Public Worship, Private FaithThe Sacred Harp, a tunebook that first appeared in 1844, has stood as a model of early American musical culture for most of this century. Tunebooks such as this, printed in shape notes for public singing and singing schools, followed the New England tradition of singing hymns and Psalms from printed music. Nineteeth century Americans were inundated by such books, but only the popularity of The Sacred Harp has endured throughout the twentieth century.