Spirituals

Members of a group talk about what the songs mean to them. 

• • • • • • 1. What do you know about spirituals? 

            2. Who sang spirituals, and when? 

            3. What are spirituals about? 

In America, Spirituals were a way for African people who had been unfairly enslaved to express themselves by adapting and singing hymns and stories from the Bible.

Singing spirituals helped people who had been enslaved face up to and overcome challenges by: 

1. Expressing some of the challenges they faced. For example:

   • Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen

   • By and by, by and by, I’m goin’ to lay down my heavy load 

   • There is a balm in Gilead 

2. Containing information about particular events, or giving instructions to others who were trapped about how to escape. For example: 

• Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home – “home” is said to refer to freedom, and the “chariot” refers to a train, i.e. the underground railroad, a network of safe houses that helped slaves escape to the free states and Canada. 

• Wade in the water – this song appears to be about Moses freeing the Israelites, but was also a way of warning slaves that the slave owners would pursue them with dogs, so they should leave dry land and get into the water. 

• Follow the drinkin’ gourd – the ‘drinking gourd’ is said to be the Big Dipper constellation, which always appears in the north. The song contains tips about paths to follow (e.g. “the river bank’s a very good road; the dead trees show the way”) and by following the Big Dipper, slaves could escape north to freedom. 

• Many spirituals talk about crossing the River Jordan (e.g. Get Away Jordan, I stood on the river of Jordan, March down to Jordan). These songs in fact refer to crossing the river Ohio to the free states in the north. 

Singing spirituals increased possibilities in slaves’ lives by: 

1. Giving them hope. Moses was a common theme in spirituals (e.g. Go Down Moses and Ride on Moses) – Moses freed the Israelites, which gave the slaves hope that they, too, would one day be free. 

1. Being a means of communication. Most slaves were illiterate, so the singing of songs became an important way of passing information. 

2. Keeping hold of a sense of identity by preserving their African traditions - despite constant attempts to de-Africanise the slave population. For example: 

Call and response patterns of many spirituals (e.g. “Let my people go” in Go Down Moses). Call and response was an important part of African culture, not just in music, but in public gatherings and religious ceremonies. Listen to Go Down Moses, where the repeated response is “Let my people go”: 

Go Down Moses, sung by Louis Armstrong, USA. 

Syncopation: A strong beat where a weak beat is expected, or a weak beat where a strong beat is expected. For example, listen to the opening of Mahalia Jackson singing Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, where she delays the word ‘Jericho’ each time, causing the music to swing: 

Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, performed by Mahalia Jackson in London, 1964. 

Harmonies: adding simultaneous pitches (chords) to the tune – for example, listen to the first 1’30’’ of this a capella (unaccompanied) choir singing the spiritual Steal Away to Jesus: 

Choir singing the traditional US slave song Steal Away to Jesus. Note that many of these harmonies would have been improvised.  

Pentatonic Scales: a five note scale, for example C-D-E-G-A, or the black notes on the piano. 

Use of pentatonic scale in spirituals (watch from 0’23’’ to 4’03’’). 

The musical characteristics of a spiritual are beautifully summarised in this short clip: 

BBC website and video exploring the musical features of spirituals. 

Research Task

In groups of four Research one spiritual. You will present your findings to the class. Use Audio examples to help make your point.

1. The history of their spiritual, placing it in a historical context. 

2. Interesting musical features (e.g. call and response, syncopation, harmonies, pentatonic scales, improvisation).

3. Any hidden meanings in the lyrics.

4. How this spiritual helped slaves express challenges they faced.

5. How this spiritual increased possibilities in the slaves’ lives 

Class Performance Task: Sing a Spiritual

• This Little Light of Mine or Gonna Sing from Developing Singing Matters (Patrick Allen, Heinemann, 1999). 

Aims for Performance:

1. The right swaying ‘feel’, through the relaxed syncopations, possibly adding movement and clapping on the off beats.

2. The right ‘timbre’ – it will help to listen to the expressive ‘chest voice’ sound of gospel choirs.

3. Singing the melody confidently all together, then learning the harmonies by ear and gradually adding them to the texture.

4. Remember the emotional weight that the songs would have had for the original singers. Spirituals offered a way for people to face up to the problems and barriers in their lives, to assert their identity and to feel strong enough to overcome these challenges. Students should think about how they can communicate these ideas through their own class performances. 

Reflection: 

Discuss what we can learn from the tradition of singing spirituals. 

• What can we learn about the power of music in creating a community? 

• What can we learn about using music to overcome a challenge? 

• If we faced a challenge ourselves, what could we learn from this tradition about how to work through this barrier and increase possibilities in our lives?