Re: [frogs] Re: Numeric note heads for singers

[David Olson]

From a teaching point of view:

the "mi" (diamond/lozenge) is unique,
so it doesn't need a number.

Would dice-like dots be better than numbers, I wonder.

the "fa" (triangle) is the main source of confusion.

In major, fa is both "1" (tonic") and "4" (subdom).

In minor/dorian, fa is both "3" and "6".

The "6" occurs rarely but when it does, it's a source of confusion because it's raised (written as m6 but sung as M6).

Modulation--

There are only 2 songs (of over 550) in Sacred Harp that  modulate, and that is between relative major and minor. This is appropriate to the skill level of the singers.

If a composer went beyond that, he would be writing choir music, not Sacred Harp music.

Sacred Harp singers are racoons who want to wash the apple as fast as they can & pop it into their mouths, rather than hold it up next to a pear tree and admire its abstract beauty in a new context.

i.e., when we get bored we increase the tempo, rather than modulate.

Teaching in fasola in general

"bootstraping" is becoming more prevalent.

Amateurs are discovering shape note as they surf WWW.  YouTube of singings or Tim Eriksen. 

They want to start a group but no one to learn from.

Also this music is spreading now to Poland.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NkG7vm50Ns>

As people develop teaching materials & put them on line, numbered shape note heads would be useful, particularly for minor key.

Major key can be taught using childhood songs. Most childhood songs are in major.

There are vanishingly few Dorian (raised sixth) childhood songs.

In Shape Note, the "social contract" is that the interval between shapes is predictable -- always a half-step between the diamond and the adjacent triangle.

But the "raised sixth" of Dorian violates this social contract.

Anyway, LilyPond is going to be a big asset as poets begin to develop Polish-language lyrics for tunes, and just need to swap out the lyric section of an .ly file to have singable material.

And we have a lot of "frog-in-the-pond" basslines

c1 | c4 a4 g4 g4 | c4 a4 g4 g8 a8 | c8 c8 g8 g8 c2 :||

There must be at least 50 songs like that.

David