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An analysis of performance practices in African American

gospel music: rhythm, lyric treatment and structures in
improvisation and accompaniment

Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Popular Music / Volume 34 / Issue 02 / May 2015, pp 197 - 225

DOI: 10.1017/S0261143015000264, Published online: 30 April 2015

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0261143015000264

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Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott (2015). An analysis of performance practices in African
American gospel music: rhythm, lyric treatment and structures in improvisation and
accompaniment. Popular Music, 34, pp 197-225 doi:10.1017/S0261143015000264

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 Popular Music (2015) Volume 34/2. Cambridge University Press 2015, pp. 197225
doi:10.1017/S0261143015000264

An analysis of performance
practices in African American
gospel music: rhythm, lyric
treatment and structures in
improvisation
and accompaniment
ANDREW LEGG and CAROLYN PHILPOTT
Conservatorium of Music, Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 63, Hobart,
Tasmania 7001, Australia
E-mail: andrew.legg@utas.edu.au
Conservatorium of Music, Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 63, Hobart,
Tasmania 7001, Australia
E-mail: Carolyn.Philpott@utas.edu.au

Abstract
African American gospel music is a unique and distinctive idiom that has had a pervasive influence
upon the development of contemporary popular music. While there are now many sources available
on African American gospel music, the focus of the vast majority of these studies is on the socio-
logical, historical and stylistic aspects of the genre, rather than on identifying and codifying specific
musical characteristics and performance practices. This paper extends the discussion of gospel singing
techniques in Andrew Leggs 2010 article A taxonomy of musical gesture in African American gospel
music (Popular Music, 29/1) by examining some of the key performance practices associated with
rhythm and lyric treatment in African American gospel music, as well as common structures in gos-
pel music improvisation and accompaniment. Through analysis of selected recordings, this research
proposes a codified frame of reference for the definition and discussion of terminologies and perform-
ance practice techniques inherent within African American gospel music.

Introduction
Since the mid- to late 20th century, African American gospel music has increasingly
been recognised in the literature as a unique and distinctive idiom which has had a
pervasive influence upon the development of contemporary popular music and
which is worthy of scholarly attention in its own right. While there are now many
published sources available on African American gospel music, the focus of the
vast majority of these studies is on the sociological, historical and stylistic aspects
of the music, rather than on analysing, identifying and codifying specific musical
197

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 198 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

characteristics and performance practices. Many of the first and most significant pub-
lications in this field of research date from the 1970s and 1980s, including work by
African American scholars Eileen Southern, Pearl Williams-Jones, Horace Clarence
Boyer, Mellonee Burnim and Portia Maultsby.1 However, even within more recent
studies, research into musical features and performance practices within African
American gospel music still seems to play second fiddle (or possibly, second
Hammond) to the rich tapestry of ethnomusicological research that has been con-
ducted into the origin and social evolution of the genre. This is in spite of the
observation made by one of the leading scholars of African American religious
music, Portia Maultsby, that a comprehensive understanding of any musical genre
is possible only if the scope of study includes significant and documented facts
about its origin, social evolution, musical features or characteristics and performance prac-
tices (Maultsby 1976, p. 54, italics added for emphasis). While there have been some
attempts made by musicologists to discuss the musical features and performance prac-
tices that characterise African American gospel music,2 few sources published to date
include examples in musical notation that illustrate exactly how these practices are rea-
lised in performance. More often than not, performance practices within this genre of
music have been viewed by scholars as features that are predominantly aurally com-
municated (Cusic 1990, p. 92), usually only learned by rote, culturally and spiritually
sensitive, and not particularly academic in nature (Moore 2002, pp. xvii, 1).
Of course, many of these issues are ones that are shared with popular music
studies in general and have been hotly debated by musicologists and other scholars
of popular music since the final two decades of the 20th century, when this area of
scholarship began to gain currency. In particular, there has been considerable atten-
tion paid especially by ethnomusicologists to the role of musical analysis and to
whether or not written notation is an adequate and appropriate medium for captur-
ing and expressing features of popular music that vary (or, at least, are given a dif-
ferent degree of emphasis) to those of Western art music (see McClary and Walser
1990; Moore 2003). For instance, Philip Tagg asserted in the early 1980s that popular
music, not least in its Afro-American guises, is neither conceived nor designed to be
stored or distributed as notation and for this reason advised that notation should not
be the popular music analysts main source material (Tagg 1982, p. 41). In the early
1990s, the largely negative attitude towards applying music-analytic tools to popular
music started to change, as several prominent writers began employing traditional
musicological tools in their analyses, sometimes modifying them in order to find
an approach more suitable for examining and representing aspects that are unique
to the popular music idiom (see Moore 1993; Shuker 2008, p. 97). McClary and
Walser (1990), for example, note that while the medium of recorded performance
seems to have an indisputable advantage over notated music due to its capacity
to capture all of the musics gestures and nuances intact, this converts to disadvan-
tage . . . because analytic methods are still tied to those aspects of music that can be
fixed or accounted for in notation (McClary and Walser 1990, p. 241). While acknow-
ledging that transcription is not an entirely innocent activity, McClary and Walser
(1990, p. 241) point out that not to transcribe is perhaps not to be able to demonstrate

1
These include Southern (1971), Williams-Jones (1975, pp. 37385), Boyer (1979, pp. 558; 1983, pp. 103
32); Burnim (1980, pp. 6370; 1983, pp. 5861; 1985a, pp. 43247) and Maultsby (1979; 1983, pp. 16171).
2
Some of the sources that fall into this category include Smallwood (1980, pp. 1004); Boyer (1985,
pp. 12746); Burnim (1985b, pp. 14767); Allen (1991, pp. 295317) and Moore (2002).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 199

ones points in a written medium. Yet, as Nicholas Cook (1998, p. 270) and others
have observed, the use of words is essential if we are to create meaning out of the
music that we produce and listen to, and is also vital in sharing that meaning with
a wider audience. As a solution to these complex issues, numerous scholars have
recognised the need for the development of new terminologies for the definition
and discussion of concepts that are unique to popular music, as well as for devising
new analytical approaches that are in essence customised to permit the close exam-
ination, interpretation and sharing of knowledge of popular music, particularly for
those dimensions that traditional musicology systematically overlooks (see
McClary and Walser 1990, pp. 239, 241; Walser 2003).
While there have been some attempts to present new theories for the analysis of
popular music, as well as to develop some key terms for describing its characteristic
traits, the type of detailed analytical codification provided by Legg in A taxonomy of
musical gesture in African American gospel music3 remains comparatively rare, not
only in the field of gospel music research, but across contemporary popular music
studies in general. As a distinctive form of music that has also had a considerable
and, we would contend, foundational influence upon the development of many differ-
ent types of popular music, African American gospel music is now attracting consid-
erable interest from singers, listeners and choir directors outside its originating
culture, with numerous active gospel choirs now established in various cities across
Europe, Asia and Australia.4 As the popularity of performing and listening to gospel
music continues to increase around the globe (following in the footsteps of jazz and
the blues), there exists an identifiable need particularly among choir directors and
participants with little or no ethnic or historical connection to African America to
develop and utilise some key terms to describe the nature, sound and intent of the
iconic and unique performance techniques employed by African American gospel
singers and musicians. In A taxonomy. . ., Legg defines and annotates some of the
key descriptive terms commonly applied to African American gospel singing techni-
ques and introduces an annotated and recording-referenced analytical notational sys-
tem of musical gesture within African American gospel music.5 Through the
definition and annotation of key descriptive terms, A taxonomy. . . aims to stand-
ardise the language used to describe some of the most common terms applied to
African American gospel singing techniques so that greater consistency and clarity
can be achieved in relation to their usage within contemporary popular music
research and also to provide a framework for comparative analytical research within
the area of gospel-inspired contemporary popular music (Legg 2010, p. 103). The gos-
pel singing techniques that are examined by Legg in A taxonomy. . . are based on
the previous work of Williams-Jones (1975) and Boyer (1979) and include the gospel

3
Hereafter A taxonomy . . ..
4
See Shearon et al. (2012), Waseda (2013) and Johnson (2002; 2003, pp. 160218).
5
Leggs work with his Southern Gospel Choir, and consequent PhD, developed in part out of his musical
partnerships with Dr Horace Boyer, Myron Butler (Kirk Franklin) and, most recently, Khristian Dently
(Take 6), as well as out of his extensive background in church music within Australia over a 35-year
period. Based at and supported by the University of Tasmania, Legg has produced a large number
of successful concerts, recordings and broadcasts with gospel choirs that have laid the foundation
for the establishment of a research centre for African American gospel music within Australia. Dr
Carolyn Philpott has recently joined this team of researchers and musicians and is now working
with Legg on bringing the findings from 15 years of performance practice research to the academic
and broader community.

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 200 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

moan and elements relating to timbre and pitch, as summarised under the first three
numbered points in Table 1.
The present article seeks to build upon and extend the discussion of the pri-
mary gospel singing techniques included in A taxonomy. . . by examining some
of the key performance practices associated with the techniques listed under points
(4) to (6) in Table 1 namely, elements of rhythm, lyrics and structures in gospel
music improvisation and accompaniment with reference to Leggs Taxonomy (see
Legg 2010, pp. 12629). For the purposes of the current article, however, some of the
points listed under (4) Rhythm and (5) Lyrics in Table 1 will be addressed together
(such as Gospel phrasing and Syncopation) in order to facilitate a more natural
flow to the discussion of techniques that are often inextricably linked in a perform-
ance context. Additionally, while A taxonomy. . . focuses primarily on the musical
style, techniques and performance practices of the gospel singer, the current article
expands the discussion to address the characteristic performance practices of gospel
piano players, who are increasingly taking on more prominent roles within contem-
porary gospel music, particularly outside the African American tradition.
The analysis included in A taxonomy. . ., as well as the present article, has been
informed by Leggs extensive performance experience with African American gospel
choirs and bands within the USA, and focuses on specific recordings of gospel tunes
each providing a snapshot of specific gospel techniques at a particular point in
time. In the musical figures contained in these two articles, the use of a relatively con-
ventional notational framework has been supplemented with additional new diacrit-
ical markings, typically used above the scores, to highlight non-conventional
techniques discussed in the text (see Table 2). Given the limitations of symbols to rep-
resent actual aural events, each figure included in the articles is accompanied by a

Table 1. Key gospel music techniques.

(1) The Gospel Moan

(2) Timbre
(a) Gravel and grunts
(b) Screams and shouts
(c) Song speech and vibrato
(d) Timbre/register shifts
(3) Pitch
(a) Glides, slides, wails and the hi-who
(b) Blues inflection
(c) Passing tones, bends, neighbour tones and gospel gruppettos
(4) Rhythm
(a) Gospel phrasing
(b) Repetition, emphasis and rhythmic singing
(c) Syncopation, elongation and truncation
(5) Lyrics
(a) Elongated consonants
(b) Interjections and textual interpolation
(6) Structures in gospel improvisation and accompaniment
(a) The immediate reprise and the praise break
(b) Improvisation in gospel music
(c) Gospel accompaniment

Source: Legg (2010, p. 106).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 201

Table 2. Glossary of gospel nomenclature.

Continued

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 202 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Table 2. Continued

Continued

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 203

Table 2. Continued

Continued

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 204 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Table 2. Continued

Source: Legg (2010, pp. 12629).

reference to a specific commercially produced recording that illustrates the example in

sound. The choice to include these references to recordings was also made on the basis
that the notated examples are transcriptions of specific recordings and because Leggs
own performance capacity and experience as pianist and choral director have played
critical roles in the development of his analytical construct, and that critically his musi-
cianship is informed by and couched in the overriding force of the aural tradition that
underpins both gospel music and the contemporary popular music idiom.
Of course, the object of any musical analysis is not static; analysis is, rather, a
descriptive study of a constantly moving historical context and performance practice.
It follows therefore that African American gospel music is not a fixed, unchanging
musical entity and that there are considerable internal variations under the single
banner of gospel music. Nevertheless, although time and place, interpretation
and individuality are significant factors that need to be kept in mind while studying
any art form, there are a number of enduring aspects to gospel music practice as
previously described and notated by Boyer (1979) and Williams-Jones (1975)
which the research included in the present article seeks to examine in greater detail.
When combined with A taxonomy. . ., the current study aims to provide a frame
of reference for the definition and discussion of some of the primary techniques and per-
formance practices inherent within the African American gospel music tradition. This
may be particularly useful for non-African American gospel choir directors and partici-
pants, as well as their audiences, and may also help to facilitate and enhance the ongoing
dialogue relating to these concepts among musicologists and other scholars of popular
music. As A taxonomy. . . notes, the descriptive terms and diacritical markings that
have been developed in conjunction with this research have not been created for the pur-
pose of providing a type of conductors guide to making any choir sound like an
African American gospel choir (if, indeed, such a thing were even possible). Rather,
this research attempts to provide a common language for the discussion and compara-
tive analysis of what ultimately are some of the significant hallmarks, or cultural touch-
stones, of African American gospel music. Coupled together, this pair of articles aims to
go some way towards addressing the gap in the literature relating to musical character-
istics and performance practices within African American gospel music so that, when
considered alongside the great wealth of existing historical and sociological research
in the field, a more comprehensive understanding of this musical genre is possible.

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 205

Example 1. Gospel phrasing A: James Cleveland, Good To Be Kept By Jesus.

Aspects of rhythm and lyric treatment in gospel music

Gospel phrasing and syncopation
As the American folklorist Harold Courlander writes in his 1963 study, Negro Folk
Music, It is commonplace that Negro church music and secular music not only
swing but also have much more sophisticated elements of off-beats, retarded
beats, and anticipated beats than does Euro-American folk music in general
(Courlander 1963, p. 29). The sophistication of rhythmic elements that Courlander
refers to leads to a musical environment in which phrasing, for the gospel singer,
is always subordinated to the expressive and rhythmic momentum and swing of
the song. Sentences, expressions and even monosyllabic words can be broken for
textual emphasis and dramatic effect in a manner quite different from the dominant
European classical tradition. In the song Good To Be Kept By Jesus, James
Cleveland and his vocal ensemble sing the lyric to walk in Gods beautiful sunshine
in 3/4 time and at a slow tempo. Taking the melody notes from the original record-
ing, a more conventional notation for this lyric is suggested in Example 1, with the
contrasting transcription of Clevelands actual performance shown in Example 2.
Cleveland and his singers repetitively break the sentence phrase in unusual
places according to Western Classical tradition; after the word walk; after the sec-
ond syllable of beau-ti-ful; and between beautiful and sunshine (using a simple
moan-like gruppetto).6 Additionally, to walk is phrased almost as one word,
to-walk; the singers move rapidly from the vowel to the consonant n in the
word in, elongating the n sound and therefore adding a slight but perceptible
rhythmic emphasis; and the break-up of the word beautiful is placed rhythmically
so as to add emphasis to the underlying swing/triplet rhythmic grouping.7 Cleveland
uses these African American concepts of rhythm and phrasing to communicate and
express not only the music, but his character and his message with great intensity
and depth of meaning.
Mavis Staples also provides a simple example of gospel phrasing in the first
verse of Are You Sure (CK4733; 1991; TCR 1:301:41). Staples takes a breath and
breaks the natural sentence phrase sorry now and take-a an inventory, youll
come up with a different story between take-a and an inventory, using the a

6
Boyer (2000) uses the term gruppetto to describe the execution of several tones in rapid succession,
either in conjunct (stepwise) or disjunct (separated) motion, either ascending or descending, or in an
ascent-descent combination (Boyer 2000, p. 25). However, the use of the term gruppetto in this context
is misleading in that it has been in common usage in the Western European classical tradition since the
16th century to describe firstly a trill and, in subsequent centuries, a turn, and therefore the authors have
utilised the term gospel gruppetto here to clearly differentiate between these terms. For more informa-
tion about the gospel gruppetto, see Legg (2008, pp. 11718; 2010, pp. 120, 122).
7
Traditionally, the first quaver of swung quaver groups is longer than the second and receives a slight
emphasis or added weight. As a result, every second quaver appears to fall into each subsequent
longer quaver, providing swing with one vital component that contributes to its inherent sense of for-
ward momentum.

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 206 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 2. Gospel phrasing B: James Cleveland, Good To Be Kept By Jesus (Table 2, items 22, 23) (Col
CD 6102, 1998; TCR 1:301:41).
Notes: All transcribed examples are taken from specific recordings listed in the discography.
The record label, year of release and a time code reference (TCR) for locating the excerpts
within the relevant recordings are provided with each musical example, where relevant.
Original recording releases have not always been used for analytical reference for reasons of
greater accessibility.

sound after take as an additional rhythmic device and not a textual one. She then
breaks the subsequent phrase in the same place with an audible breath youll
come up with (breath) a different story, allowing the fundamental rhythmic struc-
ture to dominate her lyric delivery. Rather than opting for a succession of smooth
and interconnected lines, gospel singers often construct the rhythm of their phrase
in a way that works within, and emphasises, the rhythmic subdivisions of the
pulse that contemporary musicians refer to as the feel, groove or beat. As Pearl
Williams-Jones (1975) has observed:

Breathing between words and short phrases is not considered improper to the idiom. The
audible breath intake and expulsion of air acts as a rhythmic factor and is an essential part
of black timing and rhythmic pacing. (Williams-Jones 1975, p. 382)

This rhythmic technique of using the breath as part of the phrase, or audible rhyth-
mic breathing, is particularly evident in the performances of Mahalia Jackson. In her
live European recording Didnt It Rain, Jackson breaks a succession of sentences by
punctuating her singing with audible, rhythmic breaths the air is expelled with an
ah or oh grunt-like sound before the breath is taken at the end of each short
phrase that she joins to the final syllable of the previous word (see Example 3).
Example 4 illustrates Jacksons use of audible rhythmic breathing and the
grunt-like sounds ah at (a) and (b) that she syncopates, placing them on the last qua-
ver of the triplet quaver subdivision, which gives an affecting emphasis to the gentle
gospel swing of the melody. Jackson also truncates some lines how its a-raining
becomes Howts a-rainin enabling her to add further rhythmic emphasis, in this
case, to the syncopation at the beginning of this phrase. The resulting audible rhyth-
mic breathing is a style of rhythmic singing where the all-important subdivision of
the beat in this case, the triplet swing feel is explicit and carried by the combin-
ation of sung note, breath noise and other non-textual utterances. The gospel singers
performance contains rhythm and feel, melody and soul, emotion and meaning; in

Example 3. Audible rhythmic breathing A: Mahalia Jackson, Didnt It Rain (R2CD 40-39/1; 1997; TCR
0:531:34).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 207

Example 4. Audible rhythmic breathing B: Mahalia Jackson, Didnt It Rain (Table 2, items 14, 16)
(R2CD 40-39/1; 1997; TCR 0:53-1:34).

fact, all the required fundamental musical information is contained within the vocal
performance itself.

Repetition, emphasis and rhythmic singing

The gospel singing style also reflects the African American styles and traditions of
oratory and preaching that Williams-Jones (1975) refers to as the rhetorical solo
style of the black gospel preacher:

In seeking to communicate the gospel message, there is little difference between the gospel
singer and the gospel preacher in the approach to his subject . . . the singer perhaps being
considered the lyrical extension of the rhythmically rhetorical style of the preacher. Inherent
in this also is the concept of black rhetoric, folk expressions, bodily movement, charismatic
energy, cadence, tonal range and timbre. (Williams-Jones 1975, p. 381)

One significant aspect of this preaching style is the emphasis of different words
within the repetition of an important phrase. In his 1996 Homecoming address at
the Greater Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church, Dr Anthony Campbell concluded
with the repetition of two phrases, leave it there and take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there,8 which he borrowed from the title (and also key lyric line) of
Charles Tindleys gospel song, Leave It There:

You must trust and leave it there. You must not doubt and leave it there. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Take your
burden to the Lord and leave it there. (Batastini 2001, item 420)

This hymn is widely known and loved among the African American church commu-
nity, and Campbells use of such a text undoubtedly resonated with the congregation
for this reason. However, of equal significance to this resonance was the manner in
which he delivered the final phrase, for with each repetition of take your burden to
the Lord and leave it there, the dynamic level and amount of gravel in his voice
increased dramatically, the pitch of his voice rose and, finally, he overemphasised
different words within that one phrase (the underscoring marks the emphasis):

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.9

8
Legg first heard Dr Campbell use this phrase in a sermon delivered on Homecoming Sunday at the
Greater St Marks First Missionary Baptist Church in Tuskegee, AL, on 17 August 1996.
9
The congregational response to this was overwhelming. Initially seated, they began to rise to their feet,
interjecting vocal (yes sir, my, my, my, thats right) and physical (hand-clapping, foot-stomping)

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 208 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 5. Repetition and emphasis: Clara Ward, Surely God Is Able (MCCD 093; 1992; TCR 0:00
0:13).

Gospel singers use repetition and emphasis in a similar fashion to add rhythmic
character and, often, new meaning and interpretation to the lyrics of the songs that
they sing. These devices are perhaps most clearly demonstrated by the Ward
Singers in Surely God is Able. Clara Wards rearrangement of the Brewster song
originally titled Our God is Able employs a completely new introduction sec-
tion, which she based on the repetition of the word surely (see Example 5).10
Ward also uses repetition in Example 5(a), re-sounding the ee vowel sound of sure-ly
to add further emphasis to the pleading nature of her interpretation. Additionally,
she employs a disjunct descending gospel gruppetto in Example 5(b) to emphasise
the word carry adding emotional weight to the suggestion of being carried
through lifes tribulations. Such was the power of Wards arrangement underscored
by the impassioned employment of repetition and emphasis that it redefined the
song in the public consciousness.11 As a result, Brewster subsequently retitled his ori-
ginal composition Surely God is Able, reflecting the significance of Wards reinter-
pretation, and in deference to its subsequent widespread popularity. Wards
emphasis and re-emphasis of the word surely is insistent and pleading in the open-
ing line (surely, surely, surely, surely, Hes able to carry you through) and is imme-
diately reflective of the preaching style, using repetition and emphasis to create a
reinterpretation of the phrase for greater emotional impact.
Similarly, Aretha Franklin uses exaggerated repetition and emphasis in Youll
Never Walk Alone when she initially sings the line at the end, at the end of the

affirmations that rapidly increased in intensity and volume, developing finally into shouts and screams
of such fervour that his final words were all but lost under the cacophonous noise.
10
For a comparison of the published version of Our God is Able by Brewster and a transcription of a
performance of the song by Clara Ward, see Boyer (1979, pp. 2831, 4158).
11
As Boyer (2000, p. 110) notes, Clara [Ward] knew that repetition is the most important element in
African and African American music for getting the message across and employed it judiciously in
this recording. See also Legg (2008, pp. 5860).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 209

Example 6. Repetition and emphasis: Franklin lyrics, Youll Never Walk Alone (R2 75627; 1999; TCR
1:201:56).

storm (R2 75627; 1999; TCR 1:201:56). Franklins vocal style then becomes more
improvisational and preacher-like (Example 6), and in marked contrast to the original
song lyrics (Example 7), she uses these techniques to add increasingly to the passion
and personal emotional content of the song towards the climax of her performance.
Additionally, Fred Hammond plays on this concept in My My My God is
Good, in which he uses a colloquial expression that derives from this practice
(My, my, my) as the title and rhythmic propulsion for the main hook12 of the
song (01241-43197-9/Ch.3; 2003; TCR 4:355:37).
The use of rhythmic emphasis is also a significant factor in the creation of feel
and groove in music.13 Gospel quartets often employ a particularly rhythmic style
of singing that gives considerable forward momentum to their performances. The
Golden Gate Quartet, for instance, provides an excellent example of rhythmic emphasis
in My Time Done Come, in which the opening lyric my time done come is pre-
ceded by the rhythmic phrase a-well-a, which is also punctuated with audible rhyth-
mic breaths that firmly establish the feel of the song from the outset (US 0279; 2000; TCR
0:000:07). The phrasing of the subsequent lyrics in the chorus my time done come,
little children, my time done come overemphasises the contrasts between the short
and long notes that in turn emphasise the underlying crotchet pulse, giving the
vocal parts a bounce that propels the music forward (see Example 8).

Example 7. Repetition and emphasis: original lyrics, Youll Never Walk Alone.

12
The hook is a term contemporary musicians apply to the main feature of a song that hooks the audi-
ences interest and can consist of textural, instrumental, lyric, rhythmic or melodic content.
13
Although the terms feel and groove are used somewhat interchangeably by contemporary musi-
cians, feel is usually applied in a broadly generic sense, whereas groove is usually applied to the
specific instance of a generic type. For example, swing is a type of feel that at a fundamental level
usually denotes a triplet quaver subdivision of the crotchet beat. However, the interpretation of this
subdivision alters depending on the type of swing (i.e. the historical period in which the music was
originally played). The notion of a gospel swing portrayed here is vastly different from the hard
bop swing of Cannonball Adderley and Sonny Rollins, for example, and so, in practice, when musi-
cians refer to a feel, they will also often indicate the type by affixing a defining name or historical
period to the description (i.e. a Coltrane swing or Trad swing). The term groove generally refers
to a type of rhythm section pattern (typically played by the bass and drums) that establishes the
feel of a song i.e. a skip-shuffle or funk-style groove, both of which dictate a particular type of
rhythmic pattern, albeit sometimes within extremely broad parameters.

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 210 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 8. Rhythmic singing: Golden Gate Quartet, My Time Done Come (Table 2, items 1023) (US
0279; 2000; TCR 0:000:07).

The combination of several techniques audible rhythmic breaths, exaggerated

note durations, rhythmic emphasis of most second and fourth crotchet beats, elong-
ation and truncation of vowels and consonants produces a gospel singing style that
is propelled forward under its own, self-generated momentum. Mahalia Jackson uses
these same techniques in The Upper Room, in which she sings the repeated phrase
in the upper room with an exaggerated rhythmic emphasis that makes the phrase
sound as the upperroom (Example 9).
Jackson sings two full-value notes (in and the) followed by a shortened tone
(up), finishing the phrase with two more full-value notes (per-room); this creates a
bounce in the rhythm that drives the song forward. Although it could be argued that
the meaning of this simple repetitive phrase is never totally obscured the lyric has
already appeared on numerous occasions, and it is also in the title of the song
nevertheless, the rhythmic emphasis and momentum at this point are of far greater
importance to the vocal performance than the lyric.14 The Kings of Harmony also

14
Rhythmic singing of non-text related sounds was a technique pioneered by the early male vocal quar-
tets and was used to accompany the soloist, who needed a rhythmic and harmonic foundation over
which to sing. The supporting singers used a series of seven evenly spaced sounds placed on each
swung quaver in a bar of 4/4, except for the last quaver, on which they placed a rest. The most common

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 211

Example 9. Rhythmic singing: Mahalia Jackson, The Upper Room (Table 2, items 22, 23) (R2CD 40-39/
1; 1997; TCR 4:104:17).

employ repetition, emphasis and rhythmic singing in Little David, when they sing
the first line Little David, play that on your harp, hallelu with the following add-
itional, non-textual syllables: Little David play that on-a-your harp and-a hallelu,
hallelu (US 0279; 2000). These extra syllables function in a manner that supports
the overall rhythmic momentum or feel of the song. The repetition of the acclamation
hallelu is preceded by an audible breath that breaks the phrase and further adds to
the dynamic emphasis that the Kings of Harmony apply to it, both drawing the lis-
teners attention to the phrase hallelu and emphasising the second beat of the bar in
a syncopated-like manner.
Finally, The Fairfield Four articulately demonstrate the use of gospel
repetition, emphasis and rhythmic singing in Children Go Where I Send Thee
(see Example 10). They use a gentle handclap on the backbeat15 in this medium-
tempo song with a gospel swing feel, and immediately emphasise the word send
at (a) in bar 2, by preceding it with an audible breath on beat 1, and by truncating
the vowel sound (eh) and elongating the consonant n. The duration of the word
send appears shorter than the notated crotchet would indicate as the consonant
n (also used with m) is softer in dynamic than the vowel, as the mouth is closed,
with the sound resonating through the nasal cavity. The word acquires an attack as a
result, and The Fairfield Four employ this technique throughout this song as shown
in Example 10 at (a), (b), (c) and (d ) adding a gentle rhythmic emphasis to the mel-
ody that conventional notation does not adequately describe. The phrase breaks
between bars 1 and 2 (where will you send me), bars 5 and 6 (little biddy a
baby) and bars 7 and 8 (born of the virgin a Mary), are all immediately preceded
by an audible rhythmic breath and an additional non-textual rhythmic syllable (a).
The complex combination of these techniques produces a musical expression that is
simply elegant, and it is this deceptive simplicity that belies the complexity of the
rhythmic and other techniques that are foundational constituents of the feel and char-
acter of the gospel song.

Elongation and truncation

As demonstrated in the previous example by the Fairfield Four, gospel singers fre-
quently play with the durations of notes for rhythmic and textual emphasis. In

phrases used, Oom-ma-lank-a-lank-a-lank and Oh my Lord-y Lord-y Lord (Boyer 2000, p. 95), pro-
vided the necessary rhythmic emphasis, momentum and harmonic foundation for the soloist to sing
over and, because the only function of these types of phrases was to accompany and not add lyrically
to the song, they did not detract from the message and emotional delivery of the soloist.
15
The term backbeat refers to the stressing of beats 2 and 4 in 4/4 metre. Beats 2 and 4 therefore char-
acteristically function as the strong beats for the majority of African American inspired contemporary
popular music.

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 212 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 10. Repetition, emphasis and rhythmic singing: The Fairfield Four, Children Go Where I Send
Thee (Table 2, items 11, 22, 23) (WBD-4137; 1992).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 213

Example 11. Elongation: Mahalia Jackson, Amazing Grace (0 76119 40392 6; 1997; TCR 0:45-0:57).

particular, the m and n consonants at the conclusions of a phrase or word are often
elongated following a truncated vowel, with the m or n sound resonated through
the nasal cavity with the mouth closed. Mahalia Jackson demonstrates this technique
in Amazing Grace, with the lyric how sweet the sound, where she initially adds a
slight dynamic emphasis to the consonant s in the word sound before using an
upper neighbour tone to precede an elongated n at the conclusion of the word
(Example 11). Jackson does not sustain the A in a traditional manner with the
open vowel sound but moves quickly to the consonant n, where her tone is
warm and softer and moan-like in dynamic as a result of the sound resonating in
the nose with the mouth closed.
Marion Williams demonstrates the same technique in Theres A Man when she
elongates the n in man to enable her to sustain both the note and the mood she has
created (LC5762; 1993; TCR 0:190:30). The Golden Gate Quartet also utilises this
technique in Hush (R2CD 70-07/1; 1998; TCR 0:150:27). To contrast with the heigh-
tened tension of the line death comes creepin in the room, which is sung at a mod-
erately loud dynamic, all four singers subsequently quickly drop the dynamic level
in the next line (soon one morning), elongating the n of soon, and truncating
the i vowel and elongating the ng sound at the end of morning. They masterfully
use this technique to create a sense that they are whispering to their audience, as the
subject is sensitive and not to be spoken out loud. Lastly, Fred Hammond uses
elongation in a more contemporary setting but still to great effect in Interlude #1
(82876-71019-2; 2005; TCR 0:100:25), in which he elongates the n on the word
pain, changing and personalising the character of that word and the whole
phrase as a result. Hammond, like all gospel singers, makes a series of emotional
and expressive decisions subconsciously or deliberately and improvised at the
time of performance that utilise a number of conventional and non-conventional
techniques, such as the sustaining of consonants, to create an ever-changing and
intensely personal musical expression where the immediacy of communication and
connection with the listener are profound.

Interjections and textual interpolation

Gospel singers interject acclamatory phrases such as Hallelujah, O Lord and Yes
Child to punctuate the natural call and response structure of the gospel song.
Interjections are rhythmically significant and allow the gospel singers to emphasise
or add their agreement to a preceding lyric phrase. Additionally, gospel singers use
interjections to connect lyric lines or reinterpret and personalise lyrics in a song.
Bishop Paul Morton demonstrates this technique in God Is A Good God, in which
he punctuates the original chorus lyric (God is a good God and Hes worthy to be
praised) with the connective and acclamatory interjections notated in Example 12.
Morton begins the song in call and response style with the opening line God is a

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 214 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 12. Interjection: Bishop Paul S. Morton, God Is A Good God (Table 2, itmes 1, 12) (5497; 2003;
TCR 0:100:25).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 215

good God, following this with a series of interjections: in bar 5 (a), God is a g (trun-
cation of the final word good); bar 6 (b), and Hes; bar 8 (c), Oh God; bar 10 (d),
Yes He is; bar 12 (e), God is; and bar 14 ( f ), Yes He is. The function of these inter-
jections varies from a more accompanying-style of God is a g at (a), to the emphatic
declamatory style of Yes He is at (d ) and ( f ), where each interjection is further empha-
sised with the use of a preceding upward slide and heavy gravel timbre.16
Mahalia Jackson further illustrates this technique with her interjection well,
well, well in Hes Right On Time (CK 85282; 2001; TCR 2:082:15) and hallelujah
in Elijah Rock (R2CD 40-39/1; 1997; TCR 2:503:05), and James Cleveland uses an
emphatic hallelujah in Jesus Is The Best Thing (SCD 7059; 1980; TCR 3:053:43),
which he follows with a succession of increasingly intense interjections including
Can I get a witness up here?, which has become a favourite catch-cry for preachers
and singers alike.
Boyer (1979, p. 27) describes textual interpolation as the adding of extra
words to the original text. These additions . . . may complement the text or may be
completely unrelated.17 He further describes the way in which this technique
makes use of rhyming couplets and quatrains, a practice common in the performance
of Negro spirituals; . . . group[s] of rhyming couplets are catalogued and when a
variety of text or words for a contrasting section are needed, the singer selects an
appropriate or favourite couplet and inserts it into the song (Boyer 2000, p. 109).
In addition to the examples of common couplets that Boyer provides (Example 13),
Marion Williams from the Ward Singers adds couplets at the conclusion of Surely
God Is Able (Example 14) in a recording that was to firmly entrench the use of rhym-
ing couplets in gospel performance practice (MCCD 093; 1992; TCR 1:081:30).
Finally, Legg participated in a recording of the Gospel Music Workshop of
America conference choir in Cincinnati in 1997, and the title track from this album,
In Time Hell Bring You Out (51416 1348 2; 1997), with soloist James Bignon, illus-
trates the use of a rhyming couplet, along with several interpolations, in the context
of a contemporary gospel song (Example 15).

Structures in gospel music improvisation and accompaniment

The immediate reprise and the praise break
More a structural device than a vocal technique, the immediate reprise occurs after
the conclusion of a song where, in response to audience affirmation or the emotional
intensity experienced by the performers, the gospel singer reprises or repeats a sec-
tion of that same song a verse, chorus, or often the additional vamp chorus. The

Example 13. Rhyming couplets: Boyer Examples (Boyer 2000, p. 109).

16
For more information on timbre in gospel music, see Legg (2010).
17
For more information about textual interpolation and performance practices relating to gospel music
lyrics, see Allen (1991) and Maultsby (1979).

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 216 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 14. Rhyming couplets: The Ward Singers, Surely God Is Able (MCCD 093; 1992; TCR 1:08
1:30).

immediate reprise can take more time to perform than the initial song itself, as the
singers and musicians are carried away by the spirit in a state of musical and
spiritual trance-like ecstasy. The reprise also effectively functions as another means
of emphasis, here reinforcing and affirming the perceived emotional and psycho-
spiritual state of the community performers and audience/congregation together
that has found expression in the particular performance of a gospel song. Richard
Smallwood uses this technique in Total Praise, following the emotive Amen chorus
when, after the audiences applause, he immediately reprises the B section (you are
the source of my strength) and the concluding Amen chorus or C section as well
(01241-43015-2; 1996; TCR 1:474:45).
Additionally, Kirk Franklin twice reprises the vamp chorus at the end of
Its Rainin (INTD-90093; 1997; TCR 2:493:30), and Dorothy Norwood and the
Northern Californian Mass Choir reprise the chorus of Victory Is Mine (R2CD
70-07/1; 1998; TCR 3:41) after Norwood employs several interjections (hallelujah,
glory be to God) and an improvisational, preacher-like contextual testimony (when
I got up this morning, when I got up this morning, you know what I said?).
Norwoods technique here is also indicative of the praise break, a gospel singing
technique that incorporates song-speech, interjections and other improvisational
devices and which generally occurs at the conclusion of a song, where the singer and
instrumentalists perform an improvisational song in the spirit the same heightened
emotional and psycho-spiritual state that can precede the immediate reprise. In the case
of the praise break, however, the response is less organised and more frenetic, often
chaotic and ecstatic. The whole community singers, instrumentalists and congrega-
tion responds collectively but with individualised physical movements (jumping,
running, kneeling, chest-beating, hand-raising), verbal and sung praises and acclama-
tions. If instruments are present, they will either follow a prescribed chord sequence
and feel, or one that is initially improvised and then organised as the praise break
develops. Kirk Franklin demonstrates the praise break at the conclusion of Dont
Take Your Joy Away, where the soloist improvises short, shouted phrases of gravel-
toned interjections over a sustained F7 chord (including additional harmonic inflec-
tions) that finally modulates to A major for the praise break, which is, in this case,
based on the traditional gospel song When I Think About Jesus (GCD2127 G2 1C
7575 1 72127 2; 1995; TCR 5:36). Hezekiah Walkers recording of James Clevelands
Lord Do It also develops into an under-the-spirit praise break that plays for as
long as the song itself (B00005A8BC; 2011; TCR 7:05).

Example 15. Rhyming couplet: GMWA Choir, In Time Hell Bring You Out (51416 1348 2; 1997; TCR
4:15).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 217

Improvisation in gospel music

One of the many significant contributions that African American culture has made to
contemporary music in general has been the reintroduction of improvisation and its
foundational primacy in music performance practice. Eileen Southern (1997), for
example, draws our attention to the importance of improvisation within early
African American history, as she describes the singing at Cresswells Negro Ball
reflect[ing] the African propensity for musical improvisation (Southern 1997,
p. 48) and then references William Faux from 1820, as he describes the spontaneous
and improvisatory style of worship that he encountered in an African Methodist
Episcopal church (Southern 1997, p. 78). While many of the gospel music perform-
ance techniques examined in the current article could, conceivably, be studied by
prospective gospel singers in a similar manner to which a contemporary popular
or jazz musician might refer, for example, to Paul Berliners (1994) analytical and
ethnographic study Thinking In Jazz (1994) or Ingrid Monsons (1996) Saying
Something: Improvisation and Interaction (1996), ultimately many of these techniques
only provide the basic tools for the gospel singer, whose primary role it is to manipu-
late them through melodic and rhythmic improvisation in order to articulate musical
and spiritual expression. Although lyrics, melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structures
are prescribed and even rehearsed, these musical fundamentals are subservient to the
expressive, the spiritual and to the music and emotion created in the moment. Every
aspect of the gospel singers performance is to an extent improvised; every element is
open to significant change, interpretation, reinterpretation and recontextualisation
based on the performers desire and intent, the audiences reactions and interaction,
and the move and often indefinable influence of the Spirit; and all of this is
informed by the defining, self-sustaining and all-encompassing deeply embedded
cultural trace.18 Mahalia Jacksons (1962) many recordings of Down By The
Riverside provide excellent illustrations of the improvisational variations that can
typically be found between the various performances of a gospel song, and
Examples 16 and 17 transcribe two different performances of this song by Jackson,
recorded during the early 1960s in America (A) and Europe (B), respectively.
Both Examples 16 and 17 are transcriptions of Jacksons first verse, the different
lyrics resulting from a swap in the order of the verses (gonna put on my long white
robe and gonna lay down my sword and shield). Although the general melodic dir-
ection and rhythmic intention are the same, the specific melodic and rhythmic order
of the notes is quite different, as bars 4 and 5, 8 and 9 clearly demonstrate. Jackson
adopts a slower, more measured tempo for the European performance and matches
this with a generally louder dynamic and a more emphatic and precise articulation.
In the American performance, Jackson contains her energy and vitality to a degree,
employing a softer dynamic and a slightly gentler rhythmic swing, even losing the
occasional word to her expression of the rhythmic feel (Example 16, bar 11, long).
The way in which Jacksons improvised placement and use of gospel singing
techniques also define the individual character of each performance of the song is
equally significant. Example 17 evidences Jacksons greater use of passing tones (a),
neighbour tones (d ) and slightly more rhythmically complex phrasing in general
at (a), (b), (c) and (d ) when compared to the corresponding bars and letters in

18
The notion of a deeply embedded cultural trace is discussed at length in Legg (2008).

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 218 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 16. Mahalia Jackson, Down By The Riverside: A (USA) (Table 2, items 1027) (15 300; 1992;
TCR 0:220:28).

Example 17. Mahalia Jackson, Down By The Riverside: B (Europe) (Table 2, items 1027) (CK 85282;
2001; TCR 0:220:37).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 219

Example 16. Example 16 delivers a slightly faster, less melodically ornate interpret-
ation, with greater emphasis on the shaping of notes with bends and slides
(Example 16, bars 6 and 7) and truncated note values (long white robe, Example 16,
bar 3).
Contemporary gospel singer Fred Hammond (1995) further develops the con-
cept of improvisation in gospel in You Are The Living Word (B4418-4008-2; 1995;
TCR 4:074:33), where he uses interjections and song-speech (now lets call Him
one more time, Jesus) and sustained non-textual vocal sounds (whoa, oh) to create
a more complex and intricate improvised melodic line leading, prompting,
responding and interweaving with the choir and band.
Finally, LaKeisha Grady takes the notion of improvisation in gospel one signifi-
cant step further in her performance of Kirk Franklins He Loves Me (INTD-90178;
1998; TCR 1:383:32), echoing the expressive melodic inventions of jazz greats like
Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves. Grady combines lyric and vocalese over a
Kirk Franklin gospel song that is heavily influenced by jazz harmonic and rhythmic
concepts and reflects the trend in contemporary gospel to search for new ideas and
find inspiration in other musical genres beyond its traditional boundaries.

Gospel accompaniment
As gospel music has developed, the piano has become the principal accompanying
instrument (Boyer 2000, p. 22) and gospel pianists typically employ several key idiom-
atic stylistic features that have come to characterise this unique style of accompaniment.
The gospel piano style has been directly informed by the vocal performance practices of
gospel singers and has been favoured because of its ability to produce the full range of
lyrical to aggressively percussive tones that can support and complement the extremes
of physical and musical expression of the gospel singer.
The use of the piano for accompaniment in gospel music developed along with
the rise of gospel music in the Pentecostal religious movement from as early as
1920,19 but was not a stable component of gospel until the 1930s, when a distinct
style of gospel piano emerged based on the concept of the rhythm section20
employed by early blues and jazz musicians. The first acknowledged gospel pianist
was Arizona Dranes, whose playing style in the early 1920s is described by Boyer
(2000, pp. 378) as a combination of ragtime, with its two beats to the bar feel, octave
passages in the left hand, exaggerated syncopation in the right hand, and heavy full

19
When the Church of God in Christ and the Church of Christ (Holiness) were established as distinct
denominations, Charles Price Jones did not believe in the use of instruments in worship at all, basing
his theology on the literal accounts of New Testament early church practice, in which musical instru-
ments were not used. Charles Harrison Mason favoured the use of musical instruments, however, and
exerted a significant influence on the development of gospel music as a result.
20
The rhythm section concept is a term first used by Boyer (1979, p. 32). The rhythm section instrumen-
talists (drums, bass, guitar/banjo, piano and, later, vibes) improvised their music around specific
musical guidelines a chord chart or a specified groove and within clearly defined contextual para-
meters that were known but certainly not notated. The objective of these parameters was to ensure
that, while improvising the accompanying chords, feels and melodies/counter melodies, the texture
of sound produced from the rhythm section did not become so dense, ornate or polyphonically com-
plex that it detracted from the melodic content of the song played by the front line instruments.
Therefore, conceptually, each instrument was assigned a particular rhythmic, harmonic and melodic
function that in general terms was understood by all rhythm section instrumentalists.

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 220 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 18. Piano accompaniment: Arizona Dranes, Hes Coming Soon (DOCD-5186; 1998; TCR
0:000:07).

and ragged (syncopated) chords of barrelhouse piano, and the more traditional chords
of the standard Protestant hymn. Dranes piano introduction for the Texas Jubilee sing-
ers in Hes Coming Soon (Example 18) illustrates her use of left-hand octaves (a),
ragtime-influenced syncopation (b), and a general focus on the middle register of the
piano, which were to become significant characteristics of the gospel piano style.
Boyer (1979) also identifies in Dranes 1928 recording, I Shall Wear A Crown,
her technique of incorporating the melodic notes into the right-hand chord struc-
tures; she does not play a distinct melody line with the right hand, but rather
uses chords which support the melody, a practice still observed in contemporary
gospel piano (Boyer 1979, p. 32). He also describes her use of simple harmonic struc-
tures, illustrated here in Example 19 (a), as well as repetitive, right-hand eighth-note
chords to create a sense of perpetual forward motion (b) and (c), and the heavily syn-
copated rhythms (d ) and stride left hand (e) typical of ragtime piano.21
Roberta Martin later brought a more refined approach to gospel piano,
building on many of Dranes techniques, notably employing right-hand chord voicings
that supported and usually contained the notes of melody. Martin, however, also incor-
porated richer harmonic textures, single note and octave melodic runs that punctuated
the vocal phrases, and percussive bombs loud and unexpected single octave bass
explosions within an otherwise softer dynamic in the recordings He Has Done
Great Things (SCD7018 70577; 1990; TCR 0:001:54) and Be Still My Soul
(SCD7018 70577; 1990; TCR 1:351:45). Clara Ward and James Cleveland were also
influential in the development of the gospel piano style. Ward (1993) began using
the IV chord as a passing chord over tonic harmony (such as in The Last Mile, LC
5762; 1993; TCR 0:500:57), which Boyer (1979, p. 33) describes as more a rhythmic
inflection than [a] tonal [one and that] contributed to the development of a faster har-
monic rhythm in the style, while Cleveland used extremes of dynamic range and
rhythmic accentuations over the full range of the keyboard to meld with his preaching-
singing style (such as in Jesus Is The Best Thing; MCCD 093; 1992; TCR 0:201:37).
The gospel piano style uses the lower extremities of the keyboard in the left
hand to function as an upright bass or tuba might in a traditional jazz band.
Placing tonic notes in octaves on beats 1 and 3 in 4/4 metre, and alternating with
the dominant or other passing tones on beats 2 and 4, the left-hand bass pattern
underpins the essential harmony and feel. The right hand is focused mostly in the
middle range of the piano, alternating between on-beat playing and syncopated,

21
Stride accompaniment is a technique utilised in 4/4 metre where the bass note alternates between the
first and the fifth scale degrees of a specified chord type on beats 1 and 3, respectively, while an appro-
priately voiced chord is placed on beats 2 and 4.

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 221

Example 19. Piano accompaniment: Arizona Dranes, I Shall Wear a Crown (DOCD-5186; 1998; TCR
0:220:29).

ragtime-like rhythms that support the vocal line in the chordal harmony, with the
melody placed within the chord voicing, usually on the top. Both of these techni-
ques are used by Mahalia Jacksons long-time accompanist Mildred Falls in Hes
Right On Time (Example 20). In this recording, Falls also demonstrates the use of
a brass-like octave excursion into the upper register, carefully placed in the spaces
between verse lines and individual phrases, which often function as the response
to the singers call in the call and response style, as in Example 21, bar 2 (a).
In Bless The Lord (01241-43015-2; 1996), contemporary gospel singer,
composer and pianist Richard Smallwood demonstrates the way in which gospel
piano players tend to keep the vocal melody and choir parts in the right-hand
piano voicings (see letters (a), (c), (e) and ( f ) of Example 22), as well as to supply a

Example 20. Gospel piano: Mildred Falls, Hes Right On Time (CK 85282; 2001; TCR 2:152:37).

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 222 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Example 21. Gospel piano: Mildred Falls, Hes Right On Time (CK 85282; 2001; TCR 2:152:37).

brass-like, descending response to the gospel singers call (see letters (b) and (d ) of
Example 22).
More recently, contemporary gospel pianists have incorporated more
advanced harmonic and rhythmic concepts into their gospel piano style. For
example, Kirk Franklins gospel piano style in He Loves Me (INTD-90178; 1998;
TCR 3:164:10) borrows voicings, harmonic structures and the concept and stylistic
execution of the improvised piano solo from jazz, while Bobby Sparks gospel
piano playing on Fred Hammonds Keep On Praisin reflects the influences of the
jazz-funk and jazz-rock hybrid styles in his choice of voicings, groove and in his
use of an electronic keyboard (82876-86952-9; 2006; TCR 0:000:16). The harmonic
language of jazz and the newer African American genres of funk, rap and urban
R&B have significantly influenced some of the most recent developments in gospel
music and this presents yet another avenue for future research in the area of gospel
music studies.

Example 22. Gospel piano: Richard Smallwood, (1996) Bless The Lord (01241-43015-2; 1996; TCR 0:10
0:21).

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 Performance practices in African American gospel music 223

Conclusion
The taxonomy of musical gesture for African American gospel music originally
introduced by Legg (2010) is further developed here through analysis and discussion
for the primary purpose of facilitating the communication of some of the key
extended techniques and characteristics of this complex and dynamic performance
style within an Australian musical context, where the contextual touchstones of
African American gospel music are not present to any significant degree. While
the aim of the analysis, codification of diacritical markings and the inclusion of
notated and recorded examples, both in the present article and in A taxonomy. . .
has been to create a frame of reference for the classification of key terminologies
and performance practices inherent within African American gospel music, it is
worth reiterating here that the authors are not suggesting that the taxonomy be
used in the creation of a music score that can be read and realised in a performance
context. As noted in A taxonomy. . ., The great depth of subtlety and complexity of
nuance and gesture that the taxonomy attempts to capture can make the annotated
score necessarily complex and therefore difficult to interpret in real time (Legg,
2010, p. 124). Rather, the significance of this analytical framework, and the research
and analysis that accompany and underpin it, lies in its provision of concise defini-
tions and descriptions that can be utilised by choir directors, conductors, performers,
listeners and researchers to assist in the interpretation, understanding and compara-
tive analysis or discussion of specific musical techniques that are deeply embedded
within the African American gospel tradition and which are not always clearly
understood outside its original performance culture.
The analytical framework presented in this article goes some way towards pro-
viding greater clarity around the language and concepts used in the description of
key performance practices within African American gospel music, and may also be
of use to scholars working in the broader contemporary popular music idiom. While
the performance practices of the gospel singer, in particular, continue to be fundamen-
tal to the characteristic sound of African American gospel music, the roles of instru-
mental musicians and the gospel band are also gradually increasing in prominence,
especially among choirs operating outside the USA.22 While there is still considerable
scope for further research in this area, the current article has extended the discussions
instigated by Williams-Jones (1975) and Boyer (1979) in relation to elements of rhythm,
lyrics and structures in gospel music improvisation and accompaniment. Considered
in conjunction with A taxonomy. . ., this research has examined what can be identified
as many of the primary musical features, techniques and performance practices that
characterise the genre of African American gospel music. When combined with the
aforementioned studies on the origin and social evolution of African American gospel
music, and African American religious music more generally, this research can help to
facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of this unique and increasingly influen-
tial realm of music and the impact that it has upon various aspects of contemporary
popular music within Western society.

22
Interestingly, jazz and contemporary instrumentalists in both the UK and, specific to the authors here,
Australia, are often captivated by the use of modern, jazz-inspired harmonies in contemporary gospel
music which, when coupled with the other powerful gospel performance characteristics, have resulted
in gospel music attracting some of the most outstanding players into professional and community-
based choirs alike.

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 224 Andrew Legg and Carolyn Philpott

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr Anne-Marie Forbes
and Dr Glen Hodges, as well as the insights of two anonymous peer reviewers, in
helping to shape and refine the final version of this article.

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