Enjoy a day immersed in beautiful harmony, great company and a homemade Dinner on the Grounds — bring a dish to share.
Quay Smathers (1913-1997), singing master and recipient of the prestigious North Carolina Folk Heritage Award, tirelessly taught shaped-note singing from Georgia to Michigan and points in between. Today, those who learned under Quay remember his quick wit, his clear voice, and his strong convictions about saving a musical tradition passed down from his ancestors in Western North Carolina.
The Quay Smathers Memorial Singing School is devoted to carrying on his work of raising up shaped-note singers who desire to sing in the traditional style originally heard in the Blue Ridge mountains of Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The book of choice is The Christian Harmony by William Walker and much attention is given to tempo, phrasing, and oral traditions.
Held in the historic Shook-Smathers House, the singing school is taught by leaders in the Blue Ridge style of shaped-note singing, including Quay’s daughters June Smathers-Jolley and Elizabeth Smathers-Shaw, and son-in-law Lynn Shaw. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the tradition, a proficiency in singing shaped-notes as originally sung in the Southern Appalachians, and resources to continue their own personal exploration of the practice.
