TEXAS NORMAL SINGING SCHOOL
When: July 21-26
Where: Abilene Christian University Biblical Studies Building
Registration deadline: July 7. Click here to register
More Information: http://www.singingschool.org

WORSHIP LEADER CONFERENCE
When: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. July 20
Where: Abilene Christian University, Room 114 Biblical Studies Building
Leader: Randy Gill
Registration: Click here to register
More Information: http://www.singingschool.org/programs/worship-leader-conference

 By Loretta Fulton
Deadline to register for the upcoming Texas Normal Singing School and Worship Leader Conference is July 7.

Both events will be held in the Biblical Studies Building at Abilene Christian University. The worship leader conference will be held 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 20. The singing school is scheduled for July 21-26. 

The Texas Normal Singing School started in 1946, with training offered in song leading, song writing, and singing with excellence.

Promotional material says, “At The Singing School, our goal is to train men and women to excel in the public worship and assemblies of the church. We believe that everyone has a part to sing! We specialize in a cappella, congregational singing.”

Accounts of “singing schools” date to 1730 in Charleston, S.C., according to the Texas Normal Singing School’s website, with the Texas school forming in June 1946. The word “normal” means the school didn’t offer scholastic credit, a common terminology at the time. The school moved to ACU in 1989 when the Biblical Studies Building opened. 

Singing schools teach people how to read shape note music, which is favored by congregations that sing a cappella music, such as the Churches of Christ. Learning to identify the geometrical shapes, and their corresponding sound, doesn’t take formal music training.

The Texas Normal Singing School was formed in June 1946 by Edgar Furr and Austin Taylor. The first school was held in Mathis, in South Texas, and later moved to Sabinal, near Uvalde.  The school moved to the campus of Trinity University in San Antonio in 1985 and then to Abilene.

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene