My mother used to talk about it. Some of her older relatives did this shaped note singing, and when we lived in Tennessee, she said, some of the hymnals in the country churches were shaped-note hymnals. What is shaped note singing?
The Sacred Harp tradition developed out of the singing school movement which began in New England in the late 1700’s, then spread to the rural South and finally to Texas. The early singing schools employed the English solemnization technique, which uses syllables “fa, sol, la, mi” to denote the tones of a musical scale.
Each note (fa, sol, la, mi.) is denoted by a different shape, and that way people with no musical training, who couldn’t read notes or recognize sharps or flats, could sing in four part harmony, a cappella. It has an unusual, but quite lovely sound.
Sacred harp singing is done traditionally in this way:
Singers would learn a tune by first “singing the notes” then repeating the song with the lyrics. This custom remains a distinct aspect of Sacred Harp singing, which takes its name from one of the most popular shape-note songbooks… .
The singers sit in a hollow square with space in the middle for the leader. Tenors face altos, and basses face the trebles. The goal is to build a sound and spirit for the singers to enjoy.
Here is an example of a score for sacred harp singing:
The treble, which is the top line (and is not the melody), and the lead, which is the third line (and is the melody), are sung by both men and women, but with women singing an octave above the men. True tenors and true sopranos would normally sing treble. The lead, because it is the melody and easiest to learn, is often sung by the more inexperienced singers. The second line, which is alto, is sung only by women; and the fourth line, which is bass, is sung only by men. That both men and women sing two of the four parts makes for a very full sound.
Now, I bet you’re curious to hear what this all sounds like, right? Here’s an example of sacred harp singing. You’ll hear them sing with the names of the notes first, and then move on to singing the words of the verses of the song. You’ll find more info on the site from which these quotes, the images, and the mp3 file come.