Shape notes are a system of music notation designed to facilitate choral singing.
Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of sacred choral music traditions practiced primarily in the Southern region of the United States.
They included both music and text and were introduced by an extended essay on the rudiments of singing.
"[1] The following is a partial list of the shape note tunebooks published over the last two centuries.
The list is divided according to the two main systems of shape notes—four-shape vs. seven-shape—and within these two categories is sorted chronologically.