The Transculturalisation of African American Gospel
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THE TRANSCULTURALISATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN GOSPEL MUSIC: The Context and Culture of Gospel Traditions in Australian Gospel Music. by ANDREW FRANCIS JOHN LEGG B.Mus., The University of Tasmania, 1984 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Performance) University of Tasmania Hobart (January 2008) DECLARATION This exegesis contains the results of research carried out at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music between 2003 and 2006. It contains no material that, to my knowledge, has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information that is duly acknowledged in the exegesis. I declare that this exegesis is my own work and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where clear acknowledgement or reference has been made in the text. This exegesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Andrew Francis John Legg Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Prof. Horace Boyer for his expert and insightful assistance in the preparation of this exegesis. I also wish to thank Prof. Douglas Knehans as my chief supervisor for his expert advice and guidance, generosity of spirit and thorough assistance in the preparation of the exegesis, and Dr. Anne Marie Forbes also for her insightful comments and significant contribution to this work. I would like to thank the various members of the Southern Gospel Choir and Very Righteous Band for their devotion to and passion for gospel music. I would also like to thank all my extended family, especially my Mum and Dad for all their support and love. My very special thanks go to Dianne and our beautiful children – Joshua and Anja, Michelle, Jeremy, Patrick, Alexandra. To God, always and in all things, be the glory. ABSTRACT This research focuses on the effects of the transculturalisation of African American gospel music into an Australian context and has been conducted through a series of performances highlighting elements of this style and my skills in solo piano performance and interpretation and the vocal and instrumental direction of the University of Tasmania Southern Gospel Choir. These performances are contextualized by the accompanying exegesis which examines the culture and context of the development of African American gospel music and develops a comprehensive taxonomy of musical expression and inflection for gospel music, supported by a nomenclature system and recorded examples of the defining vocal performance practices of the African American gospel tradition. These analytical tools are then applied to the comparative analysis of two iconic gospel songs as rendered in performances by two African American gospel choirs and the Southern Gospel Choir. This in-depth analysis underpins an examination of the contexts and culture of African American gospel music within Australia and specifically in a Tasmanian setting, and has informed the developments of my musical direction of the choir and as a solo performer within this style. The success of this direction has been reflected in a 2005 ARIA nomination for the Southern Gospel Choir recording, Great Day. To Dianne Legg and Anthony Campbell CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv FOREWORD x GLOSSARY xi LIST OF FIGURES xv LIST OF TABLES xviii LIST OF AUDIO EXAMPLES xix INTRODUCTION 1 Review of the literature 6 CHAPTER 1: African American Culture and Music: Gospel Music to the 1930’s 27 Gospel Music’s First Period: 1900-1929 32 The Musical and Cultural Antecedents of Gospel 37 Charles Albert Tindley 43 Gospel Music’s Second Period: 1930-1945 51 Thomas Andrew Dorsey 52 Solo Gospel Blues 54 The Vamp 58 Choral Gospel Blues 63 Blues and Gospel Blues Form 66 Duality in the African American Community 69 Thomas Dorsey and the Spread of Gospel Music 72 CHAPTER 2: The Voice Of Gospel Music 77 The Gospel Singer 79 The Gospel Moan 83 CHAPTER 2 (cont.) Timbre 90 Gravel and Grunts 90 Screams and Shouts 95 Song Speech and Gospel Vibrato 98 Timbre and Register Shifts 101 Pitch 104 Slides, Glides, Wails and the Hi Who 104 Blues Inflection 110 Passing Tones, Bends, Neighbour Tones and the Gospel Grupetto 112 Rhythm 120 Gospel Phrasing and Syncopation 120 Repetition, Emphasis and Rhythmic Singing 124 Lyrics 133 Elongation and Truncation 133 Interjections and Textual Interpolation 135 Structures in Gospel Music, Improvisation and Accompaniment 140 The Immediate Reprise and the Praise Break 140 Improvisation 141 Gospel Piano Accompaniment 146 Concluding Comments 152 CHAPTER 3: Comparative Musical Analysis of Three Iconic Gospel Recordings 154 Context for Musical Analysis 154 Comparative Analysis – “How I Got Over” 155 Gospel Piano – Cleveland and Legg 159 Lead Gospel Vocal – Franklin and Johnson 162 The Choirs – the SCCC and the SGC 165 Concluding Comments 173 vii CHAPTER 3: (cont.) Comparative Analysis – “Great Day” 174 Gospel Piano – Smallwood and Legg 174 The Smallwood Choir (Vision) 177 Lead Gospel Vocal – Hatchett and Lurighi 181 The Southern Gospel Choir 188 Concluding Comments 191 CHAPTER 4: Transculturalisation Explored 194 Reworking Gospel Music 194 Smallwood 195 Hammond 199 Coded Language 202 The Deeply Embedded Cultural Trace 205 The Commercialisation of Gospel Music 208 The Resonance of Gospel Music in Australia 213 Popular Music Culture 214 Spiritual Culture 216 The Socio-economic Context 217 The Culture of Violence 218 The Physicality of Gospel 219 The Resonance of African American Gospel Music 220 Summation and Conclusion 225 APPENDIX 1: The Skip Shuffle 228 APPENDIX 2: “Our God Is Able” 229 APPENDIX 3: “Great Day! Great Day” 231 APPENDIX 4: “At The Table ” 232 APPENDIX 5: Gospel Choral Harmony 234 APPENDIX 6: Gospel Choral Part Inversion 237 APPENDIX 7: African American Gospel Extended Vocal Range 238 viii APPENDIX 8: Audio and Audio Visual Recordings, Track Lists and Explanatory Notes 240 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 245 SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY 251 ix FOREWORD African American gospel music is uniquely and iconically African American, and yet it has found a significant resonance in an Australian culture with which its defining touchstones appear to have little obvious connection. In Tasmania in particular, the connection to African American gospel music has been most profound, established in greater part by the powerful and dynamic performances of the Southern Gospel Choir that I founded and have led for the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Tasmania since January, 2002. My passion for gospel music has led me to the United States on many occasions since first meeting my mentor and great friend Dr. Anthony Campbell in 1997. Tony opened the doors of the African American community to me; not only arranging my debut performances at the Gospel Music Workshop of America, but also inducting me as his “Minister in Music,” legitimising my honoured position within the broader African American church, and graciously accepting me into his own family and life. I owe a great deal to Anthony Campbell and the faithful people of the Russell Street Missionary Baptist church in Detroit, the Greater St. Mark’s Baptist church in Tuskegee, Alabama and the African American gospel music community. In sharing music, life and faith, they together have become a significant catalyst both for the transculturalisation of gospel music into the Australian context, and for the original impetus and concept for this doctoral performance and exegesis project. x GLOSSARY Gospel Nomenclature (1) xi GLOSSARY Gospel Nomenclature (2) xii GLOSSARY Gospel Nomenclature (3) xiii GLOSSARY Gospel Nomenclature (4) xiv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: C. A. Tindley, “We’ll Understand It Better By And By.” ................................................45 Figure 2: Traditional Spiritual, “Hold On.” .....................................................................................46 Figure 3: Annotated score, “We’ll Understand It Better By And By.”............................................48 Figure 4: Key Elements of Dorsey’s Musical Output – Boyer.........................................................57 Figure 5: Ward Singers Vamp, “Surely God Is Able.” ....................................................................59 Figure 6: Alex Bradford Vamp, “Highway to Heaven.”..................................................................61 Figure 7: Original Chord Progression, “Highway to Heaven.”........................................................62 Figure 8: Vamp 1 Chord Progression, “Highway to Heaven.” ........................................................62 Figure 9: Vamp 2 Chord Progression, “Highway to Heaven.” ........................................................63 Figure 10: Blues Structure, “Turpentine Blues.” ...............................................................................67 Figure 11: Tampa Red, “Turpentine Blues.”......................................................................................68 Figure 12: Gospel Blues Structure, “The Lord Will Make A Way.” .................................................69 Figure 13: Moan A – Ernest Williams, “Ain’t No More Cane.”........................................................84 Figure 14: Moan B – Mahalia Jackson, “The Upper Room.” ............................................................84 Figure 15: Moan C – Mahalia Jackson, “The Upper Room.” ............................................................84 Figure 16: Moan D – Aretha Franklin, “Amazing Grace.” ................................................................85