Over the course of this weekend, a handful of great New England Songleaders will share and teach a collection of original Shaker songs with participants, in a simple and unadorned style inspired by Shaker aesthetics and sensibilities. These will include an emphasis on early Shaker wordless songs and other songs from the repertoire that are particularly accessible to all singers.
Our aim in this weekend is to create a small chorus of professional and complete amateur singers to learn new (old) shaker songs. It will be less about being “instructed” on how to sing, and more about creating a small group of mixed voices that will sing these songs together, mostly in unison, at a final concert.
Each of our song leaders will bring 2-3 songs and teach them to the group, aiming for a final set of about a dozen songs. We hope participants will then take them back to their home communities and share them more broadly. This will be quite a special and rare small group experience. We expect not more than a handful of participants.
Day 1 of this weekend will be held from 10a-3p on Saturday August 17th at Darthia Farm in Gouldsboro, where we’ll be learning in the barn of a working horsepowered farm, which is inspired by Shaker simplicity. Please BYO lunch.
Then on Sunday August 18th we’ll gather from 1-3p to polish them up at Bagaduce Music. The final concert will be held later that day, at 7pm at Burnt Cove Church.
