Generating page narration, please wait...

Overview

The enslaved Africans arrived in North America over a century before the Great Awakening of 1730 to 1740 bringing with them a fully developed culture of music, dance, and song rooted in centuries of tradition. In Southern (1997, 36), we read that during the years 1702 to 1785, "the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" sent clergymen to the colonies to minister to the slaves. This missionary organization of the Established Church of England was established in 1701. In association with their work, the missionaries established several schools for the religious instruction of enslaved Africans throughout the New England colonies and the singing of Psalms. Rector of the Trinity Church in New York, Richard Charlton, reported to his superior in 1741 that "forty-three Negroes were studying psalmody with the church organist." He later writes in a letter: "I have got Clark to raise a Psalm when their instruction is over, and I can scarcely express the satisfaction I have in seeing 200 Negroes and White persons with heart and voice glorifying their Maker," (Southern 1997, 37). This supposed cultural and musical Great Awakening may just well have been wishful thinking on the part of the slave masters.

Be ready to:

Describe the African ritualistic components of the ring shout and its retention in America. Ascertain how, why, and under what circumstances those components emerged.

Analyze various lyrics of African American music while discovering multiple meanings, imagery, symbolism, and mystical connotations.

Identify the harmonic and melodic structure found in many early African American folk songs.

Explore various vocal techniques that are indigenous of African American culture and religious practices.

Discover Music

Discover Video

Keywords

Listening Guides

References

Musical Elements of the Ring Shout in America

Though ring shouts were spiritual in nature, many of them contain nonreligious symbolism, while still containing elements of mysticism. "Moses Don't Get Lost"♫ by Bessie Jones and the Gullah Sea Island Singers contains one such example of the use of symbolism.

During the period of slavery, Moses often depicted Harriet Tubman's role in the freedom struggle. Like Moses, she was responsible for leading slaves to freedom via the underground railroad. The Bible records that Moses led the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. When approaching the Red Sea, God instructed Moses to "stretch out his hand over the sea," (Exodus 14:21, NKJV ) and God miraculously parted the waters so that the people could cross on dry land. In this particular context, the Red Sea symbolizes the blood of other slaves killed while attempting to escape to freedom, and God's admonition to Moses is not to get "lost" and "drench the earth's soil with the blood of those who tried before him."

For more context on symbolism in the songs of enslaved Africans, listen to Velma Thomas in the video as she gives insight to the coded spirituals: Religious songs with elements of African rhythms, Biblical texts, and American accents. Usually, the text is concerned with earthly tribulations and heavenly justice and reward..

CodedSpirituals PBS Learning Current

Although "Moses Don't Get Lost"♫ is not a faith-based spiritual, the ring shout elements are ever-present, as we will explain in the following analysis. First of note is the authentically African tradition of call-and-response. The caller must intoneTo speak or recite in a singing voice, especially in monotone. what is to be sung and establish the spiritual fervor and vitality that warrants a likened response. To intone encompasses a vocal technique that is half-spoken and half-sung. In this case, the intonation creates the tonal center through a starting pitch that establishes the key. In the next lesson, we will expand on this concept as it is indicative of African American preaching styles.

Listen to the "Moses Don't Get Lost" video below:

Moses Don't Get Lost

Moses Don't Get Lost

Ring Shout

In the video "Moses Don't Get Lost" at 00:23, we hear the syncopated thud of the ring shout rhythm as notated here. In the example above, the cross-rhythm label indicates the points where handclapping performs two different rhythms. Essentially, three independent rhythmic patterns interlock to produce polyrhythm. The ring shout rhythm functions as a hemiolaThe rhythmic relation of three notes in the time of two, i.e., the triplet. , but even more clearly when it is present within a two-beat grouping.

Moses Don't Get Lost [ 00:23-00:00 ]

The melodic minor scale is the only one that changes when ascending and descending:

Melodic Minor Scale

Note that the sixth and seventh degrees of the scale are raised when ascending but conform to the natural minor when descending. This is of note on the word "yo" in the second phrase of the call.

Rev. Johnson

It was something in the religion of the oppressors the slaves saw which was deeper than that of the oppressors' presentation.

Albert Raboteau

...even as the gods of Africa gave way to the God of Christianity, the African heritage of singing, dancing, spirit possession, and magic continued to inﬂuence African American spirituals, ring shouts, and folk beliefs.