Saturday, July 12, 2025
9 am – 4 pm

Spend a day immersed in the beauty, power, and simplicity of Shaker song! Lift your voice and spirit in community while singing in the Shakers’ 1794 Meetinghouse. Learn about this unique sacred music tradition that has been practiced continuously in America for over 250 years.

Designed for singers at all levels, this one-day intensive (with an emphasis on fun) will be led by Shaker music devotee, performer, and scholar, Chris Moore, and master vocal teaching artists choral leader, Jeff Christmas.

Students can expect to come away with a rich introduction to the Shaker music tradition and culture, and will learn a diverse group of beautiful songs, in a variety of styles and modes. Participants will strengthen their ear training and ensemble singing skills, using tools that can be applied to their own singing, composing, and songwriting. Learning primarily by ear (with printed handouts in standard notation), this workshop will also explore the various ways the Shakers composed, notated, shared, and sang songs together.

The Shaker repertoire, totaling an estimated 10,000 tunes, provides a vast, diverse, and accessible repertoire for folk singers, history enthusiasts, and spiritual seekers alike. From the American folk anthem “Simple Gifts” (written by Maine Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett) to the lively wordless step tunes and marches, to the beautiful “solemn songs,” “laboring songs,” “gift songs,” Anthems, and later hymns – these songs combine pastoral imagery and traditional folk music forms from early America with the Shaker ideals of simplicity, humility, peace, and union – all set to beautiful, simple, and memorable melodies.

Students of all levels of singing and musical experience are welcome. Teens and adults.

Minimum participants: 10, max 40