Description: Between 1780 and 1870 the American Shakers created an enormous body of spirituals from elements of traditional ballad and dance tunes. This book presents 366 songs and comprises the largest and most balanced collection yet made of the Shaker repertory. Many of the melodies, most of which had never before been printed, were set down in the 19th century by the Shaker performers themselves and are thus an unusually accurate early record of American folk singing. With quotes from interviews and unpublished journals and diaries -- including lively vignettes and personal stories of the singers -- the author takes us beyond the songs and into the world of the Shakers themselves. Special features of the book include many photographs of Shaker singers and villages, reconstructions and diagrams of nearly 20 Shaker dances and marches, a checklist of 800 Shaker song manuscripts, an explanation of nine forms of musical notation found in them, and a chapter-length survey of British antecedents of the American folk spiritual.

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