Music of the Shakers

The largest online source
for music of the American Shakers

The Spirit is calling, tenderly calling,
O Zion unfold in deep prayer;
O pray for the fathers, the sisters and brothers,
O pray for the whole household,
O pray for the mothers, remember all others,
O pray for the whole, whole world.

-- "Prayer Universal"

This hymn was composed by Eldress Dorothy A. Durgin,
Canterbury, New Hampshire, and is available on the 2 CD set,
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers

Also included on the CD,
Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals

Contents

Click on these links to go to the various topics -

A Few Notes of Introduction

This is the largest and most accurate online site about music of the United Society of Believers (better known as The Shakers), America's oldest religious communal society. The Shakers produced an amazing number of songs, hymns and anthems, estimated to be over 10,000 separate tunes and texts.

Musicians, researchers, teachers and students beware!

You should be careful when collecting research about Shaker music due to the amount of errors on some websites and in some books and articles focusing on Shaker history. Often the mention of Shaker music is misleading or incorrect. For example, classifying all Shaker music as "songs." There are actually three main types of Shaker music (songs, hymns, anthems) which are discussed at this link: Shaker Music - An Introduction.

The lack of accurate information is especially true with two of the best known Shaker songs: "Simple Gifts" (aka: 'Tis the gift to be simple) and "Come Life, Shaker Life."

It has been common to list "Simple Gifts" with the wrong title, such as: "The Gift to be Simple" or "Tis a Gift to be Simple," or classify it as "an anonymous Shaker hymn."

Both "Simple Gifts" and "Come Life, Shaker Life" were written as quick dance songs and were written by prominent Shaker church leaders: Elder Joseph Brackett (Simple Gifts) and Elder Issachar Bates (Come Life, Shaker Life).

Giving Credit Where It Is Due

Many writers and musicians and even online schools teaching music history have failed to give proper credit to the editors of Shaker music. Also, they have not looked much beyond the best known Shaker song, "Simple Gifts." The Shakers produced thousands of tunes and many of them would be suitable for performance, providing they have been edited properly. There's enough material available that online universities could spend a whole semester on Shaker music, or even do a multi-night performance without repeating any songs!

Without such editors as Joel Cohen, Mitzie Collins, Harold Cook, Christian Goodwillie, Mary Ann Haagen, Roger Lee Hall, Carol Medlicott, Daniel W. Patterson and others, these Shaker spirituals would remain buried in manuscript music books in a box or storage chest somewhere. Without these editors, the music would likely stay lost.

Often it is just the arranger who gets the credit, not the editor who first discovered it and made it available in a performing edition.

Note to scholars and musicians:

Please give proper credit to the editors of Shaker music!

American Music Preservation.com is an informational site which receives no funding from outside foundations or organizations.

Receive the CD, SIMPLE GIFTS OF SHAKER MUSIC, make a donation of $25 or more with a credit card, payable to PineTree Productions, through safe and secure PayPal.

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SIMPLE GIFTS OF SHAKER MUSIC CD

Latest News

New edition now available on CD-ROM
with music album and a video clip

Blended Together -
Discoveries Along The Shaker Music Trail

New CD with 25 Premiere Recordings!

"Celestial Praises" - A Celebration of Shaker Spirituals

"May We Ever Be United" -
Music of the North Union, Ohio Shakers

This music collection is available here.

The largest amouint of recorded Shaker music anywhere
collected from 40 years of music research...

Deluxe DVD:
A Shaker Music Miscellany

"Simple Gifts"
(first line: 'Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free)

Find out more about the best known Shaker song,
click on this link to read about

Joseph Brackett's "Simple Gifts"

"Simple Gifts" - Shaker Music in Our Time

A Sampling of Shaker Music

This pamphlet includes samples of Shaker "letteral" music notation
as well as research collected over 40 years,

Blended Together:
Discoveries Along The Shaker Music Trail

To order, click on this link to the

AMP Store

Music Broadsides

A series of attractive 8 1/2 X 11 broadsides in full color.

This series includes
the words and/or music to selected Shaker songs,
edited by Roger Hall,
with colorful art design by Gail Hall.

They make ideal gifts and are suitable for framing.

There are currently six Shaker song titles in this series:

No. 1: "Simple Gifts" (Joseph Brackett Jr., Alfred, Maine, 1848)
[First line: 'Tis the gift to be simple 'tis the gift to be free]

No. 2: "Blended Together" (Joseph Holden, New Lebanon, NY, ca. 1870)
[First line: Blended together as one we stand]

No. 3: "Love is Little" (South Union, Kentucky, ca. 1834)
[First line: Love is little, love is low ]

No. 4: "May I Softly Walk" (New Lebanon, New York, 1869)
[First line: May I softly walk and wisely speak]

No. 5: "Welcome, Welcome" (Enfield, New Hampshire, 1869)
[First line: Welcome, welcome precious gospel kindred]

No. 6: "We Will All Go Home With You" (Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1862)
[First line: We will all go home with you, home to worlds of glory]

To order any of these colorful broadsides,
go to the

Store

All six broadsides are also available together on a CD-ROM.
To inquire about this disc for your computer, write to:

Shaker broadsides

Original Shaker Music on CDs

Contrary to what many writers have written, Shaker music is not all anonymous or "traditional." In fact, a large number of their songs, hymns and anthems are credited to Shaker poets and composers. Many Shaker spirituals were written by a Shaker sister or brother, who wrote the words and/or the music.

For example these Shaker spirituals...

"Let Zion Move" by Eldress Mary Ann Gillespie
CD: Let Zion Move

"Blended Together" by Elder Joseph Holden
CD: Blended Together

Two of the most important CD releases are on Rounder Records with 40 spirituals each, sung by the Shakers, with background notes by two authorities on the subject:

Early Shaker Spirituals: The United Society of Shakers,Sabbathday Lake Maine, with CD notes by Daniel W. Patterson

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers
2 CD set and illustrated booklet,
with CD notes by Roger L. Hall

Many of the harmonized hymns performed on this CD set are from the last printed Shaker hymnal published in 1908 by the Canterbury Shakersl.

Shaker Music Series CDs

"Celestial Praises" - A Celebration of Shaker Spirituals
with over 25 Premiere Recordings
Arrangements by Roger Lee Hall and Conrad Held

The Canterbury Singers,
directed by Kathryn Southworth

"Gentle Words" - A Shaker Music Sampler

"Blended Together" - Interviews with The Shaker

A Composer Meets The Shakers

In 1974, Shaker music scholar, Roger Hall, introduced
a distinguished American composer to three Shakers
from Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
Read more at

Aaron Copland Meets The Shakers

Non-Shaker and Shaker Tunes

Read about the anniversaries of
"The Earthquake" (1811),
"Come Life, Shaker Life" (1835),
"On the Landing of Mother Ann in America" (1860),
"A Prayer for the Captive" (1862)
at

Shaker music news

Shaker Music History

Read the article about the evolution of Shaker music from the time of the early leaders: Mother Ann Lee, Father William Lee, and Father James Whittaker, to the present day at this link:

Shaker Music History

Shaker Music For Concerts or Recordings

If you are looking for one or more Shaker spirituals to perform in a concert
or to include on a recording, see these links:

Shaker music arrangements

Shaker music collections and songbooks

Shaker music series