SHAPENOTE, for mixed a cappella choir, was inspired by the tradition of shape note singing, a type of social and congregational music originating in 18th c. England but popularized in the American South. In early shape note handbooks, solfege syllables were linked to shaped noteheads, enabling those unable to read standard notation to join in a singing.
In keeping with tradition, SHAPENOTE is a graphic score for community participation that can be interpreted without prior knowledge of reading music. In the score, four syllables (fa, sol, la, and si) correspond to four visual shapes. Although the syllables have a relative association from lowest to highest, they are not tuned to any pitch; their purpose is to help each singer find four stepwise notes in a comfortable tessitura, which they can sing using maximal projection, as in a spoken chant or “om”.
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