Shaped Notes

You musicians in the family, have you ever heard of shaped notes?
I had never heard of them till cousin Betty Ruth, Uncle Everett's daughter told me that they often gathered around the piano and sang from their hymnal composed of songs with shaped notes. The notes would have triangles, squares, circles or whatever shape was designated for that note. Even though Betty Ruth went on to teach music in high school she said she wasn't that good on the piano at the time. I also have fond memories of the few times we gathered around the piano and sang hymns to my mother or older brother trying to pick out a few notes to keep us on key. It was a spiritual experience to me. After looking on the Internet I found pictures of the shaped notes. Particularly the Church of Christ which originally didn't use musical instruments but sang acapella used the shaped notes. Some Baptist congregations also used them. Our Doak ancestors were originally from the Church of Christ. Before his mission my son Craig and I visited the graveyard at Deep Valley West Virginia where many of our Doak ancestors are buried and also helped build the church. The neighbor who lived by the church mentioned it as a matter of some disagreement that they were now using instrumental accompaniment with their singing. The Church of Christ are very strict in following the New Testament and didn't note any musical instruments used in the services. The New Testament is such a wonderful book but it was sad to learn that they did not use the Old Testament at all. I personally would hate to miss the great stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Abraham and the 12 tribes of Israel, Daniel in the Lion's Den, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego to mention a few. To me it is an important part of history and great examples of God's watchful care to the faithful which still applies today.