Sepia Saturday: The Shape of Music

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a picture of Sophie Tucker and sheet music from her 1913 hit “I Can’t Get Enough of Your Love.” 

Had my crystal ball not been in the shop for repair, the stacks of sheet music belonging to my two great aunts Violetta Davis Ryan and Velma Davis Woodring would never have gone on to their lesser reward at Goodwill.  At the very least, I would have taken pictures first! 

Luckily during those final days of cleaning out our parents’ home, my sister and I agreed that the 2 songbooks belonging to our great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis were important enough to keep. 

What I find especially interesting is that both songbooks feature shape notes.  While I have HEARD of shape notes thanks to my sisters-in-law who sing in their Brethren churches, I don’t know much about this system. 

Enter Google. 

Apparently shape notes became popular in the United States in the 1800s thanks to some Harvard-trained ministers who saw the system as a way to improve congregational singing.  Rather than try to teach a largely illiterate group of people to read music, they thought it would be easier for people to learn to associate a pitch with a shape.

Click on images to enlarge

The 4-note system (fa – sol – la – mi) used a half-square, square, oval, and diamond, each signifying a particular pitch. 

But Mary Frances’s books are written in the 7-note system (do – re – mi – fa – sol – la – ti).  How can I tell that with my limited knowledge?  There are some additional shapes including a triangle, quarter round, and half oval.

This 7-note system is known as the Aikin system.  While controversial in the beginning, it grew in popularity due to the very publishers of Mary Frances’s Exalted Praise book.  The Ruebush-Kieffer Publishing Company was located in Dayton, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, the home of my ancestors. 

The publishers could have selected any shape note system (and there were MANY with a wide variety of weird shapes), but they went with Aikin’s.  As one of the earliest and most successful publishers of gospel music in the United States, Ruebush-Kieffer’s influence resulted in Aikin’s system becoming the standard for shape notes.

Now whether shape notes are effective is a matter of personal opinion. People who grew up singing with shape notes claim they do indeed enhance the group singing experience.  However, people who already know how to read music see no advantage whatsoever. 

Today the shape note tradition continues largely in Mennonite churches, Primitive Baptist and Fundamental Baptist churches, as well as some Churches of Christ.  Since the United Brethren church has Mennonite roots, Mary Frances’s shape note hymnals give me some insight into her experience at church where she was an active and devoted member.

So now I leave you with this last thought:  Why do hummingbirds hum? 

Because they don’t know the words. (I love a silly joke!)

Join the chorus at Sepia Saturday.  It’ll be music to your eyes. 

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.