Editing Shape note (section)

==Effectiveness of shape notes==
A controlled study on the usefulness of shape notes was carried out in the 1950s by George H. Kyme with an experimental population consisting of fourth- and fifth-graders living in California. Kyme took care to match his [[experimental group|experimental]] and [[control group]]s as closely as possible for ability, quality of teacher, and various other factors. He found that the students taught with shape notes learned to [[sight read]] significantly better than those taught without them. Kyme additionally found that the students taught with shape notes were also far more likely to pursue musical activities later on in their education.<ref>Kyme, "''An experiment in teaching children to read with shape notes''," ''Journal of Research in Music Education'' VIII, 1 (Spring 1960), pp. 3–8.</ref>