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Shaker songs, part by part

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Simple Gifts4 voices · 0:00 / 0:41

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All of Simple Gifts, from "'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right,", in its parts: the tune with the others under it. Your part is the Soprano. Press a voice to take it out of the harmony or bring it back.

The Shaker songs

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Each part opens its own page, to hear it and learn it.

Stage 01No. 01

I Am Fill'd with Heavenly Treasures

E minor · Beginner

Learn I Am Fill'd with Heavenly Treasures
Stage 02No. 02

I Will Bow and Be Simple

C major · Beginner

Learn I Will Bow and Be Simple
Stage 03No. 03

O the Beautiful Treasure

E minor · Beginner

Learn O the Beautiful Treasure
Stage 04No. 04

Simple Gifts

G major · Beginner

Learn Simple Gifts
Stage 05No. 05

Who Will Bow and Bend

C major · Beginner

Learn Who Will Bow and Bend

Bars show each part on one scale, E2 to G5. The line is middle C.

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Where these songs come from

Simple Gifts is a Shaker song for dancing in worship, usually credited to Elder Joseph Brackett and dated 1848, though the copy we sing from, in Mary Hazzard's handwritten songbook, is unsigned and undated. The Shakers were a religious community that worshipped by singing and dancing, and every other song here comes from the same songbook, copied in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

Every song here is public domain and our own arrangement, and each card says its key and how hard it is. Play a song's first line to hear every part together, then open your part to hear it alone or with the others under it, and sing along as each note lights up. Each song's page tells its story.

More to sing: Hymns, Folk songs

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Stackapella teaches you to sing harmony one part at a time, right in your browser.

Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording a part: 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.
  • Record every part yourselfStack your takes in time until you're the whole choir.
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