Editing Shakers (section)

==Culture==

===Artifacts===
By the middle of the 20th century, as the Shaker communities themselves were disappearing, some American collectors whose visual tastes were formed by the stark aspects of the [[modernist]] movement found themselves drawn to the spare artifacts of Shaker culture, in which "[[form follows function]]" was also clearly expressed.<ref>Stephen Bowe and Peter Richmond, ''Selling Shaker: The Commodification of Shaker Design in the Twentieth Century'' (England: Liverpool University Press, 2007), pp. 43, 146n267, 169, 239, Google Books, Retrieved January 17, 2011.</ref> [[Kaare Klint]], an architect and furniture designer, used styles from Shaker furniture in his work.<ref>[http://www.furnituredesign24.com/kaare-klint.aspx Kaare Klint furniture design] Retrieved January 17, 2011.</ref>

Other artifacts of Shaker culture are their spirit drawings, dances, and songs, which are important genres of Shaker [[folk art]]. [[Doris Humphrey]], an innovator in technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement, made a full theatrical art with her dance entitled Dance of The Chosen, which depicted Shaker religious fervor.<ref>Ernestine Stodelle, "Flesh and Spirit at War," ''New Haven Register'', March 23, 1975, quoted in Flo Morse, ''Shakers and the World's People'' (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1982), pp. 274–76, Google Books, Retrieved January 17, 2011.</ref>

The largest collection of Shaker artifacts is the Robert and Virginia Jones Shaker collection at Harmon Museum, in Lebanon, Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plan A Visit - Harmon Museum |url=https://www.wchsmuseum.org/harmonmuseum.html |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=HARMON MUSEUM {{!}} ART, HISTORY & CULTURE |language=en}}</ref>

===Music===
[[File:A Shaker Music Hall.jpg|thumb|A Shaker Music Hall, ''The Communistic Societies of the United States, by Charles Nordhoff,'' 1875]]
{{Shaker music}}
The Shakers composed thousands of songs, and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" could also be a musical revelation, and they considered it important to record musical inspirations as they occurred.

Scribes, many of whom had no formal musical training, used a form of music notation called the letteral system.<ref>[http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/shakerbooks.htm#articlesshakermusic Shaker Books and Articles] American Music Preservation</ref> This method used letters of the alphabet, often not positioned on a staff, along with a simple notation of conventional rhythmic values, and has a curious, and coincidental, similarity to some [[Musical notation#Ancient Greece|ancient Greek music notation]].

Many of the lyrics to Shaker tunes consist of syllables and words from unknown tongues, the musical equivalent of [[glossolalia]]. It has been surmised that many of them were imitated from the sounds of Native American languages, as well as from the songs of African slaves, especially in the southernmost of the Shaker communities,{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} but in fact the melodic material is derived from European scales and modes.

Most early Shaker music is monodic, that is to say, composed of a single melodic line with no harmonization. The tunes and scales recall the folksongs of the British Isles, but since the music was written down and carefully preserved, it is "art" music of a special kind rather than folklore. Many melodies are of extraordinary grace and beauty, and the Shaker song repertoire, though still relatively little known, is an important part of the American cultural heritage and of world religious music in general.

Shakers' earliest hymns were shared by word of mouth and letters circulated among their villages. Many Believers wrote out the lyrics in their own manuscript hymnals. In 1813, they published ''[[Millennial Praises]],'' a hymnal containing only lyrics.<ref>''Millennial Praises'', Seth Youngs Wells, comp. (Hancock, Massachusetts: Josiah Tallcott, Jr., 1813), reproduced with music in ''Millennial Praises: A Shaker Hymnal'', Christian Goodwillie and Jane Crosthwaite, eds. (Amherst, Massachusetts: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], 2009).</ref>

After the Civil War, the Shakers published hymnbooks with both lyrics and music in conventional four-part harmonies. These works are less strikingly original than the earlier, monodic repertoire. The songs, hymns, and anthems were sung by the Shakers usually at the beginning of their Sunday worship. Their last hymnbook was published in 1908 at Canterbury, New Hampshire.<ref>Roger Lee Hall, ''Invitation to Zion – A Shaker Music Guide'' (Stoughton, Massachusetts: Pinetree Press, 2017).</ref>

The surviving Shakers sing songs drawn from both the earlier repertoire and the four part songbooks. They perform all of these unaccompanied, in single-line unison singing. The many recent, harmonized arrangements of older Shaker songs for choirs and instrumental groups mark a departure from traditional Shaker practice.

''[[Simple Gifts]]'' was composed in 1848 by [[Joseph Brackett|Elder Joseph Brackett]], on or about the time he moved to the Shaker community at [[Alfred, Maine]]. English poet and songwriter [[Sydney Carter]] used the song as the basis for a hymn in 1963 "[[Lord of the Dance (hymn)|Lord of the Dance]]", also referenced as "I Am the Dance".

Some scholars, such as [[Daniel W. Patterson]] and [[Roger Lee Hall]], have compiled books of Shaker songs, and groups have been formed to sing the songs and perform the dances.<ref>Daniel W. Patterson, ''Gift Drawing and Gift Song'' (Sabbathday Lake, Maine: United Society of Shakers, 1983); Daniel W. Patterson, ''The Shaker Spiritual'' (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979). Roger L. Hall, ''Love is Little – A Sampling of Shaker Spirituals'' (Rochester, New York: Sampler Records, 1992); Roger Lee Hall, ''Simple Gifts: Great American Folk Song'' (Stoughton, Massachusetts: PineTree Press, 2014).</ref>

The most extensive recordings of the Shakers singing their own music were made between 1960 and 1980 and released on a 2-CD set with illustrated booklet, ''Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers''.<ref>[http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/LetZionMove.htm ''Shaker Music''.] American Music Preservation. March 26, 2014.</ref> Other recordings are available of Shaker songs, both documentation of singing by the Shakers themselves, as well as songs recorded by other groups (see external links). Two widely distributed commercial recordings by [[The Boston Camerata]], "Simple Gifts" (1995) and "The Golden Harvest" (2000), were recorded at the Shaker community of Sabbathday Lake, Maine, with active cooperation from the surviving Shakers, whose singing can be heard at several points on both recordings.

[[Aaron Copland]]'s 1944 ballet score ''[[Appalachian Spring]]'', written for [[Martha Graham]], uses the Shaker tune "[[Simple Gifts]]" as the basis of its finale. Given to Graham with the working title "Ballet for Martha", it was named by her for the scenario she had in mind, though Copland often said he was thinking of neither Appalachia nor a spring while he wrote it.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/specials/milestones/991027.motm.apspring.html | author=Robert Kapilow and John Adams |title=Milestones of the Millennium: 'Appalachian Spring' by Aaron Copland |year=1999 |work=NPR's Performance Day |publisher=[[National Public Radio]]}}</ref> Shakers did, in fact, worship on [[Holy Mount]] in the Appalachians.

''Laboring Songs,'' a piece composed by [[Dan Welcher]] in 1997 for large wind ensemble, is based upon traditional shaker tunes including "Turn to the Right" and "Come Life, Shaker Life".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.presser.com/shop/laboring-songs.html|title=Laboring Songs|website=Presser|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref>

===Works inspired by Shaker culture===
[[File:Shaker Pianist (1888) etching (16.99 x 11.75 cm) ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art II.tif|thumb|Félicien Rops, ''A Shaker Pianist'' (1888), etching (16.99 × 11.75 cm; 6{{frac|3|4}}" × 4{{frac|3|4}}"), Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]
For a Shaker Seminar held in Massachusetts in 1981, composer Roger Lee Hall wrote a pageant of original Shaker poetry and music titled, "The Humble Heart", featuring singing and dancing by "The New English Song and Daunce Companie".

Shaker lifestyle and tradition is celebrated in [[Arlene Hutton]]'s play ''[[As It Is In Heaven (play)|As It Is in Heaven]]'', which is a re-creation of a decisive time in the history of the Shakers. The play is written by Arlene Hutton, the pen name of actor/director Beth Lincks. Born in Louisiana and raised in Florida, Lincks was inspired to write the play after visiting the Pleasant Hills Shaker village in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a restored community that the Shakers occupied for more than a century, before abandoning it in 1927 because of the inability of the sect to attract new converts.

In the early 1960s, American folklorist Robin Evanchuk, after trips to Shaker communities including Sabbathday Lake, created a stage reproduction of a Shaker worship service.  It included both the a cappella songs and also the dance-like movements traditionally used in the Shaker worship service.   It was performed by the Westwind Dance Ensemble of Los Angeles, the AMAN Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, and her own dance group, The Liberty Assembly.  Performances by the AMAN Folk Ensemble continued until at least 1989, when the Shaker service was included in a concert tour of the AMAN Folk Ensemble that included concerts in the American mid-west, east, and New York City.

[[Robert Newton Peck]]'s 1972 book, ''[[A Day No Pigs Would Die]]'', depicts a family that lives by the "Book of Shaker".  They are clearly not traditional Shakers, however, as they live in a family unit separate from others, strive for individual success, and have children.

Novelist [[John Fowles]] wrote in 1985 ''[[A Maggot]]'', a [[postmodern novel|postmodern]] historical novel culminating in the birth of Ann Lee, and describing early Shakers in England.

Janice Holt Giles depicted a Shaker Community in her novel "The Believers".

In 2004 the Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Boston Camerata music director [[Joel Cohen (musician)|Joel Cohen]] created a live performance work with dance and music entitled "Borrowed Light". While all the music is Shaker song performed in a largely traditional manner, the dance intermingles only certain elements of Shaker practice and belief with Saarinen's original choreographic ideas, and with distinctive costumes and lighting. "Borrowed Light" has been given over 60 performances since 2004 in eight countries, recently (early 2008) in Australia and New Zealand, and most recently (2011) in France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In addition to Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Tero Saarinen cited above, choreographers [[Twyla Tharp]] ("Sweet Fields", 1996) and [[Martha Clarke]] ("Angel Reapers", 2011) also set movement to Shaker hymns. Playwright [[Alfred Uhry]] collaborated with Martha Clarke on "Angel Reapers" and used Shaker texts as source material. The music of "Angel Reapers" was successfully and uniquely arranged by Music Director Arthur Solari.

In 2009, Toronto-based, American-born poet [[Damian Rogers]] released her first volume of poetry, ''Paper Radio''. The lifestyle and philosophy of the Shakers and their matriarch Ann Lee are recurring themes in her work.