Shaker songs are fantastically good as six-bell music! “‘Tis a gift to be simple”, yes… but this arrangement is a lot of fun to play!
‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.
Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of nineteenth-century Shaker tune SIMPLE GIFTS provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.
The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.
