[extropy-chat] LA Times - Singing and health

[pjmanney]

MB wrote:
>I cannot (yet?) read regular round-note music, despite several years of piano
>lessons in my long-ago childhood. My poor teachers - they were so disgusted 
>and
>disheartened. My parents were insistent, even offering cash bribes for me to 
>learn
>to play certain pieces of music. It never really happened.
>
>I wonder what they'd think of Shape Note Singing?  ;)
>
>http://fasola.org/
>http://christianharmony.org/
>http://www.oldharp.org/

I never saw this before!  Even when I sang with Presbyterians, they didn't use the Shape Note system.  This is awesome.  I think I prefer the seven note system over the four note.  It makes more sense to me.

What excites me the most is that I might actually learn to read music properly if I used this.  My dyslexia -- or what I'm starting to think is actually a form of dyscalculia, too -- might finally lose in the battle of the musical notation.  The shapes help differentiate the notes and the notes seem less 'lost' on the staff.  

I, too, had disgusted teachers.  I played by ear, faking it on the flute and piano for a couple of years, each, but there came a point where it was just too hard and I quit both.  It's why I stuck with singing.  I could fake it, pretty much forever, as long as I heard the song once before I had to sing from sheet music.

There's even a fasola group not far from me.  Of course, I think it will have to wait until my kids are in college, with all my free time and all... <ROTFLOL>

Ah, something to look forward to in my retirement.  Thanks so much for this!

PJ