{"id":4362,"date":"2019-10-17T01:30:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T06:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=4362"},"modified":"2019-10-17T01:34:09","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T06:34:09","slug":"lowell-mason-and-the-end-of-shape-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/10\/17\/lowell-mason-and-the-end-of-shape-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowell Mason and the End of Shape Note"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shape-note singing has roots which may stretch as far back as 11th century Italy[1]<\/sup>. Solmization has been used ever since to teach new singers to sight-read melodies, and in the distinctly American case of the Sacred Harp, <\/em>written by Benjamin Franklin White, congregations have used the familiar intervals and rhythms to sing loudly and emphatically. The presence of a ubiquitous hymn book further reinforces the traditionalism of the genre, which is often praised as one which invites everyone to participate democratically, rather than creating an audience\/performer dichotomy. The anthems are always in four parts, with uncomplicated rhythms and melodies to facilitate singing unrehearsed.<\/p>\n

I include one of the hymns from the Sacred Harp<\/em> below; a contemporary rendition of the tune can be found on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Shape<\/a>

A digitized copy of Windham, from the Sacred Harp, published 1844.<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps in stark contrast, Lowell Mason is credited with popularizing European Classical music in the United states[2]<\/sup>. Mason is known to have derided shape-note singing as being a barrier to scientific musical study; he and his brother published a book called\u00a0The Sacred Harp\u00a0<\/em>in 1835, but this was done to supplant the shape-note tradition which existed, replacing rural American tunes with European part-writing. The authors preface the work as “the introduction of an elevated style of Sacred Music arranged on the immovable basis of science and correct taste.”[3]<\/sup><\/p>\n

Mason later went on to write some 1600 hymns in his lifetime, some of which are incredibly popular today, such as Bethany, the tune of “Nearer My God To Thee.” I include here one of the more dramatic of his works I could find, with dotted rhythms, dynamics, and an instrumental part setting it apart from the above hymn. There is call and response among singers, and ornamented instrumental interludes. Sadly, I could find no existing rendition of this piece–it has since become a popular Lutheran hymn<\/a>, with a changed musical setting.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

Excerpt from Watchman, Tell Us of the Night, written 1830.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, another piece of Mason’s, a setting of the Lord’s Prayer, has an existing rendition available here<\/a>. This composition complicates the distinctness between all the examples I’ve used. The sheet music is written in a completely different style, with vocal and instrumental parts combined, but it doesn’t seem to require an instrument. The part-writing may be European, but the rhythms look more alike to “Windham” than “Watchmen.” This is not a purely performer-audience example. There are leaders, but all congregants sing. The shift toward a plainer “Watchmen” is telling–Mason may have diminished the popularity of shape-note singing, but the style his music ended up in was not as much a copy of European music as he intended.<\/p>\n

\"Four-part<\/a>

A composition of Mason’s from 1879.<\/p><\/div>\n

[1]\u00a0 David Warren Steel. 2010. “Shape Note Singing.”\u00a0 Encyclopaedia Britannica.\u00a0<\/em>Accessed https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/shape-note-singing<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0 “Lowell Mason.” Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.<\/em><\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0 Nathan Rees. 2017. “From the Collection: An Earlier\u00a0Sacred Harp.<\/em>”\u00a0Original Sacred Harp.\u00a0<\/em>Accessed https:\/\/originalsacredharp.com\/2017\/09\/01\/from-the-collection-an-earlier-sacred-harp\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shape-note singing has roots which may stretch as far back as 11th century Italy[1]. Solmization has been used ever since to teach new singers to sight-read melodies, and in the distinctly American case of the Sacred Harp, written by Benjamin … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-18m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4362"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4395,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4362\/revisions\/4395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}