There seems to be a real difference between how I approach the music perhaps. To me, what is meaningful is not which book people are sangin' from, but the community they are sangin' in.

What interests me are the two communities of people who claim this music as their sacred music. And I don't mean sacred in a New Age sense, but in the sense that it is the music of their religion.

When people ask about shape note, I think its important to give the background of both communities' traditions, and explain that there are two distinct communities in the US who claim this religious music as their own. The two communities have historically been segregated racially in the deep South, and IMO, that history matters, both musically and culturally. Those differneces are meaningful in the present day contexts and practices of shape note and sacred harp singers.

So, that's it really. A difference Burke, in the way you would choose to describe shape note and the way I would, which, perhaps, is rooted in the difference between your values and mine. Not that mine is better than yours, just a different point of view.