The Glory of Gospel

Gospel music in the united states is one of the defining features of not only America culturally but socially. To know more about why gospel music is important you have to go back to before Colonizers came over to America and when Gospel music was created in Europe. When colonizers came over to the new world they brought with them influences from European protestant churches. A big overview of what im gonna talk about is the History of Gospel music, people involved in gospel, how gospel impacted culture, and a few specific artists. 

Second Great Awakening 

We begin the history of gospel music in America during the 19th century. At the time there was a great resurgence of religion and with that religious music. This was later called the second great awakening and begun in the south in the 1790s and early 1800s among the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. This awakening led to major growth in protestant beliefs and was a sense of comfort in America during the changing socio-economic times for people. The second awakening notably changed the religious climate among American colonies. Gospel music was later created around 80 years after the resurgence based off of traditional Christian Hymns that were being spread along with the resurgence. Gospel music later began to grow and expand through many different groups but the two major groups that developed were White (American European) gospel music and Black (African American) gospel music. 

(source)

Gospel music originally came from various European American musical traditions, including Protestant Christian hymnody which is the singing of hymns. Despite much musical development, the style of Gospel music has relatively stayed the same. The music is usually strophic containing verses and a refrain which means that the music repeats. The texts of gospels typically contain personal religious experiences and gaining religious salvation and the importance of it within their faith. Typically gospel music is played in a major key and is arranged in four part harmony. Gospel music at first had a relatively straightforward rhythmic and harmonic structure consisting of three basic chords I, IV, and V. As traditional gospel music absorbed influences from other popular music of its time it began to expand as a music genre. (source)

The way gospel music was spread in its earlier years was through Christian hymn books and word of mouth and among one of the most popular Christian Hymnbooks were from composers such as Lowell Mason and William B. Bradbury. These composers were the original creators of gospel music and paved the way for future generations of gospel. Lowell Mason was one of the founders of not only gospel music but one of the original founders of music being involved in public schools. Originally he was an arranger of music and he published songbooks such as " The Handel and Haydn Society’s Collection of Church Music" but later on he begun to adapt the styles of European hymns to something that he thought was better suited for America. Over the course of his life he composed over 1600 hymns and was one of the leading founders due to his influence in American church music. William B. Bradbury was also a very prominent composer whos music you can still hear in churches to this day. Some of his most notable songs were "Jesus loves me," "He Leadeth Me," and "Just As I Am." (source)

As Gospel music began to spread throughout the United States it began to attract attention from all different types of groups, the most notable being African Americans. The first Black gospel music began alongside the musical culture of ragtime, the blues, and jazz in the late 19th century to the 20th century. Black gospel music first began as a mix of black spiritual songs of enslaved people along with hymnody from white European composers. . A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns Selected from Various Authors (1801) was the first hymnal intended for Black worship. These would be composed by mostly white composers but there were also lots of black poems in there by a person called Richard Allen. Richard Allen would later help become the founder of the  African Methodist Episcopal Church. Just like the blues these hymns would not have music in them but instead just be poems to be interpreted. As African American gospel began to grow in the late 19th century and begun to change stylistically. They begun to make more syncopated music and incorporated more aspects of African American culture helping to create a new style of churches called Pentecostal churches. These churches consisted of Pentecostal shouting which relates to speaking in tongues and circle dances of African origin. While the genre kept expanding it led to multiple new expansions within not only the music but the religion itself. (source)

Portrait of Richard Allen in his early life

picture of an all women's gospel choir in the 1940s




Talking more about gospel music, I wanted to talk about some of the most influential artists among gospel music. The first being Mahalia Jackson who has been titled the "The World’s Greatest Gospel Singer". She was a New Orleans native who in the late 40s rose to fame after moving to Chicago where she worked with Thomas A. Dorsey who wrote her signature song “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” She was a civil rights activist and one of the first gospel first international million-selling artists. She would later win multiple Grammy awards and be enacted into the Grammy hall of fame. Another artist that was extremely influential would be Kirk Franklin who is known for helping push gospel the furthest in the mainstream that it has ever been. He was a artist who gained fame in the 90s and is most known for his hit cross-over song “Why We Sing”. his album called  Kirk Franklin and The Family stayed on the charts and became one of the first gospel albums to became the first million-selling gospel Album. He has won numerous Grammys for his music and is a Stellar Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. (Source)

BIOGRAPHY AND EXTRA SOURCES TO LOOK AT 

• Lowell Mason
• William B. Bradbury
• Richard Allen
• Pentecostalism
  
• Mahalia Jackson
  
• Kirk Franklin
  

Thank you for reading this article I hope you enjoyed and learned something.If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment.
Thanks

Works Cited:

“Gospel Music.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed January 21, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/topic/gospel-music. 

Facts, Radio. 2020. “The Top 10 Best Gospel Artists and Best Gospel Songs - Radio Facts.” July 7, 2020. https://radiofacts.com/the-top-10-best-gospel-artists-and-best-gospel-songs/.

‌Wikipedia Contributors. 2019. “Second Great Awakening.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. October 25, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening.

‌