Turning shuffle tune

The Shakers were a radical religious sect which established many communities in eastern parts of the USA in the 18th and 19th centuries. Their distinctive music echoes elements of British folk song. This song dates from the late 18th century, and comes from the Shaker community in Enfield, Connecticut. The Shakers introduced sacred dancing (or ‘laboring’), regarded as a form of discipline and mortification) into their worship from about the year 1790; the shuffle was a slow but vigorous dance that called for stooping to the floor every measure. This particular song survived only as a tune and the arranger has set it to meaningless vocables typical of those that the Shakers used in other songs.

Other Shaker tune arrangements published by Canasg include Simple gifts, Mother Ann’s song, Star of purity and Lay me low.