Gospel Music in America

The term "Gospel music" applies to a body of music that was developed in the United States during the twentieth century primarily in the south-eastern part of the country and in portions of the Midwest and the East. It is a Christian music that was not necessarily developed by the body of churches, but independently. In other words, the singers and performers were primarily church-going, Bible-believing Christian people, but their music wasn't always directly an outgrowth of a church organization.

Types of Gospel Music

1. Mountain Gospel

2. Southern Gospel

3. Black Gospel

There are three styles of gospel music that were developed. These styles were developed independently of each other because of racial and physical separation.

Mountain Gospel

➲ From the Southern Appalachian Mountains, we have a tradition of sacred music that is a national treasure. It dates back a hundred years, is still alive today, and its offshoot, Bluegrass Gospel Music, is a powerful force in music today.

Development of Mountain Music

The mountain gospel style developed in the Southern Appalachian mountains in Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, Northeastern Tennessee, and Northwestern North Carolina. This music (in the past called "hillbilly music") sprang forth from a deeply religious people living deep in the hills. Bible-believing and devoted, religious music formed a major part in the life of these rural peoples not only in their worship services, but as a part of their daily existence also.

There are two types of mountain music: 1) the traditional style that was passed down and developed during the twentieth century and 2) the bluegrass style that was developed by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, including Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt.

Southern Gospel

➲ From the Southern states of the US, we have a sacred music tradition that is important and alive today. Southern gospel quartets and family groups are one of the few remaining positive music traditions in this country. American Idol Ruben Studdard sings in the Southern Gospel style on his new album released in 2004.

Development of Southern Gospel

●Southern Gospel originated at the turn of the century in the Southeastern United States with sacred quartet singing by white groups.

● A great tradition of quartet singing was perfected by the Blackwood Brothers, the Statesmen Quartet, the Rangers Quartet, the Harmoneers, and the Homeland Harmony Quartet. The quartet style of singing continued into the 1960s when another stream of southern gospel music developed best described as family groups.

●The pioneer of this music was the Tennessee-resident James D. Vaughan, who created the first major white sacred quartet, then established a publishing company to make and sell books of the quartet music, including his own compositions.

Family groups...

●The first family groups actually stem back to the 1930s with the Carter family group known as the Chuck Wagon Gang. In the 1940s, the Spear Family and the Chuck Wagon gang became very popular. The family group tradition came into full fruition and by the 1980s and 1990s was thriving in the Southeast United States.

● Family groups are gospel groups that may or may not sing four-part harmony, and are mainly groups comprised of family members (for example mom and pop, and the kids). This tradition fortunately still thrives today in the Southeastern U.S. and, along with mountain and bluegrass styles, is one of the few positive music traditions that remains in this country.

Black Gospel

Black Gospel music originated in the final third of the nineteenth century with black "jubilee" groups that were formed in colleges primarily located in the Southeastern United States. These groups sang in four-part harmony and were called quartets. One of the earliest and certainly the most successful of these groups was the Fisk University Jubilee singers. The jubilee style of singing continued, while evolving, well into the 1940s. Meanwhile, a tradition of church singing and composition was pioneered by such people as Charles Albert Tindley, Lucie Campbell, W. Herbert Brewster and Kenneth Morris. Thomas A. Dorsey who began using the term "gospel music" in the 1930s and in conjunction with such singers as Roberta Martin, Mahalia Jackson, Robert Anderson and Sally Martin, gave birth to a new style of gospel music that developed in Chicago and in other mid-western and eastern cities.

Timeline Of Black Gospel Music-the early years

1650 - A cappella singing is singing in harmony without musical instruments. It is represented in all types of music. For example, field work songs, and spirituals.

1865 - Freedom songs. Freedom from slavery.

1872 - Fisk Jubilee Singers. Other colleges started jubilee singing groups. They performed locally.

Spirituals vs. Gospel

Spirituals and gospel music are two of several different kinds of music that originated in the experiences of African American people. Spirituals and gospel music are related to each other, but they developed at different times in history: Spirituals rose out of the experience of enslaved Africans in Colonial America, and gospel music developed in the early twentieth century in cities.

Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, was the place where the African American spiritual was developed for presentation in concerts all over the United States and Europe, to white as well as black audiences. The treasurer of the university, George White, organized the Fisk Jubilee Singers to give concerts to raise funds for the university. There were eleven men and women in the group, and most of them were formerly enslaved African Americans.

Fisk University Jubilee Singers

One of the sources of black gospel music was the black "jubilee" groups that were formed in colleges primarily located in the Southeast United States. These groups employed quartet singing with four-part harmony. One of the earliest and certainly the most successful of these groups was the Fisk University Jubilee singers, a male quartet that sang Negro spirituals. The jubilee style of singing continued, while evolving, well into the 1940s.

Timeline Of Black Gospel Music-the 1920s

1900 - Hymns and Hymn books were written and copyrighted for congregational singing.

1921 - The Gospel Pearls, a song book, was introduced at the National Baptist Convention in Chicago. Solos and Congregational singing.

1923 - Beginning of gospel recordings on Race Records. Records for "Negroes." The blues race records began in 1921

Timeline Of Black Gospel Music-the Golden Era

1940s - The Golden Era of Gospel Music began. Gospel groups were promoted by religious promoters. The audiences gave a free will offering to hear gospel quartets and singers.

1945 - After World War II. Singers and quartets became professional with non-religious managers and promoters. Several groups appeared on a single gospel show. Audiences paid to hear music.

1948 - Singers and quartets became more than four members. For example, the Mighty Clouds of Joy.

Popular Golden Era Black Gospel Groups

●Tindley Gospel Singers

●Golden Gate Quartet

● Jackson Southernaires

●Dixie Hummingbirds

●Wings Over Jordan

●The Swan Silvertones

●The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi

●The Angelic Gospel Singers

Sweet vs. Hard Gospel

Sweet Gospel

●Close harmony

●Precise attacks and releases

●Understated, yet firm rhythmic accents

●Dixie Hummingbirds, Soul Stirrers, Harmonizing Four

Hard Gospel

●Energetic and intense solo and background singing

●Preaching style of delivery

●Exaggerated physical gestures

●Blind Boys of Mississippi, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Swanee Quintet

Mahalia Jackson- “The World's Greatest Gospel Singer”

Mahalia Jackson has been acclaimed America's greatest gospel singer by world press and publicity. She is certainly the best known, with a career that included television, radio, and concerts. Her early repertoire leaned heavily upon songs of her Baptist beginnings such as "Amazing Grace," and "The Day is Past and Gone." She recorded her first record in May 1937 for Decca, "God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares," and the Baptist hymn "Keep Me Every Day."

Historian Horace C. Boyer, stated:“Jackson was not the first, and possible not the finest, gospel singer, but it was

largely through her compelling contralto voice and her personality that people of all races throughout the world came to respect gospel music as an idiom distinct from classical black spirituals” (New Grove Dictionary of American Music, 524).

Timeline Of Black Gospel Music-End of the Golden Era

1951 - Doo-Wop was a pop style of quartet harmonies of croons. Many male singers changed from gospel quartets to doo-wop singing.

1956 - Gospel Iyrics and harmony were present in secular songs. An example, Sam Cooke, "A Change is Going to Come." Several gospel singers became Soul Singers.

1960 - the late 1960s was the end of the Golden Era of Gospel Music. Gospel choirs became dominant. The Edwin Hawkin's Choir sang "Oh Happy Day," it was tops on the billboard charts.