History and Key Performers of Urban Contemporary Gospel: The 1980s and 1990s (Continued)
Gospel artists in the latter decades of the twentieth century and the early part of the twenty-first still faced the traditional/contemporary divide. There are as many ways to reconcile that split as there are musicians. For some-the Consolers, Luther Barnes, the Gospel Keynotes-the decision was easy: they remained firmly in the traditional camp. Most, however, had to decide how many contemporary elements to incorporate into their music on a song-by-song basis.
Following are some reasonably representative artists and how they have bridged the musical gap and sought to follow what they believe is their highest calling.
Few artists have experienced success at so many levels as the American award-winning gospel singer Tramaine Hawkins (born October 11, 1951), whose career spans over five decades. Since beginning her career in 1966, Hawkins has won two Grammy Awards , two Doves, and nineteen Stellar Awards . She sang on the legendary "Oh Happy Day" sessions and participated as a soloist on her ex-husband Walter Hawkins's Love Alive Choir albums. In the mid-1980s, she signed with A&M Records and released a pair of dance-oriented contemporary gospel albums. Her 1985 A&M debut, The Search Is Over yielded dance chart singles such as " Child of the King," " In the Morning Time," and the monster club hit " Fall Down (Spirit of Love)" (1985). The latter topped the Billboard Dance Charts to A&M's delight.
Regardless of the label, Hawkins's desire to take her message beyond the church has always been paramount. So after a series of primarily traditional albums, she signed with Sparrow, whose distribution agreement with mainstream giant Capitol had paid big dividends for BeBe and CeCe, who we will discuss shortly. In 1994, Sparrow released a compilation of Hawkins titled All My Best To You. One particular selection from this album, "Goin' Up Yonder ," shows her vocal virtuosity and gospel excellence. The song begins at a moderate tempo. The strict tempo ends at 05:02, and she sings in rubatoA practice common in Romantic compositions of taking part of the duration from one note and giving it to another. It involves the performer tastefully stretching, slowing, or hurrying the tempo as she/he sees fit, thus imparting flexibility and emotion to the performance. a little over three minutes in much the same way as discussed and heard in Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace" recording of 1972. Like Franklin, Hawkins uses several techniques, all heard in " Goin' Up Yonder", such as crescendo (such as between 02:20-02:30) vs. diminuendoA directive to a performer to smoothly decrease the volume of the specific passage of a composition. This can be designated with the word diminuendo at the beginning of the passage or with the "hairpin" symbol consisting of two horizontal lines that start apart at the left and come together to a point at the right. , soft vs. loud (such as between 02:20-02:30), head voiceThe highest register of the voice, as distinct from the lower register (chest voice). (at 03:05-3:15), natural and full-throated (such as between 06:59-07:50) vocal sound production, and vibratoThe pulsating or vibrating element of some sounds that is produced by a full, resonant quality of tone. Vibrato is a very slight fluctuation of the pitch of a note; it was known as early as the 16th century, but until the 19th century it was used mainly as ornamentation. Since the 19th century, vibrato has been used almost constantly because of its enhancement of tone. (throughout the entire song) for dramatic effect.
Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace (Live at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 1972) [ 00:00-00:00 ]