Thomas A. Dorsey and Gospel Music
Gospel songs combined religious lyrics with melodies and rhythms inspired by early blues and jazz. Many churches rejected this new integration of religious conviction and popular song as devil's music that had no place in a house of worship.
Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music" described gospel, saying, "It's evangelistic, it has a rhythm and carries a message with the feeling and fever that many sacred songs do not have, the gospel is good news." "Good News" is often used as a reference to the word of God. Gospel music is sometimes simply called good news.
Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music," began using the phrase "gospel songs" in the mid-1920s, for a new kind of religious music. GGospels are songs of worship with the bounce and rhythm of early blues and jazz.
This music already had a number of champions, but Dorsey's commitment would give rise to a gospel movement in Chicago that would spread worldwide. His association with gospel music was so strong that for decades, songs in this style were simply called "Dorseys."
Thomas A. Dorsey grew up in the South, home of the blues. He was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, on July 1, 1899, to Thomas Madison and Etta Plant Dorsey. Dorsey's father was a traveling preacher and his mother played the organ at church.
Between 1914 and 1920, the Great Migration saw countless African Americans move North looking for a better life. As Dorsey remembered of his decision to move North, "[T]hey said it was a place of freedom. I was looking for that. And it was freer."
The freedom and opportunity sought by Dorsey and his fellow migrants found expression in an explosion of new music in Chicago-jazz, blues, and gospel. Soon Chi...
... middle of paper ...
...t Pilgrim Baptist Church. In 1933, the first National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses was held at Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Within the next year, Dorsey established and expanded the institutions that would secure his place as a gospel legend. The growth of the Dorsey House of Music and the creation of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses would demonstrate the power of Dorsey's commitment to gospel.
n the late 1970s, few outside the gospel community knew of Thomas A. Dorsey's contributions. Between 1979 and 1983, Dorsey's star rose again. In 1979, Thomas Andrew Dorsey became the first African American inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was recognized in a tribute at the Smithsonian Institution and in the documentary Say Amen Somebody. Following the movie, Dorsey was honored at universities and cities across the globe.
First of all, the early life of Frederick Douglass was horrible and very difficult. He was born on February 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. 7 His parents were from two different races. His father was white while his mother was a African American. At that time period slave auctions were held to sell black slaves to white land owners. It was at a slave auction that as a child Frederick Douglass was separated from his Negro mother. His mother was sold and Douglass never saw an inch of her again in his entire life.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA John Philip Sousa was born in 1854, the third child of ten. He was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were immigrants. John Antonio Sousa is his dad. He was originally from Spain, even though his parents were Portuguese in origin.
The music of jazz became an important aspect of American culture in the early 20th century. The crisp syncopation of ragtime and the smooth tunes of the blues seeped into American mainstream music through dance halls and saloons and later through ballrooms. Instruments like the piano, trumpet, trombone and clarinet became important and symbolized the “swing-feel” of jazz because of their capability to syncopate and improvise precisely. With the help of the booming recording industry, musical geniuses were discovered and their talent and contributions to the emergence of jazz spread throughout the entire country. Such musicians include composer, arranger and pianist Jelly Roll Morton who heavily influenced the development of early jazz by his unique piano style, his “invention” of musical notation for jazz, and his compositions that have become the core in the jazz repertory. Because the style was new and different and so successful in drawing in large audiences, musicians around the world tried to mimic it. Furthermore, Morton’s masterpieces were the first to show notation for complicated jazz music and thus, formed the basis for standard notation in jazz compositions today.
Motown is the sound that changed America. No other record company in history had more than 180 number 1 hit songs worldwide and counting. Motown just recently celebrated their 50th anniversary of the company’s founding. Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Jackson 5, and many much brought together racially divided country and segregated society around the world. In this essay I first will tell you more information about Motown and where it got its name from, I then will tell you about Marvin Gaye and his history dealings with Motown, next I will talk about Stevie Wonder and explain his life and how he became a part of Motown, and lastly I will talk about Jackson 5 and talk about how they became a group and their dealings with Motown.
Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.
gospel Appalachian song writers find the words to there songs in the day to day
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is one the world’s well-known choir since its one of the prominent and oldest. The choir started out as an insignificant group, but rapidly began to be more popular as the years progressed. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a chorus of 360 men and women in total. They have entertained millions of spectators by performing in places such as at the “World’s Fairs and expositions at inaugurations of U.S. presidents, in acclaimed concert halls from Australia and Europe to Asia and the Middle East” (Mormon). “In 1929, the Choir began broadcasting Music & The Spoken Word on radio” (Mormon). Now they have various radio and television stations. The Mormon Tabernacle has been broadcasted live all over television and several social media sites. They are also known as “America’s Choir” because people all over the world enjoy their harmonious music. Each member has a distinctive voice and their belief in god, makes this effort to influence others through music. The choir is “an ambassador for ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” their music surpasses the traditional restrictions, which led to numerous people bonding universally through music. The Choir performs at least two sessions per year, and they also have a demanding calendar which they must follow. The Choir grew successful by the aptitude, commitment and dreams of its leaders. Every single person in the choir and others outside the Choir helped the Choir be cultivated and helped them develop into the enormous Choir that they are today. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir also has a school where students train known as The Temple Square Chorale. They aid students by assisting them with their vocal skills and music reading skills. When a...
Louis Armstrong created a huge cultural shift that swept over America and changed music forever. It allowed for African-Americans to be a part of the music industry, and even contributed to women’s acceptance in music as well. African- Americans are now a vast majority of our musicians and artists, and are just as appreciated and idolized as white musicians. Louis Armstrong’s love for music and jazz still thrives today among his fans and fans of jazz in general. He is well-known and well-respected, and will never be forgotten in the music industry. Louis Armstrong changed music for the better, and will always be the king of jazz.
By 1945, nearly everyone in the African American community had heard gospel music (2). At
The article “what’s behind hip-hop’s religious revival” by Matt Sayles talks about hip-hop artists are now singing about their religious views. Sayles is talking about a religion that many hip-hop artists are focusing on this world and he states, “Rap got religious in 2016.” Before hip-hop music started getting religious many artists sang
Although he later denied that he ever said it, Sam Phillips-the man who discovered Elvis Presley-is reputed to have said, “if I could find a white man who had the Negro sound the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars” (Decurtis 78). Certain radio stations would not play the work of black artists in the segregated America of the 1950s. But, nevertheless, rock ‘n’ roll was an art form created by African-Americans. Little Richard, whose songs “Tutti Fruitti” and “Long Tall Sally” became hits only after white-bread versions were made by Pat Boone, said, “It started out as rhythm and blues” (Decurtis 78).
Combined Choirs. 1964. A History of First Baptist Church Lindale, Georgia. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-68. Print.
Today, these lyrics have crossed barriers and are sung in many churches across America as spirituals. However, such songs as Wade in the Water, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and Follow the Drinking Gourd, were once used as an important tool of survival by the slaves of the antebellum era. The content of many Negro spirituals consisted of a religious theme. However, Negro spirituals were not intended to be religious. The primary purpose of Negro spirituals was to mislead an overseer or the plantation owner.
They were a mixture of story telling and talking with a definite call and response. Religious music was very important in forming blues music. Because most blacks went to Christian churches from an early age and were exposed to Christian hymns. Ragtime was an influence that came later and is a faster blues played with the piano and someone singing which was usually played in bars called barrel houses.
The beginnings of Jazz are thought to be born at a specific time, but there is more to the birth of jazz. Jazz music was born more or less simultaneously in different parts of the United States and had many sources for its creation. Africans have contributed a lot to the style of making music, free rhythm, and the emotion with which they interpret their folk music that was later transformed into jazz. In the new world they absorbed the harmony and the concept of the Western form and condensed the African and European musical ideas, giving a musical style that can be called African American. Jazz became a type of urban expression that began to take hold in the cafes of New Orleans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.