Will,

I came across shapenote singing (via Mudcat) about a year ago and joined a local group. My first taster was at the Friends of Old Time American Music and Dance annual shindig in my home town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire UK and was "true" shapenote in that we sang the notes to the names of the shapes first. Do me, this was akin to patting head while rubbing tummy!. Trouble is that, at 50+ years of age, I've spent years sightreading traditional notation and so I find that much easier.

A couple of years ago I started singing tenor instead of alto and now have to frequently sightread music in the bass clef. And I'm not fluent in it, having never learnt to read the bass clef, nevermind sightread it while singing. But I do find it easier to find my start note in shapenote singing.

All I can say is that the use of shapes / names to learn intervals DOES make singing easier - think of Sound of Music and "Doe, a deer...". In my choral society, we quite often remember difficult intervals by finding a well-known song with that same interval to compare it to, so a piece might well contain that "Somewhere (over the rainbow)" interval.

As shapenote singing - I love it and have made new friends through it. I'd recommend it to anyone - I call it a cross between Songs of Praise and Barbershop!

Deirdre