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The term gospel music embraces several types
of song, all of which share an emotional, personal identification
with the biblical text and a rich musical vocabulary. Of the
various types, the gospel music sung in black Baptist churches
is perhaps the most important, because it has influenced not
only white gospel forms but also certain styles of popular
music. Unlike the SPIRITUAL, which is rooted in the formal
Protestant hymn, black gospel music is extemporaneous, highly
emotional, and joyful. Based on a sung dialogue between congregation
and preacher, with the preacher setting the text and the congregation
supplying musical affirmation, gospel music inspires a "fire
and excitement that sometimes, without warning, fill a church,
causing {it} to 'rock' " (James Baldwin, The Fire Next
Time).
In the 1940s, Mahalia JACKSON, Clara Ward, and Sister Rosetta
Tharpe began recording gospel-style music. In the 1950s and
'60s, church-trained musicians took the style into popular
music, retaining the vocal devices of gospel: use of falsetto,
bent and sliding tones, shouts, and stretching out a single
syllable over many notes. The church remains the training
ground for many popular black singers, and some younger groups
perform both pop and gospel music.
White gospel music, sung at Protestant revival meetings, was
similar to black gospel music in its spontaneity and emotional
fervor. A popular offshoot of white revivals was the gospel
hymn, which can be traced to evangelists Dwight L. MOODY and
Ira D. Sankey, who exposed large audiences to such hymns and
composed many others. White quartet and family gospel groups
dominate this genre. A genre called contemporary Christian
music emerged in the 1980s, combining a pop or rock sound
with lyrics about religion and beliefs.
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