Reading and Singing Shape Notes: Sacred Harp

Two tools set shape-notes apart from ordinary "round notes" relative to reading and to singing. Those are solfege and shaped note heads. Solfege ties a syllable to each staff note and a distinct shaped note head is tied to each syllable as a visual aid.

Relative to the actual singing, Hugh McGraw (1931-207) said simply ¨we are looking to produce a pleasing sound ". We do this through pitch, beating time, and accent to keep the class together in unity and harmony.

Below is a section of the Rudiments from of The Sacred Harp, 2025 Edition and associated videos to instruct and allow almost anyone, with or without other assistance, to learn to sight read music ... and hopefully come sing with us!