The changing nature of gospel music: a Southern case study

African American Review, Summer, 1995 by Joyce Marie Jackson

Gospel's Third Period: 1946-Present

The fourth decade of the 20th century brought the country out of the Depression and into World War II. After the war ended in 1945, small but perceptible changes began to take place with regard to integration in the United States as a result of alterations in the economic and social organization of African Americans as they became increasingly urbanized. The most important of these was the increase in occupational differentiation. The proportion of African Americans in professional occupations also increased.

As a consequence of the above changes, a sizeable middle class surfaced, as evidenced in occupations, education, housing, social life, religion, dress, and other aspects of living. Although the standards of living changed for many African Americans, E. Franklin Frazier would contend in 1964 that

... the Negro community still remains the social world in which the majority of Negroes live. Although Negroes have increasingly adopted middle class standards, they still find in their own institutions, especially churches, and social dubs and other associations embodying cultural interests, the main means of self-expression. (694)

African Americans today still maintain their own institutions to serve their own needs because the fact of color has retarded their integration into American life as a whole. Still barred from many areas of social and political life, the majority continue to turn to the church for self-expression, recognition, and leadership. In the 1940s the church remained the most powerful institution in the African American community (Frazier 694).

With regard to musical activities, African Americans were more prolific than ever. Since the late 1940s, gospel music has become big business, and this factor perhaps more than any other has influenced changes in performance. World War II ended the Depression, and with affluence came an increase in purchasing power, high volume record sales, and billboard top-seller lists. Numerous independent record companies were set up immediately following the war to serve the renewed demand for gospel "race records." The radio also served as an outlet for the promotion of gospel music. Quartets and groups (female and mixed) began to tour on a large scale. They competed with each other, and in this strong competitive atmosphere, versatility and virtuosity became even more necessary.

The concept of the soloist being an independent part of the group definitely developed at this point. Lead singers began to perform extended solo passages, while incorporating vocal embellishments, the shouting cry, and other devices. They alternated tone colors, by using falsetto, growls, vibrato, and by switching the lead between different singers. In addition, the lead singers began to add text interpolations - improvised personal statements and testimonies in the manner of gospel soloists and preachers. Quartet and group singers refer to these embellishments of the text as "working sections," in which the lead spontaneously creates melodic lines and vocal phrases over the group's harmonized repeated background of one or two chords. Sometimes the leader gives a cue for all the background to "drop out," and he or she continues indefinitely with a soft instrumental background. The lead can then "preach," "work the audience," or "shout the audience" to elicit response. This preaching style, which can be spirit-induced, became a standard with many gospel singers; it is used to reinforce the message and to showcase the creativity and improvisational ability of the lead singer.