Simple Gifts
Traditional · 1800s · Shaker song by Elder Joseph Brackett, 1848
Sing Simple Gifts with pitch feedback
“Simple Gifts” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 112 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 13 notes span G3 to G4 — 12 semitones — which rates Hard to sing, and a full 4-pass session runs about 0:26.
12 semitones as transcribed. The practice room transposes it to sit in your own range.
- One time through
- 0:06 at 112 bpm
- A full session
- 0:26 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a third or more
- 3
Simple Gifts lyrics, as transcribed here
- 'Tis the gift to be simple,
- 'tis the gift to be free,
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Written by Joseph Brackett in 1848; he died in 1882. Long out of copyright.
- Attribution
- Shaker song by Elder Joseph Brackett, 1848
- Language
- English
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Tags describe what the melody asks of a voice, not what it sounds like — “shaker” is the reason to pick it on a given day.