The Development of the Music of the Negro

| per , of American life and trenslated into
African Melody. It is a close communion of African form with
_Amertocon Spirit. Se
| The atetin 3
rhythm, melody, and en slmost unverying arrangement

ishing festures of this form are wane :

of verse e e
| The native African Folk Song employs a pentatonic

seele. This as proved by en and exeminetion of a

re gresty developed by the american Negro, and it

. inant in a certain aiees of mie, should give to thet meio the

A conception i Folk So <a wat
rogressing towards pelteaithe. is a eonsepticn of

te ty tnt the 24 of the sa TH eer ede
ding and epprecietion of this fact, there ean be no proper
When we heer it in

gone ames and appreeiation of this musie

ts natural vironments and indegenous conditions, we ere at once =
im ressed with this sense of Eee It is rhythm, rhythm, |

and -

the rnytinni.s ee of the rs the

ythu ie clap of hands, peapeeied the seut's
: ythm ef the Negro's music, is

The melody of the Negro! s music is positive, def-
finite and purposeful, with a weird quaintness. It flows in such ao

measures, with such intervellic relations thet it is readily

recognized as an expression of the Negro sends
ome of these melodies are so far developed even

in Africa that we gometimes wonder. At some of the melodi es born
our wonder is greatly increased for it is diffi-~
. thet such 6s these gould spring from heathen

ong is constructed upon the

er expresses the sypject

moaning of song and the chorus repeats ond euphesises, =
ften the chorus is one
such | manner that there is no mistaking its meaning, or its impor-

Simple expression but it is reiterated in

tence. Some times it ea0h. verse but it is ab

ght sof the verse.

ee fact that the African's form of musical expression
zie he contributed towards the creation of the Folk Song of the
con Negro, Bas > persisted through th )

is en Ame: a contribution, is the addition of one ans
flst seven, to the scale, making

of American Folk Song fusi axpr
in the | seale and quite probably expresses the twin of the
, Atrdoan at the ne
: = the syneopation, rhythm and melody in the legro's
| a ene = expressions~ since his Folk Song is a

ness and strangeness of the iw World.

the spirit at: this msie are sacredness and frecdom from p

bitterness, naire or revenge.
Bs a _ Where are no see
Wheat we find are almost always wor

unworthy doggerel. But there are thousands

Jlar Negro Folk Songs worth the

Reames.

hiess fragments or

of sacred songs more

| er less valuable, thet have sprung from the heart of the Negro,
a giving him inspirstion, hope and courage, an
joy and consolation. All these songs are based upon the
_ +seriptures. They go over the whole _ of the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation, Every indi

_ Fetion from some biblic: 21
os seered history;

Se

in tanhabia 60th chapter, iste verse we have, Rise Shine, for ay
light ie eome end the Negro Polk Song expresses it-"Rise Shine
for thy Light is a coming, my Lord says He's coming bye and bye"
fo the slaves this wes more than @& Messianic prophecy it wes
the promise of liberty.
"gwing Low Sweet Chariot" is his melodious pee of the
event of Eli jah's going to Heaven in the chariot of fires
my - peok Phe: roah's Aymy" is his deseription of the are
eyptian army in the Red Ses, but has another significance~
the overthrow of slavery. :
; , vith this folk music as a souree, & religious and
4s lL history of the So wth gould be written; the Bible wont.

owing of

, be. reconstructed.
= Let us here notice just e few examples=

, "Ho mo suction block fer me
i No mo* No mo
Ho mo auction block for me

Many thousand gone.

j , , "fo n Ho
No mo' peck of meal for me
Many thensanis sal

Now another-

"No mo 5? reinfell to wet you
Hallelu Hallelu
No mo rainfall to wet you
Hallelujah.

cs Noe no? sunshine to bar ee
oo 3 Yo mo* sunshine to burn you
: : 3 Halielnj ahs

r a s fae in theeKingdon 2

* it ae | Huei 38 ene Kingdom

owen together children
Dont you get weary
There's a on onmp meeti

ya are all. their own songs of customs

| In the study and interpretation of these songs it
t alveys be kept in mind thet they were the means of the

Negro's com

; meant to be understood by any other, This explains
3 thet most of their song

ual meanings, ane.

: The most noteworthy and a reall
of tats Folk Music is that in ell the hundre:

It is the music of hope, feith, jor. courege,
LLity, and of Loves
re maintains the highest stendards of

+ eatereee, hum

Hold up your hea

ea | | " Bretheren can't you rise and tei"

3 EZ = | The glories of Enmenuel

ao " Phe man who loves to serve the Lord
Will surely get his i ates

ong are Seated to righteousness, for the rewards

end religious

munication with his own people and with God. they

ue

6.
: Your Low down ways ,
eats goin to kill ssa low down ways.

(1) You see about po a
When $ on hor Imees a 'prayin
God's goin to kill youbout your Low eh Asn L wags

(2) You better mind how you talk
" whet you talk about
For you got to give socount in the, judgment
You better mind.

You better mina how you Lie ee

" whet you lie abou :
For you got to give een in the judgmen
You better cael

(3) "I tell you once, 1 tell you twice >
fhers sinners in Hell for shootin dice.

The height of sublimity is reached in the song " Lera I want
to be like Jesus".

There is a pleasing compatibility, a striking
consonance of words and music in this Folk Song. The mee :

aught as clearly as the words express it.

See

Take for example, "Steal awey to Jesus",
"Go down Moses
Inchin along

2

" Rise, Shine for thy Light is acohn'ng

= \ | Fisk University first gave this music to the world, Oct. 6, 1872
A 1 girle, aed
this institution to Sing their songs~ hoping thereby te seve

girls, four boys, left

ing, they fi. gained a hearing and.

L frm 6 prayer mecting in Plyme

they es tour of seven iit wntoh {x muntoc, sateen

2 where Queen Victoria gave them audience. They sail
quaiz ngs to her, who was then mourning the death of her
husband. She declared that she had reeeived no such comfort
from eny other source as from their singing. She gave them
gale of dabreduction to her dsughter who was then the

: iny ee
ipage and conveyed to the palace at Potsdam, where
i for and were entertained by royalty. They sang in
Switzerland, At the end of seven years they returned to
Neshville and were disbanded, heaving earned for Fisk $180,000,

many valuable gifts and the friendship, interest and
pathy of a large number of Americans end Europeans. They

se won the hearts of numerous thousands by Singing in their own

peculiar way the message in their folk music. Their success
was the inspiration of all the other numerous Jubilee Singers
subsequently organized and sent out.

x oe \ 2 i =< Po ye

ima from death. After incredible ups and downs, hardships, ae 4

stetion by the

: Fisk Univers ity firet recognized and showed to the world the value
of this msic and Fisk University was the first to make any effort
a. to preserve this msic. Fisk, Hampton, Tuskegee and Calhoun are
ning is tne work of preservation. = |
in the |

. mecting, in the big meeting, in the Churches, ih the cabin,
and they are also brought to us by the students as they come
from their homes. As @ rule we hear only the melody and words.

te reduce this to written music, and then we harmonize ite This SI

are) production. There is a harmony thet accords

with ell the characteristics and genius of the Folk music- this |
: furnished by the singers themselves; not by the writer- he |
os writes whet he hears, It is very striking thet Ehlmann
mony in the

' ies ee so wonderfully well, this naturel he
ageompan ment to his arrangement of "Deep River". This harmony
| Fisk University offers in Nashville what we call a Jubilee Concert

wed by a chorus, the larger the bebter. Every year

ners. & chorus of (500 RAD sometimes MOre y sometimes less,

siniaed these folk songs. The public is appreciative of the efforts
and of the music as well, and
om which aceomodat : :
pest effects and the possibilities of this msic. The individual

hundreds are turned away from a

) people. In this chorus we get the

leaders inspiring the others, the free and spontaneous outbursts

of interjection al11 in rhythm and harmony, the inexplicable |
exquisite harmony coming from Heaven only kmows where, thunderous :
Pplsus peals of power, whispering pianissimo, with a spiritual- |
ity pervading the whole, producing such effect thet the listener

is often lifged out of himself into an expression of "Glory |

Hellelujah". in such experiences we get a hint of the possibili-~

ties of the music which was born in the hearts of our mothers }

3, 7 |
jon yeors ago, Auton Dvtok celled attention to the Polk neni
of the American liegro, by deglorine thet if America ever hed a <<

- mational music it must be founded upon this music ef the suthem:

unents upon the facts thet this was

"plantation. He based his arg
the o music, it was rich in theme, ona motif

ly original American m

ana ret expressed American life more comprehensively than any oer. =

We know that there is no Folk Song that expresses American life

ae Behe: and in the complete sense of the word there is no

= He very successfully demonstrated his theory in his
Tew Worka Symphony in which he wove and developed airs and.

= themes of this music and produced a classic prophecy which some. |

day Will be fulfilled-that America shell some day have National

_ music, inspired of American character, expressing the accomplish-
ments of the past, the strivings of the present, and the hope =

of the future. Let it be understood that of this National

_ Imusic the Folk Song of the Negro is to be only the beginning
from whioh the whole shall be developed. There must be an

interweaving developement and evolution of the cheracteristics
of every component part of this composite nation ef ours with
the ehapeekerintise of the plantation music.

A promising developement of the Negro music has minaeey
ee Dvfok, Krehbiel, Coleridge taylor, Burleigh, Dett,
and Diton have all done a positive and Special work. Krehbiel
in a literary and profoundly scholerly way has done much to show
the importance of this music and to interpret it to us, Coleridge
Taylor has dees & definite work in developement of different
themes. He hes Shown the wonderful thematic possibilities of
this music, His works in this field are classic gems. They

have and will continne to furnish inspiretion to other composers,

His "Sometime I feel like a motherless child" is probaly his best work
in this field. at Hampton, there is a young musician, R. Nethaniel
ett, who is so talented, so deeply in sympathy with, and posessing

= such an insight into this music, thet we are confidently expecting
from him some work which shall be most importent partof the

= structure of American National Music. Indeed his " Listen to the Lambs"
isa worthy contribution. Carl Ditton is probably the latest of ow
posers to come into this field of endeavors His work aia

is helping to bring to eonsumetion the hopes for the music
to Clarence C. White has transcribed four of our
ndanna Sketehes. They ere

ore be placed among the most deserving endeavors and the most

dnspiring prophecies, Harry |

| rletgh has gone deeper and more
aS specially into the developement of the Negro Folk Song Music
y of our composers. Bis Deep River" both as solo and

: hes made a =? impression upon the world. Numerous

Art Song and art Chorus, If you. examine

mine the works of these composers
not ineluded in their folk song endeavors you will find in some
considerable comcos. they are a developement and evolution of

: the folk songs. This transitioy period has another phase, wherein
the composer has employed the characteristics of the Fol

- imsteed of the Folk mesic itself.

J Rosanend : Goa

: Dett, tyler ana a Rosamond |
Mey tyler" s "Dirge" . Daisies, Motor Glow" andthet exquisite ,

pherdates of composition ~"Since 7a went away" hes the elements

Sse

SINS aarti

- metayaes! 2 In this eless comes also that very elever =

mboo Tree", These men made a worthy

effort which wes agtenied with some success, to turn gradually

\ . th the 3 mas ie al trend from Rag~time ad nauseam upword towards Art Songs |

In the fiela of Art music, Goleriace Taylor, Burleigh,

Johusoh are our best exponents.

nine on Mr. Sun" are real rt, intrinsically and inspirationally.

"hese men are our inapiretion and our prophets proclaiming that
4m the oncoming iu:

re there shall arise the genius thet shall
gather up the sighs, the weilings
of joy, the te iythm and weird
melody of the Negro, and with the fashioning skill of a creator
shall weave and weld them all into a symphony grand and immortal,

, the triumphant mesa the pealis

der love notes, the syncopation, the r

Smyressing our National hea and which thru, and thru, Shall

be American.