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Who Will Bow and Bend: alto part

The alto part of Who Will Bow and Bend in C, from A3 to B4. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Sings the words a third or a sixth under the tune almost all the time, mostly a third, most often on E, with many repeated notes, up to its top B for most of "Dropping down like a shower," in the second strain and on "out all the" in the third, and down to its low A on each "Who" of the first strain, on "In" and "From the" and on the ends of "willow,", "freedom," and "blowing,", and in the second strain on "Pride and" and the end of "working.".

Range
A3 to B4
Key
C
Guide voice
The app's own voice

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How to learn the alto 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 Who Will Bow and Bend

Words: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, about 1847)

Tune: Shaker song (Mary Hazzard's songbook, about 1847)

Who Will Bow and Bend is a Shaker song in three strains: "Who will bow and bend like a willow, Who will turn and twist and reel". It is copied in Mary Hazzard's manuscript songbook, begun in 1847, with no title, place, giver or date; two songs away on each side are songs signed by Canterbury's Second Family and dated "Feb 22nd 1847" and "April 1847". Hazzard wrote "Who will turn and twist and real"; we sing "reel". 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 all three strains, each sung twice as the book marks it, for 2 to 4 singers. Courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

All about Who Will Bow and Bend 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.
  • Record every part yourselfStack your takes in time until you're the whole choir.
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