Editing Shakers (section)

===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>