Singing School Scholars

Please click on one of the pages in the photograph above for a close-up view of the music.

The term "shape-notes" refer both to a singing tradition and to a method for teaching sight-singing. Invented by New England singing masters in the 18th century to improve rural congregational singing, shape-note singing was spread throughout the South in the early 19th century by itinerant singing teachers. Shape-note hymn books print the music in a standard way except that each degree of the musical scale (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti) is given a distinct shape (triangle, semi-circle, diamond, square, oval, etc.). In week-long singing schools the scholars learned by rote to associate musical sounds and intervals with the printed shapes. With texts from Isaac Watts and melodies adapted from fiddle and ballad tunes by southern folk composers, shape-note singing flourished in the mountains in the 19th century and survives in present-day religious singing.