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Audio Recording Musical performances, Tift County Singing Convention, Tifton, Georgia, parts 3 and 4

About this Item

Title

  • Musical performances, Tift County Singing Convention, Tifton, Georgia, parts 3 and 4

Names

  • Stanley, David, 1942- (Collector)

Created / Published

  • Tifton, Georgia, July 23, 1977

Headings

  • -  Folklore--Georgia
  • -  Song festivals
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Songs
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- Georgia -- Tift County -- Tifton

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Songs
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Side A: Part 3 of a 10-part recording of interviews and performances at the Tift County Singing Convention, held at the Chapel of All Faiths, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton GA (Saturday, 23 July 1977): several of the leaders from the end of part 2 continue to direct at the first selection in part 3, joining Nell Parker to lead number 121 in the hymnal New Songs of Praise, Stamps-Baxter Music Co.; Avery Oakes and other members of the Convention Quartet lead number 115 in the hymnal New Songs of Praise; Joyce Oakes and the other members of the Convention Quartet lead number 82 in the hymnal Road to Glory, Jeffress Music Co., fieldworker comments that "even when there are six people up front, as many as four of them may be actually directing with hand motions to keep time," adding, "women tend to lead open-handed, using their palms and fingers, fingers more or less pointed at the audience, men often use a pointed finger or thumb and first finger pinched together"; L.A. Oakes (related to the other Oakes who participate) asks the leaders in front to stay in place, "y'all stay here," proceeds to lead number 103 in the hymnal Road to Glory, between verses, Oakes says, "this is where it's gonna start, that's good singing"; the Lawson Trio, three elderly sisters, one of whom plays the piano, fieldworker comments that the Lawsons are "wearing identical blue dresses and the next day, they wore identical black and white dresses, while one sister plays solo, her sisters cluster next to her," the trio sings "Learning to Lean" and "I'm So Happy"; Brooks Sheffield and three others lead number 142 in the hymnal Pure Gospel, James D. Vaughan, publisher, fieldworker comments that the leading did not work properly in this instance and the "piano and singers got fouled up"; Anna Kearce and six others lead number 28 in the hymnal Road to Glory; Doris Tadlock leads (fieldworker reports "with thumb and finger") number 158 in the hymnal Pure Gospel, fieldworker notes that Tadlock, wearing a red dress, is "serious and accomplished"; Howard Dumas leads number 118 in the hymnal Road to Glory with help from a daughter, another daughter plays piano, and young Montgomery, the convention vice-president's son, also plays piano, fieldworker notes that his playing gets out of time and tune.
  • -  Side B: Part 4 of a 10-part recording of interviews and performances at the Tift County Singing Convention, held at the Chapel of All Faiths, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton GA (Saturday, 23 July 1977): announcer calls for Mayo Potts (?); next the Martin Duet, fieldworker states that the Martins are "a very serious, evangelical man about 45 and his wife, who is one of the chief piano players, Martin also gave the closing prayer on Sunday," the duet perform a song called "Touch Jesus," the fieldworker notes that Martin uses a number of hand gestures, usually with both hands parallel, touches his heart, his head, holds out hands, reaches out his arms, for some line he speaks instead of sings, big round of applause; Martin Duet, "Like the Old Time Way of Preaching," saying at the end of the hymn, "I want to tell every one of you that one time I got up there and didn't say a word"; Evelyn Hester and two others lead number 123 in the hymnal New Songs of Praise, Stamps-Baxter Music Co.; pianos and organ take off from the previous tune and perform an instrumental, Franks says there's a request for an instrumental, and someone says "let's give these pianos a hand," applause; Bay Harrell and five others lead number 132 in the hymnal Pure Gospel, James D. Vaughan, publisher, fieldworker comment that "the first and last verses are almost always the only ones sung, in the interests of saving time," in this instance Mr. Martin requests, and gets, the second verse of the song, where previously only the first and third verses were sung; Penny Hanks and two other teen-aged girls direct number 100 in the hymnal Road to Glory, Jeffress Music Co., fieldworker note that they are "very professional directors, fluid gesture for keeping time"; Cindy Dumas, another of the teenagers, leads selection 62 in the same hymnal, with help from her father and the other two girls, with young Montgomery, the convention vice-president's son, on piano; Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Mashburn (president of Leoma Music, producer of one of the hymnals used by the convention, that he refers to as the "jaybird book" although the picture on the cover is a mockingbird), number 138 in the hymnal Sweet Melodies, Leoma Music Co., co-written by Mashburn himself, help in directing from one other man; Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Teston lead number 60 in the hymnal Pure Gospel; someone asks, "do you want a little help," fieldworker comments that "several husband-and-wife teams are leading now, ordinarily I think, they would each direct a song, but the shortage of time and the surplus of directors produces a squeeze," adding that "there are two songwriters attending the convention, Bob Jones and Frank White, who have, between them, three or four songs in these books, but as far as I know, none of them have yet been sung."

Medium

  • audiocassette

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1982/010: AFS 21181
  • MBRS shelflist: RYA 0992
  • Field project identifier: GA7-DS-C14

Source Collection

  • South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

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Credit line: South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Stanley, David. Musical performances, Tift County Singing Convention, Tifton, Georgia, parts 3 and 4. Tifton, Georgia, 1977. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21181/.

APA citation style:

Stanley, D. (1977) Musical performances, Tift County Singing Convention, Tifton, Georgia, parts 3 and 4. Tifton, Georgia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21181/.

MLA citation style:

Stanley, David. Musical performances, Tift County Singing Convention, Tifton, Georgia, parts 3 and 4. Tifton, Georgia, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21181/>.