Music of the Shakers

The Angels are sounding on their golden trumpets
They sound and resound from the heavenly shore.
Inviting all nations, all kindred and people
To come, come to Zion and wander no more.

-- Shaker hymn by Matilda A. Butler, 1846

The hymn is titled "Invitation to Souls," and included in the Music Supplement of

A Guide to Shaker Music

NEW!

Shaker Broadside Series

A series of colorful broadsides are now available
with the words and music to Shaker songs, edited by Roger Hall.

They are ideal for display or for gift-giving.

These are the currently six Shaker song titles in the series:

No. 1: "Simple Gifts" (1848)
[First line: 'Tis the gift to be simple 'tis the gift to be free]

No. 2: "Blended Together" (ca. 1870)
[First line: Blended together as one we stand]

No. 3: "Gentle Words" (ca. 1867)
[First line: What the dew is to the flower, gentle words are to the soul]

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

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

No. 6: "We Will All Go Home With You" (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

NEW!

See this new e-book on DVD and others available at

Shaker Books

This year marks the 50th Anniversary
for two Shaker museums

Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire
[first museum begun by Charles (Bud) Thompson in 1960]

Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts

Here are four recommended CDs
with Shaker music from these communities:

Blended Together: Interviews with The Shakers

Eartly Shaker Spirituals

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers

Love is Little: A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals

Read about the anniversaries for three Shaker spirituals at

Shaker music news

Contents

This is the largest and most accurate site with information about music of the Shakers.
Click on these links to go to the various topics...

Aaron Copland Meets The Shakers
Shaker Music News
Shaker Music Scholar
Shaker Music Series
Simple Gifts of Shaker Music
Shakers Singing on CD
Shaker Music History
Shaker Music for Concerts or Recordings
Shaker Music Collections and Songbooks
Shaker song: "Simple Gifts" (Tis the gift to be simple)
Shaker vs Non-Shaker Tunes
Top Twelve Recorded Shaker Tunes
Book and CD Reviews
A Checklist of Printed Shaker Hymnals
Related Links

Help support the preservation mission of this website.

Use this handy Search Box to order your merchandise...

Read about the historic event in 1974
when the distinguished composer,

Aaron Copland Meets The Shakers

Shaker Music Scholar and Singer

Most of the information on these Shaker music pages was compiled and written by Roger Lee Hall, an ASCAP composer, singer, and musicologist, and one of the leading authorities on Shaker music.

Over the past three decades, Roger has edited or arranged hundreds of Shaker tunes, produced numerous music collections, songbooks, CDs, and DVDs and presented over 100 lectures and workshops on Shaker music. One of these programs was presented in 2009 and titled, "Gentle Words: Shaker Music in the 20th Century," when he introduced his music book with the same title, along with the accompanying CD.

From 1981 to 1996, he compiled and edited 56 Shaker tunes for a magazine devoted to Shaker interests. The titles of the Shaker songs and hymns he edited or arranged are listed at Shaker Music Series

Among the many Shaker tunes Roger has edited are these titles:

Song: "All at Home"
Song: "Blended Together"
Hymn: "Followers of the Lamb"
Song: "Gentle Words"
Hymn: "The Humble Heart"
Song: "In Yonder Valley"
Song: "Love is Little"
Song: "The Angels of Heaven" (Slow March)
Hymn: "Mother" (At Manchester in England)
Anthem: "Mount Zion"
Hymn: "A Prayer for the Captive"
Hymn: "The Shakers"
Song: "Simple Gifts ('Tis the gift to be simple) "
Song: "Welcome, Welcome Precious Gospel Kindred "
Song: "We Will All Go Home With You"

Some of his Shaker music editions and research have been used on these CDs:

Gentle Words -- Shaker singers and other musicians
Joy of Angels -- Soloists and The Sampler Chorus
Love is Little -- Soloists and The Sampler Chorus
The River of Love -- New England Voices
Simple Gifts -- The Boston Camerata, Schola Cantorum, Sabbathday Lake Shakers

Also, see the list of Roger's Shaker music arrangements for chorus.

A respected scholar who has taught for many years in various schools and colleges, produced programs on radio and cable television, Roger has also performed as a singer in numerous concerts and on several recordings.

He is one of the foremost authorities on earlier American vocal music and has compiled numerous music collections and CDs and is currently director of several music archives.

Roger has been listed in numerous respected directories, including

Who's Who in America

Who's Who in the World

Simple Gifts of Shaker Music

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

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, over 10,000 Shaker tunes were composed -- the largest output of any religious communal society in America.

Yet much of their music remains unknown today to the general public, except for the Shaker song, "Simple Gifts," which was first arranged by Aaron Copland and later by folksingers such as: George and Gerry Armstrong, Bob Beers, and Judy Collins.

Within the past fifty years or so, other Shaker songs and hymns have been arranged by Jack Bomer , William Cutter, Jacob Druckman, Mary Ann Haagen, Roger Lee Hall, 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 L. Hall, Robert C. and Viola E. Opdahl, Daniel W. Patterson.

Music Genres

Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of incorrect information spread around
about Shaker music even though much has been written on the subject and proper credit is often lacking in published sources of this music.

The most common error is classifying all Shaker music as Traditional or Anonymous folk hymns, or calling them all "songs."

That is incorrect and misleading.

There are actually three broad types of Shaker music: Songs, Hymns, and Anthems.

Many of these tunes can be attributed to a specific Shaker sister or brother and are therefore not by that prolific someone known as "anonymous."

The earliest Shaker music are wordless songs beginning 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.

The first hymns were written about 1805 and the first printed hymbook, Millential Praises, was published in 1812-13, but with texts only and no music.

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 meldoy only.

An example of an early Shaker anthem with melody only is: "Mount Zion" by Elder Issachar Bates, and an anthem in four parts (SATB) is: "Millennial Praise" by Elder James G. Russell.

Both hymns and songs are most often in two part (or binary) form: A + B.

The main difference between Shaker hymns and songs are:

1. hymns usually have only the second half of the tune repeated [A + BB],
and songs often have both sections repeated [AA + BB].

2. hymns usually have more than two verses, while songs have one or two verses.

Examples:

An early Shaker hymn from Hancock, Massachusetts: "The Happy Journey"

An early Shaker song by their most revered spiritual leader: "Mother Ann's Song"

Because this is American religious folk music, all three categories (hymns, anthems and songs) are best classified together as: Shaker Spirituals

Probably the last Shaker song written was in 1959 by Sister Lillian Phelps. The song title is "My Shaker Home," and received its first public performance fifty years later by Roger Lee Hall in his lecture-recital titled "Gentle Words," presented at Canterbury Shaker Village.

Giving Credit Where It Is Due

Many performing ensembles have failed to give credit to music editors.

Without such editors as Joel Cohen, Mitzie Collins, Harold Cook, Mary Ann Haagen, Roger Hall, Daniel Patterson and others, the 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 music directors, researchers and musicians:

Please give credit to the editors of Shaker music!

A Memorial Hymn For U.S. President Abraham Lincoln

One of the most unusual Shaker hymns from the Civil War era was received in a dream in 1862 by Sister Cecilia DeVere at New Lebanon, New York and one of her Shaker sisters woke up and copied it down whicle she was still sleeping.

Sister Cecilia's hymn is titled, "A Prayer for the Captive" (also titled: "Supplication in a Nation's Calamity") and it was reportedly sung in all Shaker communities on the day of President Abraham Lincoln's funeral.

The first recording of this important Shaker hymn is available on a CD titled:

Lincoln and Liberty: Music from Abraham Lincoln's Era

It is also available on the CD:

Gentle Words: A Shaker Music Sampler

Shaker vs. Non-Shaker Tunes

Shaker Singing on CD

Contrary to what many authors have written, Shaker music is not all anonymous or traditional.

In fact, many of their songs, hymns and anthems are credited to Shaker poets and composers.

These 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 Canterbury, New Hampshire and Sabbathday Lake , Maine, with background notes by two authorities on the subject:

Early Shaker Spirituals: The United Society of Shakers,Sabbathday Lake Maine, with illustrated booklet & 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 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

Selection of Shaker Music on CDs