Skip to the numbers
The Amen Corner

Gospel music, sung number by number

one song : one number

Part of the book

The pews

Congregational song, choir lofts and the craft of singing church.

4 numbers · latest 10/06/2026

  1. The shape-note hymnal in the pew rack

    What the book in the pew rack actually is: shape-note notation, the four syllables fa-sol-la-mi, and why a congregation that cannot read a staff can still read a hymn.

    5 min

  2. Pew singing against platform singing

    Two musics on one Sunday morning: the anthem the platform rehearses and the hymn the pew remembers, measured in tempo, key, and the congregation's own vote.

    5 min

  3. The choir anniversary as tradition

    A singing-school field notes on the church choir anniversary: guest choirs in the front pews, a long program, two offerings, and a date kept for decades.

    6 min

  4. The song leader before the first hymn

    How a devotional leader lines the first hymn, sets the long meter, and opens the service, entered from a Florida pew before the choir sings.

    5 min