Moderator

 

Most of the information on this web site was researched and written by

         

Roger Lee Hall

 

 

Biographical Highlights

Roger Lee Hall has written a memoir of his early years titled, "Memories of Bloomfield." A copy of this e-book memoir, including some of his early songs, has been donated to the Bloomfield Public Library.

Roger attended Rutgers University where he received his B.A. degree in 1970 in Music Theory and Composition, and studied with Robert Nagel and George Walker.

Two years later, he was awarded his M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology from Binghamton University. His thesis was on Shaker music notation.

His Ph.D. work was in Musicology at Case Western Reserve University,
where his specialty was Shaker music and music from early America.

Roger is now one of the foremost authorities on vintage American vocal music.

He is primarily a music preservationist -- a title he formulated to describe his work in researching and restoring music from earlier America.

Also, he is the author of over twenty-five publications and many articles, and he has produced numerous CD collections of American music.

In addition, he is an ASCAP composer and songwriter with over 100 compositions and arrangements to his credit.

Because of his prolific accomplishments in so many areas of music,
he has been honored with entries in these two respected directories:

Who's Who in America
Who's Who in the World

Both of these directories are published by the prestigious publisher,
Marquis Who's Who®, which has been compiling biographies
of worthy individuals since 1899.

This is what Managing Editor Alison Perruso wrote in her letter to him:

"Congratulations! Based on the reference value of your outstanding achievements, Marquis Who's Who has selected your biography for inclusion in the forthcoming 2011 Edition of Who's Who in America. This exciting and unique edition will profile the country's most accomplished men and women from across all fields of endeavor. It is a testament to your hard work and dedication to success that you have earned a place in America's premi9er biographical resource. You should be proud of your achievements."

 

Roger Lee Hall holds the following positions:

 

Announcements and Articles:



In 2001, in memory of those lost in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Roger began an anuual web survey for those who wish to remember favorite tunes in memory of loved ones or for themselves. This survey is called,

National Carry A Tune Week

 

 

Composer and Arranger

 

He began as a pop songwriter in the 1960s, but was unsuccessful in his early efforts to sell his songs.

So he turned his attention to studying music in more depth at Rutgers University, taking composition lessons with Robert Nagel and George Walker, the first Afro-American composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also had a consultation session with Aaron Copland.

Since 1985, Roger has been a member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and has composed or arranged over 100 pieces of music including piano works, chamber music, songs and choral music. Some of his songs and choral works are based on his own poems.

One of his compositions, "Creator God, We Give You Thanks,"
won a choral competition prize in 1993. More recently, he arranged this piece as "Hymn to the Environment." More information about this environmental hymn (Op. 34) is available at: PineTree Music

For several anniversary celebrations of the Old Stoughton Musical Society (the oldest choral society in the United States), Roger composed two songs: "Peace" and "Dedication." Both of these Stoughton songs are available on this CD: American Choral Sampler (AMRC 3)

Also, Roger composed a special song in Russian and English:

"My dareem vam nashee pyesnee (We give you a gift of our songs)"

It was written for Sharing A New Song Chorus to perform on their tour to Moscow, Yaroslavl, Novgorod in Russia, and Tallinn in Estonia in 1988. His song opened the historic concert when for the first time a combined Russian and American chorus sang together in Yaroslavl.

His stirring anti-war song "Peace" was given to the directors of Russian and Estonian choirs when they visited in America and is the title song on this CD:

 


PTM 1001: Come, Gentle Peace
Music by Roger Hall, Volume 1

 

 

More of his music may be heard on these CDs:

 

 

PTM 1002: Creator God, We Give You Thanks --
Music by Roger Hall, Volume 2

 

 

 

 


PTM 1003: The Dark Night is Ending --
Music by Roger Hall, Volume 3

 

 

 

 

 

If you wish to inquire about his compositions or
to commission a piece of music from him,
write to:

PineTree Music

 

 

 

Lecturer and Scholar

Over the past four decades, Roger Lee Hall has presented over 150 hundred lectures and workshops on different topics, including these titles:

  • Beautiful Dreamer: The Life and Music of Stephen Foster
  • Charles Tomlinson Griffes: Impressionist Composer
  • Hooray for Hollywood: Memorable Movie Music
  • I Got Rhythm: The Genius of George Gershwin
  • Lincoln and Liberty: Music of Abraham Lincoln's Time
  • The Lore and Legends of New England Songs
  • Music, Art and Architecture of the Shakers
  • Music of George Washington's Time
  • Remembering Radio: Music and Memories
  • The Sidewalks of New York: Old Songs and Stories
  • The Simple Gifts of Shaker Music
  • Singing Stoughton: The Story of America's Oldest Choral Society

 

Since 1972, Roger has been a musicologist and a consultant for such distinguished institutions as the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C, the Paul Revere House in Boston, various seminars, workshops and other events.

He has given scholarly papers or presentations at:

American Musicological Society (regional and national meetings)
Communal Studies Association (national meetings)
Dublin Seminar (New England region)
Maine Statehood Conference
Religious Folk Art Conference in New York City
Shaker Seminar (various locations)

Roger is available to speak about American music preservation in general, or any of the specific topics listed at

Lectures and Workshops

 

 

Film Music Historian

 

Roger is also a longtime film music historian and has taught film music courses in colleges and adult education programs.

He is a member of the International Film Music Critics Association.

Since it began in 1998, he has been the Managing Editor of Film Music Review, and has written hundreds of CD, DVD and Book Reviews. He has also written articles for magazines, including Film Score Monthly and Soundtrack.

Since 1988, he has selected the best film music of each year for his own Sammy Awards.The categories include: Best Score, Best Song, Best Overlooked Score, Most Overrated, and occasionally also Worst Song or Score. The latest Sammy Awards are listed here.

In addition, he has written an informative reference book, now in its 4th edition, and titled:

A GUIDE TO FILM MUSIC

 

If you wish to inquire about his consulting work
for music professionals or a lecture or workshop on film music history,
write to him at:

Film Music

 

Poet and Writer

 

Roger Lee Hall has written these illustrated e-book memoirs about his life and music career, including poems and music, all based on song titles:

"Dream World"
Songs, Poems and Stories
(PineTree Press, 2008)

 

 

"Following the Stars"
Music and Memories of Hopalong Cassidy
(PineTree Press, 2009)

Roger has written a new song about
Mr. and Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy.
Read about it here

 

"Free As The Breeze"
Confessions of a Struggling Songwriter
(PineTree Press, 2009)

 

 

Also these three music monographs:

Music in Stoughton: A Brief Survey (1989)

MAJESTY: William Billings and The Stoughton Musical Society (2000)

The Story of SIMPLE GIFTS:
Joseph Brackett's Shaker Dance Song (2006/ 2nd edition, 2009)


For a list of his other publications, see

PineTree Productions

 

Two of his one act plays were produced and directed by him and videotaped at their first performances:

"The Grand Constitution"

Celebrating the 200th anniversaries of the U.S. Constitution and The Stoughton Musical Society Constitution, both written in 1787.

A play in two scenes mainly about the writing of the Stoughton Musical Society's Constitution, the oldest one of any musical organization in the United States.

Cast: Wayne Olem and Bert Anderson.


Music by William Brown, Francis Hopkinson, Alexander Reinagle, William Billings, and Roger Hall.

Videotaped at the Stoughton Public Library, Stoughton, Massachusetts, October 1987.

Read more at:

NOW AND THEN

"The Musical Telephone"

This play was based on a chapter from Edward Bellamy's influential utopian novel, Looking Backward (1888).

Music by Edwin Arthur Jones, Joseph Brackett, and Roger Hall.

Videotaped at the premiere at the Bellamy Centennial Conference, Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, September 1988.

Read more at:

The Musical Telephone

 

Teacher

 

 

 

In 1975, Roger Lee Hall taught his first course on the history of American popular music at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He was then assisting Bill Randle, a popular disc jockey who had introduced Elvis Presley on national television in 1956.Roger's remembrances of working with Bill Randle are now available in a special eBook titled,

"Shake, Rattle and Roll" -
Electric Elvis and Bill Randle

For over twenty-five years, Roger continued as a music teacher at various colleges and adult education programs. He had a special interest in teaching adult students. He is now retired, though he still presents lectures and workshops.

 

These are a few of the many courses he has taught:

  • Great Composers (J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart)
  • The Genius of George Gershwin
  • History of American Music
  • Listener's Guide to Music
  • Music in the Movies
  • Masters of the American Song

 

 


Radio and Cable Television Producer

Over the years, Roger has been a frequent guest on many radio stations and also hosted his own nightly readio program.

During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a frequent guest on Ron Della Chiesa's popular program, MUSIC AMERICA, on WGBH-FM in Boston, Massachusetts, where he presented his annual Oscar film music tributes and also his Sammy Awards.


Some of these programs are listed in his radio guide
with accompanying CD:

Remembering Radio: Great Songwriters and Singers

 

Roger also produced a monthly radio series titled, "Great American Songs," on a Boston area radio station. This series paid tribute to many great songwriters, such as: Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter and others.

He also hosted his own nightly four hour radio program titled,
IN THE MOOD, playing popular music from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.

Here are a few of his radio specials he presented on his IN THE MOOD program:

  • Fifties Favorites -- Songs and Singers
  • Top Ten Big Band Themes
  • Top Ten Movie Songs and Scores
  • Tributes to Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy -- World War II Musicals

In addition, he also produced and hosted a series of music programs on cable television. These programs featured local musicians and historians. There were two series:

"IN CONCERT" (12 programs celebrating the bicentennial of the oldest choral society in America)

"NOW AND THEN" (3 programs about local history and musicians)

Some of these programs are available on DVD at

Singing Stoughton

 

Singer and Consultant

For over three decades, Roger Lee Hall has been a singer in numerous programs at various museums, historical sites, libraries, churches, colleges and universities, conferences, and special events.

He has also been a consultant for such instutions as the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. and the Paul Revere House in Boston.

He has performed as a singer or was a consultant for these labels:

  • Albany Records
  • Erato Records
  • Musical Heritage Society
  • Rounder Records
  • Sampler Records Ltd.

 

He is producer of these PineTree Music CDs:

 

 

Come, Gentle Peace

Creator God, We Give You Thanks

The Dark Night is Ending

Gentle Words


 

 

Music Preservationist

Besides his many other achievements, Roger has spent considerable time working to preserve neglected American music from the past.

His preservation work includes researching, editing, publishing,
performing and recording the music. His most extensive projects have involved music from two of the oldest singing traditions in the USA:

The Stoughton Musical Society (founded 1786)

The United Society of Believers ( The Shakers)
(first community established in 1787)

 


Music in Old Stoughton


He has received several Massachusetts Arts Council grants for this project which involved researching and writing about music and composers in Stoughton during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

This town has the oldest surviving choral society in the United States, founded on November 7, 1786. Original called The Stoughton Musical Society, it also has the oldest constitution of any performing musical organization, written in 1787 just a few weeks after the United States Constitution. Roger has produced a number of publications and videos,
including these:

 

 

 

Music of the Shakers

The second major project involved collecting research about this religious communal society, the oldest surving one in the United States.

The Shakers originated in the Manchester area in the UK. Their spiritual leader, Mother Ann Lee, and eight of her followers arrived in New York City on August 6, 1774. This is the date celebrated by the Shakers as the beginning of their church in America.

Their first settlement was at Niskayuna (later Watervliet) New York in 1776, and their first community was established in 1787
at New Lebanon, New York.

Roger is one of the foremost experts on Shaker music and has written extensively about it for the past thirty-five years..

He was the first student to write a Master's Thesis dealing with Shaker music. His thesis with music analysis is titled:


The Shaker Letteral System: A Practical Approach to Music Notation
(Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 1972)

Since then he has researched and uncovered hundreds of Shaker spirituals, performed them in concerts, and recorded them as well.

He has also edited and arranged over 200 Shaker tunes and written about Shaker music in numerous publications.

The best known Shaker song is "Simple Gifts" (aka: 'Tis the gift to be simple). He has studied its origin and evolution and written a history of the song titled:

The Story of 'SIMPLE GIFTS':
Joseph Brackett's Shaker Dance Song
(PineTree Press, revised edition, 2010)

To read more about this song and the e-book, click on this link:

Joseph Brackett's "Simple Gifts"

 

In addition, he has compiled or edited these music collections:

  • A Western Shaker Music Sampler (1976)
  • The Happy Journey: Thirty-five Shaker Spirituals (1982)
  • Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals (1992)
  • A Guide to Shaker Music (1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006)
  • Come Life, Shaker Life: The Life and Music of Elder Issachar Bates (2004)
  • For the Love of Zion: 30 Shaker Spirituals arranged by Jack Bomer (2007)
  • How Happy Are They: Twelve Shaker Spirituals from Kentucky & Ohio (2007)
  • Gentle Words: Shaker Music in the 20th Century (2009)

Roger has worked on these recordings as singer, consultant, or editor:

  • Harp of Joy -- Soloists and Choir, Plymouth Church, Shaker Heights, Ohio (1976)
  • Love is Little -- Soloists and The Sampler Chorus (Sampler Records, 1992)
  • Joy of Angels -- Soloists and The Sampler Chorus (Sampler Records, 1995)
  • Simple Gifts -- Boston Camerata and Sabbathday Lake Shakers (Erato, 1995)
  • Let Zion Move -- Shakers from Canterbury & Sabbathday Lake (Rounder Records, 1999)
  • The River of Love -- Soloists and Chorus of New England Voices (Albany Records, 2007)
  • Blended Together -- Interviews with The Shakers (AMRA, 2008)
  • Gentle Words -- A Shaker Music Sampler (AMRA, 2009)

Two of these Shaker recordings are described here:

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers - 2 CD set featuring commentary and 40 Shaker spirituals performed by the Shakers from Canterbury, New Hampshire and Sabbathday Lake, Maine. The recordings and interviews were made between 1960 and 1980. Also included is a 72 page illustrated booklet with all the words for the music and extensive notes by Roger Hall. This is the most extensive historical recording ever compiled of the Shakers speaking about their heritage and performing their music. Much of it was recorded by Bill Randle, the Cleveland disc jockey who helped promote Elvis Presley in the 1950s.

To order a copy of this CD set, click on this link:

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers

 

 

Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals - a CD released from Sampler Records containing 36 Shaker spirituals from all the major Shaker communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio and Kentucky. A songbook with all the music and extensive notes, including a music chronology, is also available.

Click on this link for more information:
Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals

 

 

 

Publications and CDs

List of selected publications (e-books, music collections, songbooks, music guides) by Roger Lee Hall:

List of American Music Recordings Archive CDs compiled and edited by Roger Lee Hall:


These CDs contain music composed and arranged by Roger Lee Hall:

Some of the books listed above by Roger L. Hall are available by using this Search Box which will direct you to Amazon.com...

 

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