourth part was added. With men and women singing two of the same lines of music — lead and treble — what the listener hears is actually an unusual six-part harmony, said Mike Nichols, a Sylva resident who coordinates the shape-note singings at Mountain Heritage Day. Nichols taught public school music in Jackson County for 30 years, and has organized the festival’s shape-note singing since 1992. Each year, letters are sent throughout the Southeast inviting shape-note singers to participate in the singings at Mountain Heritage Day. Eighty to ninety singers usually attend, with the rear entrance of WCU’s H.F. Robinson Administration Building serving as their stage. The four-shape system of the “Sacred Harp” songbook is used during an 11 a.m. session, and the seven-shape system of the “Christian Harmony” songbook is used in a 1:30 p.m. singing. It is during those singings that visitors can sometimes see the irreplaceable image of young and old joining together to keep a unique American tradition alive. “There seems to be a continuing interest in the art of shape-note singing, in part by children and grandchildren of the older participants, and also by those interested in the heritage aspect of shape notes,” Nichols said. Shape-note singings are well advertised among those interested in the art form around Western North Carolina, the Upstate of South Carolina and northern Georgia, he said. Visitors at Mountain Heritage Day are welcome to join in the singings, as listeners and as participants, Nichols said. Mountain Heritage Day typically draws upwards of 25,000 people to Western’s campus to enjoy three stages of traditional music and dance, dozens of demonstrations of authentic mountain folk arts, and craft and food booths along the midway. Western’s Mountain Heritage Center, which is committed to the preservation of mountain life and culture, is the focal point of Mountain Heritage Day and organizes featured musicians and craftspeople who demonstrate the authentic traditions of the mountains. The craftspeople, storytellers, dancers and musicians around the Mountain Heritage Center all come from the Western North Carolina area.