Gospel - is it a church chant or a modern style of music?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

At the moment there are many different genres of music that can be interesting. But as everyone knows, they come from the depths of centuries and all developed on their own. Each person will be able to find something new, interesting and captivating for his ear.

Definition: what is gospel music?

Gospel is a popular, modern direction in music, which began its development in the 18th century. At first, this direction had the main feature in the form of repetition of syllables, words and sentences. After all, the African Americans who performed this kind of music in church were mostly uneducated and could not read correctly the full text that was needed for the chant. Today, this direction is mainly used in the genres of hip-hop, jazz and even blues. But to this day, believers sing songs in churches that are aimed at glorifying God.

As we have often seen in the movies, gospel is singing in an African American church. It was these people who came up with jazz and blues, and this kind of music is closely related to these styles. It is worth noting that gospel can have both instrumental accompaniment and choral accompaniment. In one case or another, the anthem can sound different: incendiary, calm and even sad.

It is precisely due to such a variety of gospel that at the moment it is quite popular not only in countries where there is a large percentage of the black race.

Great Depression Times

As we have already explained, gospel is a direction in church music. In order to understand how it arose, it is worth delving a little into history. During the Great Depression, many performers sang gospel songs with mournful and sad themes. Still, those were hard times. It is worth noting that many people remember them precisely as a reflection in the art of the hardships that befell the inhabitants of the country. Various genres of music reflected this, not just gospel. It was a manifestation of some kind of emotional depression, which, of course, affected the state and inner well-being of people.

This is why blues versions of gospel, which could describe the bad state of people, the world and the environment, gained popularity. Of course, such compositions brought negativity and depression.

Today, the days of the Great Depression are long gone, and mostly performers play church gospel, which can be different in nature, but more often it is incendiary and inspiring.

How is gospel perceived today and what artists play it?

Who ever listened to this direction, he certainly noticed that the songs sound very unusual. Therefore, the question arises: how is gospel music, is it really that difficult?

It all comes down to the fact that there are several choral voices that can keep a "clean"note. But this is not a simple choir that can fascinate with its singing. The fact is that the voices in this team are arranged in such a way as to create chain breathing. Chain breathing is a technique in choral singing that allows you not to interrupt the melody and consonant sound. In this case, it is worth noting that long notes require good breathing and endurance, but even the strongest choral singers will not be able to hold the entire melody and sound on one exhalation.

When chain breathing is used, the melody can continue for a long time. The best gospels are also distinguished by the fact that their tunes are not just associated with church classical singing, but they also add notes of blues, jive and jazz. In such a case, they glorify the name of the Lord, but do it in the way they see fit.

Gospel - modern church music

Gospel is also mentioned as an element of modern music: jazz and blues. It is worth saying that the use of this direction is quite popular. But this is not the kind of musical style that unprepared people can discern. For example, each of us can certainly say that the directions of rock, punk, jazz and classical are significantly different, but gospel is not so easy to hear.

It is played by jazz artists such as Blind Willie Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis. These performers are popular largely due to the fact that religious motifs sound in one way or another in their songs. They sing about God helping people.

Performers of this style also have a fairly close relationship withchurch, as in any case, gospel singing is accompanied by a musical or choral introduction. They often perform with the church choir.

Result

As can be understood from the above, gospel is a manifestation in music, which, in fact, is a religious hymn. It is worth noting that different types of instruments can be involved in the performance of this piece of music. But mostly at the moment these are choral performances that use the chain breathing technique, and instrumental music that is performed in the blues style. Guitar, saxophone, synthesizer and others sound.