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Hallelujah, Amen!

PERFORMING RELIGIOUS MUSIC OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

eignty, saving power, and omnipresence. Though held in lege of opportunity for some type of formal study. This
tension with the profane, from its inception, Black gospel should not be taken as a defi ciency in musical ability, as

music reflects and is influenced by secular music. The re- many gospel musicians are extremely skilled artists and
verse is also true. From its beginnings gospel refl ected the have spent an incredible amount of time perfecting their
qualities of the blues. Later, the music of rock, rhythm craft. Over time, written scores for gospel music have be-
and blues, country, jazz, new jack swing, and hip-hop come available, and more and more composers trained
found their way into gospel music. Gospel artist Rich- in western classical music have begun publishing their
ard Smallwood has successfully merged classical music compositions. However, for many reasons, even when
with Black gospel, resulting in a hybrid that has become a written, ocular score is available, I recommend con-
his signature sound, earning him awards and deserved sulting the aural score in tandem with the ocular score
acclaim. to check for inconsistencies between the two. Where the
African retentions, those qualities that harken back to two sources do not agree, you are usually safe to give
African culture, may be found in every aspect of African preference to the aural score, especially when the aural
American music. One such retention that is essential to source is rendered by the composer.
the performance of Black gospel music is improvisation.
Mellonee V. Burnim states, “At the heart of the Black
esthetic is the acceptance of and the expectation of in- Appropriation

dividual or personalization of the performance (most Appropriation has been defined as “the action of tak-
commonly referred to as ‘improvisation’).” She identi- ing something for one’s own use, typically without the
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fi es three technical aspects that factor into the execution owner’s permission” and “the artistic practice of rework-
of improvisation: time, text and pitch. Burnim goes on to ing images from well-known paintings, photographs, etc.
say, “These factors form the basis of a unifi ed structural in one’s own work.” If we substitute “sounds” and
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network, subject to constant interpretation and reinter- “musical aesthetics” for “images” and “songs or other
pretation by individual performers.” Performers must musical works” for “paintings, photographs, etc.” we be-
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constantly be in the moment, engaging with these qual- gin to have a clearer picture of what can be called cultur-
itative factors, manipulating them in their performance al appropriation. James O. Young addresses this diffi cult
(in a tasteful way), so as to engage the audience, resulting topic of cultural appropriation by dissecting the topic
in a new performance each time of any particular song. into several types of appropriation, framing the discus-
Especially those who are new to the Black gospel sion as an interrelationship between insiders and outsid-
aesthetic, I strongly recommend referring to what I call ers, resulting in what he calls subject appropriation.
the “aural score” to learn how to interpret this music.
Rather than the written, ocular source of information Subject appropriation is controversial precisely
and guide to interpreting music of the western classical because outsiders draw upon their own experi-
tradition, music rooted in the oral tradition requires a ences of other cultures. Since outsiders do not
diff erent authoritative source from which to glean infor- have access to the experiences of insiders, one
mation. This may be found in the recordings of the mu- might argue, outsiders are bound to misrepre-
sic, often made by the composers themselves, or a live sent the culture of insiders. Since the works of
performance at a church or concert venue. Herein lies outsiders distort the insider’s culture, they may
the authoritative source for answers to tempo, phrasing, be thought to have aesthetic flaws. Since artists

articulation, chord substitutions, vocal infl ections, feel- could misrepresent the culture of others in a

ing, and style. harmful or offensive manner, subject appropria-
Gospel composers have historically been what some tion could also be morally objectionable. 18
would deem musically illiterate in the ocular tradition
of written scores. Some reasons for the inability to read This insider-outsider dynamic is a crucial element
music may be lack of economic resources and the privi- in understanding subject appropriation and why many

14 CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11