Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation became a popular teaching device in American singing schools during the 19th century.

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.).

From New England to the West and South, nearly every-one in early America who learned to read vocal music did so using a system of shaped notes—different shapes for the notes of the …

In the South, especially, this Yankee music took hold, as did the medium in which it arrived, shape notes. The shape-note method of singing from written music first appeared in a book called …

Nineteenth century American song books that used notes in different shapes to aid singers and teach singing came to be known as "shape-note hymnals" and the style of singing from these …

It is a system of music notation that makes sight-reading accessible to those who might otherwise be intimidated by regular music. Each degree of the standard musical scale is assigned a …

Sep 5, 1998 · The only thing that changes when using shape notes is the shape of the note head. No rules have to be altered and it can be used with any music (major or minor), as long as the …

Shape-Note (or shaped-note) music is an American style of singing that emerged from the American Tunebook traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this style, noteheads are …

Discover the Art of Shape Notes Explore resources to aid both new and seasoned singers.

Mar 27, 2009 · Shape-note singers collectively sightread a form of solfege or solmization known as "fasola" before singing the words of each song. Different notes appear in standard musical …