Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs

From Wind Repertory Project
Frank Ticheli

Frank Ticheli


General Info

Year: 2002
Duration: c. 10:10
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manhattan Beach Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $175.00   |   Score Only - $36.50


Movements

1. In Yonder Valley - 2:25
2. Dance - 1:40
3. Here Take This Lovely Flower - 2:10
4. Simple Gifts - 3:35


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II (I doubling C Piccolo)
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Chimes
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Orchestra Bells
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tom-Tom (small)
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

In Parts:

  • Tuba, mvt.3, m.13 &16: Dynamic is mp, not mf.


Program Notes

THE SHAKERS

The Shakers were a religious sect who splintered from a Quaker community in the mid-1700s 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 1830s, 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. They maintain a Shaker library, a Shaker museum, and a website at www.shaker.lib.me.us.

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 1830s to 1860s in Shaker communities throughout New England.


THE CREATION OF SIMPLE GIFTS: FOUR SHAKER SONGS

My work is built from four Shaker melodies -- a sensuous nature song, a lively dance tune, a tender lullaby, and most famously, Simple Gifts, the hymn that celebrates the Shaker's love of simplicity and humility. In setting these songs, I sought subtle ways to preserve their simple, straightforward beauty. Melodic freshness and interest were achieved primarily through variations of harmony, of texture, and especially of orchestration.

The first movement is a setting of In Yonder Valley, generally regarded to be the oldest surviving Shaker song with text. This simple hymn in praise of nature is attributed to Father James Whittaker (1751-1787), a member of the small group of Shakers who emigrated to America in 1774. My setting enhances the image of spring by turning the first three notes of the tune into a birdcall motive.

The second movement, Dance, makes use of a tune from an 1830s Shaker manuscript. Dancing was an important part of Shaker worship, and tunes such as this were often sung by a small group of singers while the rest of the congregation danced. One interesting feature in my setting occurs near the end of the movement, when the brasses state the tune at one-quarter speed, in counterpoint against the woodwinds who state it at normal speed.

The third movement is based on a 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.

The finale is a setting of the Shakers' most famous song, Simple Gifts, sometimes attributed to Elder Joseph Bracket (1797-1882) of the Alfred, Maine, community, and also said (in Lebanon, New York, manuscript) as having been received from a Negro spirit at Canterbury, New Hampshire, making Simple Gifts possibly a visionary gift song. It has been used in hundreds of settings, most notably by Aaron Copland in the brilliant set of variations which conclude his Appalachian Spring. Without ever quoting him, my setting begins at Copland's doorstep, and quickly departs. Throughout its little journey, the tune is never abandoned, rarely altered, always exalted.

- Program Note by composer


Commissioned by the Tapp Middle School Band, Powder Springs, Georgia, Erin Cole, conductor.

- Program Note from score


Media


State Ratings

  • Florida: III
  • Georgia: V
  • Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP III
  • Kansas: IV
  • Louisiana: III
  • Maryland: IV
  • Michigan: Senior High B
  • Minnesota: III
  • North Carolina: V
  • Oklahoma: III-A
  • South Carolina: IV
  • Texas: II. (mvt. 1, 2, or 4)
  • Texas: III. (At least 3 mvts.)
  • West Virginia: II


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • West Valley High School (Yakima, Wash.) Concert Band (Kirk Knight, conductor) - 6 March 2024
  • University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Maroon Campus Band (R. Louis Vajda, conductor) -- 30 November 2023
  • University of Central Arkansas (Conway) Symphonic Band (Derek Stoughton, conductor) - 28 September 2023
  • University of South Alabama (Mobile) Symphony Band (Robert D. Abend, conductor) - 28 September 2023
  • Otterbein University (Westerville, Ohio) Wind Ensemble (Michael S. Yonchak, conductor) - 22 February 2023
  • Watsonville (Calif.) Community Band (Brad Gronroos, conductor) - 9 December 2022
  • Oklahoma Baptist University (Shawnee) Symphonic Winds (Timothy Kaiser, conductor) - 6 December 2022
  • University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) Wind Symphony (Jeffrey Summers, conductor) – 3 October 2022
  • Bowling Green (Ohio) State University Concert Band (Bruce Moss, conductor) - 30 September 2022
  • Poth (Tx.) High School Wind Ensemble (Chase Failing, conductor) - 21 April 2022
  • Tyler (Tx.) Junior College Wind Ensemble (Jeremy R. Strickland, conductor) - 18 November 2021
  • Indiana State University (Terre Haute) Wind Orchestra (Roby George, conductor) - 18 November 2021
  • University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Symphonic Band (Jerry Luckhardt, conductor) – 19 October 2021
  • Illinois State University (Normal) Foeller Band (Anthony C. Marinello, conductor) - 21 April 2021
  • Abilene (Tx.) Christian University Wind Ensemble (Steven Ward, conductor) - 9 April 2021
  • University of Northern Colorado (Greeley) Symphonic Band (Wesley J. Broadnax, conductor) - 25 March 2021
  • Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) Varsity Band (Cory Near, conductor) - 20 February 2021
  • Dordt University (Sioux Center, Iowa) Wind Symphony (Nathaniel Van Holland, conductor) - 21 November 2020
  • University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg) Concert Band B (Catherine Rand, conductor) - 17 November 2020
  • University of Kansas (Lawrence) Wind Ensemble (Paul Popiel, conductor) - 13 September 2020

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Frank Ticheli website Accessed 6 July 2020
  • Gillis, Glen. "Simple Gifts." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 10, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 300-313. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2015.
  • Simple Gifts. Wikipedia. Accessed 25 May 2021
  • Ticheli, F. (2002). Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs: For Concert Band [score]. Manhattan Beach Music: Brooklyn, N.Y.