SHAKER MUSIC
The study of music was a basic feature of education among the Shakers. In the early days, songs were learned orally, and communicated from one Society to another, by word of mouth.
The first person to urge the study of music was Brother Abram Whitney, a teacher of music, and a member of the Shaker Society at Shirley, Mass. Upon solicitation, Brother Abram visited Canterbury and Enfield, N. H., and gave lessons in the rudiments of elementary music.
About 1821 he, with the help of other inventive minds, developed a form of musical notation, called Shaker Script or Letteral System, so named, because of the use of letters, instead of the conventional round notes. In this method, the first seven letters of the alphabet, were used. Capital letters were whole notes, small letters designated quarter notes, while Italics were used for eighth notes, and half-notes had a line added to the side of the letter.
In 1843, a Shaker brother from Mt. Lebanon, N. Y., by the name of Isaac N. Youngs, changed this method, and used only the small letters of the alphabet, and altered the system of designating the tempo. He published a pamphlet, entitled “A Short Abridgement of the Rules of Music”. Later, Russel Haskell of Enfield, Conn. wrote “A Musical Expositor”, or a treatise on the rules and elements of music, about the year 1847.
In 1852 our beloved Elder Henry Blinn, of Canterbury, had a set of letteral music type made, from which he printed a book, entitled “Hymns and Anthems”. When the Manifesto, (a magazine which was published at our Canterbury Society, and which had a fairly wide circulation throughout the country) was printed Elder Henry Blinn, the editor, realizing that many people of the world, as well as Shakers, were reading this publication, thought it best to use a note-system more universal than the old Shaker Script system, as each number contained a Shaker Hymn. So he advised the return of standard notes, commonly used by the world. Thus in 1871 the round note-system came back into Shaker use. And so, about that time, the “Repository of Music” was printed, right here at Shaker Village, containing the elementary and advanced lessons from the works of able teachers, and showing the more universal note-system used by the outside world.
Some years later the Shakers of Canterbury hired Professor Davis of Concord, N. H., to give a course of lessons in music, adding further to the knowledge that had already been gleaned from Brother Abram Whitney. Progress was rapid, as brethren and sisters, desiring to add greater dimensions to their religious expression, diligently labored to learn all that was offered.
Soon the answer to a continuous desire to learn, came with the introduction to the Society, of a Dr. Charles Guilmette, of Boston. Doctor Guilmette was a superior teacher of vocal music, both in theory and in practice. He proved to be, not only an accomplished vocalist, but an elocutionist and physician as well. Continuous lessons in correct breathing and tone-production, awakened in all, an even deeper interest in singing.
Formation of classes in singing soon followed, composed of groups of children as well as adults. Soon we had numerous well-executed trios, quartets, and double-quartets or sextets. Family singing-meetings were held twice a week, at which each group presented selections for the enjoyment of the family. Vocal training became a “must” with the Shakers, and a high standard of quality music was soon attained.
Elder Arthur Bruce of Canterbury, a gifted musician, before entering the Society, and a brilliant baritone, in his own right, formed and directed a Shaker Ladies Quartet, called the “Qui Vive Quartet”. Under his direction, and with the added assistance of visiting musicians, the quartet acquired a perfection which brought many requests for their concert performance, from various parts of the country.