Shape Note Singing

Sha�e Note Singing: An American I am a great-great-grandson of Th omas origins are in the four-syllable solfège system Most important, the musical characteristics Haynes (1837–1904) and Rhoda Davis introduced in the early seventeenth century of the shaped notation itself facilitate music Haynes (1847–1923), whose descendants have to encourage community singing in Ameri- literacy. With respect to the Kodály philoso- carried on the tradition of shape-note and can society. phy, shape-note singing off ers tools to ad- Sacred Harp singing for more than 150 years Although unknown to many modern dress multiple musical, social, and historical (Folkstreams, 2004c). While doing research for music educators, shaped notation is the re- teaching objectives. this article, I discovered that the Woottens, a sult of an inventive solution to the challeng- family inﬂ uential in the Sacred Harp tradition, ing problem of sight-singing, which contin- A Brief History of Shape- are also descendants of the Haynes. Th e singing ues to vex singers and choir directors in the Note Singing legacy of the Woottens’is featured in the docu- twenty-fi rst century. Considering shape-note In the early eighteenth century, many mentary ﬁ lm Sweet Is the Day: A Sacred Harp singing’s composers, related social functions, religious leaders were dissatisfi ed with the Family Portrait (Kellen & Carnes, 2001), musical complexity, and accessibility, it is way congregations were singing hymns. By available online at www.folkstreams.net, with unique among all Western music (Gordon, 1720, there were growing objections to the supporting materials available. In this article, I Barrand, & Crompton, 1995). excessive use of ornaments and embellish- explore the family singing tradition from histori- Unlike some other forms of religious ments and to the general departure from cal, musical, social, and pedagogical perspectives music, shape-note compositions are not the original hymn tunes. Th omas Walter before concluding with practical suggestions for written as the result of church patronage described this situation with unsympathetic Kodály classroom applications. or commissioned by wealthy patrons. In- detail in Th e Grounds and Rules of Musick stead, the music is composed by and for (1721): Shape-note singing is an original style avocational singers who promote cultural of American music, the result of frontier literacy through both the music and the lyr- Once the tunes were sung ac- spirit and pioneer pragmatism applied to ics. Shape-note singing is intended for the cording to the rules of music but singing familiar psalms from the British Isles immediate experience of community sing- are now miserably tortured and (Cobb, 1978). Th is tradition of American ers who share in the joy of singing, not for twisted … For want of exactitude, folk music can also be used to promote mul- highly-trained singers or select performance I have observed in many places tiple principles of the Kodály philosophy, ensembles. Shape-note singing often has one man is upon one note, while including music literacy, cultural literacy, a contrapuntal complexity, yet it is imme- another a note behind, which and the joy of singing. By using this form of diately accessible to untrained singers; it is produces something hideous and notation to augment presentation of solfège harmonically modal, yet not out of reach for beyond expression bad. (cited in syllables, Kodály teachers can introduce avocational singers. Marrocco, 1964, p. 137) their students to an intriguing and historical Founded on a simplifi ed approach to aspect of music notation. Beyond a mere cu- solfège, shape-note singing has developed In Boston, several ministers began riosity, shape-note singing is a unique form over a 200 year period to become a musi- teaching music literacy to their congrega- of traditional notation off ering teachers a cal system with far-reaching, extra-musical tions to promote what they described as variety of historical, social, and religious infl uences. For social and religious reasons, “regular singing,” that is, singing by note connections to the vocal arts. shape-note singing is a remarkable, yet and by rule, instead of “usual singing,” or Shape-note singing takes its name overlooked, development in the history of singing by ear (Keene, 1982). from the use of shaped note-heads. Th ough music education. Singing conventions in A four-note solfège system was in wide- shaped-note systems date from the late eigh- this tradition bring together a community of spread use in Europe and was introduced teenth and early nineteenth centuries, their singers to share a common spiritual context. to the North American colonies by British 10 KODÁLY ENVOY Tra�ition with Kodály Applications From the Kodály Envoy, fall 2008, vol.35, no. 1. By Daniel C. Johnson Copyright © 2008 OAKE: e Organization of American Kodály Educators. Used with permission. No further use without written permission from OAKE. immigrants in the early seventeenth century. from English publications and an interest western frontiers. Books such as Davisson’s Based on British choral music of the late in American composers. Between 1816 and Kentucky Harmony (1816), Clayton’s Vir- sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries 1855, several hundred diff erent collections ginia Harmony (1831), Walker’s Southern (Scholten, 1980), this four-note solfège sing- of shape-note music were assembled in Harmony (1835), and Caldwell’s Union ing refl ects the early settlers’ interest in famil- America, while dozens of revisions of Th e Harmony (1837) facilitated the spread of iar music as well as their Protestant religious Easy Instructor were published between 1802 shape-note singing, and enjoyed wide- beliefs. Th is development was based on ear- and 1831 (Lowens & Britton, 1953). By the spread popularity. Th e most widely-used lier practices as fi rst documented in a 1560 middle of the nineteenth century, the music volume, however, was Th e Original Sacred French psalter. Th is practice was also used in of American composers, including William Harp (1844) published by B. F. White and subsequent publications including a 1562 Billings and Jeremiah Ingalls, was common- E. J. King; this text continues to be used English psalter by Sternhold and Hopkins, ly included in shape-note music collections. for shape-note singing conventions today. and in the ninth edition of the Bay Psalm Th e appearance of these volumes served Because the voice was known as the “sacred Book published in 1698 (Mark & Gary, to spread interest in shape-note singing to harp,” shape-note singing is often known as 2007). Shaped-notation was fi rst published Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, western Penn- “Sacred Harp singing” (Gordon, Barrand, in 1798 (also cited with a publication date of sylvania, western Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, & Crompton, 1995, p. xi). Shape-note 1801) by William Little and William Smith and Missouri (Scholten, 1980). singing is a living tradition with ties to the in Th e Easy Instructor. It became known by In an eff ort to discredit the fa-so-la earliest American composers and psalmo- a sobriquet based on the combination of its system, critics such as Th omas Hastings dists such as William Billings (1746–1800), primary syllables: “fa-so-la singing.” referred to shaped notes as “dunce notes” Jeremiah Ingalls (1764–1836), and Daniel William Law fi rst introduced shaped in an 1835 edition of the Musical Magazine Read (1757–1836) (Bealle, 1997; Scholten, notes into singing schools during a religious (Lowens & Britton, 1953). Lowens and 1980). revival known as the “Great Awakening” in Britton speculated that Hastings and others In the 1920s, shape-note singing was the early nineteenth century. Th is began a suff ered from an inferiority complex regard- rediscovered as folk music, and the folk music period when shaped notation had remark- ing any form of American culture in com- revival aided the spread of Sacred Harp singing able infl uence in American music educa- parison to European art and music. at the end of the twentieth century. For a dem- tion (McGregory, 1997). Th e system was By the mid–nineteenth century, choir onstration of contemporary singing instruc- adopted in singing schools throughout New directors in large urban centers had became tion in the Sacred Harp tradition, see the doc- England. Th ese schools involved a travel- the fi rst public school music directors and umentary fi lm Sweet Is the Day: A Sacred Harp ing singing master who taught teenagers or rejected shaped notation, which they re- Family Portrait (Kellen & Carnes, 2001). young adults during the evenings for a pe- garded as quaint, simplistic, and primitive. riod of several weeks. Following their term Furthermore, the itinerant musicians and Musical Characteristics of study, the students presented their newly- teachers were frequently criticized by clas- In one system of shape-note singing acquired skills to the community in “singing sically trained musicians; often the only commonly used by Sacred Harp singers, lectures” or demonstrations and invited the qualifi cations singing masters had were a four diff erent note-heads replace the tradi- experienced singers to join them. Singing knowledge of the music notation and an tional oval note-heads and correspond to schools began in Boston and soon spread enthusiasm for singing. four solfège syllables: fa with a triangle, sol to New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Even after the decline of shape-note with an oval, la with a square, and mi (me) and Pennsylvania as demand increased. In- singing began in the northeastern states in with a diamond. A major scale is divided terest and participation in singing schools the early twentieth century, singing schools into its two tetrachords created with the fi rst combined with a growing independence were popular in the southern states and three syllables plus the fi nal syllable: fa sol FALL 2008 11 la, fa sol la, mi (me).

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