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This is the first in the Shaker Music Series and was compiled by Ethnomusicologist and Shaker Music Scholar, Roger Lee Hall.

It is a valuable collection of field recordings with interviews and singing by these Shaker sisters:

Eldress Bertha Lindsay

Sister Bertha Lillian Phelps

 



Sister Ruth Mildred Barker

© all photographs by Gail M. Hall

 

The audio interviews are rare examples of Shaker sisters talking about and singing their own music.

 

The CD title of "Blended Together" is named after a song by Elder Joseph Holden (1851-1919) from Mount Lebanon, New York.

Sister Mildred Barker said in an interview that this was a favorite song at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community and was sung there for many years.

These interviews took place at Canterbury, New Hampshire in 1972 and 1987; at Cleveland and Shaker Heights, Ohio in 1974; and at Sabbathday Lake, Maine in 1980.


Audio titles:

1. Song: Blended together as one we stand - Mitzie Collins & Roger Hall, 1992; Sister Mildred Barker & Sister Frances Carr, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1974
2. Song: Mother says O rise be glad -- Eldress Bertha Lindsay, 1972
3. Interview with Eldress Bertha Lindsay in 1972
4. The reed organ
5. The Shaker orchestra
6. Canterbury Shaker singers
7. Canterbury hymnal
8. About Elder Henry Blinn
9. Shaker school
10. Song: I will go on my way -- Eldress Bertha Lindsay, 1972
11. Song: May I softly walk and O tarry not 'mid worldly strife, 1972
12. Sister Lillian Phelps tells about her hymn, O tarry not, 1972
13. Shaker dances and marches
14. Shaker "letteral" music notation
15. Sister Lillian tells about her musical training
16. Shaker gift songs
17. Skipping song
18. Shaker dances
19. Song: In the days when I shall comfort thee
20. Song: I want to be clean and holy all over
21. Just enough cross by the way and 'Tis the gift to be simple
22. Interview with Eldress Bertha Lindsay in Cleveland, 1974
23. Song: O my sweet Shaker home
24. Song: O we're a band of sisters and happy are we
25. Song: Simple Gifts - Eldress Bertha's 90th birthday party, 1987
26. Song: Who will bow and bend like the willow - recorded in 1974
27. Song: I must live must have my being - Sister Mildred Barker
28. Interview with Sister Mildred at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, 1980
29. Hymn: The Shakers - Sister Mildred and Sister Frances,1980
30. Song: We will all go home with you - Sabbathday Lake Shakers

 

 

 

 

 

Your payment of $19.95 will hep support the Center for American Music Preservation (CAMP) in its mission to help preserve American historical vocal music.

For orders outside of the USA, you will receive just
the pdf booklet plus two audio files sent to your email as a download and no extra shipping charge is needed.

Your order is payable through safe and secure PayPal cost.

To order, click the "Add to Cart" button below:

 


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After you have sent in your payment (USA only),
send an e-mail to confirm
withl your mailing address.

Send to:

Blended Together

 

 

If you have questions, write to:

"Blended Together" Disc

 

 

 

 

 

Shaker Music Scholar

Many of the Shaker songs and hymns included on these CDs are available in performing editions and arrangements by Roger Lee Hall, a composer and ethnomusicoloist who has researched and performaed Shaker music for over 50 years.

See these links:

Shaker Music Preservation Series

Shaker Music Arrangements



 

 

Shaker Music CD Series

 


 

" Celestial Praises" - A Celebration of Shaker Spirituals

25 premiere recordings of original Shaker tunes
and arrangements by Roger Lee Hall and Conrad Held.
This CD features soloists,
instrumentalists (piano, recorder, violins)
and The Canterbury Singers
all under the direction of Kathryn Southworth

 


 

 

 

 

 

"Gentle Words" - A Shaker Music Sampler

Includes 24 premiere recordings including a newly discovered version
of the best known Shaker song, "Simple Gifts,"
and music sung by Shaker sisters from taped field recordings.
These are rare performances by Shaker sisters and were recorded live on site.

 

This accompanying book is also available:

 

My Shaker Home: Words & Music by Shaker Sisters

 

 

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers (Rounder Records)

"The spiritual music of the Shakers. as might be expected, is notable for its simplicity and straightforward nature...anyone with an interest in American religious music will find the material both interesting and moving.
Highly recommended."

--Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

This 2 CD set from 1999 includes 40 Shaker spirituals sung by the Shakers from Canterbury, New Hampshire and Sabbathday Lake, Maine. It includes a history of Shaker music narrated by Sister Mildred Barker and
Sister Lillian Phelps. There are also interviews with Sister R. Mildred Barker, Eldress Bertha Lindsay, and Sister Lillian Phelps.

The first interviews were done in 1960 by William Randle. Later interviews were conducted in 1972 and 1980 by Roger Hall.

These are a few of Shaker spirituals included on the CD set:

"Let Zion Move"
"Redeeming Love"
"Let My Name Be Recorded"
"I See The Light Before Me"
"Precious Gospel Kindred"
"Consulation" (all six titles by Eldress Mary Ann Gillespie)
"Abiding Care" (Dorothy Durgin)
"O Tarry Not" (words: Dorothea Cochran/ music: Lillian Phelps)
"Star of Purity" (words: Susanna Brady/ music: Ezra T. Leggett)
"Lead Me On To Greater Victory" (Elder Otis Sawyer)
"Prayer Universal" (Eldress Dorothy Durgin) -- solo by Charles Thompson


The CD set includes an attractive 72 page illustrated booklet with examples of Shaker music and the words to all 40 Shaker spirituals plus a bibliography and discography, compiled by Roger Hall.

 

Read how these important recordings were made in 1960-61 and
finally released commercially in 1999 --

click here

 

 

 

 

 

 


DVDs about Shaker Music

 

 

New edition in 2024!



A Shaker Music Miscellany

 

 

 

 


"Simple Gifts": Great American Folk Song

 

 

Related CAMP Links

 

Joseph Brackett's Simple Gifts

Shaker Music Books and Articles

Shaker Music Scholar

Shaker Music Series

Shaker Music Preservation Series

 

 

 

 

 

MUSIC OF THE AMERICAN SHAKERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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