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I Will Bow and Be Simple: the melody (soprano)

The melody of I Will Bow and Be Simple, sung by the soprano, in C, from C4 to E5. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Carries the Shaker tune, most often on G, with many repeated notes, from middle C, only on the "I" that opens the first strain each time, up to its top E on the start of "humble," in the first strain, and in the second on "the" in "this is the token", on the end of "easy", and on "be broken, yea I'll", five notes in a row on the E.

Range
C4 to E5
Key
C
Guide voice
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How to learn the soprano part

  1. 01 · Your part

    Hear your part on its own until the tune of it is in your ear.

  2. 02 · With the others

    Hear it with the others, so you know where it sits in the chord.

  3. 03 · Sing it

    Sing it with the others under you and watch each note light up as you land it. The mic listens only while it plays, and nothing is recorded.

About I Will Bow and Be Simple

Words: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, undated, between songs dated 1851 and 1852)

Tune: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, undated, between songs dated 1851 and 1852)

I Will Bow and Be Simple is a Shaker song of humility: "I will bow and be humble, yea bow like the willow tree". It survives in Mary Hazzard's manuscript songbook, begun in 1847, which calls itself "A Collection of Extra Songs of Various Kinds Written and Pricked For the Purpose of Retaining them". There the song has no title and is signed only "North Family", with no village, giver or date; it comes between songs dated 1851 and 1852. Our tune and words are read from her page, written in the Shakers' notation of letters, in C, with every pitch as written, and the four parts are our own. This is both strains, each sung twice as the book marks it, for 2 to 4 singers. Courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

All about I Will Bow and Be Simple More folk songs, part by part

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Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up.
  • A guide sings your partHear your line over the others, slow it down, then take your turn.
  • Your notes light upEach note shows where you landed, and a hint when to go up or down.
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