What the Minutes Tell Us About the Union Musical Convention's Introductory Lesson

The very first time I attended the Union Musical Convention, I was elected to serve as its vice-chair. I knew that the singing had a history of over 150 years, but as a newcomer, I only had a direct knowledge of one year of it. One of the things that I did know is that a unique aspect of this convention is the Introductory Lesson, an extended lesson led by an esteemed leader (chosen by the chair) at the beginning of the first day of the convention.

The chair position rotates, so even though I was then only the vice-chair, I knew it would soon be my job to select someone to lead the Introductory Lesson and to help them understand what's expected of them in that role. But having never attended the Union before, I knew next to nothing about the Introductory Lesson. The most detailed information I received from those I asked was that it's common to lead a song in each mode of time and end with an anthem or other complex tune.

To learn about this — and to answer other questions I had, such as when & where the convention has been held historically — I set about trying to find all the minutes of the convention that I could. I've since published those here on this site. I figured that I should also publish my findings about the Introductory Lesson on this site so that future chairs and leaders of it can have this as a resource. This information can answer a lot of questions for the curious singer, and I know I would be glad to have it if I were asked to lead the Introductory Lesson.

In the future, I may expand on this article with a more in-depth study of the Introductory Lesson — drawing not just on the minutes, but perhaps also on interviews with past leaders.

List of Introductory Lessons of the Union Musical Convention

Summary Statistics of Introductory Lessons

Number of Songs

What follows are statistics of the number of songs included in the Introductory Lesson in the years 1959-2025, excluding the years we are missing (1960, 1962, 1965, and 1976).

Types of Songs

One of the things I have been told about the Introductory Lesson is that it is often used as a way to introduce the different types of music in The Sacred Harp. There are several ways you could think to categorize the kinds of songs in The Sacred Harp, but in the context of the Introductory Lesson, this seems to most often refer to modes of time. The Sacred Harp has 7 modes of time — three of common time: 2/2, 2/4, and 4/4; two of triple time: 3/2 and 3/4; and two of compound time: 6/4 and 6/8.

In the late 1980's, it started to become common for Introductory Lessons to include at least one song in each of the three types of modes of time: common, triple, and compound. In the 1989-2009 period, it's often unclear if this was happening intentionally or by chance: a lesson of 9 songs chosen at random from the 1991 Sacred Harp would have approximately a 50% chance of including at least one of each of the three types, or around a 30% chance in a lesson of 6 songs.

Around 2010, it became common to introduce the modes of time by type, often leading all 2-3 songs for each of the types before moving on to the next type. Also around 2010, it became quite common to end with an anthem. Before 2010, very few Introductory Lessons included anthems (only 2 of 47), whereas from 2010 on, almost all of the lessons have included anthems (13 of 14).

The proportion of minor songs included has greatly increased over time. I have not yet analyzed if this reflects general trends of what songs were sung (by all leaders) at the Union, or if this change is specific to the Introductory Lesson. A few leaders have included one major and one minor for each of common, triple, and compound time.

Leaders

There have been approximately 48 unique leaders for the 61 years of data we've collected. Because of ambiguous names, I'm not sure of the gender breakdown of lessons, but in the earliest years they reported all leaders as "Brother" or "Sister". From this, the earliest report of a woman leading the Introductory Lesson was Sister Lucile Moore in 1938, the 5th year for which we have data.

Themes

The last three years (2023-2025) are the only years where any theme of the Introductory Lesson was mentioned in the minutes, and each of these years has had a theme.

2023: "Malinda Snow directed the introductory lesson. She spoke about the different meters of poetry that appear in songs in The Sacred Harp, and how earlier hymnals only consisted of words—poems or psalms which were numbered and had an indication of the poetry's meter. Different communities who used these hymn books had tunes passed down through their communities that could be used with any hymn of a corresponding meter. Different communities often used different tunes for the same poetry. She explained how song books such as the Sacred Harp, by printing music along with the words, might have caused certain sets of words and music to seem more married than they were before. She showed how even now the meter of a tune (noted next to the tune's name) can give singers a clue as to other tunes that could be used with the same poetry. Malinda Snow led 56t and 268."

2024: "Lauren Bock directed the introductory lesson. To recognize the upcoming new revision of the Sacred Harp, she led songs that were each added during a different previous revision, and which each demonstrated a different mode of time. Lauren Bock led 569t, 470, 294, 73b, 271t, 376, 360, and 250."

2025: "Tom George directed the introductory lesson. To recognize the upcoming new revision of the Sacred Harp, he led songs that were added to the book in 20th century revisions. Tom George led 549, 506, 477, 354t, 330b, 325, 26, and 507."

Despite these being the only mentioned themes, it seems likely that other leaders have had themes to their lessons through the years that were not recorded in the minutes.

Conclusion

The minutes offer a look at how the Introductory Lesson of the Union Musical Convention has changed over the decades — and also how it has stayed the same. It's incredible that we have a record of over 70 years of Introductory Lessons. I'm impressed and grateful that I have been able to find minutes for this many years, and I would like to thank Nathan Rees and Jesse P. Karlsberg for helping me access the records.