Readings in African American Church Music and Worship - Book Review

Black Issues Book Review, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Kathryn V. Stanley

Compiled and edited by James Abbington GIA Publications, April 2002 $49.95, ISBN-1-579-99163-7

"In most black churches, music, or more precisely singing, is second only to preaching as a magnet of attraction and the primary vehicle of. spiritual transport for the worshiping congregation," notes C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya in The Black Church in the African American Experience.

Readings in African American Church Music and Worship is a compilation of 40 chapters, essays, articles and unpublished papers on music and worship in the African-American church during the 20th century. Edited and compiled by musician and Shaw University professor Dr. James Abbington, it is the first book to bring together--in one volume--the writings of conductors, ethnomusicologists, historians, organists, pastors, scholars and theologians on the subject of music in the African-American religious tradition. He is also associate editor of The African American Heritage Hymnal (GIA Publications).

The book is divided into seven categories: (1) Historical Perspectives; (2) Survey of Hymnals and Hymnody; (3) Liturgical Hymnody; (4) Worship; (5) Composers; (6) The Organ; and (7) Contemporary Perspectives. The opening essay entitled "Of the Faith of the Fathers" excerpted from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, provides readers with an historical perspective of the role of religion in African-American culture. The remaining essays cover a breadth of African-American church music, from Negro spirituals to hymns to traditional and contemporary gospel from the perspective of a variety of African-American religious traditions, including Episcopal and Pentecostal.

In one compelling essay, "Indicted,' written by contemporary religious songwriter, V. Michael McKay (he penned Yolanda Adam's "The Battle in the Lord's") discusses the transformation of many church worship services into stage shows where choirs take center stage. This book could easily be used as a scholarly text, but it is accessible enough for use as a resource for anyone interested in the music of the African-American church.

--Kathryn V. Stanley is a BIBR associate editor based in Atlanta.