Lined and Long-Metered Hymns
Perhaps the eldest of the musical traditions of the church is captured in the practice of lined and long-metered Hymns, as practiced in the invisible churches and praise houses. Although this practice has long survived its roots in African religious and ritualistic practices, Geneva Smitherman, in his book Talking and Testifying describes:
This is a style of singing dating way back to slavery times when "church" was anywhere Black people were: in the fields, back in the woods… The leader-caller begins by a kind of talk-singing of the opening line. The congregation of responders then sing-chant each word, in a long, slow, drawn-out fashion, with the leader joining in with them, becoming part of the group-response.
(Smitherman 1977, 112)
Listen as R.C. Crenshaw lines a hymn by Isaac Watts:
Best Dr. Watts On Youtube! (Old School) [ 00:00-00:00 ]
As we discovered with the First Great Awakening, the acculturation of English psalmody, particularly the hymns of Isaac Watts and John and Charles Wesley were reconfigured by the enslaved to meet their needs. Hence, lining out or long-meters are often referred to as "Dr. Watts" or "The Old One-Hundreds."
Smitherman also presents connections between African speech patterns and tonal semantics of the slave culture. Tonal semantics is the use of voice rhythm vocal inflection to convey meaning in Black communication. In using tonal semantics, the voice is employed like a musical instrument with improvisation, riffs, and all kinds of playing between the notes (1977, 134).
William T. Dargan adds, in his book, Lining Out The Word: All Black lining out issues from freely measured rhythms that are slower in tempo, more heterophonic in texture, and tend to fill up all the temporal space created by the roughly equal prolongation of every syllable of the hymn text, save the last line, which is reserved for the next "call." Dargan examines the content of the free rhythms as of two types (Dargan 2006, 134):
- Portraiture sound builds or sustains intensity through moaning, timbral variations such as growling or falsetto, and interpolated exclamations or narrative.
- Poetic Rhythms are intonational gestures that shape the rhythmic contours of a song to implicate speech and, in doing so, articulate rhythm in what might be thought of as qualitative more than quantitative terms.
Throughout this unit, we will discover how these tonal semantics and poetic rhythms are heard in the sermons of the Black preachers and in early gospel songs. Additionally, the unit will further address the social conditions and idioms that gave rise to gospel music and attempt to understand the ways in which gospel informed later genres of African American music.
Stand By Me
When the storms of life are raging
Stand by me
When the storms of life are raging
Stand by me
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship out on the sea
Thou who rulest wind and water
Stand by me
Leave It There
If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.