ISBN 0-931329-97-3.
Younger bands for whom "Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs" is too ambitious now have a new alternative - this affordable, separate publication of the simple hymn is the third movement of the larger work. This is music of dignity and lyrical grace - quite an outstanding Shaker melody! The Shakers were a religious sect who splintered from a Quaker community in the mid-1700's in Manchester, England. Known then derisively as "Shaking Quakers" because of the passionate shaking that would occur during their religious services, they were viewed as radicals, and their members were sometimes harassed and even imprisoned by the English. One of those imprisoned, Ann Lee, was named official leader of the church upon her release in 1772. Two years later, driven by her vision of a holy sanctuary in the New World, she led a small group of followers to the shores of America where they founded a colony in rural New York. The Shakers were pacifists who kept a very low profile, and their membership increased only modestly during the decades following their arrival. At their peak in the 1830's, there were some 6,000 members in nineteen communities interspersed between Maine and Kentucky. Soon after the Civil War their membership declined dramatically. Their practice of intense simplicity and celibacy accounts for much of their decline. Today there is only one active Shaker community remaining, the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine. The Shakers were known for their architecture, crafts, furniture, and perhaps most notably, their songs. Shaker songs were traditionally sung in unison without instrumental accompaniment. Singing and dancing were vital components of Shaker worship and everyday life. Over 8,000 songs in some 800 songbooks were created, most of them during the 1830's to 1860's in Shaker communities throughout New England. THE CREATION OF A SHAKER GIFT SONG A Shaker Gift Song is a separate publication of the third song from Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs. The idea for separately publishing this movement came from a middle school band director, who thought it ideal for Grade 2 bands. It is based on the Shaker lullaby, "Here Take This Lovely Flower," found in Dorothy Berliner Commin's extraordinary collection, Lullabies of the World, and in Daniel W. Patterson's monumental collection, The Shaker Spiritual. This song is an example of the phenomenon of the gift song, music received from spirits by Shaker mediums while in trance. Although the Shakers practiced celibacy, there were many children in their communities, including the children of recent converts as well as orphans whom they took in. Like many Shaker songs, this lullaby embodies the Shakers' ideal of childlike simplicity. PERFORMANCE NOTES: Begin the movement with a full, connected, rich sound, giving way to a sweeter, gentler sound at measure 9. In measures 4 and 12, the second and third clarinets and tenor saxophone have dotted quarter notes, the first of which is an appoggiatura to the second. Stress the dissonance (the first dotted quarter note) and diminuendo into the resolution (the second dotted quarter note). In the canon of measures 17 to 24, the flutes and oboe should be in equal balance with the imitating clarinets. In my conducting of this work, I have found that the penultimate measure is best conducted in six, which affords the greatest control of the ritardando. -Frank Ticheli Ensemble instrumentation: 4 Flute 1, 4 Flute 2, 2 Oboe, 4 Bb Clarinet 1, 4 Bb Clarinet 2, 4 Bb Clarinet 3, 2 Bb Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 1, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 2, 2 Bb Tenor Saxophone, 1 Eb Baritone Saxophone, 3 Bb Trumpet 1, 3 Bb Trumpet 2, 3 Bb Trumpet 3, 3 F Horn, 3 Trombone 1, 3 Trombone 2, 2 Euphonium B.C., 2 Euphonium T.C., 4 Tuba, 2 Percussion 1, 2 Percussion 2.
