The sound
What to listen for in gospel
A short guide to Black gospel music for a first listener: its roots in spirituals, the gospel choir, and the call and response you will hear in a concert.
Book the Harlem gospel concert ↗Quick answer
Gospel is a Christian music tradition with strong vocals and lyrics rooted in Christian teaching; Black gospel grew out of the spirituals. In a concert, listen for a soloist and choir answering each other, hand-clapping, an organ or piano, and a soloist improvising over a repeating vamp.
What gospel is
Wikipedia defines gospel music as a traditional genre of Christian music, with strong vocals and lyrics that reflect Christian teachings. Black gospel is its best-known branch: the traditional music of the Black diaspora in the United States and the music of the Historic Black Church. It is a church music first, which explains the way a good performance behaves in a room: it asks the people listening to take part.
The spirituals underneath
Wikipedia says spirituals were the earliest form of Black gospel, and that the tradition drew on the oral songs, work songs and ring shouts of enslaved Africans in the American South. Its spirituals article notes that they first flourished in secret meetings and that call-and-response singing became a foundation of African American sacred music. One scholarly source it cites says spirituals were identifiable as a genre by the early nineteenth century.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Fisk Jubilee Singers were an a cappella ensemble from Fisk University in Nashville. Wikipedia says the group began its first tour on October 6, 1871, to raise money for a university in serious financial difficulty, and that it later toured Great Britain and Europe. The Singers show how spirituals first reached concert audiences: as a performance for people outside the church, which is also what a Harlem gospel concert is today.
Thomas Dorsey and the gospel choir
Wikipedia says Thomas A. Dorsey, a former secular musician, turned to gospel and moved to Chicago in 1916, where he joined Pilgrim Baptist Church. It credits him with creating the first gospel choir and with developing the careers of other Black artists, among them Mahalia Jackson. The article also notes that it has been said 1930 was the year traditional Black gospel began, when the National Baptist Convention gave the music its public backing.
How a gospel number runs
In traditional forms, Wikipedia explains, the soloist and the choir trade lines in call and response, and singers add phrases such as hallelujah, which serve musical, theological and social purposes. When the music settles into a vamp, a repeating section, the soloist is expected to improvise lyrics. Hand-clapping and foot-stomping keep time, and the Hammond B3 organ and the piano are common instruments, sometimes with bass, drums, tambourines or a saxophone.
Styles within gospel
Wikipedia lists several strands of Black gospel. The traditional form is the best known and came from the Southeastern United States, shaped by spirituals, the hymns of Isaac Watts and Dorsey. Quartet singing grew up among Southern Black Christians as an a cappella style. Choir gospel is the large-group form, and urban contemporary gospel fuses the traditional sound with 1970s and 1980s secular styles. A Harlem concert draws on the traditional end of the range, but the performers decide what they sing.
Where the word comes from
Wikipedia says the term gospel song appeared in Philip Bliss's 1874 songbook. This is one reason the music carries so easily from church to audience: the words are short, the refrain returns, and the tune is made to be sung back.
What to take into a concert
You do not need to know any songs. Listen first for the call and response, then for the moment a soloist stretches a line while the others hold the vamp. Clap if the room claps, and watch the choir as well as the soloist, because the answers matter as much as the calls. Remember that the performers choose the programme, so this guide describes habits of the style and not a running order for any Saturday.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between spirituals and gospel?
Wikipedia calls spirituals the earliest form of Black gospel. Gospel grew out of them and added choirs, instruments and songwriters such as Thomas A. Dorsey.
Who created the first gospel choir?
Wikipedia credits Thomas A. Dorsey with creating the first gospel choir.
Must I know the songs?
Not at all. Listen for the call and response, clap with the room and let the soloist lead.
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