In what might at first seem a highly unrefined, even grating experience to a trained singer, the old-American pastime known as "shape-note singing" is gaining some recent recognition as an advanced way to "internalize music theory" according to the Clarion Ledger. Reading from 'The Sacred Harp' Hymnal, first published in 1844, shape-note singing workshops teach how recognizing note-heads in four distinct shapes can expedite sight-reading skill (especially to non-musicians). At first, shape-note singing would seem to many musicians a bizarre branch of standard notation; still, its resonance with locals has extended out and beyond the old wooden churches where it originated and is now drawing international interest. Typically sung with wall-rattling confidence, shape-note singing workshops encourage booming, untrained voices to carry the up-tempo hymns and their performances have been known to inflict goosebumps on many who have witnessed them.
As it's practiced, parishioners typically sit in a "hollow square" formation, all facing inwards to better hear each other. Then, they belt out the melodies, breaking apart the harmonies into four parts (as a normal choir would) except that they acquire their pitch using a method of picture-association that is about as archaic as it is effective. Developed in the New England settlements during 17th century colonial America, "shape-note singing" was initially a product of necessity. Due to a shortage of professional musicians among the early settlers, the method was devised as an easy way of teaching parishioners the basics of music. At a time when proper choirs and accompanists were impossible to guarantee at local churches, the ability to bring members of a parish together in "a cappella" (without excluding anyone) was a powerful tool in facilitating spirituality throughout early America and was likely used to unify the imperiled communities of the time.
As the nation grew, the form of singing drifted further south and west, particularly thriving in similarly isolated communities. It was its natural attraction to low-key environments that steered it away from urban areas, academic circles and the public eye in general. By the twentieth century, shape-note singing was nearly lost as a performance art, with elderly participants racing to revive it. Recently, however, it has seen wider publicity, such as in the 2003 Civil War film, Cold Mountain, which featured stirring recordings of these hymns. Finally, a 2006 documentary, Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp served to inform the public on its "unsung" history.
The Civil War film, Cold Mountain, utilizes shape-note singing in harrowing effect. The brash, but stoic melodies relay the unwavering religious convictions of the time as well as a kind of nationalist optimism found on both sides of the war (even amidst its harsh realities). Dynamics are barely an entity in the "Sacred Harp" hymnal. In "Idumea", (dating from the 18th century and featured below), the hymn's dynamics boil down to "loud and louder"... not including accents, which tack on a whole strata of "loud" unto themselves. Still, to hear such a variety of untrained voices striving effortlessly for unity in a small room, it's not difficult to see why this style carried on for hundreds of years in folk and oral tradition, behind the curtain of mainstream American musical development. Shape-note singing workshops are non-denomination and encourage anyone to join. The goosebumps, if you can tap into them, are very real.
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