The Shenandoah Harmony was first published in 2012 by a music committee composed of seven Sacred Harp singers from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania: John W. del Re, Kelly Macklin, Leyland W. del Re, Nora Miller, Daniel L. Hunter, Myles Louis Dakan, and Rachel Wells Hall. Their original inspiration for this book was to create a collection of the best songs compiled, printed, and published by Ananias Davisson. Davisson was from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and from 1816 to 1825 he published five editions of The Kentucky Harmony and three editions of A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony.
The music committee also chose to complement Davisson's selections with songs from other singing-school repertoire tune books. They found songs from 68 tune books that were published between 1763 and 1875. There were also six twentieth century tune books that were used for sources: the Cooper and J. L. White revisions of The Sacred Harp, the Deason-Parris revision of The Christian Harmony, and three Primitive Baptist hymnals (The Good Old Songs, The Primitive Baptist Tune and Hymn Book, and The Harp of Ages). They also included 61 original compositions from living composers from the shape-note singing community. With a few exceptions, the music committee chose not to use any tunes that can be found in The Sacred Harp, 1991 Edition.
There is one unique feature in this book that is not normally found in other books. There are two songs that have two optional verses in German. The song "Diana" was found in a book titled Die Union Choral Harmonie, which was published in 1836. This book uses the Little and Smith shape-note system. The other song, "Singing Pilgrim," was found in a book titled Die Philharmonia, which was published in 1875. These two books first used Joseph Funk's seven-syllable shape-note system. Both books have German and English verses with each tune.
Another song in The Shenandoah Harmony has four optional verses in Polish. The song "Freta" is a recent composition by a living composer.
It appears that the music committee considered the growing interest of American shape-note singing in Europe, including countries that officially use a language other than English such as German and Polish.
Overall, the music committee wanted to produce a book that could be used as a "stand alone" book at an all day singing. As of 2014, there are two all-days singings that use The Shenandoah Harmony only, and there are two all-day singings that use The Shenandoah Harmony and the Denson revision of The Sacred Harp. All four of these singings are in the Mid-Atlantic States. There are also monthly singings that use The Shenandoah Harmony in Mid-Atlantic, New England, Mid-West, and West Coast areas of the United States, and England.
The music committee has done a wonderful job traveling to Sacred Harp singings all over the United States selling their books. There have been other tune books that have been published sometime in the past 20 years, but interest in these other books have remained regional. The music committee for The Shenandoah Harmony has done a wonderful job marketing their book.
Sources:
Del Re, John W. et al. The Shenandoah Harmony. (Boyce, VA: The Shenandoah Harmony Publishing Company, 2012).
Eyer, H. C., & Wyeth, F. Die Union Choral Harmonie: Enthaltend Drey und Vierstimmig Ausgesetzte Melodien, mit Deutschem und Englischem Texte; Sowohl Zum Gebrauche Beim Öffentlichen Gottesdienste Aller Christlichen Confessionen, Als Auch Für Sing-Schulen und Privat Gesellschaften. (Harrisburg, PA: Francis Wyeth, printer Harrisburg, 1836).
Hall, Rachel Wells. "The Making of The Shenandoah Harmony", The Sacred Harp Publishing Company (29 July 2013), <http://originalsacredharp.com/2013/07/29/the-making-of-the-shenandoah-harmony/> (25 August 2014).
Wenger, M. D. The Philharmonia: A collection of tunes, adapted to public and private worship, containing tunes for all the hymns in the English Mennonite Hymn Book, the Gemeinschaftliche, Unparteiische and Allgemeine Liedersammlungen, the Unparteiische Gesangbuch, and the Mennonitische Gesangbuch, with instructions and explanations in English and German, also English and German texts to most of the tunes, metrical indexes, &c. including a greater variety of metres of church music than any other work of the kind now published = Die Philharmonia. (Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1875).
AH - Shumway, N., The American Harmony, 1793.
AHR - Fargo, G. W. and J. Pierce, Ancient Harmony Revived, Ed.3, 1850.
AMM - Wright, A., The American Musical Magazine, 1800-1803.
AMMisc - Wright, A., The American Musical Miscellany, 1798.
AV - Mansfield, D. H., The American Vocalist, Ed.2, 1849.
BFWC - White, B. F. and E. J. King, The B. F. White Sacred Harp, W. M. Cooper rev., Ed.3, 1909.
BH - Lewis, F., The Beauties of Harmony, Ed.4, 1820.
BSH - Benham, A., Social Harmony, 1798.
CH - Walker, W., The Christian Harmony, Ed.2, 1873.
CH58 - Walker, W., The Christian Harmony, Deason-Parris rev., 1958.
CHarp - Wakefield, S., The Christian's Harp, Ed.2, 1837.
CMS - Chapin, A., Manuscript, c.1798.
ColH - Stone, J., The Columbian Harmony, 1793.
ContH - Billings, W., The Continental Harmony, 1794.
CPT - Hopkinson, F., A Collection of Psalm Tunes, 1763.
CtH - Griswold, E. and T. Skinner, Connecticut Harmony, 1798.
CUH - Caldwell, W., Union Harmony, 1837.
FH - Benham, A., Federal Harmony, Ed.2, 1792.
GOS - Cayce, C. H., The Good Old Songs, 1914.
HH - Hauser, W., The Hesperian Harp, 1848.
HM - Belcher, S., The Harmony of Maine, 1794.
HOA - Whitten, A. N., The Harp of Ages, New Ed., 1977.
HSH - Harrison, R., Sacred Harmony, 1784.
ICH - Ingalls, J., The Christian Harmony, 1805.
JNEH - Jenks, S., The New-England Harmonist, 1799.
JTH - Johnson, A., Johnson's Tennessee Harmony, Ed.2, 1821.
KH1 - Davisson, A., Kentucky Harmony, 1816.
KH2 - Davisson, A., Kentucky Harmony, Ed.2, 1817.
KHst - Metcalf, S., The Kentucky Harmonist, 1818.
KnH - Jackson, J., The Knoxville Harmony, 1838.
MC1 - West, E., The Musical Concert, 1802.
MC2 - West, E., The Musical Concert, Ed.2, 1807.
MCH - Moore, W., Columbian Harmony, 1825.
MCM - Miller, G., The Methodist Camp-Meeting Song Book, 1841.
MH - Carden, A. D., The Missouri Harmony, Stereo. Ed., 1846.
MIM - Billings, W., Music in Miniature, 1779.
MNH - Maxim, A., The Northern Harmony, Ed.2, 1808.
MS - Bushnell, J., The Musical Synopsis, 1807.
NC1 - Mann, E., The Northampton Collection, 1797.
NEH - Swan, T., New England Harmony, 1801.
NEPS - Billings, W., The New-England Psalm-Singer, 1770.
NFH - Norman, J., The Federal Harmony, 1792.
NHC - Swan, M. L., The New Harp of Columbia, 1867.
NMT - M'Dowell, J., The Norristown Musical Teacher, 1832.
NUH - Bayley, D., The New Universal Harmony, 1773.
OL - Hauser, W., The Olive Leaf, 1878.
PBH - Daily, J. R., Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book, 1918.
PCM - Patterson, R., Patterson's Church Music, 1813.
Ph - Wenger, M. D., Die Philharmonia, 1875.
PhH - Adgate, A., Philadelphia Harmony, Ed.4, 1791.
Rev - Hillman, J., The Revivalist, 1868.
RH - Kimball, J., The Rural Harmony, 1793.
SH - White, B. F. and E. J. King, The Sacred Harp, New Ed., 1860.
SKH - Davisson, A., Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony, Ed.3, 1825.
SKH2 - Davisson, A., Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony, Ed.2, c.1822.
SM - Hayden, A. S., The Sacred Melodeon, 1849.
SMA - Billings, W., The Singing Master's Assistant, 1778.
SMS - Stoughton Musical Society, The Centenial Collection, 1878.
SocH - McCurry, J. G., The Social Harp, 1855.
SouH - Walker, W., The Southern Harmony, New Ed., 1854.
StJAH - St. John, S., The American Harmonist, 1821.
SufH - Billings, W., The Suffolk Harmony, 1786.
SVH - Steffy, J., Appendix to the Valley Harmonist, 1836.
SWPH - Walker, W., The Southern & Western Pocket Harmonist, 1846.
TC - Brown, B., Templi Carmina, Ed.5, 1817.
TH - Washburn, J. C., The Temple Harmony, 1818.
UCH - Eyer, H. C., Die Union Choral Harmonie, Ed.2, 1836.
UH - Humbert, S., Union Harmony, Ed.2, 1816.
VAH - Clayton, D. L. and J. P. Carrell, The Virginia Harmony, 1831.
VH2 - Ranlet, H., The Village Harmony, Ed.2, 1796.
WM - Heath. S., The Waterhouse Manuscript, 1782.
WR1 - Wyeth, J., Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Ed.5, 1826.
WR2 - Wyeth, J., Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, Ed.2, 1820.
WSH - White, B. F. and E. J. King, The Sacred Harp, Ed.4 with suppl. (White edition), 1911.
This Source Abbreviation page above is located after the title page of The Shenandoah Harmony. Each song in this book, that is not a composition from a living composer, has an abbreviated notation for the source of the song.