MEET THE COMPOSER:
AARON COPLAND (1900-1990)
—on the Occasion of the Centennial Celebration of His Birth

A lesson by Marilyn Copeland Davidson, Coordinating author, Share the Music.
This lesson is based on the ENCORE Simple Gifts—The World of the Shakers in Share the Music, Book 5, pages 214-217.

This lesson is in three parts. Students will:

Part 1:		Learn about Aaron Copland
Part 2:		Sing and dance to "Simple Gifts" and learn about the Shakers
Part 3:		Create movement for "Variations on 'Simple Gifts'"

PART 1: LEARN ABOUT AARON COPLAND

Aaron Copland was one of the most famous American composers. He wanted to write music that would establish an American style different from European composers. His writings include ballet, chamber, and orchestral pieces, and an opera.

As a child, Copland showed early musical talent. His first published work (1920), "The Cat and the Mouse" (Music and You K), was later performed at the White House at a time when relatively few serious composers were featured there. In 1921, Copland went to Paris for three years to study composition with Nadia Boulanger, a noted organist and teacher.

Copland's early works were influenced by jazz. Later, he used American folk songs to give the music a uniquely American flavor, most notably the cowboy songs used in Billy the Kid (Music and You, Grade 5). Fanfare for the Common Man (Share the Music, Grade 5, CD3:9) is one of his most frequently played compositions. In it, Copland hoped to express concern for each individual's right to live in freedom and dignity. His admiration for President Abraham Lincoln is expressed in "Lincoln Portrait" (See excerpt in Share the Music Grade 4, page 340, CD8:7). Copland wrote music for several movies, including The Red Pony and The Heiress.

Copland was active as a teacher and conductor and wrote a number of books on music, including What to Listen for in Music. In 1964, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to American artistic life. Copland's influence on other composers, notably Leonard Bernstein, was considerable. He is undoubtedly one of the outstanding American composers of the twentieth century.

Concerning the ballet Appalachian Spring, Copland says, "I have been amused that people so often have come up to me to say, 'When I listen to that ballet of yours, I can just feel spring and see the Appalachians.' But when I wrote the music, I had no idea what Martha was going to call it!" Copland had been commissioned to write a ballet for choreographer Martha Graham. It was to depict a springtime celebration near a newly built farmhouse in Pennsylvania. The ballet revolves around a newly married couple. Copland knew neither the title nor the choreography in advance—only a general idea of what the dance would be about and approximately how long each section should be. He said: "I knew certain crucial things: that it has to do with the pioneer American spirit, with youth and spring, with optimism and hope." When Copland found "Simple Gifts," he felt it was ". . .ideal for Martha's scenario and for the kind of austere movements associated with her choreography. . . . my research evidently was not very thorough, since I did not realize that there never have been Shaker settlements in rural Pennsylvania!" The title, surprisingly, is from a line in a poem by Hart Crane about a joyful, leaping mountain spring, rather than about the season of spring.

Part 2: LEARN ABOUT THE SHAKERS. SING AND DANCE TO THE SHAKER SONG, "SIMPLE GIFTS."

Have students:

• Learn about the Shakers.
• Predict the kind of music these people might have created. (The answers will probably contain descriptions such as: "simple," "clean," "skilled," "serious," and so on. Accept all thoughtful answers.)
• Listen to the song to check predictions. (Share the Music, Grade 5, page 215. Some will remember it from Share the Music, Book 4.)
• Learn about the song and its composer. Sing the song.

ABOUT THE SHAKERS
"Simple Gifts" was used by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring. You will learn this song and later recognize it in this great American orchestral work. The Shakers called themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, but acquired the name "Shakers" because of their movements and dancing during worship. They lived in completely self-contained and self-supporting communities in parts of New England and the Midwest. The organization was founded near what is now Watervliet, New York in 1774 by Ann Lee ("Mother Ann"), who had brought her beliefs with her from England.

The Shakers did not marry or bear children, believing that they could serve God better singly; yet, they were an enduring religion, attracting many converts over the years. They believed in living a life of goodness, in the equality of all races and sexes, in natural health and hygiene, in communal living, and in joyous worship. They strived for simplicity, purity, and perfection in all that they did.

Many devices still in wide use today were invented by these practical and ingenious people such as the clothespin, the circular saw, and the flat broom.

Today, fewer than 12 Shakers exist in only two communities in New Hampshire and Maine. Shaker products and handiwork are greatly valued and carefully preserved. Among several places where one can still see examples of Shaker work is the Hancock Shaker Village, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

ABOUT "SIMPLE GIFTS"
More than ten thousand Shaker songs were written down. Of all these, only "Simple Gifts" is widely known today. "Simple Gifts" is considered to be, like all Shaker products, a flawless blending of simple materials and practical function resulting in a beautiful work of art. Even though the song was well-known and frequently sung in Shaker communities during the 19th century; it was, for the most part, unheard-of in the outside world until Aaron Copland, looking for a theme which expressed the nobility of the early American settlers, happened upon it in the book by Edward Deming Andrews, The Gift to be Simple: Songs, Dances and Rituals of the American Shakers, published in 1940. It immediately appealed to the composer, and he used it for the Variations section of his Pulitzer Prize-winning ballet score Appalachian Spring.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER OF "SIMPLE GIFTS"
"Simple Gifts" appears in many collections of United Society songs. One manuscript, says that it was "composed by the Alfred Ministry June 28, 1848." However, in an article in The Shaker Messenger (Winter, 1980 and Summer, 1981), the musician and scholar, Roger L. Hall, states emphatically that it was written by Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr. (1797-1882), "who composed it for dancing during Shaker worship. He is believed to have composed the song while at Alfred, Maine, in 1848."

A DANCE FOR "SIMPLE GIFTS"
According to Roger L. Hall, "the most likely pattern for this dance would be single files of brethren and sisters two or three abreast, proceeding with utmost precision around the meeting room. In the center of the room would be a small group of singers singing the dance song over and over again until everyone was both exhilarated and exhausted." The dance in the lesson is based on what the Shakers called the "square order shuffle."

Formation: Form rows of three boys or three girls, the "trios" lined up behind one another. All phrases starting with the right foot. All steps to the beat, except the "tip tap." (See below.)

Verse: (Measures 1-8)

Take three steps forward and close. Circle in place to right in four steps. Take three steps backwards and close. Circle in place to left in four steps.

Refrain: (Measures 9-16)

Step-close-step twice to the rhythm eighth-eighth-quarter (called a "tip tap" by the Shakers). Bow and straighten (down in two beats, up in two beats). Circle in place to right for four steps. Circle in place to left in four steps (to original positions, facing forward, ready to repeat the dance).

"Songs have so many messages in them, and very often if you can't express it yourself, the words to the songs bring it out. I have found so many answers to so many things in the songs." —Sister Mildred Barker (Quoted in The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God by Amy Stechler Burns and Ken Burns, Portland House: New York.)

PART 3: CREATE MOVEMENT FOR "VARIATIONS ON 'SIMPLE GIFTS'"

ABOUT APPALACHIAN SPRING
The ballet Appalachian Spring was first performed on October 30, 1944 by Martha Graham and her dance company at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Copland immediately liked the tune "Simple Gifts," stating, "It's very strange and I've often remarked upon this: give me a book of tunes and I'll immediately know what tune attracts me and what one doesn't. I can see that the other tune is just as good but I don't have the immediate feeling of it belonging to me." The original instrumentation was for 13 instruments, because of the small pit at the Library of Congress. It was later re-orchestrated by Copland for full orchestra. Appalachian Spring was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Music Critic's Circle Award.

Have students:

• Locate the Appalachian Mountains and Pennsylvania on a map.
• Read about the ballet and look over the listening map on the pupil page. Identify the crafts shown there. (Discuss briefly how what we consider crafts today were everyday activities then. Have them name examples: candle making, blacksmithing, furniture building, and so on.)
• Listen to "Variations on 'Simple Gifts'" as they follow the Listening Map. (Note: Each room in the Listening Map represents a section of the music. The first room represents the theme. The others represent each succeeding variation. The last variation is represented by the people in front of the house, proudly bringing in the harvest. The coda is represented by the young couple surveying their farm.)
• Develop movement for "Variations" illustrating its spirit and its variations. Form four groups. The first group will dance the theme (using the dance for "Simple Gifts") and the last variation together. The other three groups will develop appropriate movement for one variation, based on the activity shown in their room in the Listening Map. The last variation is the theme in augmentation and all dance the first half of the original dance in augmentation—half as fast. The coda can be a suitable dramatization of their choosing. For example: one group at a time folds up and prepares to carry to the young couple whatever they have been making for them; one group at a time brings what they have been making and returns to their positions; one group at a time turns and slowly leaves, waving goodbye until all but the young couple are "offstage." The couple then pretends to go "into the house."

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Students present their version of the dance to "Variations" from Appalachian Spring as part of a special presentation honoring the centennial of the birth of Aaron Copland (November 15, 1900). (Also see the program suggestion Of Harvest and Home.)

CURRICULUM CONNECTION: ART
Have the students locate pictures of Shaker furniture, buildings, textiles and other artifacts, studying them with regard to the quality of the materials used, the simplicity of the use of the materials, the subtlety of the colors, the lack of ornamentation, their elegant beauty, and so on. Have them create pictures or sculptures of one or more of the Shaker items.

CURRICULUM CONNECTION: SCIENCE
Have the students grow a window herb garden. Shakers were very successful at growing herbs and creating their own medicines. Their products were highly respected and widely used. They considered many of the herbs we use in cooking as having medicinal value, as well. Sage was thought to be valuable in fighting coughs, colds and worms. Thyme and marjoram were dispensed as tonics. Savory was given to relieve headaches, colds, and colic. These herbs can easily be grown in a classroom window or on a small plot on the school grounds. Consult a local garden store and books in your library for further instructions.

RELATED LITERATURE
Andrews, Edward Deming, The Gift to be Simple: Songs, Dances and Rituals of the American Shakers, Reprint by Dover Publications, 1962. Originally published by J. J. Augustin Publisher in 1940.

Burns, Amy Stechler and Ken, The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God, Portland House: New York.

Supplemental Material:

• Bulletin Boards