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{{Short description|Musical notation for group singing}}
{{for|the tradition of music primarily associated with shape-note notation|Sacred Harp}}
{{more citations needed|date = December 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
[[Image:Star in the east.png|thumb|400px|right|"Star in the East" from the 1854 edition of ''[[Southern Harmony]]'']]
{{listen |filename=Star in the east.ogg|title=Star in the
'''Shape notes''' are a [[musical notation]] designed to facilitate congregational and [[social singing]]. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the [[notehead]]s in written music to help singers find [[pitch (music)|pitches]] within [[major scale|major]] and [[minor scale]]s without the use of more complex information found in [[key signature]]s on the [[staff (music)|staff]].▼
▲'''Shape notes''' are a [[musical notation]] designed to facilitate congregational and [[Sing-along|social singing]]. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the [[notehead]]s in written music to help singers find [[pitch (music)|pitches]] within [[major scale|major]] and [[minor scale]]s without the use of more complex information found in [[key signature]]s on the [[staff (music)|staff]].
Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of music traditions, mostly [[sacred music]] but also secular, originating in [[New England]], practiced primarily in the [[Southern United States]] for many years, and now experiencing a renaissance in other locations as well.▼
▲Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of music traditions, mostly [[sacred music]] but also secular, originating in [[New England]], practiced primarily in the [[Southern United States]] for many years, and now{{when|date=February 2024}} experiencing a renaissance in other locations as well.
== Nomenclature ==
Shape notes have also been called '''character notes''' and '''patent notes''', respectfully, and '''buckwheat notes''' and '''dunce notes''', pejoratively.
== Overview ==
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The system illustrated above is a ''four-shape'' system; six of the notes of the scale are grouped in pairs assigned to one syllable/shape combination. The ascending scale using the fa, so, la, fa, so, la, mi, fa syllables represent a variation of the hexachord system introduced by the 11th century monk [[Guido of Arezzo]], who originally introduced a six-note scale using the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.
The four syllable variation of Guido's original system was prominent in 17th century England, and entered the US in the 18th century.<ref>{{Harvnb | Marini | 2003
[[Image:CMajorScaleInAikenShapeSystem.gif|center|400px]]
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==Effectiveness of shape notes==
A controlled study on the usefulness of shape notes was carried out in the 1950s by George H. Kyme with an experimental population consisting of fourth- and fifth-graders living in California. Kyme took care to match his [[experimental group|experimental]] and [[control group]]s as closely as possible for ability, quality of teacher, and various other factors. He found that the students taught with shape notes learned to [[sight read]]
==Shape notes and modulation==
Many forms of music in the [[common practice period]] employ [[modulation (music)|modulation]], that is, a change of key in mid-piece. Since the 19th century, most choral music has employed modulation, and since the key change is easy for instruments but difficult for singers, the new tonality is usually established by instrumental accompaniment; accordingly, the choir will also sing in the [[Equal temperament|temperament]] of the instrument rather than the [[just intonation]] of the human voice. Modulation is sometimes said to be problematic for shape-note systems, since the shapes employed for the original key of the piece no longer match the scale degrees of the new key; {{Sfn | Horn | 1970 | pp = 7–8}} but the ability to use of sharp and flat symbols along with shape notes is a matter of the range of [[Sort (typesetting)|sorts]] available to the typographer and musical preferences. The development of musical preferences is partly documented by surviving copies of B.F. White's ''Organ'' from the 1850s.<ref>The role of the ''Organ'' in setting musical tastes of the ''Sacred Harp'' community is discussed in the third chapter of {{cite book |last=Bealle |first=John |year=1997 |title=Public Worship, Private Faith: Sacred Harp and American Folksong |url=https://ugapress.org/book/9780820319889/public-worship-private-faith/ |location=Athens, Georgia |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=9-780-8203-1988-9}}. See in particular pp. 141-142 for a discussion about the use of a sharped seventh in the minor scale between [[Isaac B. Woodbury]] (1819-1858) and Isaac Holcombe (for) vs. the anonymous "Georgia Boy" (against).</ref>
[[Justin Morgan]]'s "Judgment Anthem
== Origin and early history ==
{{See also|List of shape-note tunebooks}}
As noted above, the syllables of shape-note systems greatly antedate the shapes. The practice of singing music to syllables designating pitch goes back to about AD 1000 with the work of [[Guido of Arezzo]]. Other early work in this area includes the [[Numbered musical notation#History and usage|cipher notation]] of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] (18th century), and the [[solfège#Tonic sol-fa|tonic sol-fa]] of [[Sarah Anna Glover]] and [[John Curwen]] (19th century).
American forerunners to shape notes include the 9th edition of the [[Bay Psalm Book]] (Boston), and ''An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes in a Plaine & Easy Method'' by Reverend [[John Tufts (music educator)|John Tufts]]. The 9th edition of the Bay Psalm Book was printed with the initials of four-note syllables (fa, sol, la, me) underneath the staff. In his book, Tufts substituted the initials of the four-note syllables on the staff in place of note heads, and indicated rhythm by punctuation marks to the right of the letters.<ref>Gates 1988</ref>
[[File:Connelly shapenotes.jpg|thumb|right|
Some copies of ''The Easy Instructor, Part II'' (1803) included a statement, on the verso of the title page, in which John Connelly (whose name is given in other sources as Conly, Connolly, and Coloney) grants permission to Little and Smith to make use in their publications of the shape notes to which he claimed the rights.<ref>{{Citation | first = Kiri | last = Miller | title = Traveling Home | publisher = Univ. of Illinois Press | year = 2008 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-JB2iuBPxfsC&
Shape notes proved popular in America, and quickly a wide variety of hymnbooks were prepared making use of them. The shapes were eventually extirpated in the northeastern U.S. by a so-called "better music" movement, headed by [[Lowell Mason]].{{Sfn | Lowens | Britton | 1953 |p=32 | ps =. "Had this pedagogical tool been accepted by 'the father of singing among the children', Lowell Mason, and others who shaped the patterns of American music education, we might have been more successful in developing skilled music readers and enthusiastic amateur choral singers in the public schools."}} But in the South, the shapes became well entrenched, and multiplied into a variety of traditions. [[Ananias Davisson]]'s [[Kentucky Harmony]] (1816) is the first Southern shape-note tunebook,<ref>"the very first shape-note book produced south of the Mason-Dixon line, Ananias Davisson's ''Kentucky Harmony'', published in Harrison, Virginia, in 1816" {{cite book |last=Hatchett |first=Marion J. |year=2003 |title=A companion to the New harp of Columbia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anvss1Vyi58C&pg=PA34 |publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press |page=34 |isbn=978-1572332034}}</ref> and was soon followed by Alexander Johnson's ''Tennessee Harmony'' (1818), Allen D. Carden's
==Rise of seven-shape systems==
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== Currently active shape note traditions ==
{{See also|Sacred Harp}}
Although seven-shape books may not be as popular as in the past, there are still a great number of churches in the American South, in particular [[Southern Baptist]]s, [[Primitive Baptists]], almost all of the non-instrumental [[Churches of Christ]], some [[Free Methodist]]s, [[Mennonite]], some [[Amish]], [[United Pentecostal]]s, and [[United Baptist]]s in the Appalachian regions of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, that regularly use seven-shape songbooks in Sunday worship. These songbooks may contain a variety of songs from 18th-century classics to 20th-century [[gospel music]]. Thus today denominational songbooks printed in seven shapes probably constitute the largest branch of the shape-note tradition.
In addition, [[nondenominational]] community singings are also intermittently held which feature early- to mid-20th century seven-shape gospel music such as [[Stamps-Baxter]] hymnals or ''Heavenly Highway''.<ref>{{cite web|title= Heavenly Highway Hymns|url= http://www.brentwoodbenson.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=75608852&&viewtype=songlist|work= Hymn Book|publisher= Stamps-Baxter/Zondervan|access-date= 11 November 2012|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131213134229/http://www.brentwoodbenson.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=75608852&&viewtype=songlist|archive-date= 13 December 2013}}</ref> In these traditions, the custom of "singing the notes" (syllables) is generally preserved only during the learning process at [[singing school]]s and singing may be to an instrumental accompaniment, typically a piano.
The seven-shape system is also still used at regular public singings of 19th-century songbooks of a similar type to the ''[[Sacred Harp]]'', such as ''[[The Christian Harmony]]'' and the ''[[New Harp of Columbia]]''. Such singings are common in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, and generally preserve the singing school custom of "singing the notes".
The seven-shape (Aikin) system is commonly used by the [[Mennonite]]s and [[Church of the Brethren|Brethren]]. Numerous songbooks are printed in shaped notes for this market. They include ''Christian Hymnal'',<ref name="Champagne">{{cite web|last= Champagne|first= Josh|title= Christian Music|url= http://joshchampagne.com/music.html|access-date= 11 November 2012|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120911071501/http://www.joshchampagne.com/music.html|archive-date= 11 September 2012}}</ref> the ''[[Christian Hymnary]]'', ''
Some African-American churches use the seven-shape note system.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fox|first1=Derrick|title=African American Practice of Shape-Note Singing in the United States|journal=Choral Journal|year=2015|volume=56|issue=5|pages=38–51|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=110720055&site=eds-live&scope=site|access-date=4 April 2018}}</ref>
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[[File:Oak Grove Baptist Church, Elba Alabama, African American 7-shapenote gospel singing 10-11-2003.webm|thumb|Oak Grove Baptist Church, Elba, Alabama, African American 7-shape note gospel singing, 11 October 2003]]
The four-shape tradition that currently has the greatest number of participants is Sacred Harp singing. But there are many other traditions that are still active or even enjoying a resurgence of interest. Among the four-shape systems, the ''[[Southern Harmony]]'' has remained in continuous use at one singing in [[Benton, Kentucky]], and is now experiencing a small amount of regrowth. The current reawakening of interest in shape note singing has also created new singings using other recently moribund 19th-century four-shape songbooks, such as ''
==See also==
*[[Fuguing tune]]
*[[West gallery music]]▼
*[[Southern gospel]]
▲*[[West gallery music]]
==Notes==
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* {{Citation | type = article | first = Gavin James | last = Campbell | title = Old Can Be Used Instead of New: Shape-Note Singing and the Crisis of Modernity in the New South, 1880–1910 | journal = Journal of American Folklore | volume = 110 | number = 436 |date=Spring 1997 | pages = 169–88 | doi=10.2307/541811| jstor = 541811 }} investigates the internal debate among shape note singers at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the twentieth.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Gates | first1 = J. Terry | year = 1988 | title = A comparison of the tune books of Tufts and Walter | journal = Journal of Research in Music Education | volume = 36 | issue = 3| pages = 169–93 | doi = 10.2307/3344638 | jstor = 3344638 | s2cid = 191348871 }}
* {{
==External links==
{{external links|section|date=March 2016}}
*Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/h54lrBiaRls Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20151015135026/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54lrBiaRls Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54lrBiaRls |first=Jesse Pearlman |last=Karlsberg |title=An Introduction to ShapeNote Hymnody |publisher=Emory University}}{{cbignore}}
*[http://fasola.org/ Fasola Home Page] – web site of the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association, dedicated to Sacred Harp and Shapenote singing
*[http://www.awakemysoul.com/ Awake, My Soul] – about a documentary movie The Story of Sacred Harp and Shaped Note singing
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031008162711/http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/ijs/sn/sn-hist.html Shape Note Historical Background] – article on the evolution of shaped notes
*[http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/shapnote/shaped.htm Shape Notes: the eight note, seven shape method] – article promoting the seven shape method
*[http://www.singingalls.org/ Shape-note Connexion & music of Jeremiah Ingalls] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920234453/http://www.singingalls.org/ |date=20 September 2012 }} where you can hear a fine example of shapenote singing, including the first run-through with the shapenote syllables being sung
*{{cite book |url=http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/shapenote.pdf |title=A Shape-Note Singing Lesson |series=Smithsonian in Your Classroom |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |date=October 2000}} With lesson plans for teachers.
*[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xbsdd Sacred Harp Music] – article on Sacred Harp from the Handbook of Texas online
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*[http://www.ukshapenote.org.uk/ UK Sacred Harp and Shapenote Singing] – official UK site with events calendar, resources and contacts for all UK shapenote groups
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031206102702/http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/ Sacred Harp and Related Shape-Note Music Resources] – an extensive site of resources concerning Sacred Harp, other Shape-Note music, Gallery music, etc.
*[http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa74b.htm Singing with Sol-fa Syllables] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040925201709/http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa74b.htm |date=25 September 2004 }} – article about singing schools and shape notes
*[https://www.createspace.com/3447503 The Shape of Music] – book on teaching small children shapenote singing.
*[http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/folklife/folklife_cd.cfm Where Could I Go But To The Lord] field recording from the Florida Folklife Collection
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060206112350/http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/genresearch.pl?genre=shape-note Art of the States: shape-note] recordings
*[http://www.shapenote.net/ Sacred Harp.mus]. Electronic sound files of songs from several 19th century shapenote songbooks using Melody Assistant software.
*[http://sites.google.com/site/coconmaps/openhymnal-seven-shape-notes Seven-Shape Note Sheet Music] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823222811/https://sites.google.com/site/coconmaps/openhymnal-seven-shape-notes |date=23 August 2022 }} Open Hymnal Round Notes converted to Seven-Shape Notes.
*[http://sites.google.com/site/coconmaps/openhymnal-seven-shape-notes Seven-Shape Note Book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823222811/https://sites.google.com/site/coconmaps/openhymnal-seven-shape-notes |date=23 August 2022 }} Cyber Hymnal Selection converted to Seven-Shape Notes Book.
*[https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/singings/ Singings from the ''Shenandoah Harmony''] List of all-day and regular local singings from the ''Shenandoah Harmony''.
===Public-domain shape-note tunebooks===
* [http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:4-shape_notation 4-shape notation tunebooks on IMSLP]
* [http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:7-shape_notation 7-shape notation tunebooks on IMSLP]
* [https://archive.org/details/methodistharmoni00meth ''The Methodist Harmonist'' (1833)]
* {{Citation | first = Jesse B | last = Aikin | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zGoJAQAAMAAJ | title = The Christian Minstrel | year = 1858 | type = 7-shape}}.
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* Allen D. Carden, [http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Missouri_Harmony_%28Various%29 ''The Missouri Harmony'' (1834)]
* W. L. Chappell, ''[http://virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org/virtuallibrary/vl_OldRare.aspx?ResID=45 The Western Lyre]'', new edition (1835)
* David Clayton and James Carrell, [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200038828/enlarge.html?page=7§ion=&size=1024 ''
* Ananias Davisson, [http://www.bostonsing.org/music/suppl-kt-harmony/ ''A Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony'' (1825, reset 2011)]
* [[Joseph Funk]] and sons, [https://archive.org/details/newharmoniasacra00funk ''The New Harmonia Sacra: A Compilation of Genuine Church Music'' (1915, 18th edition, 7-shape)], [http://www.harmoniasacra.org/ (2008, 26th edition, 7-shape and 4-shape)]
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* [http://imslp.org/wiki/Wyeth%27s_Repository_of_Sacred_Music_(Various) ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music''] (1826)
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