Contemporary Gospel Music

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8/13/2019 Contemporary Gospel Music http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/contemporary-gospel-music 1/55 Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts Contemporary Gospel Music Author(s): Horace Clarence Boyer Source: The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 5-58 Published by: Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214427 . Accessed: 26/11/2013 15:37 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp  . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].  . Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts and are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Black Perspective in Music. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.219.247.33 on Tue, 26 Nov 2013 15:37:18 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Transcript of Contemporary Gospel Music

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Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts

Contemporary Gospel MusicAuthor(s): Horace Clarence BoyerSource: The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 5-58Published by: Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214427 .

Accessed: 26/11/2013 15:37

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

 .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of 

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

 .

Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts and are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access to The Black Perspective in Music.

http://www.jstor.org

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL MUSIC

BY HORACE CLARENCEBOYER

PART 1: SACREDOR SECULAR?*

IT WAS ONLY A DECADE ago that the mainstream American

public felt secure enough in its musical tastes to admit to thevolcanic existence of gospel music. For the first sixty years of

this century, this music had been the sustenance of that small

group of black churches called "sanctified" or "holy rollers,"bolstered by a few Primitive and Free Will Baptist congregations,but it found no tolerance in most Methodist churches, no place ina Presbyterian choir loft, and even the thought of its performance

in the sanctuaries of the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churcheswould have been sacrilegious.The years 1945 to 1955 witnessed the rise of gospel music

from shabby store-front churches-and a few untrained singersdressed in threadbare black or maroon choir robes, accompaniedby an old upright piano, often out of tune-to the gospel-groupextravaganzas of Joe Bostic of New York, Lonnie Williams of New

Jersey, and Erskine Fausch of New Orleans, with singers of

extraordinary control and nuance, dressed in blazing pastel gownsand suits, accompanied by nine-foot Steinway grand pianos andHammond organs with Leslie speakers. The late sixties and earlyseventies brought gospel into the Roman Catholic church, and

through television and recordings, into the homes of listeners andviewers around the world.

During the forties and fifties, though the largest halls in citieswere rented to house these concerts-and they were alwayspacked to the gills-the audience for gospel music was black,composed basically of church-goers. The next several years, the

late sixties and early seventies, found gospel music traveling fromCarver High School in Birmingham, Alabama, to HerndonStadium in Atlanta, Georgia, to Carnegie Hall in New York, witha much-publicized detour to the center of the nation via MahaliaJackson's appearance at one of the inaugural parties for the latePresident John F. Kennedy.

*Part 1 of this article is reprinted from FirstWorld(anuary-February 1977), pp. 46-49.Used by permission.

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

Miss Jackson's appearance before the President had a far

reachingeffect on both

gospelmusic and the American

public.The publicity which her appearance generated, along with the

newly begun coverage of gospel music and singers by the black

press, resulted in the [sanctified] church audience, which had

supported this music for so long, being joined by most of theChristian churches in the black community. Now this music was

being sung by Baptist and Methodist choirs, congregations whichincluded the middle-class black American. Additionally, thenon-black, adult, concert-going public became aware of gospelmusic.

At this juncture, the "church" became apprehensive about thenew acceptance, for its members realized that gospel music wasthe one remaining pure Afro-American music expression to whichthe Afro-American could lay claim. While they supported themusic of the church, with no real concern for other musicaltraditions, they, too, knew the history of black-American music;more than a few recalled that, shortly before the turn of this

century, a type of music hewed out by a group of black musicians

in and around New Orleans had had a similar development, butnow no longer belonged to the black community. The churchaudience pondered the question: Is it possible that one day gospelmusic will no longer belong to the church?

The question was worth considering, for gospel music hastaken such a circuitous route to its present development that it isnow divided into two camps of performers and listeners: "sacred"

gospel music, espoused by such artists as James Cleveland,Andrae Crouch and Shirley Caesar-singers who still sing in the

church or basically for church people-and "secular" gospelmusic, promoted by such artists as the Mighty Clouds of Joy, theDixie Hummingbirds, and the Violinaires, who perform in nightclubs or wherever people of whatever persuasion are assembled.

This division seems to be the natural end, or one of the

intermediary ends, for a type of music created in a religiousservice which was without formal structure-for "the Lord had tohave His way," and each person had to "seek out his own soulsalvation"-for a group which was not generally visited by those

who were not of the same accord. Such a concept promoted aspontaneous song fest of simple melodies capable of muchembellishment, to a text of few words which could support much

repetition, leaving spaces for the reiteration of certain words bythe congregation, and therefore freeing the soloist for themuch-needed textual interpolations.

Since each person had to "sing his own song" and "pray hisown prayer," the level of ecstasy which the leader achieved, or theexcitement which he caused within the congregation, was a

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

personal matter, for each person had to find God for himself.When a piano was available, any talented or daring person would

provide whatever accompaniment he could. This was the birth ofgospel music. Its purpose was not to entertain, not to satisfy, notto merchandise, but to express the pent-up emotions, whatever

they might have been, of the participants.One of the participants in those services was Mother Katie Bell

Nubin of Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and her reputation as a singerequaled that of "singing Johnson," about whom James Weldon

Johnson has so eloquently written. She encouraged her small

daughterto

participatein the service, and even

purchaseda

secondhand acoustic guitar for her to play. By 1948, this

daughter, Rosetta Tharpe, had become the first national gospelsinger, offering in her unique style the synthesis of the labors ofsuch forerunners as Professor A. W. Nix, Arizona Dranes, andthe Reverend Charles A. Tindley.

Sister Tharpe soon began recording for Decca Records, andalmost immediately promoters found this "primitive kind ofmusic" just the diversion that the non-church-going public would

appreciate. It was several years before Sister Tharpe finallyacquiesced to the promoters and moved from the church to the

night club, but the seed had been planted for such a move. Beforeher death in 1973, Sister Tharpe had been "in and out of theChurch" many times, perhaps never realizing the tremendousalternative she offered to gospel singers and those who loved

gospel music.In the first article published about gospel music which was to

attract wide attention, author Arna Bontemps used the title

"Rock, Church, Rock" (1958), but did not make a distinctionbetween the types of emotion that this "rocking" music was toevoke. The black and white communities read his article and both

groups began rocking to the sound of the gospel in music.

Although this open adoration of gospel music by the "church"and the "world" seemed innocent enough, it portended the

present dilemma of this genre-secular or sacred?

By 1957 the Newport Jazz Festival, the last bastion of that

group which met in Minton's in New York in the 1940s to keep

jazz "black"and in its proper perspective, had been successful inbooking Clara Ward and the Ward Singers. Since Thomas A.

Dorsey, the Father of Gospel Music, visited Philadelphia and metClara Ward's mother in the late thirties, the Ward Family, laterthe Ward Singers, had been singing in churches and auditoriumsto black audiences for literally nickels and dimes. Newportoffered money and a wider and different audience. Coronetmagazine (July 1958) offered this appraisal of the Ward Singers'performance at the Newport Festival:

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They seemed nervous as they arranged themselves around a microphone andthe woman at the piano, Clara Ward, played a few bars of introduction. They

glanced at each other as though to muster strength. And then with a smilingplacidity-they sang.

Rhythmic, high, clear, in perfect harmony they sang, the words in metered,

driving cadence, underscored by piano. They began to clap their hands; andwithin seconds, hundreds in the audience were clapping with them. The singersthrew back their heads and went into a second chorus, fervent and joyous. Thevoice of one, a young girl of ample girth [Marion Williams], soared above theothers, whose voices beat a counterpoint behind her.

What Richard Gehman, the author of this article ("God'sSinging Messengers"), did not mention was that the audience

began clapping their hands because they were being entertained,and clapping seemed the proper thing to do. Perhaps he did notknow that this music was not being performed for entertainment,but for the opportunity for those in the audience who could relateto its true purpose to have the ultimate religious experience. One

year later, Mahalia Jackson, the Queen, was to appear at thefestival and generate the same kind of excitement, though againthe true spirit of the performance did not register at all. Thisabsence of the spirit caused great concern to MissJackson, thoughtwo years later Joe Bostic persuaded her to appear at CarnegieHall to a similar audience; however a fair amount of "church"folk were there this time.

Miss Jackson had appeared at Carnegie Hall several timesbefore, but she was seeking a black promoter who would "bringout my people" to a "service." The "spirit was not there" becausethe audience was mainly composed of those who were "outsidethe church," and one of those, in an attempt to capture what was

actually happening,recorded the

followingin the

August1959

issue of High Fidelitymagazine:The effect is something for which my rather Puritanical New England

background never prepared me. Gentle old ladies on all sides start to "flip" like

popcorn over a hot stove. Directly in front, an angular woman springs to her feet,raises her arms rigidly on high, and dances down the aisle shouting "SweetJesus "A white-clad nurse, one of thirty in attendance, does her best to quiet her. This is areligious possession, as old as Africa itself.

Marshall Stearns, the author of this article ("If You Want To GoTo Heaven-Shout") and an

"expert"on Afro-American music,

reviewed the concert as if Miss Jackson were singing to theaudience, and not with/ he audience-a major difference betweengospel singing and other types of Afro-American vocal music. Hedid not realize that MissJackson was the "leader" of a service, notthe only participant.

The sensitive observer realizes that as long as the news isdelivered "by word of mouth," there is a certain unofficialnessabout it; but as soon as it is in print, a wider audience becomesaware of it, and it somehow becomes official, an

acceptedfact.

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

Similarly, gospel at Newport Jazz Festival and at Carnegie Hallsomehow says that this music no longer belongs to the black

church, but to the whole world, to use as it sees fit. Sermons, onthe other hand, still belong to the church, for Reverend ClayEvans does not preach in Avery Fisher Hall. At least, not yet.

The black American who had never discovered gospel music,or who had simply decided to deny it for whatever reason, beganto support it-not in the church, but in places outside the church.

Suddenly it became very fashionable for middle-class blackAmericans to buy gospel records and to watch gospel-music

performerson television,

thoughattendance at concerts was not

yet acceptable. Non-blacks went a step further, and felt that since

they view gospel singing as an "act," it should be placed in nightclubs along with other acts. This is precisely what happened.

The year 1963 saw both the beginning and, for most majorcities, the end of Gospel Night Clubs. The 24 May 1963 issue ofTime magazine carried this review:

For months now (and in the record business, months are decades), desperatemusic hustlers have been searching for the new groove. Experienced huntsmen

confined their attention to Negro music, which, with the single exception ofcountry music, has supplied them with every new idea since the blues. Last week,with appropriate fanfare, they proclaimed they had found the sound: pop gospel.Waving contracts and recording tape, Columbia Records moved into a newManhattan night club called the Sweet Chariot and began packaging suchdevotional songs as "He's All Right" for the popular market. "It's the greatest new

groove since rock 'n roll," said Columbia pop A. & R. Director David Kapralik. "Ina month or two, it'll be all over the charts."

This venture proved too much for the singers and theaudience. With the restrooms labeled "brothers" and "sisters" and

the bar girls addressed as "angels" while serving alcoholicbeverages, all to the accompaniment of gospel singers singing,"What Do You Know About Jesus," the "spirit" remained outside.

Only a few gospel singers still sing in clubs, the leader of this

group being Bessie Griffin. The Nathaniel Lewis Singers andHoward Saunders, both of the Sweet Chariot Club Chain, fadedwith the closing of the clubs in 1964 (see Martin Williams's articlein StereoReview, 31 August 1963), and yet their presence in theclub promoted a greater division between the

purposeof

gospelmusic and its practice than they are willing to acknowledge.By 1969, the entire United States and part of Europe were

rocking, shouting and dancing to an old black Baptist hymncalled, "Oh, Happy Day." A young holiness pianist and singerfrom California named Edwin Hawkins had rearranged the songand recorded it with the Northern California State Youth Choir,and it "hit the charts." Since the diction on the record wascomparable to that of most vocal recordings, and since gospelmusic generally evokes an emotional rather than intellectual

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

reaction, most non-church-goers missed that it was in fact a hymn.Hence, popping fingers and dancing was the physical reaction to

it. When it was discovered that "Oh Happy Day" was a gospelsong and yet evoked that kind of reaction, a great cry went up formore of the same. Unfortunately for Edwin Hawkins and his

Singers, they could not duplicate the kind of wide success theyfound with "Oh, Happy Day," but the Staple Singers, long a veryprimitive type of gospel group, filled the vacuum.

These two groups must be credited with the wide acceptanceof that genre which is now called "message" songs. These are

actually songs with a text that projects some admonition or

commentary on society (avoiding the words "Jesus," "God" or"heaven"), but which depend musically on the gospel style andsound. The Staple Singers' recording of "Respect Yourself" is

meaningful to the world as well as to the church. While the

message song creates a middle ground between gospel and soulmusic, the determining factor regarding its meaning is where it is

performed and for whom. Many singers have recorded messagesongs, but do not sing them in church, nor specifically for the

church-going public.Are

they gospel songs?As far as the church-goers are concerned, as well as the gospelsingers who have maintained a connection with the church, theyare not. Though Christ was rebuked for associating with

gamblers, cheats and whore-mongers, the church has not yetdecided that its music can be properly performed and receive its

proper acceptance outside of its normal place of performance.Since the church-going public is smaller than the non-church-

going public, and both groups are now supporters of gospel

music,the dilemma has surfaced in a

very public manner, asevidenced by the lead article in the 29 April 1976 issue of JetMagazine. James Cleveland, who has retained a church affiliation,declared therein that gospel cannot "rock" and remain gospel,while the Mighty Clouds of Joy, now recording near secular or

message songs and performing in night clubs, proclaimed that itcan.

Such important luminaries of gospel music as these do notsatisfy the general public with their declarations, for the public is

aware of the tremendous changes in the relationship between thesacred and the secular-presently referred to as the "newmorality." Concepts and institutions which were unquestionableand unmovable a decade or so ago, have either become morefunctional or completely dissolved. Our present generationdeclares that if a concept or institution cannot be employed tomake a better life on earth, then it should not be employed at all.

Music has seen an almost indistinguishable non-differencebetween gospel and soul, soul and jazz, and blues and soul. Such

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

an overlapping of styles and traditions is supported by no less an

authority than Archie Shepp, a professor at the University of

Massachusetts and more prominently recognized as the

saxophonist responsible for the new sound in music. He is notalone in this attitude, for Duke Ellington in his later years devoteda great deal of his energy to religious music, though it was in whatthe general public considered as his secular style. Roland Kirk hasrecorded the hymn, "Old Rugged Cross," while Max Roach hasreleased several albums of black religious music, as have GladysKnight, Billy Preston, Aretha Franklin, and Dionne Warwicke.Alex

Bradford,one of the

leading gospel singersof a decade

ago,is currently starring in a musical called YourArms Are Too Short ToBox With God, and the O'Jays, a popular soul group, included a

gospel song on one of their latest albums.*Black gospel singers are not alone in their fascination for

placing gospel music in any circumstance, for Paul Simon no

longer considers doing a recording session or a concert without ablack gospel group supporting him, not always with gospel or

message texts, and this practice has been adopted by such

performers as Elvis Presley and Phoebe Snow. The DoobieBrothers, a rock group with one black member, even recorded the

gospel song "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me," while Joni Mitchellscored a great hit with "Amazing Grace."

No one would disagree that the black church created and ownsthe gospel song, but all people would agree that music, like achild, grows up and must be responsible for itself. In this case, the

responsibility falls upon the real and dedicated singers of gospelmusic who do not see it as just a new sound, but as an old

tradition which is still growing. If that group wishes to placegospel music in a position where it can become a fad, therebyrisking loss of its meaning, then that group must accept the

responsibility for its direction.

*Alex Bradford died 15 February 1978; see this journal 6 (Fall 1978), p. 240.

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

Thomas A. Dorsey(All pictures courtesy of James and Horace Boyer unlessotherwise indicated)

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

Mahalia Jackson

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

Marie Knight (standing) and Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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The Clara Ward Singers (Clara Ward in the center)

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL 17

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC8

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Shirley Caesar (Courtesy HOB Records)

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

The Original Gospel Harmonettes

(Dorothy Love Coates at the top)

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

The Boyer Brothers (Horace, James)

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

PART 2: CHARACTERISTICSAND STYLE

THE TERM GOSPELMUSICrefers to both a type of song and a

style of playing the piano. The texts of the songs are basedon texts of the Trinity; they speak of blessings, sorrows,

woes and lamentations. The piano style is basically chordal and

heavily laced with syncopation. Originally rejected by the largerblack community, gospel music did not begin to make an impacton the public until the 1920s, when it was adopted by the leading

soloists ofthe

annual National Baptist Convention. Carried fromthe South to the northern states by migrants during the 1930s andforties, it gradually attracted more performers and a largeraudience, and by the mid-forties, it was accepted as one of theseveral types of black religious music. Since that time it has

developed into a major artistic expression, has become multi-racial, and has had enormous effect on contemporary westernmusic.

In the early history of the gospel song and style,

unaccompanied male groups-such as the Golden Gate Quartetand the Delta Rhythm Boys-were the favored singers, althoughwomen had entered the field during the 1920s with the blind

singer Arizona Dranes, who accompanied herself on the piano.(Dranes and Sister Sallie Sanders were both recording by 1926;see Columbia G31595 [The Gospel Sound, v.2] and Historical

HLP-34.) After "Georgia Tom," in the late twenties, left the bandsof blues singers Gertrude "Ma"Rainey and Tampa Red to returnto church music and again to use the name Thomas A. Dorsey, he

accompanied himself on piano as he sang his gospel songs-whichwere, incidentally, the first of that genre to be notated and

published by a single person. In the thirties he added a femaletrio to serve as a back-up group for his singing; shortly thereafterhe relinquished all singing to the female group and served only asits accompanist. By this time, two distinct types of gospel groupshad developed: the a cappellamale group, singing in the harmonictradition of the barbershop quartet, wearing business suits, andcreating additional rhythm and sound by slapping their thighs in

time with the music; and the gospel group, composed of femalesingers, accompanied by piano, singing in the treble-choirtradition, dressed in choir robes, and clapping their hands forrhythmic accentuation. The music performed by the male singerswas called "quartet" singing and that by the women, "gospel"singing. The emphasis of this paper is on the gospel-singingtradition.

Both these groups are active in contemporary gospel music;but the quartets have added guitar, bass and, on occasion, piano

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accompaniment, and the gospel singers have added male voicesand the electric

organ,as well as full orchestra for

specialrecordings. The former category is most popularly represented bythe Nightingales, the Violinaires, and the Jackson Southernaires,while the latter is led by such soloists and groups as the Reverend

James Cleveland, Shirley Caesar, Andrae Crouch and the

Disciples, and the Hawkins brothers (Edwin and Walter).

Gospel singing is distinctive for its treatment of four elementsof the music: timbre, range, text interpolation, and improvisation,both melodic and rhythmic. Although such practices are also

characteristic of other Afro-American traditional vocal styles-i.e.,blues, jazz, spirituals, soul, and folk-there is a special earthiness,or more particularly, a retained "primitive" feature in the waythese elements are handled in the gospel style that differs

drastically from the Western European aesthetic.The most unique characteristic of gospel singing is the vocal

timbre, that quality of sound which distinguishes one voice ormusical instrument from another. The present author has made a

study of the vocal qualities of gospel singers from period of the

recordings of Sister Sallie Sanders and Arizona Dranes to therecordings of James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch in 1978 andhas found that the timbre which has attracted the greatestnumber of admirers and influenced the largest number ofimitators is the strained,full-throated sound. Identified by suchother terms as "hoarse," "raspy," "gravelly," and "shrill"-incontrast to the "trained" or "clear" ("in-the-masque") sound-ithas been adopted by the overwhelming number of gospel singerswho have made an art form of the tradition. Believing that the

"church" or "gospel sound" possessed more authority, assuranceand persuasion that the "unencumbered" sound of the Western

European church, gospel singers-as well as non-gospelsingers-studied and imitated the gospel sound until it could be

reproduced with the appropriate naturalness necessary to affectthe emotions of church congregations and the audiences of other

soul-type gatherings. Clearly, not all gospel singers possess the

special gospel quality in their voices, but those without it substitutesome kind of approximation of the gospel sound. Marion

Williams and Delores Barrett of the Barrett Sisters, for example,are both lyric sopranos, but they use the "growl" as a device to

heighten the emotional effects in special settings.The newest waves of gospel singers, who are in the teen-age to

young-adult-age groups, have not served the usual apprenticeshipas church "songsters," and consequently have not developed the

breathy and hoarse vocal quality which results from "filling achurch" without the aid of amplification. Most of these youngsingers have clear voices, but they commonly use the growl for

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

climactic points. A case in point is the singing of TremaineHawkins on

Going UpYonder,a

recordingof Walter Hawkins and

the Family of Love. Performed in three tempi-fast, "without

rhythm" (see below), and a return to fast-the fast sections aredelivered in a traditional lyric-soprano timbre. When the tempodrops to a non-metric or free-rhythm section, however, she draws

upon a growling technique, which inspires the audience to roar its

approval.In addition to possessing the gospel timbre, singers must have

a "vibrato." Described as a noticeable wavering of the tone for the

sakeof

taste rather than a lack of control of the vocal cords, afairly even, rapid vibrato is preferable to the wide and slow

wavering found in the voices of many singers. The opposite ofvibrato, the "white" tone-so called because of the absence ofovertones-is not characteristic of the gospel style but is used inthe device called "terminal vibrato," a term coined bycomposer/author Gunther Schuller to describe a trumpettechnique of Louis Armstrong. Using this device, the singerbegins with a relatively "straight" tone and gradually, through a

release of air, moves to a sound with a vibrato.When one speaks of a beautiful voice among gospel singers,such technical components as a well-modulated "head" tone,stable pitch, and roundness of tone are given little consideration,for the important aspects of the gospel voice are its tone color,vocal agility, and range. Both tone color and agility are

irrevocably linked to range; the wider the range, the more"beautiful" the voice. Unlike in such traditions as opera, popular,and folk singing, the singer makes little effort to avoid register

breaks as he crosses octaves, nor does he consciously attempt tomaintain the same vocal color throughout a song. Sallie Martinand Mahalia Jackson, for example, won special acclaim for theirwide ranges, particularly their low registers, while such male

singers as Herman Stevens, James Lee (who sang soprano toMahalia Jackson's alto in gospel duets during the fifties), and AlexBradford have been given laurels for their extremely high falsettos.Indeed, during the early part of his career, Bradford especiallyemphasized his falsetto; his recording of "Too Close To Heaven"

(Speciality SP2108-1, recorded in 1954) finds him singing a highc2 (above the treble-clef staff).

The melody of the gospel song is subjected to a variety of

interpolations and additions which can best be explained asornamentations. They are most commonly associated with the

singing of individual soloists, or the soloist backed by a choir. Anygroup of singers, however, whether large or small, would beexpected to execute them, either individually or in mass. The

simplest of the these ornaments is the ascending or descending

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

passing tone, one which is interpolated between two tones a third

apart. An illustration of this point can be found in the first

example. Example la gives the beginning of the melody of thebeloved protestant hymn, and frequently "arranged" gospelsong," What A Friend We Have In Jesus" by Joseph M. Scrivenand Charles C. Converse, according to the version found incurrent hymn books. Example lb presents a "gospelized" versionof the same phrase. An ascending passing tone will be found atletter e, while a descending passing tone, preceded by a rest,occurs at letterf. It will be noticed that two rhythmic changes haveoccurred in the transformation of

hymninto

gospel song:the

4meter signature of the hymbook version is transformed into the12 meter of the gospelized version, the so-called "gospel rhythm,"and the number of bars has been doubled. (I shall later return tothis point.)

The next ornament used most frequently is the "bend," the

upward and downward being equally common. The bend

requires the singer to "play" with the last note in a line or phraseby adding one tone, either above or below what was originally thefinal

tone. The play is not limited to a note at the interval of asecond above or below, for while many bends use that interval, itis also common to find bends employing the interval of a third ormore. In Example 1, at letter a the upward bend moves from the

original tone, the downward bend at letter b. The upward bend isat the interval of a second and then a third; at letter b the bendingtone "f" falls a fourth to the original melody tone of c1.

A singer's agility, referred to above, becomes most apparent inhis ability to execute an ornamentation in a short rhythmic space.

The ornament used most frequently to demonstrate such agility isthe neighboring tone, upper or lower, which interrupts asustained tone with an upward or downward stepwise tone, thenreturns to its original pitch. In Example 1 the lower neighboringtone can be found at letter d and the upper neighboring tone, atletter g. The gruppettocalls for executing several tones in rapidsuccession, either in conjunct (stepwise) or disjunct (separated)motion, either ascending or descending, or in an ascent-descentcombination. This group of tones may either proceed to a

different harmony or embellish the standing harmony; it is notlimited to any number of tones, though traditionally it includesthree or more. The gruppetto occurs in Example 1 at letter c andin measure four. Incidentally, the ornament in measure fourconsists of a combination of the upper neighboring tone anddownward bend.

The portamento-slur, slide or "scoop"-is executed by glid-ing gradually from one tone to the next through all the inter-mediate pitches. This ornamentation, common to all Afro-

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26

Example laA

THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

What a friend in Je -sus A our sins griefs to bearwe have

Example lb

a) b),,_

What a friend we have in

Sb X-JJB. i J J . -Je - sus, our

sinsand griefs to bear

Example 2a

I k a_.W

Glo-ry Glo-ry Hal-le-lu - jah

Example 2b

j-4E J I~,~'ip-h

Glo-ry glo - ry Hal-le - lu jah

Example 2c

f r l+ _

Glo-ry

Example 2d

Glo-ry

Glo-ry

Hal-te -lu - ah

w rHal

glo-ry Hal-le-lu Jah

r ^ . h r r r ^ r

I ..

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

American folk singing styles, is illustrated at letter h by the slurmark between the tones.

Rhythmic improvisation, one of the most important charac-teristics of gospel music, emphasizes accents between the strongand weak pulse, rather than on the strong and weak pulse, in

producing syncopation. Example 2 will serve to illustrate this

point: Example 2a is the standard printed version of the openingbars of the hymn "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (text by JuliaWard Howe, based on an American camp-meeting tune), and

Examples 2b, 2c, and 2d show gospelized rhythmic variations ofthe

hymn'smelodic lines. In

Example 2b syncopationis created

inmeasure one by avoiding an accent on the first half of the beat,while in measure two, it occurs because the entire first beat isavoided, thus placing the accent on the second beat. This kind of

rhythmic improvisation was favored by Clara Ward and the Ward

Singers, leaders of the "classical" period of gospel music, in thedecades of the fifties and sixties. Mahalia Jackson, who possessedextraordinary breath control and an unusually even tone,preferred the kind of rhythmic alteration illustrated in Example

2c, where sustained tones create the syncopation. Alex Bradford,whose performances crystallized many of the devices employed in

gospel music, had a fondness for the division of beats and used a

rhythmic variation reminiscent of that illustrated in Example 2d.

Perhaps the most unusual characteristic of gospel singing is itstext interpolation, the adding of extra words to the original text.These additions, which may complement the text or may be

completely unrelated, generally are used by the singer to fill in

spaces which are occupied by rests in the melody. The gospel

practice of dividing and subdividing the beat provides morepulses and, consequently, greater opportunity for adding words.As the singer becomes emotionally involved in his performance,he is apt to express his personal involvement through an

outflowing and overflowing of words and phrases. There are anumber of traditional or "stock" phrases which typically are

interpolated between the original words or phrases of the song;such as, "Yes, Lord," "Oh," "Don't you know," "Help me, Jesus,"and "Lord, have mercy now." Other interpolations might be more

personal or more directly related to the text. A common practice,for example, is illustrated by the following: the phrase "Lord, I'mtired" becomes "Lord, (youknow) I'm (so) tired."

The most gifted singers are able to make additions in such amanner as to effect smooth transitions to and from the originalwords of the texts. These additions may range from a simplerepetition of one word as in Sam Cooke's, "(Well,well, well) What afriend we have in Jesus" during his association with the gospel

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

quartet, the Soul Stirrers-to the very elaborate, "(Andsometimes,whenI'm tired and

lonely,I

just sayto

myself)What a friend we have

in Jesus."The tempo of a gospel song is directly related to its

performance practices; any gospel song, regardless of its text, maybe performed as a slow song, with a dotted quarter-note at M.M.

44-60; a fast song, with a quarter-note at M.M. 74-200; or as"without rhythm" (performed in the "linging-out" hymntradition), with the quarter-note at M.M. 50-60. An example ofthis is illustrated in the current practice of selecting one or more

of the stanzas of the hymn "Amazing Grace," traditionallyperformed as a slow or "without rhythm" song, to be one of theverses in a fast song, if the song has eight bars. Because thestandard form of a gospel song is always associated with the

person or group who first performed the song-rather than the

song's composer-the tempo used in the first performance,usually heard in a recorded version, becomes that tempopermanently associated with the song.

An axiom in gospel music is "the slower the song, the more

elaborately embellished the melody and the faster the song, themore syncopation is to be applied." To illustrate this axiom, let usturn to my transcription, in Example 3, of "Amazing Grace" as

performed by Mahalia Jackson (Apollo C 2199-194, recorded in

1950).Several features of gospel style are illustrated in this example,

beginning with the rhythmic designation, "without rhythm." Thisindicates that the performance should have no regular pulse andthat the rhythm is to follow the agogic accents of the text. The

performance demands a highly embellished melody, as indicatedby the number of melismas given to syllables-for example, where

eight tones are given to the word "grace" in measure three, to theword "now" in measure 14, and to the word "I"in measure 14. Inthis kind of performance the embellishing tones tend to revolvearound the original melodic tone, occasionally substituting themelodic tone with an alternate chord tone, and even moving theembellishments up or down an octave. The "without rhythm"song is performed in the "legato" style of gospel music, a style

imposed on the last phrase of most gospel songs regardless oftheir tempo. This section is called the gospel "cadenza."

In Example 4 are the published version of "Our God Is Able"

by the Reverend W. Herbert Brewster, a Baptist minister, and mytranscription of a performance of the song by Clara Ward and theWard Singers (Savoy 20,000 A [SR 51], recorded in 1950). The

significance of this performance is two-fold: it was one of the firsttwo gospel recordings to sell over one million copies-the otherwas "Move On Up A Little Higher" by Mahalia Jackson-and it

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

was the first recording to introduce the 12/8 rhythm into gospelmusic. To be sure, the Angelic Gospel Singers were performingLucie Campbell's song "Touch Me, Lord Jesus" in l2 time as earlyas 1948, but they did not record the song until after the release of

"Surely, God is Able." Since 1950 all gospel "slow" and

"moderately fast" songs have been performed in 12 meter,

regardless of the meter signature of the original version. Observethat in Example 4 since the transcription employs 8 meter twomeasures must be combined to produce the 82bar. In performingthe gospel song, the singer thinks four beats to the bar, with eachbeat

being assymmetricallydivided. But the accents

givento each

of these three background beats during the performance suggestthat they are beats rather than subdivisions of beats, andtherefore the listener does not hear four beats of simple triplets,but twelve beats divided into four groups.

With regarded to text interpolation, observe the amount of

repetition given to the word, "surely." This is a much-lovedcharacteristic of performance practice of gospel singers, who use

repetition as a vehicle for "getting the meaning of the song

across." It should be noted that the use of the tonic andsubmediant chords (I and VI) to accompany the repetitions isstandard practice in gospel style.

The alternation of soloist and group in the introduction andchorus of this example is representative of the most popularmethod of gospel-music performance. Typically, the group is

given one or two words or one or two lines of text (the"response"), which it repeats-as in measures 34 to 43 and 60

through 77. Or the group may repeat the words delivered first by

the soloist (the "call"),as in measures 30 through 33. The verse ofthe song, which has its pick-up in measure 9, is sung in the directmanner. Of importance here is the vocal ornamentation executed

by the entire group, such as the accented passing tone on theword 'journey" in measure 12 and the gruppetto on the word"load" in measure 24. The ornamentation employed in the lasthalf of measure 24 creates a IV chord (with an upper-neighbormovement between the two articulations of the chord), which is astandard gospel-cadence formula. Though regarded as a cliche, it

is nevertheless very much a part of the style.In the gospel singer's anxiety to create emotional climaxes bybombarding listeners with perpetual sound, he bridges almost allrests and phrases by holding over a single tone or by interpolatingtext over the rests and breaks in the melodic lines. As the versecomes to a close in measure 50, for example, the soloist begins atone on the third beat, and holds that tone through the first beatof measure 51, then sings the text "Don't you know God is able"

beginning the next section.

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

The texts of the two choruses, beginning in measures 25 and

51 are unusually in that they are based on "stock" phrases whichgenerally are used as text interpolations. They are of the samevariety as "Mary's baby," "Rose of Sharon," "Way-maker," and"burden-bearer"-all "stock"phrases used to describe Jesus Christor God. Since praise of God is the essential message of this song,these stock phrases easily fit into the sections built on such

phrases, measures 34 to 43 and 60 through 77.When repeated melody and harmony (see measures 1 through

4 in Example 4) constitute a large portion of gospel performance,

such a section is called a "vamp"; in sixty percent of gospel music,vamps constitute one-half of the entire performance of a song. Itis the custom for the leader, and often the entire group, to leavethe stage or choir loft during the vamp and walk among theaudience, occasionally "acting-out" the song or shaking hands.

The "slow," "moderately-fast," and "fast" gospel songs are

accompanied by "body rhythm"; that is, the swinging of the headand body and the patting of hands and feet. Body rhythm accentsand reinforces musical rhythm and since sound is more important

than silence, patting or tapping the foot while clapping the handsare essential aspects of gospel performance. Over the years, anumber of patterns for clapping and patting have evolved. To

accompany the fast song in 4, for example, the foot pats on beatsone and three, while the hands clap on beats two and four (seeExample 5a). A slight variation on this pattern is the "Juba"rhythm, based on an old dance of slavery times (see Example 5b).Another variation is one called the "Joog-Joog," which may have

originally been called the "JukeJoint," since the rhythmic pattern

was once associated with bars and taverns in which Juke Boxesprovided the music (see Example 5c). The "after-beat" pattern isso-called because the second half of the beat receives the accent(see Example 5d.)

There isjust one standard pattern for those rhythms involvingthree pulses per unit or multiples of three pulses per unit. Thefoot pats on the first or strong beat, while the hands clap on thesecond and third (see Example 5e). "Surely, God Is Able" wouldbe accompanied by the body rhythm illustrated in Example 5e, as

would all songs which are delivered in the "declamatory" mannerof "Surely."

Most of the songs performed in a gospel concert are givenreprises of varying lengths immediately after the songs have beenperformed all the way through. Sometimes the reprise isseparated by only the applause of the audience; at other times,the reprise may follow a short musical "sermonnette" delivered byone of the singers. While most reprises last for only three or fourminutes, it is not unusual to have a reprise lasting half again as

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

long as the original performance. This practice was introducedinto

gospelmusic

byClara Ward, who,

duringthe

heightof the

career of the Ward Singers (the mid-fifties), sang only six songs ateach concert-four of them before the intermission, each ofwhich was immediately followed by a reprise which was often

longer than the initial performance. After the intermission camethe two additional songs, each of them reprised, which broughtthe concert to a close.

Hands I I

Example5a

Example 5b

Example 5c

Example 5d

Example 5e

Feet

Hands r-f l,-4 1 .

Feet ,

Hands n I ?n

Feet

Hands. 7nds .J /

'

WW I . Wu

_IFeetI .-_I ^I 1Han,s Y

*^_ ^ n '^ A V IFeet

Tr r

]i'

The use of the piano as the basic accompanying instrumentis one of the distinguishing features of gospel singing-asdistinguished from quartet singing, which uses the guitar. Piano

accompaniment did not become a stable feature of gospel musicuntil the thirties, though Sister Sallie Sanders and ArizonaDranes, two well-known gospel singers of that era, used pianoaccompaniment earlier on their recordings and in concert, as

stated above. Two of the Dranes recordings have surfaced latelyon radio gospel programs, and many more are extant. Both "MySoul Is A Witness For The Lord," recorded on 17 June 1926(Columbia C G31595), and "I Shall Wear A Crown," recorded on3 July 1928 (Historical HLP-34), reveal much about the Dranes

singing style, but it is "I Shall Wear A Crown" that capsules hergospel-piano style. It is set in the chorus-and-verse (AB) form,performed in a fast tempo, and in \ meter. For rhythmicaccentuation, Miss Dranes uses an eighth-note beat for chords in

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

the right hand in perpetual motion, while the left hands playsoctaves, alternating between the root of the chord and its fifth. To

bridge phrases, the left hand plays ascending octaves from afourth or fifth below the chord played on the beat.

It is of interest that Miss Dranes does not play the melody, butchords which support the melody, a practice still observed in

contemporary gospel piano. The chords are basicallyI-IV-V-I, except at the cadence where she uses the formula

I4-vi V of V-V7-I. At intervals, she imposes special rhythmic

patterns on some of the chords, and later repeats the rhythms,

makingthe

stylemotivic rather than melodic.

The introduction to the song, which consists of two statementsof the chorus played entirely in chords, is placed in the middle ofthe piano register by the right hand, reminiscent of the ragtimepiano style of a few decades earlier. Indeed, this recorded

performance bears several striking resemblances to ragtime,though it employs a definite four-pulse bar, rather than a

two-pulse bar, does not have runs in the right hand, and in theleft hand does not rely on chords at every other beat. As was the

custom of the time, Miss Dranes plays an interlude during thecourse of the song; here again she uses a highly syncopated style,as earlier in the second chorus of the Introduction.

A closer analysis of the recording reveals the "ryhthm section"

concept in practice, one which is the basis of gospel piano in

contemporary gospel music. In this practice, as exhibited by MissDranes, the left hand assumes the role of the bass guitar-playingsingle notes or octaves on and between he beats-and the drum, byattacking the keys in a percussive rather than legato manner. The

right hand takes the part of the guitar, playing chords on andafter the beat with intermittent "licks" of two or three single tones,followed immediately by chords. This style of playing gospelmusic becomes all the more significant when it is realized that the

piano was chosen as the gospel music instrument because of its

equally percussive and legato capabilities.Thomas A. Dorsey drew upon the Dranes style when he

played gospel music in the churches of Chicago during the 1930s.It was during that period that he appointed the teen-ager Roberta

Martin as pianist of the gospel choir which he was then directing.The difference between the Dorsey and Martin styles is one ofrefinement. Dorsey's piano style can be heard on an album(Columbia CG 32151), which was recorded in his honor and onwhich he plays. Miss Martin was careful with harmonic and

dynamic nuances, which she incorporated into gospel style. From1935 until her death in 1969, she stressed three elements in her

playing: richer harmonies (including secondary dominants andseventh-chords) connected by single-note motives in the right

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

hand; percussive-like "bomb" in octaves assigned to the left hand;and a

less-rigid,but at the same time, more

complex rhythmicuse

of chords. To support the singers, she followed the melody withthe chords, often doubling the melody on the piano. While

independent melodic development is not a feature of contempor-ary gospel piano, "breaks" and "riffs" normally associated withbrass instruments in the jazz idiom, are common. Whenever thesoloist or singers drop out for a beat, the piano fills in the silencewith a short motive, chord, and of late, a short scalar run. This

practice was derived from the style of Roberta Martin.Because

ClaraWard travelled

widely and recorded soextensively, her piano style, though conservative in many respects,influenced a great number of pianists during the 1950s andsixties. Mid-way between the Dranes/Dorsey and Martin style, her

style employed chordal textures in the right hand, and octaves or

single tones in the left hand. Her most significant contribution to

gospel piano was her practice of interrupting a basic harmony byinserting its subdominant harmony and immediately returning tothe basic harmony, which, while being more a rhythmic inflection

than tonal, contributed to the development of a faster harmonicrhythm in the style. Measures 4, 6, 8 and 24 of Example 4illustrate this practice.

Miss Martin represents the "new" style gospel pianist while Mr.

Dorsey represents the "older" style pianist; it is Miss Martin's stylewhich is that of contemporary gospel piano. This is not as strangeas it may first appear, for the reigning king of contemporarygospel music, the Reverend James Cleveland, who made his debutinto national gospel music circles as the accompanist for the

Caravans, was her pupil-meaning in gospel parlance that for aperiod of time he was a member of her group. Andrae Crouch,the leader of the so-called "pop-gospel" style, is a Californian who

adopted the piano style of Doris Akers, known in "underground"gospel circles as the "West-Coast" Roberta Martin.

The "without-rhythm" song, which has a slow harmonic

rhythm, requires a special kind of gospel-piano style. The pianistis required to reiterate or arpeggiate chords in the right hand,while the left hand plays a "murky" bass or broken octaves in fast

succession, all in free rhythm. Because the harmonic rhythm isslow, the pianist is expected to use many non-harmonic tones; ifhe is a really "gifted" pianist (most gospel pianists play "by ear"),he will replace the non-harmonic tones by appoggiatura chords.In such cases, the first two chords of progression: I-IV-V-I

might be realized as: I-(V6-I6-V/V)-IV. It is important toremember that the "without-rhythm" accompaniment representsthe only gospel-piano style where the upper register of the pianomay be used with great freedom and profusion. The basic

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34 THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

gospel-piano sound is rich and dark, characteristic of the middleof the keyboard and downward.

With gospel music now being heard in most protestantchurches, in colleges and universities, in theatres and concert

halls, on recordings and radio, and in movies and television, it is

slowly becoming an integral part of world life. While it may be attimes purposely "primitive" and highly emotional, as well asunrefined and commercial, and at other times intensely seriousand subtle, it is nevertheless a music which exerts a broadinfluence on more than one facet of contemporary culture.

University of Massachusettsat Amherst

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

Example 3:

Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound(hymn tune andgospel version as performed by MahaliaJackson)

EulT Americn Melody

John Newton, 1725-1807 An. bt Edwin O. Ecell, 1851-1921

4 I r l A

1. A - maz - ing grace how sweet the sound,Thatsaveda wretch like me I2. 'Twasgracethattaughtmyheart to fear, Andgrace my fears re-lieved;How3. Throughman-y dan- gers, toils andsnares, I have al - read - y come;'Tis4. Whenwe've been there ten thou-sand ears, Brightshin-ing as the sun, We've

^\lq l o 1 f 1 ( 1 ' 1 1S -\l H * r N -

Alternate tun.e ARLINGTON. No. 457

1 <1 14l 1Jt I[ r -zF;lonce was lost, but now am found,Wasblind,but now I see.pre - ciousdid that graceap-pear The hour I first be-lievedgracehathbroughtmesafe thus far, Andgracewill lead me home.no less days to sing God'spraiseThan whenwe first be - gun. A - MEN.

j or_ . r L

ON sI . II I. -

35

I I I -6 r I , ,I Ir-

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36 THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

(' ;to bt4hywf ) AMAZING GRACE

VIvI, - 0

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b4 Xcjp t lo.

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

0:

sv kr-

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37

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

11_Wr li;^ - -T- 1

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CONTEMPORARY OSPEL

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

Example4: Our God is Able (gospel hymn) and

Surely,God is Able (gospel version asperformed by the Ward Singers)

Arranged by

Virginia Davis. VERSE

Words and Music by

W. HERBERT BREWSTER

1. As pil - grims all, we here so- journ2. He walked in - to__ the fur - nace door,3. One night he shook_ the Ro - man jail,4. He stepped in - to the li - on's den,

_ We of - ten know not ____ which way to-- With Shad - rach, Me - shach_ and Ahed - ne-

Pris - on - ers tood free.. on Heav - en'sPro - tect - ed Dan - iel who slept there-

y-is:v~ i~f rI'

turn;. But there is one who knows thego; He took the heat out of thebail;--- Yes, that same God still rules thein; The next day Daniel,_ Told the

ra Who' us cr rI 11road, Who'll help us car ry ev - 'ry load.flame, I know to - day. He's jlust the same.world, His flag of truth is still un - furled.King, My God is able, res cue to bring.

41

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42 THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

CHORUS I-- . h h kn K R h. h ? R h,J .zJ- ^ ju'

nj

hJ- =1

Our God is a - ble He's a-ble, Yes, He's a - ble Dark clouds may

^M-rr 4 1r t

ga - ther a bove you so dark and sa - ble; He' be your

. F I ' F F iJ

shel-ter in trou-ble, He knows what to do. I know He

sure - ly is a - ble To car - ry you through.

SPECIAL CHORUS

'- P-rr _r_- Li

Our God is a - ble, a - ble, Oh yes, He's

A -ble a-ble

H5752157521

k k

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL 43

4.J Jr

- r - F F - Ta - ble. Dark clouds may ga- ther, a - bove you

1 - iA-- 1 tI.Oh yes, He' a - ble, may ga-ther,

i r r H J r -r-_ So dark and sa - ble, Hell be. your shel-ter, in

$J i J i: jI I I J.;a - bove you, so dark and Your shel-ter,

F f _ f

tr^T ^r lr rtrou - ble He knows what to do I know He

t--- 'FFr f.IV

sure - ly is a - ble, to car- ry you through.I . . . ..

j j j I -j, JH y

ou r' r F i-3-OUR ODSABL-3-3

I CM

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

Slo^/ SURELY, GOD IS ABLE

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL 45

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

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THE BLACKPERSPECTIVEN MUSIC

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

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52 THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

r?vO k the tI bf-l6 2He'jo

8b'bI? h > i1 ? 4I w- ^ ok ye

r w i a ^ m . F ;

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CONTEMPORARYGOSPEL 55

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

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b . b FA l i i i , I

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CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL

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t

Svreclr L J c F F

1 9 * ^ T i . Tt f *I, LU"

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0.s - ble to cr ryIe

1 9 : i r?T. L

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58 THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC