None of the songs will be covered as you hear them exactly on the recordings. We will be learning them and writing them in a more free form way, however, these great songs provided inspiration for some of the music we will be singing and are well worth listening to.
"The music man, you know you miss the music"
This course leads to a performance of a range of Gospel songs and songs influenced by Gospel music. Most of the songs have been combined with multiple songs often from different genres to demonstrate the influences of Gospel. Gospel is an extremely multicultural form of music, developed predominantly in America on railroads during a time where slaves were used. Slaves were, although predominantly African, brought in from a wide range of countries.
Furthermore, it has an important political movement attached to it, related to black emancipation. We can engage with this and reconstruct it in a personal way. Through the course we will tell the story together through collecting music, stories and literature to try and gain an understanding of how this music became a potent political force. The idea of 'one voice' how multiple individuals are brought together in a choir to unify into a greater sound is important to the project. African Music does not distinguish one voice to be more beautiful than another and singing as one provides clarity of message and spiritual engagement with the people around you.
- Gain a clearer understanding of the biological, physical and spiritual connection between mind, body and voice
- Gain knowledge of a musical, spiritual and political tradition that has greatly influenced music as we know it today
- Create a strong unit of singers that socially interact positively and a community that appreciates and shares Gospel music in LUC
- To learn the repertoire, adding to it creatively as we go through the course and delivering a final concert
In the final performance I wish to create a story out of a selection of the literature, videos and music we have gathered and this story will be read and weave it's way through the singing. The story will combine the Gospel Music story and our story with themes and chapters. We will add a chapter to the story.
'Gospel music is the greatest influence on Blues, Jazz and Rock n' Roll. If you love music, you'll love Gospel. I will post an assortment of music up on the music page so you can divulge in this great tradition. Also SEND me stuff and SHARE music because I can't get enough of it. ' Anna-Liisa Springham
The more men we get singing the better, Jamie's sexy blues voice and the acapella backing is something that would be great to recreate on a larger scale, men only. We'll mix it up with 'Didn't my Lord Deliver Danuel,' Another great Gospel track.
Our music
"You take spirituals and the blues. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I'm right - the blues comes from spirituals. They are the background to all music." John Lee Hooker
"The spirituals and gospel music endure because their appeal, their power, cut across generations, across racial and religious lines, across the ages, across the oceans." Robert Darden
"Rock n' Roll came from the slaves singing gospel in the fields. Their lives were hell and they used music to lift out of it, to take them away. That's what rock n' roll should do - take you to a better place." Meatloaf
"When you sing Gospel you feel you have a cure for what's wrong. Blues songs are the songs of despair. Gospel songs are the songs of hope." Mahalia Jackson