Overview
After the rise and disbandment of the original Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in 1878, many other copycat groups sprung up, using Fisk's business model for raising funds for Black universities. In 1904, Charles Williams from Holly Springs, Mississippi, formed the Williams Jubilee Singers, "The World's Greatest Harmonizing Octette." Previous jubilee companies had often had ten or a dozen members or an octet making a "double quartet." Still, the increasing tendency was to reduce the groups' size and feature, as did Williams, a popular quartet (or quartette) (Oliver 2012, n.p.). Publicity material for the Williams Jubilee Singers emphasized their musical training at universities and colleges as Rust, Drake, Livingston, and Oberlin. However, as more jubilee companies were formed trying to capitalize on the "Jubilee Singers" brand, it became common practice to emphasize the singers' formal training and musical credentials
Be ready to:
- Describe the musical landscape in which blues-derived music developed.
- Describe various aspects of the Jim Crow laws and their impact on African American society.
- Describe the antecedent musical genres that impacted the development of the blues.
- Define the term blues.
- Explain why W.C. Handy is affectionately referred to as the "Father of the Blues."
- Illustrate the textual and musical form-three-line structure-of the blues.
- Name blues compositions/performers from the three broad stylistic categories-Country, Classic, and Urban blues-and their respective contributions.
