JDevor Music

Full Instrumentation:

Text (used in electronic playback) includes selections from the following:

• The cross of Christ inspires my heart – traditional public domain hymn text
• Sidney Lanier, Hymns of the Marshes – public domain
• Deborah Robson, Essay: On moving into the hollow square – ©2008 Deborah Robson, used with permission of the author (https://independentstitch.typepad.com…)

Electronics Requirements:

• quadrophonic and stereo playback versions are available

the work is available for purchase via Double Bass HQ here

Performance Note:

Program Note: Inspired by traditional shape-note or Sacred Harp singing, dear delightful hollow square gets its title from physical set-up of the four vocal parts: trebles, altos, tenors, and basses. The piece literally places the audience inside the middle of the hollow square with the four encircling speakers passing off live modulation of prerecorded vocals, text, and instrumental textures. The Sacred Harp tradition, originating in New England, became increasingly more popular with the 1844 publication of the tunebook, The Sacred Harp, collected and edited by Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King, who both lived in Georgia at the time. The hymn text, The cross of Christ inspires my heart, is combined with poetry of Sidney Lanier, Georgia native, and are interspersed between selections of On moving into the hollow square, a contemporary narrative essay by Deborah Robson which details her experience and the emotions felt at her first Sacred Harp meeting. The resultant musical story attempts to challenge the audience’s expectations between sacred and religious while creating my own modern interpretation and representation of the hallowed hollow square.