Music for the Soul: The Story of Gospel Music

• Week 1: The roots of gospel music
  Gospel music is deeply rooted in the rich traditions of the African-American church, which owes much of its origins to the Christian conversion of West Africans enslaved in the U.S. south. We’ll begin our gospel and soul music journey by looking at those very early years.
• Week 2: The growth of gospel music
  Church choirs became a norm only after emancipation, and most of the singing was done a cappella. Most churches relied on hand clapping and foot stomping to accompany the singing. Gospel singing followed the form of the early blues, in a call-and-response style. As gospel music became more popular, it was becoming economically viable.
• Week 3: Christian country music
  Christian country music has been around for generations. It originated as a blend of mountain music, cowboy music and music from the plantations of the Deep South. This was truly an American music. We’ll look at how Christian country music influenced gospel music and modern popular music.
• Week 4: From gospel to soul
  The new gospel music composed in the 1940s and 1950s began to feature quartets of singers, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Soul Stirrers. They introduced stylistic freedom, adding ad libs and using repeated short phrases. During the 1950s, lead singers became solo artists, beginning to perform rather than to minister. We’ll look at artists such as Solomon Burke, Sam Cooke and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
• Week 5: The soul success
  As gospel became more popular and lead singers began to develop solo careers, they melded their gospel style vocals with secular lyrics, which in turn came to be known as soul or rhythm and blues (R&B) music. This new genre dominated the music charts in the late 1950s and 1960s, with artists such as Clyde McPhatter, Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Ben E. King and the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin.
• Week 6: Gospel music today
  Gospel-soul-R&B music has become incredibly varied in style, morphing from the simple blues-based form into many different genres according to culture and social context. We’ll look at where this gospel journey has taken us, from the original African-American experience to the music of today.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Understand the difference between spiritual and gospel music
• Appreciate how simple work songs became songs of escape on several levels
• Recognize the musical development progression, from church-based early gospel choirs to personality-led secular soul and R&B music

• Lectures
• Participation in discussions
  
• Supplementary resources accessed through Canvas
  
• Reflective essay (applicable only to certificate students)

No textbook is required. We will provide all course materials online.