List of shape-note tunebooks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shape notes are a system of music notation designed to facilitate choral singing. Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of sacred choral music traditions practiced primarily in the Southern region of the United States.

The following is a partial list of the shape note tunebooks published over the last two centuries. The list is divided according the two main systems of shape notes--four-shape vs. seven-shape--and within these two categories is sorted chronologically.

For full information on shape-note tunebooks, see Shape note.

[edit] Four-shape shape-note tunebooks

  • The Easy Instructor, William Little & William Smith (1801)
  • Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, John Wyeth (1810)
  • Kentucky Harmony, Ananias Davisson (1816)
  • Tennessee Harmony, Alexander Johnson (1818)
  • The Missouri Harmony, Allen D. Carden (1820) (reprinted 2005)
  • Columbian Harmony, William Moore (1825)
  • The Virginia Harmony, James P. Carrell and David L. Clayton (1831)
  • The Southern Harmony, William Walker (1835)
  • Union Harmony, William Caldwell (1837)
  • The Sacred Harp, B. F. White & Elisha J. King (1844)
  • Hesperian Harp, Dr. William Hauser (1848)
  • The Social Harp, John Gordon McCurry (1855)
  • The Colored Sacred Harp, Judge Jackson (1934)
  • Northern Harmony, Larry Gordon (1979; 4th edition 1998)
  • An Eclectic Harmony, Eclectic Harmony Music Committee, Liz Bryant, Chair. Atlanta, (1999)
  • An American Christmas Harp, Karen E. Willard. Puyallup, Washington, (2000)
  • Oberlin Harmony, Chloe Maher and Charles Wells (2002)
  • High Desert Harmony, Daniel Davis. Albuquerque, (2004)
  • Norumbega Harmony, Stephen A. Marini, Boston, Massachusetts, (2004)

[edit] Seven-shape shape-note tunebooks (partial)