Music of the 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" - Shaker hymn by Dorothy A. Durgin,
Canterbury, New Hampshire
available on Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers

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.

Musicians, teachers and students should be careful when collecting research about Shaker music due to the amount of errors on the Internet and in print, especially concerning "Simple Gifts" (aka: 'Tis the gift to be simple). This is NOT a Shaker hymn. Read about it at this link:

Joseph Brackett's Simple Gifts

It is oftern assumed that because it is folk music, all Shaker spirituals are anonymous. Not true! Many of them can be credited to a Shaker sister, such as "Gentle Words" by Polly M. Rupe, or a Shaker brother, like "Come Life, Shaker Life" by Elder Issachar Bates.

Another common error is assuming that the original Shaker music is in public domain so a published edition or arrangement does not need to be credited. False! The published Shaker music titles are usually from a copyrighted source, including this web site, so they should be credited to the music editor or arranger and the source.

For questions or further information, write to:

American Shaker Music

A Sampling of Shaker Music Publications

Go Green!

A few of the Shaker music titles listed below are available on multimedia CD or DVD discs. They include music examples or video files as well as Word documents and images with the book or music collection. These discs are playable on any computer and the pages may be printed out. Save a tree or two and order these books on CD-ROM or DVD-R instead of printed copies.

Blended Together: Discoveries Along The Shaker Music Trail
By Roger Lee Hall
(available as a printed pamphlet or on multimedia CD-ROM)

Back by popular demand!

including popular Shaker songs like:
"Come Life, Shaker Life" and "Simple Gifts"
plus a rare interview with composer, Aaron Copland
and singing by Shaker sisters on the CD titled,

Gentle Words - A Shaker Music Sampler

This title (with the complete illustrated book and music)
is also available on a multimedia CD-ROM at

Shaker Books

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,
compiled and 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: "Gentle Words" (Polly M. Rupe, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, ca. 1867)
[First line: What the dew is to the flower, gentle words are to the soul]

No. 4:"Love is Little" (South Union, Kentucky, ca. 1834) - NEW!
[First line: Love is little, love is low ]

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

The Shakers used their own type of music notation
which they called - "the Letteral System."
This letteral notation was discussed in detail
in a Master's Thesis by Roger Hall in 1972.

He has provided examples of this notation
in his book, A GUIDE TO SHAKER MUSIC,
available at this link:

Shaker music collections

THE STORY OF 'SIMPLE GIFTS'
is available on a multimedia CD-ROM
readable on any computer
at this link:

Shaker books

Stomp for Shakers?

Angel Reapers (A Theater Review)

A Message to Online Readers

Most of the information on these pages was written by one of the most distinguished Shaker music scholars, Roger Lee Hall, who has studied this music for 40 years. He should be credited for information on these Shaker pages.

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

Please help keep this site online by making a donation with a credit card, payable to PineTree Productions, through safe and secure PayPal.

For every donation of $25 or more, you will receive a Free CD with Shaker music (shipping included).

Click on this button to

Thank you for your support!

Contents

Click on these links to go to the various topics -

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

Read about the meeting with Aaon Copland
and the Shakers in Roger Hall's multimedia memoir,

"Dream World"
Songs, Poems and Stories

Simple Gifts of Shaker Music

The television and newspaper journalists like to portray the Shakers as soon becoming extinct or already gone. While it is true there are only a few members left, they remain busy with their religious life, as well as operating a library, museum and gift shop during the regular tourist season from May to October. The last remaining Shaker community is located at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. with an active Friends of the Shakers support group.

The music of the Shakers contains some of the most beautiful religious folk melodies from America's past.

Over several centuries from the 1780s to 1950s, well over 10,000 Shaker tunes were composed -- the largest output of any religious communal society in America. They are often classified as a cult. This is inaccurate since they did not hold people against their will or abuse them.

Much of their music remains unknown today to the general public and even to historians, except for the Shaker song, "Simple Gifts," which was first arranged by Aaron Copland.

Within the past fifty years or so, other Shaker songs and hymns have been edited or arranged by Anne Azema, Jack Bomer, Joel Cohen, William Cutter, Jacob Druckman, Christian Goodwillie, Mary Ann Haagen, Roger Lee Hall, Carol Medlicott, Eric Sawyer, Kevin Siegfried, Diane Schneider , Salli Terri, Frank Ticheli and others.

Among the books written about Shaker music are those by Edward Deming Andrews, Harold E. Cook, Jane F. Crosthwaite and Christian Goodwillie, Roger Lee Hall, , Robert C. and Viola E. Opdahl, and Daniel W. Patterson.

Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of incorrect information spread around about Shaker music by "instant experts" who have failed to do enough research before writing their articles or books. They are seemingly unaware of the vast amount of information on this Shaker music section of American Music Preservation.com

The most common error is classifying all Shaker music as traditional hymns, or calling them all "songs." That is incorrect and misleading.

There are actually three categories of Shaker music:

Songs, Hymns, and Anthems

It is not generally known that there were "white" spirituals as well as "black" (or Afro-American) spirituals. Shaker tunes are examples of white religious folk music and all three types are best classified together as: Shaker spirituals.

Shaker Songs

The earliest known Shaker songs were written in the 1780s.

What is believed to be the first complete Shaker song with words and music was "In Yonder Valley", composed in 1787 by Father James Whittaker, one of the original Shaker leaders who emigrated from England in 1774.

Shaker songs generally had only one verse, such as "Simple Gifts." Songs were written throughout the 19th century and also, less frequently, in the 20th century.

The last known Shaker song was in 1959 by Sister Lillian Phelps. The song is titled:"My Shaker Home." This song received its first public performance fifty years later in 2009, when performed by Roger Lee Hall in his lecture-recital presented at Canterbury Shaker Village.

Shaker Hymns

The first hymns were written about 1805 and the first printed hymn collection, Millential Praises, was published in 1812-13, but with texts only and no music. From that first hymnal to the last one in 1908, thousands of hymns were made available. For a complete list see -- A Checklist of Printed Shaker Hymnals.

Shaker Anthems

Around 1815, anthems began to be written, similar in style to early New England anthems by William Billings and Jacob French, except Shaker anthems had melody only. By the 1830s, Shaker anthems began to be harmonized in three or four voice parts as well as melody only.

An example of an early Shaker anthem with melody only is:

"Mount Zion" (ca. 1815) by Elder Issachar Bates

A later anthem in four parts (SATB) is titled,

"Millennial Praise" (1883) by Elder James G. Russell

Giving Credit Where It Is Due

Many performing ensembles have failed to give credit to the music editors of Shaker music.

Without such editors as Joel Cohen, Mitzie Collins, Harold Cook, Mary Ann Haagen, Roger Lee Hall, Daniel Patterson and others, these Shaker spirituals would remain buried in manuscript music books.

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 all historians, music directors, researchers and musicians:

Please give credit to the editors of Shaker music!

Shaker Music For Idiots?

In his book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History, Michael Miller provides the following "Note" on page 142:

The Second Great Awakening also saw the rise of songs from the New England Shaker denomination. These were highly melodic hymns and anthems, and included such works as "Mount Zion" by Issachar Bates (1758-1837) and "Simple Gifts" by Joseph Brackett (1797-1882) - the latter made famous in Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring.

Miller does not reveal to "the complete idiots" where he found the information about the Shaker titles. It appears he found the information on this site or in a music publication by Roger Lee Hall. Is there any credit given to Hall or this web site in Miller's book? No. This is just another example of plagiarism of copyrighted material.

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

Non-Shaker and Shaker Tunes

Shaker Singing on CDs

Contrary to what many authors 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 from Sabbathday Lake , Maine and Canterbury, New Hampshire , with background notes by two authorities on the subject:

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

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

Many of the harmonized hymns performed on this CD set are from the 1908 Canterbury Shaker hymnal

.

Shaker Music History

Read Roger Lee Hall's 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 with the Sabbathday Lake Shakers at this link:

Shaker Music History

A Selection of Shaker Music on CDs

Gentle Words: A Shaker Music Sampler
(Shaker singers and other musicians)

I Am Filled With Heavenly Treasures
(The Enfield Shaker Singers)

The River of Love:
Music of the Shakers and
Music Based on Shaker Themes
(New England Voices)

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

Music Collections and Songbooks

Shaker music collections

Shaker songbooks

"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"

Now available with music and video bonus features!
The multimedia DVD, THE STORY OF SIMPLE GIFTS.