Unlike the anonymous folk spirituals, gospel songs were composed and copyrighted by songwriters like Thomas Dorsey and Reverend William Herbert Brewster, and by the s were being recorded by urban church singers.
Some, like Mahalia Jackson, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and the Ward Singers, turned professional and reached national and international audiences through their tours and recordings. But most gospel singing remained rooted in African American church ritual, and to this day can be heard in black communities throughout the north and south.
Musically, gospel is a blending of spirituals, blues, and the song sermons of the black preacher. Blues tonalities are common, and singers are known for their intensive vocal ornamentations, which include bending and slurring notes, falsetto swoops, and melismas groups of notes or tones sung across one syllable of a word.
Although gospel lyrics are strictly religious in nature, gospel music derives much of its sound from blues and jazz. Can you give an overview of the difference between gospel songs and hymns? The texts of hymns should cover the full range of Gospel truth and experience. Gospels songs are generally defined as songs with a refrain, written during the past two centuries. Gospel music reminds Christians of the secular world that they live in, which helps to remind them that there is a higher power at work.
The music also helps to keep Christians self-aware and more connected to their spirituality. Spirituals are an oral tradition resulting from the mixture of African culture with Christianity on American plantations.
Based on hymns, spirituals generally use call and response and take one of three forms: verse only, verse plus refrain, or refrain only. As in Gullah music , Spirituals make use of syncopated rhythms. In the s through the s Spirituals were popularized through the performance of concert arrangements based on the folk tradition described above.
This transition included a number of musical changes such as the introduction of four part harmony, the replacement of dialect with Standard English, and the minimization of clapping and dancing. The most well-known group to popularize these arranged concert spirituals were the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers were formed to raise funds for Fisk University, a college for freed slaves established in Their popularity was such that they became a subject of parody in minstrel shows. About this work Dr.
0コメント