Gentle Words

It was Randy Folger (1952-1999) who first brought the Shaker music tradition alive to my ears and imagination. As Music and Special Programs Manager at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky, he performed the music daily in the meetinghouse there. I introduced myself to Randy in 1996, after one of his signature performances, and we quickly became friends. He loved to sing the song Gentle Words, projecting its beauty and meaning through his voice and personality. Randy was the person who first encouraged me to arrange Shaker songs for chorus. Sadly he was killed in an auto accident in 1999. I wrote this arrangement the following year and dedicated it to him. One can easily say my Shaker Harmony Collection had its beginnings in our friendship.

Like thousands of songs in the Shaker music tradition, Gentle Words had fallen out of oral tradition in the early 20th century. It was rediscovered in 1974 by Shaker music scholar, Roger Hall, in a music manuscript at the Shaker Historical Society in Ohio. The text and tune were written by Polly M. Rupe (1826 -1875), a prolific song composer at Pleasant Hill. Shaker communities were forerunners in gender equality in the 19th century, and a significant amount of Shaker music was composed by women.

Gentle Words falls into a category of Shaker songs that directly addresses a core aspect of being human. The text is universal and beautifully evokes the ethic of reciprocity, the Golden Rule, found in virtually all religions and cultures. Kindness matters. And speaking gently–cultivating kindness and loving speech–is ultimately one of the most powerful choices we can make in our daily lives.

What the dew is to the flower,
gentle words are to the soul;
and a blessing to the giver,
and so dear to the receiver,
we should never withhold.

Gentle words kindly spoken
often soothe the troubled mind,
while links of love are broken
by words that are unkind.

Then O thou gentle spirit,
my constant guardian be,
”Do to others,” be my motto,
“as I’d have them do to me.”