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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.
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes.
This page from the 1936 revised version of B. F. White's Sacred Harp shows the shaped notes used to aid singers. More than a system for writing hymns for choirs, shape-note singing became a style of singing, not only for church services, but also for social events that brought singers together.
shape-note singing, a musical practice and tradition of social singing from music books printed in shape notes. Shape notes are a variant system of Western musical notation whereby the note heads are printed in distinct shapes to indicate their scale degree and solmization syllable (fa, sol, la, etc.).
Shape notes are a system of music notation designed to facilitate choral singing. Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of sacred choral music traditions practiced primarily in the Southern region of the United States.
Aug 15, 2023 · This research guide provides an introduction to the documentation of shape-note singing and the publication of the Sacred Harp through activities such as fieldwork, interpretation and programming in the collections of the American Folklife Center and other units at the Library of Congress.
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Feb 10, 2014 · Shape notes were invented in the late 18th century to simplify teaching people to sight-read unaccompanied sacred musical scores. They were called shape notes because, instead of drawing all of the music scale’s seven notes with round shapes, each note was represented by either a triangle, square, oval, or diamond shape, called fa, sol, la ...
