The Easton Shape Note Sing is pleased to invite all singers to a special shape-note “singing school,” Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 1pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton (UUFE), 7401 Ocean Gateway (Route 50), Easton. This special introductory session is designed for beginners and others who are interested in learning more about this 19th century style of collaborative singing.
In the shape-note tradition, we sing for each other and the joy of singing. This music is designed for participation, rather than performance. There is no audience, no director, and no rehearsal: we take turns choosing songs and leading each other. We are a small-but-mighty local community, and wide-ranging in terms of ages, religious beliefs/affiliations, and reasons for singing. The harmony and egalitarian approach in this living music tradition unites us.
We will be singing from The Shenandoah Harmony tunebook, a 2013 compilation of spiritual folk songs and camp-meeting songs, based in part on various editions of the Kentucky Harmony song books, first published 1816. Some songs may be familiar as Christian hymns and others as common folk tunes, dance tunes, or sea chanteys, but all feature rich, dispersed harmonies and full-voice, enthusiastic singing. Loaner books will be provided. No experience needed.
Developed by itinerant singing teachers in the early 19th century, the four-shape shape note system was designed to assist those who had not learned conventional sightreading. It was considered easier to recognize a few basic shapes than to decipher where each particular note was positioned on the staff.
Shape-note singers typically sit in a hollow square with the different voice parts grouped along each square side. The tenors usually carry the melody, with participants choosing whichever part appeals to them, singing an octave higher or lower as needed. At shape-note gatherings, each song starts with a sightreading “practice run” by singing the syllables fa, so, la, or mi. The singers always start out a song in this way, even if they know the song by heart.
In this introductory session, we will introduce the shapes, practice and sing a few songs, and explore the history of this style of community singing. Beginners are encouraged to attend, as this session will go much more slowly than a typical shape-note sing.
After a short break at 2:30pm, there will be a regular shape-note sing from 3-5pm – all participants are encouraged to stay and put into practice their new-found skills in shape-note singing!
Submitted by Topher Lawton, Easton Shape-note Organizer
Marylandshapenote.org/Easton
