Open any aesthetically-aged hymnal and it is almost guaranteed to have been written with shaped notes. Modern hymnals and songbooks have lost this style and use modern notation rather than any shaped systems.

Due to this, modern hymn books have lost the inherent value of shape systems.

The Mennonite church is currently in the process of creating a new hymnal — know as Project 606. It will be printed in modern notation, but it should not be. Returning to shape notes as the primary form on written music in song books would make music more accessible to all.

As production on Project 606 progresses, shape notes should be considered a worthwhile addition to add back into a widely-used book.

There were several shape note systems over the years, but, in broad terms, shaped note music systems assigned a different shape to each — do, re, mi — syllable. With this system, the key or accidentals didn’t matter. As long as people knew that “do” looked like a triangle they could read it instantly.

This meant that if someone didn’t know how to read music, it was fine. All they needed to do was memorize the shapes of the notes, and there were only seven.

Shape notes allowed for communities that sang on a regular basis to be inclusive of individuals who did not have a extensive background in singing. It made singing easier and allowed for people to pick it up without too much effort. These systems were designed to teach vocal music easily and fast.

At the height of shaped notes, people were so familiar with this style that they could sight-read anything so long as it was written in shape notes. But when given modern notation, they would not be able to read any of the lines.

The Mennonite church has lost the inclusivity that shaped notes offered when it turned solely to modern notation. This has closed off singing from a wider range of individuals. Group singing isn’t something that can easily be picked up anymore. Singing is limited to those who have a background in reading notation or are willing to dedicate hard work to being able to read music.

This removes the community aspect of singing and turns the church into a clique.

Music is supposed to be something that crosses language barriers and sparks relationships. This can’t happen if the way music is written is exclusive to those who have had a background in it.

How many times does a visitor need to stand silent in a church surrounded by people singing before the church moves to make music more accesible? As the new hymnal is made, we need to consider who we are including and excluding, and how we can make singing part of the community again.