At the recent Sidmouth Folk week I went to the shape note workshops which use the American Sacred Harp book.

I have tried and tried again to read music, but I do have dislexia and I can't actually look at the normal stave and read all the information - the round notes dance up and down on the stave!!

However, having the notes shaped seems to pin them down, and for the first time ever I have managed to begin to see the dots as music.

Rereading one of the many books on music I have on the shelves I actually managed to translate the Coventry Carol (dreary dirge) and Wildwood Flower (like it) into something which was like the tune (thank you Google).

I wonder if the use of shape notes would help others who fail to cope with the round ones.

For the first time I can blame the interface and not my ability - no second time, as I failed to understand the DX/DT notation in mathematics but when taught using classical notation had no trouble with either differntiation or integration.

It might seem very obscure to say 'there is a semitone below every Fah' but when it opens a door into the whole of written music it is pretty amazing.

Anne