The changing nature of gospel music: a Southern case study

African American Review, Summer, 1995 by Joyce Marie Jackson

Many of the ritual practices which we commonly associate with the African American folk church, such as freely structured services, dance, improvisational music, the emotional and musical delivery style of sermons and prayers, and spontaneous verbal and non-verbal responses by preachers and congregations, have essentially emerged from African values and aesthetics.

The music created by African American slaves before and after the Civil War reflected their status and served as a response to the environment that controlled their lives. This religious music - later known as the folk spirituals, and commonly referred to as the "Negro Spirituals" - was the 18th-century creation of African American slaves who sought to express their religious beliefs in a way that was uniquely meaningful to them. The slaves created the folk spirituals in contexts free of white control. These songs commented on their love for God, desire for freedom, total disdain for the institution of slavery, and plans for secret meetings or escape as expressed in the familiar lines "Steal away to Jesus, I ain't got long to stay here," and "Follow the drinking gourd."

The structural form and performance style associated with folk spirituals are derived from West African musical practices. In West Africa, the geographical origin for a large number of the slave population, cultural mores govern group singing at a musical event. These principles require the participation of group members who are present. Individuals become involved either by singing, dancing/shouting, hand-clapping, foot-stomping, or some combination of these rhythmic textures, which also provide the accompaniment for the layered voices.

This type of animated and emotional ritual was valued by the slaves so much that many would risk being beaten or killed in order to continue to worship in a manner which represented a continuity with African performance aesthetics. Numerous instances have been cited by travelers, journalists, and ex-slaves that lived during this era (Levine; Lovell; Epstein; Courlander). Many of their meetings took place in undisclosed "praise houses" and "hush harbors" deep in the woods at night.(2) Here is one account from an ex-slave regarding the drive for emotional expression:

Referring to a plantation located in Louisiana, Mrs. Channel says: "On this plantation there were about one hundred and fifty slaves. Of this number, only about ten were Christians." We can easily account for this, for religious services among the slaves were strictly forbidden. But the slaves would steal away into the woods at night and hold services. He [the speaker] would bend forward and speak into or over a vessel of water to drown the sound. If anyone became animated or cried out, the others would quickly stop the noise by placing their hands over the offender's mouth [or put the offender's head over the vessel]. (Herskovits 210)

The concept of group participation is further reinforced in the structural formula of the song itself. The songs, spontaneously created by an individual and/or group, were sung in an antiphonal style, with no predetermined length. Throughout West Africa, many songs subscribe to the antiphonal, call-response, or leader-chorus structure, in which the leader spontaneously improvises text, time, and melody and the remaining group members respond with a short repetitive phrase which can also be expressed by making slight changes in time, text, or melody.