Simple Gifts, a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, resembles to a slight extent several repetitions of the opening measures of William Byrd's renaissance composition and was claimed by Brackett to be an imitation of what folk music sounds like.
"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village. The song resembles to a slight extent several repetitions of the opening measures of William Byrd's renaissance composition, "The Barley Break", which Byrd intended to imitate country children playing a folk game. Similarly, Brackett is claimed to have come up with the song as an imitation of what folk music sounds like. 
