Today & Coming Up
- Continue spirituals: more examples, musical features, post-1900 life
- Musical Autobiography due EOD today
- Next week — Mon & Wed: Blues (Evans readings)
- Next week — Fri: Folk song collections (Hyman critique)
🎧 Listen
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"
Spotify · Fisk Jubilee Singers · Week 2 Playlist
- How does this compare with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"?
Graham, S. 2013. "Jubilee Singers." Grove Music Online.
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Nobody knows but Jesus
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen — Glory hallelujah!
Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down / Oh yes, Lord
Sometimes I'm almost to the ground / Oh yes, Lord
Nobody knows but Jesus
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen — Glory hallelujah!
Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down / Oh yes, Lord
Sometimes I'm almost to the ground / Oh yes, Lord
Consider: · Performance style · Texture · Form
Discussion
Working Without Recordings
- How do we draw conclusions about musical performance when no sound recordings exist?
- What can — and can't — textual sources tell us?
Graham, S. 2013. "Jubilee Singers." Grove Music Online.
Fisk Jubilee Singers, Nashville, 1870–80 · Library of Congress · No known restrictions
Musical Features (from Maultsby)
- 18th & 19th century accounts document: spirituals sung in antiphonal structure — call-and-response between soloist and chorus
- Varied kinds of textual repetition (e.g., aaab, cccd patterns)
Graham, S. 2013. "Jubilee Singers." Grove Music Online.
Fisk Jubilee Singers — Performance Style
- Late 19th / early 20th century: songs performed a cappella
- SATB harmony, solo passages, or unison singing
Graham, S. 2013. "Jubilee Singers." Grove Music Online.
"Follow the Drinking Gourd"
When the sun comes back and the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaiting — for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd…
Well the riverbanks makes a mighty true road
Dead trees mark the way
The left foot, peg foot, traveling on / Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaiting — for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd…
Well the riverbanks makes a mighty true road
Dead trees mark the way
The left foot, peg foot, traveling on / Follow the drinking gourd
Spotify · Week 2 playlist · What function does this song serve?
"Wade in the Water"
Jordan's water is chilly and cold — God's going to trouble the water
It chills the body but lifts the soul — God's going to trouble the water
Wade in the water, wade in the water, children
Wade in the water — God's going to trouble the water
It chills the body but lifts the soul — God's going to trouble the water
Wade in the water, wade in the water, children
Wade in the water — God's going to trouble the water
Jireh Gospel Choir · Spotify · Week 2 playlist
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child (×3)
A long way from home
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone (×3)
A long way from home
True believer (×2) — A long, long way from home (×2)
A long way from home
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone (×3)
A long way from home
True believer (×2) — A long, long way from home (×2)
Primary Functions of Spirituals
Religious / Spiritual
"Trying to Make Heaven My Home" · "Ride On, King Jesus" · "Wade in the Water"
Coded Language
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" · "Wade in the Water"
Protest & Resistance
"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"
Everyday Spiritual Support
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" — coping with hardship
Jones, A.C. 1993. "Chapter 3: 'Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho'." In Wade in the Water. Orbis Books.
Cultural Hybridity in Early African American Music
African
- Rhythmic / percussive emphasis
- Call-and-response form
- Dense textures and layering
- Improvisation
- Music tied to dance and daily life
- Pitch bends, blue notes, etc.
European
- English lyrics
- Christian content
- Harmonies
- Formal structures
Spirituals Post-1900
- Harlem Renaissance (1920s–40s): composers began rendering spirituals as concert art music
🎧 Listen — Three Versions
"Ride On, King Jesus"
- Jireh Gospel Choir — Spotify
- 2004 Texas Choir (TMEA) — Spotify
- Jessye Norman — YouTube (youtu.be/RDIEfwORUaA)
🎧 Close Listen
Jessye Norman, "Ride On, King Jesus"
- How does the concert art-music setting differ from the Fisk Jubilee Singers recordings?
- What musical features remain constant across all three versions?
- What does this suggest about the spiritual as a living tradition?
Spirituals in the 20th & 21st Centuries
- Adopted, adapted, and revived across many contexts:
- Blues · Gospel · Jazz · Protest songs · Art music…
- They'll keep coming back throughout the semester