Beatrice Ferreira
SHAPENOTE fa
sol
la
si
i
Music consists of a succession of pleasing sounds, with reference to a peculiar internal sense implanted in us by [a] great author of nature. Considered as a science, it teaches us the just disposition of sounds; and as an art, it enables us to express them with facility and advantage... (Sacred Harp, 1860 ed.)
Performance Note 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”. To perform SHAPENOTE, the choir is led by a song leader who stands in the middle of the choir. SATB voice types are arranged around the leader to form four sides. The leader’s job is to select a page from the score – not necessarily in order - and provide the singers with a set of dynamic instructions interpreting the movement of the shaped noteheads. As shapes in the score bend, distort, and become less predictable in their behaviour, my hope is that performing SHAPENOTE becomes an exercise in communal dialogue and shared listening.
ii
= “fa” “sol” is always higher than “fa”.
= “sol”
“la” is always higher than “sol”.
= “la”
“si” is always higher than “la”.
= “si”
MIDDLE HIGH
LOW
leader
HIGH
MIDDLE LOW
MIDDLE LOW
listeners
listeners
Singers stand in a hollow square with a song leader at the center. The song leader guides the song. Song leaders may take turns.