Oral History of Brother Arnold Hadd with Kevin Siegfried | Shaker Spirituals in Maine - Part 1

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, was founded circa 1747 in England. The Shakers emigrated from England and settled in Revolutionary colonial America in 1774. From their inception, the Shakers composed thousands of songs, dances, hymns, and anthems which were an important part of Shaker worship. Shakers' earliest music was shared by word of mouth and letters circulated among their villages. Many Believers wrote out the lyrics in their own manuscript hymnals. In 1813, they published Millennial Praises, a hymnal containing only lyrics. Other Shaker scribes used a form of music notation called the letteral system, using letters of the alphabet for notes, along with a simple notation of conventional rhythmic values. The Library of Congress Music division has manuscripts in its collections with such transcriptions. 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 United States, and has three members as of 2021. Brother Arnold Hadd, one of those members, actively carries on the 200-plus-year oral tradition of singing Shaker songs. Brother Arnold has been collaborating with American composer Kevin Siegfried, whose choral arrangements of Shaker songs are frequently performed by modern vocal ensembles. While staying true to the essential nature of the original songs, Siegfried’s choral arrangements serve to bring the music to a wider audience. Siegfried 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.
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