The Work Song and Negro Spiritualwww.stefanwalcott.commusic.culture.music

Work Song

• In traditional African societies music is connected to all daily activities and cultural rituals. • Large number of

Africans transported to the American South to work on plantations of tobacco, sugar or cotton.

The Work Song• The work song was the first genre of music ‘created’ by Blacks

in America.• Founded on African music principles.

• No recorded work songs from slavery.• Prison song very

similar to what a slave period work song would have been like.

Musical Points to Remember: WS

• Unaccompanied.• Solo voice with choral response.• Sung in dialect. • Usually slow/reflective of work activity.• American WS: Melismatic lines with numerous blues note

inflections. (b3, #4)

Social Points to Remember: WS• A pre-Emancipation music.• Sung in dialect due to lack of grammatical knowledge.• Not a genre played for pleasure.

Musical Example• Ol Alabama - Prison Songs Vol. 1: Murderous Home

Negro Spiritual

• Slaves were originally thought of as not having souls.

• Religion was HUGE part of African societies. • Conversion reasons: 1. African religious practices were prohibited 2. Certain African tribes traditionally added their

conquerors gods in to their pantheon.

Negro Spiritual Characteristics

• Musically the old N. S. will have many of the characteristics of the W.S.• The lyric now contains Christian references.• Note these references were based on stories of

tribulation and deliverance. • Two types of Spiritual: Jubilee and Sorrow. • Popular examples: Wade in Water, When the

Saints Go Marching In

“Classical” and “Traditional” Negro Spiritual• Since the late 1800s, Negro Spirituals were performed using

classical choral singing techniques.• Fiske Jubilee Singers was one of the first groups to do this. • Traditional Negro spiritual however uses many African music

approaches.

Point to Remember: NS

• Lyrics show an increased command of English as compared with W.S.

• Christian lyric of deliverance or sorrow.

Musical Examples• Wade in the Water Discs. 1-4

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