>> Stephen Winick:
Welcome I'm Stephen Winick
of the American Folklife Center
of the Library of Congress.
For many years we presented
the homegrown concert series
featuring the best in folk music
and dance from around the world.
In the year 2020, because of
the global pandemic we shifted
to producing an online
video concert series
which we call Homegrown at Home.
So, 2021 was our second year
of Homegrown at Home concerts.
By way of introduction I'll
mention that the United Society
of Believers in Christ Second
Appearing, more commonly known
as the Shakers, emigrated
from England and settled
in Revolutionary
Colonial America in 1774.
And from their inception,
the shakers compose thousands
of songs, dances, hymns,
and anthems which
were an important part
of Shaker worship.
Sabbathday Lake, Shaker
Village in Maine established
at the height of the Shaker
movement in the United States
in the 18th century is the
last active Shaker community
in the country.
And one of that community
members Brother Arnold Hadd,
actively carries on
the oral tradition
of singing shaker songs which
goes back over 200 years.
So we are very happy to
have brother Arnold with us.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: Thank you.
Happy to be here.
>> Stephen Winick: Now brother
Arnold has been collaborating
with our other guest,
Kevin Siegfried.
Kevin's choral arrangements
of shaker songs are
frequently performed
by modern vocal ensembles.
And he also does
archival research and work
in the Sabbathday Lake Library
and sees his choral arrangements
as a form of musical
stewardship.
Helping to safeguard
and bring awareness
to this important
American musical tradition.
So our concert offered a glimpse
into the transmission, history,
and meaning of Shaker song
and Brother Arnold's
relationship with Kevin.
Brother Arnold demonstrated
songs
and explained their
providence and radiance.
A Seattle Washington
choral ensemble performed
Kevin's arrangements.
Now we have an opportunity to
delve deeper into Shaker songs
and spirituality
with Kevin Siegfried
and Brother Arnold Hadd.
So, welcome to you
as well Kevin.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Thank you.
So much good to be here.
Brother Arnold, I think for
those who maybe don't know you,
I think it would be really
fascinating made to hear
about your earlier life and
how you first encountered
the Shakers.
And what motivated your
decision to join the Faither
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: All right.
I was born in Springfield,
Massachusetts in 1956.
And the story, although it
should be straightforward,
has taken a lot of
twists and turns.
And I've only actually
discovered bits and pieces of it
in the last year or so.
So, my family, my father's
family had been deeply
entrenched in Springfield
since 1858
when they emigrated from Canada.
And it turned out that my
great-great-grandfather
who was the first
French-Canadian police officer
in Springfield encountered
the Shakers first.
And he helped Ellen
George Wilcox of Enfield,
Connecticut to retrieve
some stolen property,
which were horses and a wagon.
And he actually encountered
them a couple
of other times during
his long career.
That of course was lost to me
in was in all of my history.
I just grew a pretty
normal middle-class kid
in the late 60s early 70s.
And in that time period,
that whole longing and desire
for something that wasn't
the norm of our parents came
to the forefront of my life.
And certainly I did not like
the capitalistic society.
I didn't like what it was
doing, what it had done.
And I started looking for
alternative ways of living.
I was always instilled
in being very religious.
My parents were Methodist
and we were very involved
in our church, multiple
generations
of our family in that church.
And so there was a deep
sense of God that had
to prevail in my life.
And would help me to
be directed somewhere.
Well, anyways, when I was a kid
one of the big things we had
to do is endure tedious
summer rides
out into the countryside
after supper.
And usually this would be
done with my father's mother.
And we would usually
end up around Enfield,
Connecticut because it
was still very rural.
And the Shaker community
at that time had been part
of the Enfield, Connecticut
Prison System.
But it was being run
as a prison farm.
So they had cows.
And everything about it was
just really, really almost like,
it had been when the
Shakers were living there.
And my grandmother who was
wider than she was tall,
had a tremendous
fondness for food.
And she remembered that she
would go on to the Shakers
to have their famous
chicken dinners.
The other thing she talked about
with the Shakers was one brother
in particular, name
Riccardo Belden.
And Brother Riccardo
was very handsome.
And my grandmother thought
he was very handsome.
And that played into it.
Well, he had a falling out
with the elder of the church.
And he and another brother left.
They ended up in Springfield.
And in fact were
living next door
to where my grandparents were.
So she got to know him a bit.
But that's all they
knew about the Shakers.
And my parents were very,
very historically minded.
So while I'm the
oldest of three,
and for our first
three birthdays,
we hit every single historical
place in all of New England.
A particular year
it was in June,
it was my brother's
birthday and we went
to the restoration of Hancock.
So I had a wonderful tour.
And this guy told
me all these things.
I didn't know anything
about Shakers.
And during the discourse she
also said that Brother Ricardo
who was last male Shaker at
Hancock, was a lifelong Shaker.
And I didn't know
that was not true.
And I was 16 years old.
And I went to her and I told
her I love it, thank you,
you've opened my eyes.
This has been so wonderful.
But there's one thing
that isn't right.
Brother Riccardo was
not a lifelong Shaker,
he lived out for
probably 10 years.
She told me I was wrong.
Well, I have a lot of false.
And those don't go away, but the
worst one I had was don't tell
me I'm wrong when I'm right.
And especially being dismissed
because I was only 16.
And therefore, you know,
I was a no consequence.
So, I was furious.
And as I was leaving,
at the reception center,
they had a map of the Shaker.
And it showed that there
was still two Shakers
communities extant.
One was in New Hampshire.
One was in Maine.
I never had much fondness
for New Hampshire.
And I have deep and abiding
ties to the State of Maine.
And my father's sister
was living here,
my mother's family
was all from here.
So, I immediately went
home, thought about it.
Took about an hour to get
home from where Pittsfield is.
And I concluded as soon as I
got home, I got a 3x5 card.
I typed on it Brother
Ricardo Belden, born,
entered, left, entered, die.
And I just wanted
them to fill that in.
And I get a self-addressed
stamped envelope with it
and sent it off to the Shakers.
Well, I didn't hear
anything for a couple weeks.
And finally I did.
And I got a legal sized
envelope back, not my envelope.
And in it was a very long letter
from someone styled
Brother Theodore E. Johnson.
And that's the gentleman
going across from
where I am, right there.
That's Brother Ted.
And Brother Ted just went on
and on about Brother Ricardo,
because he really said the basis
of his faith laid in that man.
He was the first
Shaker he ever met.
And that they were talking
about the resurrection life
within 20 minutes
of their meeting.
And that it was through
that friendship
and Brother Ricardo stating, if
you really want to be a Shaker,
you have to go Sabbathday Lake.
It's the only place
that's going on.
So he did.
And so then I said
to heck with Hancock,
I want to know more
about the Shakers.
And there is no literature about
shakers in the 20th century.
So I would write
and ask questions.
And he would answer them.
And finally in the fall of 1975
I received an invitation to come
up for a long weekend.
Which I immediately jumped on.
And that was the day
after Thanksgiving.
So November of 1975 was
the first time I came here.
And it was a weekend
that changed my life.
I'd never been anywhere
that was foreign
to me that felt like home.
Strangers who felt like family.
I did not want to be a Shaker.
That was not in my
thought process.
What could I do to help them.
The community was desperately
poor, really struggling.
I could help by volunteering.
I could help by other
ways, and I would.
And I did.
And so I started
visiting more and more.
And in '77 I had most
of the summer off.
So Brother Ted decided in
the very beginning of August,
he knew my time was getting
closer to coming to an end.
He said child, we have to have
a mature, adult conversation.
And that is always of course you
don't want to hear those words.
But that's what he said.
And so he said to me, you
have to become a Shaker,
you're not going to be happy.
I said I'm very happy.
I love this.
This is great.
I'm here with you.
I can be at home.
I can do my thing.
He said no, you're
never going to be happy.
This is where you need to be.
You've got to do it.
I said no.
So we had another conversation
that didn't go any better.
And then we had the
6th of August.
And the 6th of August is the day
where we commemorate
the Shaker's arrival
in America in 1774.
The 6th of August has three
major events associated with it.
The Transfiguration of
Christ on Mount Tabor.
The arrival of the
Shakers in North America
and the bombing of Hiroshima.
So what we see in the first
two is gods light giving light
to the world.
And the third on we see
man's light giving darkness
to the world.
And so that day is a
very, very important day.
And we have a meeting
in the evening.
It used to be over
in the meetinghouse,
which has no electricity.
So we have lamps in the windows.
And there were probably
20 to 30 people here.
And as the meeting opened
up the singing of the
"Hymn Mother" something
just happened.
And as the meeting
went on more happened.
And it seemed like the
very heavens were present.
And I had never been in
such a spiritual meeting
as I was that evening.
And I realized during
that evening
that there were some
spirit speaking to me too.
So the next day I
went to Brother Ted
and I said, you're right.
Would I be able to try it.
The community said yeah.
And so I started my journey,
I'm coming up on 44 years
in another week's time.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And the size
of the community at that time,
approximately how many
people were there?
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: I
made the seventh member.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Okay.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: It
never seemed that small though
because there were
always visitors.
And so the place
was always full.
Really too full, when you
think about how few there were
to take care of all the masses.
But that's what it was.
And everybody he was old enough
to be my parent or
my grandparent.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And as we
come upon 250th anniversary
of Mother Ann Lee's
arrival in the New World,
along with the people
who traveled with her.
I'm just wondering if you
could paint a little picture
of number one, who did Ann Lee
come to the United States with?
What was motivating that move?
And just a little bit of what
you know about the worship
and music experience of the
early Shakers at that time.
So, back to 1774.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: Sure.
So the first believers started
off in Manchester, England.
That's in the northwest corner.
And it was the second
largest city in England.
But very far away from London.
So there was a lot
more freedom there
than you found down
in the capital.
So, actually that's where the
first Unitarian Chapel was
established in England.
And Presbyterians, and the
Quakers and Swedenborg Hands.
All of this free thought
was flowing through.
And it was also a really
stronghold of the Methodist.
And this is where Shakerism
comes out of is Methodism.
So, when John Wesley was head of
the church, he believed so much
in the individual
Christing experience.
That flame, which is
even now the symbol
for the Methodist Church.
So the Holy Ghost
coming down upon us
and baptizing us
and sanctifying us.
And that's what those
first Shakers did.
And they believe in it.
They were very wild
and they were wooly.
And they were very Pentecostal.
So the preacher would get up and
you don't rouse the people up.
And then you'd see them
going into gifts really.
You have shouting, and
whirling, and swirling,
and all those kinds of things.
Well, in 1747 what you
see is kind of a reform
of Charles Wesley kind of roping
them in to be more Anglican.
And you have all of
these groups who wanted
that fundamental founding
spirit to be alive.
Like the Free Wesleyans and
the primitive Methodists
and all that.
And you have that Shakers.
And so they're practicing
in house churches.
And there are probably
40 or 60 people
who were attending these things.
There was no forum.
They would sit and be quiet.
And then as the spirit moved
on them, people would get up
and whirl, and twirl, and
have gifts, they'd speak
in unknown tongues, they'd
sing in unknown tongues.
They'd roll on the floor.
Whatever the gift would be.
It was highly charged.
And it was these people
who come to America.
And who are very
British in 1774,
which is a really
bad thing to be.
And so they're there
in the wilderness.
And they just basically
stay there and wait.
And mother Ann keeps saying
to the followers,
you know, have faith.
We've got to grow more crops.
But nobody comes, mother.
She says they're going to come.
They're going to come.
They're going to come like us.
Just have faith.
And then on May 18th of 1780 you
have what's called the famous
dark day, millions
of acres were burning
out of control in Québec.
And nobody knew what
the cause was.
So in all of New England the sun
was neither seen to rise or set.
Of course here are
people who were very,
very attune to the Book
of Revelation and everyone
in New England thinks
this is it.
The millennium is
coming, we're in trouble.
And so the Universalists,
the Shakers
and the Freewill Baptists all
that day found the churches
where they make a
public ministry.
And so people heard about this,
again, going back to the Book
of Revelation, the
woman in the wilderness.
And so people hear
about her, and they come
and then they go back.
And they bring more people.
So you have thousands of people
coming here to Watervliet
to hear the message to
be fed on the message,
and then to confess their sins,
open their minds and
become believers.
So it's all done Pentecostally.
Mother would speak
to them individually.
Sometimes she was sweet
as honey in the comb.
And sometimes she
was hard as flint.
And she could read a soul
and know how she could
get through to them.
She decides to make
a missionary tour,
where she gets these groups
of people she knows are going
to be friendly and open,
gather more people in
and just went throughout
New England.
And she gets to Harvard, where
she really feels this is it.
This is the place.
I have seen a vision of God
when I was still in England.
And so she makes her
headquarters there.
But she faces the most
brutal, brutal prejudice
and physical violence.
She was in prison, she was
beaten, she was dragged
down the stairs, making sure
that her head hit
every single step.
She was physically abused
because people said no
woman could be like this.
So they would tear her
clothes off to prove
that she didn't have breasts.
There was just outrageous,
outrageous behavior
by the people around her.
And finally she gets so tired.
And they decide to go back
to Watervliet, New York.
And while there, not intending
to say, I do not believe.
She was always going
to go back to Harvard.
But her brother William
died, just exhausted from all
of the persecutions
and beatings.
And he dies in July of 1784.
And mother at that
point just starts
to let the life flow out of her.
And so on September 8th of
the same year she passes.
Now we know because
they were buried in land
that eventually was not ours.
So, Mother Ann and Father
William were not buried on land
that eventually became part of
the community of Watervliet,
they shifted away from there.
So in the 1820s, they exhumed
the bodies and moved them.
And they found that mother
had a fractured skull.
Which is keeping to the kind
of beatings she endured.
So it then goes into
the Americans, really.
Well, Father James gets
it for a few years.
But he is a young
man from England.
And very, very vigorous
and strong.
And he starts to have people
understand they've got
to leave the world and start
coming closer communion.
And that's when more meeting
houses are being built
in various sites.
And but he dies in 1787.
So from that time onward,
what we primarily think
of as being Shakers
and Shakerisms is an
American experience.
Who were the converts?
They were primarily
Freewill Baptist.
And the Freewills were different
than the Calvinist just
because the name indicates
that kind of thing.
And they were looking
for light, more light.
And so during that
second great awakening,
they have all these little
churches around who are seeking
out really way it
is to be redeemed.
To live the life of Christ.
So they were perfect,
perfect ready land
for the Shakers to come into.
And they accepted
them wholeheartedly.
And so this is how
they join the church.
And who's the head of the
church, first American head,
Joseph Meacham, himself a former
Freewill Baptist minister.
And it is he who sets
us up a community.
It is he who says
about the equality
of all people and things.
It is he who reveals
the duality of God.
And so, from the very beginning,
this is where we have
equal and separate.
So the brothers take
care of the brothers,
the sisters take
care of the sisters.
And we look after the interest
of each other to unite as one.
Why do we call ourselves
brothers and sisters?
It's to remind ourselves of
this relationship in Christ.
Christ is head of the church.
We are the children.
So we are brothers and
sisters one to each other.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Much of the
music from this time period,
certainly the early
period in the 1770s, 80s,
90s into the early 19th century,
much of it is as unstructured
as you describe the worshiping
being at that time point.
You have songs that are
of the wordless songs,
just shedding the idea of a hymn
or song text that has a text,
just because it was the need
to shed the theology
of former times.
And so we have these
wordless songs.
And this whole outgrowth
of a very kind of new,
it's really something new is
happening musically amongst
those early decades
of the Shaker history.
And yet, you just mentioned,
a moment ago you mentioned
Father James Whitaker
who was one of the people
who accompanied Ann Lee
in that original group of
how many people was it?
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: There were eight.
>> Kevin Siegfried:
Eight of them.
So, and Father James Whitaker
who you mentioned dies in 1787.
There are songs.
And there is one in
particular that is kept alive
in oral tradition,
at Sabbathday Lake,
in an unbroken oral tradition
that you still sing there.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: Right,
"Oh The Blessed Gospel."
We sing two of the songs.
"In Yonder Valley" and
"Oh The Blessed Gospel."
But "Oh, The Blessed
Gospel" has been,
as you said preserved
through all time.
We learn, thanks to
Dr. Danny Paterson,
"In Yonder Valley,"
in the 1980s.
So and that's a very
favorite song here.
But I think "Oh The Blessed
Gospel," which is one
of our dear friend Lenny
Brooks' favorite songs.
And he asks for it
often times in meeting.
So it's kept alive that even
our friends know that song too.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Yes.
Could you sing that song for us.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: [Singing] Oh,
the blessed gospel,
oh the blessed gospel.
It shall be mine.
Oh, the blessed gospel.
Oh the blessed gospel,
for it shall be mine.
I will labor for it.
I will labor for it,
it shall be mine.
I will labor for it.
I will labor for it.
It shall be mine.
>> Kevin Siegfried:
You can see how a tune
like that has been able to
hang on all of these years.
And of Father James'
song, that's certainly
"Oh The Blessed Gospel"
and "In Yonder Valley"
that you mention have words.
There are many other just really
arrestingly beautiful songs
of Father James'
that are preserved
in the Russell Haskell
manuscript at the at the Library
of Congress Music Division.
That those songs, or other songs
in that manuscript have
no text, also beautiful.
But it's clear how
this one has held on.
And can you describe when?
Is there certain occasions
or certain gifts in worship
where this song comes
up when you sing this.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: I think well,
of course when we sing them
in meeting, it's supposed
to be an amen to
someone's testimony.
So, you know, maybe someone is
talking about the gospel life.
There's an easy plug in there.
Union, that comes up a lot.
So that can plug
its way in there.
Or sometimes just
Lenny gives a testimony
and because you know
it's his favorite song,
you have to pitch it
up and make him happy.
So it goes on and on.
And remember these songs were
meant to be sung over and over.
These little couplets
were easy to learn
because they would be repeated,
and repeated, and repeated.
Keeping the rhythm
for the marching
and the dancing and all of that.
The other, the first
parents, Father William
and Mother Ann are known
to have a lot of songs too.
But like you said
they're it just vocables.
And when Father Joseph
takes over,
he purposely does not
want to hear words.
Because all he's getting
is old heavens religion,
and he wants none of that.
So, you know, he
just beats it down.
And he actually stops
marching towards the end.
The march went so slow
that it just stopped.
And for the last two years of
his life there was no movement
in meeting at all
as he tried for them
to labor deeper inside
themselves.
But then when Mother
Lucy takes over,
Mother Lucy was a much
more joyous person.
He was very dower and
you know very Baptist.
And she was not.
And with winning the west as
she did, early on in the 1800s,
they brought in a whole,
long repertoire of hymns.
And that's what Millennial
Praises ends up being.
But it also spurred off a
revival at Mount Lebanon
because they were so happy
to get all these new
brethren and sisters.
So these become very
lively songs.
And some of them have a
mixture of words and vocables,
or just still vocables.
But then that's really
when the words start having
more legitimacy.
And they start becoming the
way to go from there on.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And
the words in the songs
at that point also become
more uniquely Shaker
in their perspectives
and in the metaphors,
and just the language
as a whole.
And right now we're talking
about roughly what time period?
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: The 1820s.
>> Kevin Siegfried: In the 20s
is where this coalescing starts
to occur right in terms of
maybe what we think of today
as a uniquely Shaker
song in the style.
There's another song from
1820s that you have referred
to as the first song
that was learned
by Sister Mildred Barker,
"Come Little Children."
And I'm wondering if you could
just tell, maybe just a little
about Sister Mildred and of the
importance of this song for her.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: Sure,
Sister Mildred is the
other, there, above me.
She was the elderess of the
community when I came here.
She was placed by her mother
at the Alfred Shakers in 1903.
And as Sister Mildred would tell
it, Elderess Fannie gave her
to Elderess Harriot
as a second family.
So it was Elderess Harriot
who had her in her room
to teach her some Shaker songs.
And the very first one that
she ever taught her was
"Come Little Children."
Now, if you think about that
in the early 1900s it's kind
of odd anywhere else
but in Maine,
for them to be teaching
these kinds of old songs.
They'd all gotten into
the Canterbury mode
with the four-part harmonies,
and all of that stuff.
Whereas this is a very
simple, folksy, kind of song.
Well, why did they keep it?
Because they needed it,
because the Alfred Shakers were
still marching.
So you hear certain
rhythms and certain beats
that were used for
certain songs.
And you had to have them to
make that particular dance work.
So "Come Little Children"
was something they still used
in exercise meetings
on Wednesday nights.
So easy for her to learn.
And once Sister Mildred
learned one song,
she said she just couldn't stop.
She just had to learn as
many songs as possible.
It became something of
an obsession for her.
And so that's why she
was the living embodiment
of the Shaker spiritual.
And she knew thousands
and thousands of songs.
Many of which she
recorded for Dr. Patterson.
And eventually come
out on a couple
of records that we produced.
But she knew even
more, unfortunately
that didn't get recorded.
But thanks to people like you,
in particular and Marion Hagan,
etc., you guys can read
our literal notations.
So you can translate and say hey
this is a gem, you need to know.
So our repertoire still grows.
And that's wonderful.
So, yeah. And of
course when you sing
"Come Little Children" you
think about Sister Mildred
and that's how so much of
the songs actually survived,
because they had a personal
association with someone.
>> Kevin Siegfried: So
how does that song go,
"Come Little Children."
>> Brother Alfred Hadd:
Okay, this is a song,
which when we sing it,
we sing it through twice.
But they would have
sung it many more times.
Every time you sing
it, it picks up tempo.
>> Kevin Siegfried:
Is that right?
Okay.
>> Brother Alfred
Hadd: Keep going.
And you knew when
it was going to end
because nobody could go
any faster [laughter].
But we just do it twice, now.
[Singing] Come little
children, come to Zion.
Come little children,
march along.
Come little children,
come to Zion.
Come little children,
march along.
And your clothing and your
dress shall be ethe robe
of righteousness.
And your clothing and your
dress shall be the robe.
Of righteousness.
Come little children,
come to Zion.
Come little children,
march along.
Come little children,
come to Zion.
Come little children,
march along.
And your clothing and your
dress shall be ethe robe
of righteousness.
And your clothing and your
dress shall be the robe.
Of righteousness.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And
it's very easy to imagine
that maybe starting slower and
being repeated and repeated
until it just works its way out.
I love that image, you can
hear the physicality of that
as that plays itself out in
the room with people marching.
And you mentioned earlier
the exercise meeting.
Which is something
that developed,
I don't know the actual dates
of this, but I'm assuming it's
around the similar
time period of the 20s.
but I'm wondering if you could
speak a little bit to that.
Since that's something very
unique to the Shaker experience.
And also it seems to be,
you know it was an outgrowth
of the fact that, you know,
movement, and you know,
the fiery kinds of
bodily movement
that you were describing.
That you know, the goes back
to the very early
Shakers in Manchester.
And that you have the
organization of that movement
and the codification of it, and
the sort of controlling of it
into very, very exact and
precise kinds of dances.
Quick dances, and slow dances,
and marches, and shuffles,
and a whole body of songs
that accompanied those tunes
that were meant to
be sung to those.
But that exercise meeting itself
is something, it's not unique
to a Sabbathday Lake, it's
something that was happening
in all the communities, yes.
And just a little
bit about that,
because that was a particular
day when that happened.
And this was a time
to focus on that,
that activity of movement, yes.
>> Bother Arnold Hadd: Right.
So that would have
been Saturday night.
Sometimes you hear it
called prep meeting.
And it really is a kind
of rehearsal for Sunday
when they'd have public worship.
To make sure everybody
was in tune
and in union with
the right steps.
And sometimes it was
to learn a new dance,
whether it be a ring dance,
or a square order shuffle,
or whatever it might be.
However it was playing
itself out.
She square order shuffle was the
very first unified dance step
that believers ever had.
That came from Father Joseph.
Father Joseph, because he was
a Baptist, he had this thing
about law and order,
like you have no idea.
Everything in our
life was square.
Square order.
Well he hated the
[inaudible] of worship,
he just could not stand it.
And so he said he had
a revelation of God
and above their heads were the
angels doing this square order
shuffle in perfect union.
And so he introduced
that first step.
And that became the only
step for a long time.
But then when those
lively things came out,
square order shuffle
didn't keep up with that,
that was not its purpose.
So that's when the
ring dances come out.
And you see more lively,
the dances are very
lively, they're strikingly.
And that's when in the
1840s you see marches.
And marches were more
regulated, they were slower.
And they had drill like
precision with them.
And the exercise they do
was really important then
to make sure all the ranks
were doing the right number
of steps before they turn.
And everybody was doing
it in perfect union.
So, eventually what
happens though
in the 1890s you hear
but a walking march.
This is what's happening, you
know the community is aging.
There's just not so much
energy anymore in the room.
And then finally you have
what's called a sitting meeting.
So that's when, and
every community did it
at a different time period.
The larger, more wealthy
communities seemed
to be the first ones to
abandon that form of worship.
Whereas the smaller more
independent minded ones continue
on for longer periods of
time with the exercise,
which were mostly
marches at that time.
>> Kevin Siegfried: It certainly
makes sense that with the level
of precision that
was expected, right,
or required for those
things to come off, right.
That it would take rehearsal.
These things don't just happen
right, that you would be able
to make this right angle,
right, you know at this beat
and everything is in synchrony.
And that's certainly you know,
one of the things that you hear.
Many of these, not the exercise
meetings, which you say were
like those were a closed
thing for the community.
But when worship Sunday,
worship meetings were open
to the public, that certainly
the historical accounts
that you read from the time
period in the 19th century,
of course there's
a big emphasis.
That's one of the things
that people really remark
about is their experience of the
incredible precision and control
that plays itself out.
And also the continuation
of that exercise meeting.
Can you just, I know that's
for the main communities.
For both Alfred and for
Sabbathday Lake, those continued
for longer than many
other communities.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: Right,
well Sabbathday Lake, 1907.
And Alfred right to the Sunday
before they left in May 1931.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Which is
certainly something that impacts
in a big way the
musical traditions
of both of those communities.
And certainly something
that I've seen in going
through the manuscripts
from both Alfred
and Sabbathday Lake is
the, you know March tunes
and in particular
those continue.
And the feeling of the march
continues in the music.
So we have the way that that
physicality expresses itself
in the music is unique.
And in other communities,
when that tradition fell off,
that also fell off right.
We lost that quality
in the music.
So we have a continuation of
that in the main communities.
Which I think is a really,
that's a really crucial detail
and aspect of the
tradition that you are,
you know that you
are holding there.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: Very much so.
And you know behind
me is a Reed Organ.
And that's what undid
everything.
So main Shakers did
not want those at all.
They wanted nothing to do
with what they saw in keeping
in the tradition with Mother
about worldly instruments
being introduced into worship.
Whereas the Mount Lebanon
Canterbury in the 1850s,
they started, you know,
started using them.
And started writing music
more in the case of the world.
So using those things, they
didn't march with them anymore.
They just, you know
they were singing.
So Elder Otis Sawyer in
particular was adamant
about not having organ
music among believers.
And he said that "The human
voice was so full and sufficient
for the praise of Almighty God!"
Now, when he passed in 1884,
then Elder John Manse
of Alfred takes over.
Elder John felt the same way.
And it wasn't until he dies
in 1896, and that's the year,
when he comes in, when he dies,
they let organ music happen
at both Sabbathday
Lake and Alfred.
And it really stopped
the flow of music.
So there's almost no
compositions after that year.
They stopped receiving
those gifts.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And so
the introduction of the organ
which happened much
earlier in other communities
in Lebanon and the Canterbury.
And you see that.
I can definitely verify that
the thing you're describing
as you see it, a drastic change
in the in the style of the music
of both of those community
when the organ was introduced.
And so you have then an interest
in studying four-part harmony.
And you hear the music
has an awareness of chords
and the folk style is more
or less out the window.
And it's when more or less
you know, Victorian kind
of hymnody is brought
into the Shaker community.
And the organ certainly it's the
thing that, it was brought in,
right, for in many
cases, for support,
right as communities
were dwindling.
But also, it was a
double-edged thing in that way.
>> Brother Alfred Hadd:
Yeah, it certainly was.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Going
back to what I was just saying
in terms of the folk style.
Let's talk bout that.
The folk style of Shaker song
and you know what that is.
To musicians that often means
that there's a use
of gap scales.
You know, the pentatonic
or five, six note scales.
They're melodies
that weren't written
with an awareness of chords.
Whoever received that
melody wasn't thinking
about how am I going to
accompany this, right.
And it's somewhat akin
to chant almost before,
you know in the Medieval period
where the focus is on melody.
Melody tells, the melody
carries everything.
So there's a beautiful song
from the 30s from Maine.
"I Hunger and Thirst."
Which was the one that was
featured on the program
that we put together
earlier this year
for the Library of Congress.
And I think that's a great
example of this, when we talk
about the folk style of
the early Shaker song.
So the early 19th century.
I think this song is just,
for anyone listening,
give us a good reference
point for that.
I wonder if you could talk
of it, sing that song.
>> Brother Alfred Hadd:
"I Hunger and Thirst?"
>> Kevin Siegfried:
"I Hunger and Thirst."
>> Brother Alfred Hadd:
Right that song is
on that stays in my mind.
No one could sing it as
well as Sister Mildred
when she could sing it alone.
It was just something
she understood
from the depth of her soul.
And she just projected, her
beautiful voice that she had.
But she also said, there's
nothing more difficult to sing
than a Shaker song, because
it goes from the bottom
of your feet to the
top of your head.
And as you were saying,
so they weren't thinking
about music theory here.
They were just thinking, as they
received it from the spirit,
that's the way it
was supposed to do.
And we'll struggle through, and
we'll miss some of the notes.
And as it grows older, we'll
round them down a little bit,
or bring them up a bit.
So they continue
to kind of expand.
It is a beautiful song.
This was one of Sister
Frances' favorite songs too.
So we used to sing this
at meeting quite a bit.
[Singing] I hunger and thirst.
I hunger and thirst
after true righteousness.
In what I've obtained,
in what I've obtained,
my soul cannot rest.
I hunger and thirst.
I hunger and thirst
after true righteousness.
In what I've obtained,
in what I've obtained,
my soul cannot rest.
An ocean I see without
bottom or shore.
Oh, feed me I'm hungry,
enrich me I'm poor.
I will cry unto God,
I never will cease.
Until my soul's filled
with love,
love perfect love
and sweet peace.
>> Kevin Siegfried: Yes, that
certainly is a classic isn't it?
And it's so universal.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd:
And that Dorian style,
that mournful kind of style.
As believers were just laboring
and laboring in that
time period.
So it's very, very deep.
>> Kevin Siegfried: It is.
It is. And it's one of those
qualities that really, I think,
that really strikes people
when they hear Shaker music.
That it goes deep and as this
level of authenticity to it
that it is very unique too.
And I think that I mean we need
to address always the
elephant the room [laughter].
>> Brother Arnold Hadd:
That would have to be
"Simple Gifts," right?
>> Kevin Siegfried: Yes.
That elephant.
>> Brother Arnold Hadd:
Everybody comes to me,
hear simple gifts
they are some upset.
And during the pandemic,
when it's been so quiet
and just been us more or
less, we don't sing it at all.
That's the odd thing.
But it's out claim to fame.
It's a huge song received
by Eldred Joseph Brackett,
who himself was brought in as
an infant into the society.
He served every position
of authority.
He was just a genuinely
wonderful person
who had a deep, deep soul.
And he received many,
many songs.
We only sing a couple
of them today.
But certainly "Simple
Gifts" is the one
that was discovered
by the world.
And it does epitomize
everything.
It comes out of the
revival known
as Mother's work in the 1840s.
And it epitomizes what believers
are called to be about humility
and simplicity and how
important those two things are.
Coming down in a
place just right.
Most Christians are
always looking
for mountaintop experiences.
Well, the Shakers are farmers.
They know mountaintops
are barren,
we don't want those things.
We want the valley.
The valley is where
there is good soil.
And also the valley represents
that humility coming
of coming down.
Of our constant need to turn.
And this song was actually
given to him in a great time
of turmoil in his own life.
Elder Otis Sawyer who was
his second in the ministry,
was going to be taken from
him in the Elders lot,
that he had to be brought
to Sabbathday Lake,
because the two Deacons
had absconded
and they had no one
to replace him.
So they had to put
Otis in the office.
So Elder Joseph was given
this song during a time
of great tribulation
in his life.
His second, Otis Sawyer,
was going to take
out of the ministry.
And he was going
to be left alone.
And the two of them
by all accounts were the best
friend each other ever had.
And they knew each other's minds
and they could soothe
each other out.
And the 1840s in Main was
not a good time for us.
We were under a great deal of
duress and stress because most
of the members didn't
feel united
with the Era of Manifestations.
We had been removed
as a real community
and we were put under
Canterbury.
So we were second
class citizens.
And more and more the
people were really,
really not liking the situation.
So there's a lot of
grumbling and discontent
and problems going
on every which way.
So Joseph being left alone
in that case was really,
really devastating to him.
So this song re-emphasizes
what he should be focusing on.
Sort of the genuine
principles of the gospel
and to put them into practice.
Now, also Aaron Copeland
took this as we all know,
and it gets very stately, and
it's grand and it's beautiful.
But that's not what
it's supposed to be.
This is a quick dance.
This was, Elder Joseph
was remember
as his coattails a flying
when he sang this song.
So, and it's also one song that
we still know the dance to,
that has been brought down
to the community today.
So we still have the motions
that go along with the song,
although we don't
genuinely use them.
>> Kevin Siegfried:
I didn't know that.
But those have been passed down?
>> Brother Arnold Hadd: Right.
Right. Sabbathday Lake had
a tradition of doing it
and it was shown, and it
was exactly the same song
and the same song and
the same enthymemes
that the Alfred Shakers used.
So we know that we've done it.
We've done it here
in our community.
>> Kevin Siegfried: So
you're certainly welcome
to sing a strain in the tempo.
You can reclaim the tempo
from Aaron Copeland.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: Thank you.
'Tis a gift to be simple.
'Tis a gift to be free.
'Tis a gift to come
down where we are to be.
And when we find ourselves
in the place just right,
we'll be in the valley
of love and delight.
'Tis a gift to be simple.
'Tis a gift to be free.
'Tis a gift to come
down where we are to be.
And when we find ourselves
in the place just right,
we'll be in the valley
of love and delight.
When true simplicity
is gained to vow
and to bend we shan't
be ashamed.
To turn, turn will
be our delight.
'Till by turning, turning
we come 'round right.
When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend
we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn will
be our delight.
'Till by turning, turning
we come 'round right.
>> Kevin Siegfried: And that
was Elder Joseph Brackett's
"Simple Gifts" written 1848.
>> Brother Alfred Hadd: Correct.
>> Kevin Siegfried: In 1848.
And too, as a composer
I feel like I have
to also recognize the thing that
happened since I have arranged
so many Shaker songs for
choirs, in particular.
There is something that happens
that in setting a Shaker song,
if one is adding harmonies,
it requires many
times a tempo change.
And in order to let
those chords ring.
And so there are certainly many
cases where I've set a tune,
which I know is sung faster,
or has been sung
faster, traditionally.
And end up taking it
considerably slower.
So this is a great place for
us to wrap up our first half
of this oral history, part
one of this oral history
with Brother Arnold
Hadd, of Sabbathday Lake.
And thanks for tuning in.
And please join us for part two.
And thanks again.
Thank you, Brother Arnold.
>> Brother Arnold
Hadd: Thank you.