{"id":985,"date":"2026-05-24T16:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/?p=985"},"modified":"2026-05-24T17:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:03:05","slug":"upcoming-atypi-music-to-their-eyes-a-new-shape-note-typeface-for-sacred-harp-singers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/24\/upcoming-atypi-music-to-their-eyes-a-new-shape-note-typeface-for-sacred-harp-singers\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming @ ATypI: Music to Their Eyes: A New Shape-Note Typeface for Sacred Harp Singers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/atypi.org\/conferences-events\/atypi-2026-stanford\/\">ATypI Stanford 2026<\/a>, this <a href=\"https:\/\/atypi.org\/presentation\/music-to-their-eyes-a-new-shape-note-typeface-for-sacred-harp-singers\/\">Thursday, 28 May 2026, 10:30\u201311am PDT, Jeff Kellem will be presenting<\/a> about the bespoke <a href=\"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/29\/collins-music-typeface-for-the-sacred-harp-2025-edition-songbook\/\">Collins music typeface<\/a> designed for <a href=\"https:\/\/sacredharp.com\/product\/sacred-harp-2025-edition\/\"><em>The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition<\/em><\/a> songbook with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sacredharp.com\">Sacred Harp Publishing Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Music to Their Eyes: A New Shape-Note Typeface for Sacred Harp Singers<\/h2>\n<p>Sacred Harp singing started in the 1700s and continues today. For community, inclusive, welcoming. No rehearsal, no performance, sing once, move on. Full voice, fortissimo (loud) is default. Sitting in a hollow square, leader in the center, four parts facing inward. Heard in the film \u201cCold Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In early 2020, a bespoke shape-note music typeface for the new edition of \u201cThe Sacred Harp\u201d was commissioned. Shape note is a solf\u00e8ge system; differing shapes represent notes in a relative scale, helping singers sightread. During the next 5 years, this design was refined through iteration, historical references, detailed feedback and communication, culminating in the book\u2019s release in September 2025.<\/p>\n<p>First published in 1844, the songbook is used throughout the world, connecting community, as a historical and living book, with a new edition every ~30 years. Each edition removes less popular songs and adds in new compositions. The 2025 Edition will be used for a generation with the typeface available for new music layout.<\/p>\n<p>The typeface allowed 13 pages to be freed up for new songs by condensing multipage songs into a smaller space while being readable and clearer. They wanted the design to \u201cbreathe\u201d on a page with ample space while remaining visually consistent with denser pages.<\/p>\n<p>Will share:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>history of the book designs over the past 180+ years,<\/li>\n<li>design decisions along the way,<\/li>\n<li>challenges of design of a shape-note typeface, timing with the pandemic, and how that may have actually helped produce a better result,<\/li>\n<li>how we rarely get to see the impact of our typefaces upon a community,\n<ul>\n<li><em>Jeff is \u2026 just the right one, i believe, to lend design expertise to sacred harp and bring more history to life through this typeface<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>how the songbook and singing manages to welcome and connect folk across every spectrum.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At ATypI Stanford 2026, this Thursday, 28 May 2026, 10:30\u201311am PDT, Jeff Kellem will be presenting about the bespoke Collins music typeface designed for The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition songbook with the Sacred Harp Publishing Company. Music to Their Eyes: A New Shape-Note Typeface for Sacred Harp Singers Sacred Harp singing started in the 1700s and continues today. For community, &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/24\/upcoming-atypi-music-to-their-eyes-a-new-shape-note-typeface-for-sacred-harp-singers\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,18],"tags":[106,107,72,79,87,96],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atypi","category-conference","category-music-notation","tag-atypi2026","tag-atypistanford2026","tag-music-typeface","tag-sacred-harp","tag-type-design","tag-typeface"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/atypi2026-jeff-kellem-sacred-harp-social-media.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}