Interesting, and perhaps profound.  But I think it is overkill.

Shape note were just one more method of teaching people to sing (religious
music), and this great interest in religious music may have indeed come from
the Protestant Reformation.  Lordy, in my talk on Jamestown, I tie the
unknown 1607-1609 trumpeter of Jamestown back to Corinthians and its
stirring call  "The Trumpet Shall Sound, and we all shall be changed."

Teaching men to sing was a particular problem in early America -- I don't
know why.  Hence, you have the non-shape-not school of William Billings.
His hymns, and the particularly hymn/patriotic song Chester (predecessor of
God Bless America) typically put the melody in the tenors, let the altos
sing their usual limited-rante part, and sopranos took what would amount to
the tenor.  That meant only the basses had to be taught to sing.  I saw a
recent publication addressing the same problem called something like "Short
Anthems for Sopranos, Altos and a Few Good Men."  i.e. it bypassed the
traditional four-part music and just has one men's part.

Probably the most common method of teaching tunes was by listening.  Even
today, the accepted way that barbershopers learn is to sing the parts over
and over.

Most 19th century hymnals that I have seen do not have any music...... just
the words.  But the Episcopal and I think also the Methodist hymnals, have
the metre noted with the words.  such as 8.6.8.6.  That mysterious looking
code is actually the syllabal count, and there are probably more hymns with
8.6.8.6 than any others.  Example.  Count the syllables in a verse of
Amazing Grace.  You will find they match the 8.6.8.6.  That means that ANY
hymntune with that meter can be used.

An even more interesting one is 11.11.11.11.  This is the metre of How Firm
a Foundation.  There is an American folk tune now very popular in church
services.  But I like the tune based on Haydn, particularly the last line of
the last verse which goes, "I'll ne-ver.... no ne-ver, no nev-er for sake."
That hymn was Gen. Robert E. Lee's favorite, and for years, I could picture
him booming out on that line.  How stirring.  Uh........ but further
research shows that tune was not common in the 19th century.  The one used
more often was Adeste Fideles.  Yep.....  "O Come All Ye Faithful" to us
folks.

Shape notes were recognized by several entrepeneurs and as I noted earlier,
one of the largest publshing houses was down in Dayton Virginia, and it was
run by the Rubush family.   Half a century later, Will Rubush later lead the
116th infantry band to Mexico and thence to France in WWI, and there is a
classicc old photo of him swinging down Broad Str.   in Richmond leading the
group in a victory parade.

More than you wanted to know about shape notes, but one more example that
the music of Virginia goes far beyond the old fiddlers's contest and Patsy
Cline.

Randy Cabell
The Trumpeter of Jamestowne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Shape Notes


>I waited because I thought someone would give an overview for why shape
> notes were adopted in the US.
>
> My general take on this is that the rise of Protestantism tended to
> suppress
> church music.  Catholicism and the Orthodox tradition  institutionalized
> church liturgical music.  Calvinism, in particular, turned away from that
> (Lutheranism did not:  hence J. S. Bach and an entire tradition of
> Lutheran
> music.)
>
> With the exception of the Quakers who held (and hold) silent meetings, the
> urge to bring music back into worship swept through American Protestantism
> but didn't bring with it the centuries of musical training that
> characterized Catholicism.  From Puritan hymnals to sacred harp singing to
> black spirituals, none arose with the complex music theory or notation
> created in Europe.  That doesn't make these forms of sacred music any less
> beautiful.
>
> The radical divergence of musical culture arising from the Reformation is
> now all but forgotten but it had a profound effect on the development of
> sacred music in what became the US as compared to say Mexico.
>
> Harold S. Forsythe
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Barbara C. Batson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 9:00 AM
> Subject: Shape Notes
>
>
>> The quickest answer to your question is for you to take a look at the web
>> sites listed below. They explain shape note, and particularly Sacred
>> Harp,
>> very well.
>> http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html
>> http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/
>> http://fasola.org/introduction/note_shapes.html
>> http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/shapnote/shaped.htm
>>
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