HYMNS FOR AN ATHIEST

Debra, She Who Seeks, wrote a post about Hymns.  

The absolute only thing I find good about religion is the music it has spawned.   From classical, to gospel, to country, to hill music, to conventional church hymns, religion has been the basis for beautiful expression, regardless of the emptiness of its meaning.  

Religious music just plain makes people feel better; the beats, rhymes and melodies are good listening.  A true art form.  

Spending my earliest years in Kentucky I was aware of a rural American church music known as Shape Note or Sacred Harp Singing.    

This music sprang from the hills of Appalachia.  It was contrived for people who could not read music and even for people who could not read.   There are many versions of Shape Note Singing with melody runs from four note singing to seven note singing. Each note is given a specific shape and sound.  First the sound of the notes are sung and then the words of the song are substituted.   The last shape note singing my wife and I attended was in the town of Marion, Kentucky back in the late 1980.   

Even if you are not religious, religious music can feed your soul.

Sacred Harp: an original American art form. 






Just one example