The Christian Harmony

The Christian Harmony is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker. The book was released in 1866 (1867 according to some sources). It is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing.

William Walker was born in 1809 in South Carolina, and grew up near Spartanburg. He became a Baptist song leader and shape note "singing master." Walker and Benjamin Franklin White, publisher of The Sacred Harp, married sisters. In 1835, Walker published a tunebook entitled The Southern Harmony in four-shape (fasola) notation. He incorporated over half of the contents of this Southern Harmony into his Christian Harmony in 1866. For The Christian Harmony, Walker changed from the four-shape system to a seven-shape (doremi) system. Retaining the original four shapes of the Southern Harmony, he devised three other shapes of his own. In defending his change from the four-shape system which he had previously championed, Walker explained that parents wouldn't name seven children with only four names. A second edition was released in 1873. William Walker died on September 24, 1875.

Before the publication of a combined new edition of The Christian Harmony in 2010, two editions were in use - the "Carolina book" or "Walker book," and the "Alabama book" or "Deason book."

The books used in western North Carolina and adjacent areas were 1979, 1994, and 2002 reprints of Walker's 1873 edition of the Christian Harmony. None of the old songs were changed in the new reprint; four songs and some commentary were added.

The "Alabama" edition was a revision carried out under the leadership of O. A. Parris and John H. Deason and published in 1958. This edition utilized Jesse B. Aikin's seven-shape system; this change was made because Aikin's system was the most common among gospel singers in the South. In addition to changing to the Aikin notation, the 1958 revision deleted some songs and added new ones:

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