Thesis on "What Are the Affects of Black Gospel Music on Worshipping in Today's Church?"

Thesis 9 pages (2397 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Black Gospel Music on worshipping in todays Church?

In this paper we present the various effects of Black Gospel Music on worshipping in the contemporary church scene. We analyze the role played by music in the church as well as the general society. The main reasons why songs are a good way of conveying messages are also explored. Our thesis aims at proving that that some Gospel artists have taken advantage of the Gospel by their use of catchy rhythms that is familiar to the public.

For quite a long time, music has dominated the society as a way of expressing certain ideas as well as specific messages. Music has therefore been noted to be an integral part of the contemporary church as well as the current society. It has been noticed and likened to an unspoken element that at time goes unnoticed as a force that touches several emotions as well as influences people's moods. It has also been noted that music helps in bringing of people together. All these desirable attributes are what makes music to be an important aspects of the contemporary worship in our churches (Wright,2009).

Music Ministry which is has seemingly been difficult to define conclusively as a result of the complexity that exists in the way music is intertwined in the society both within and without the confines of the church has been a source of controversy in the domain of church life (YFC, 2008).This can be attribute to the historical, cultural as well as the largely subjective individualistic nature of the congregations in terms of their preferences. There has been to a large extent been a subjective feeling coupled with entirely cultural biases that have played a role in clouding the general judgment of the absolute truth. This is why certain Christian devotees have suggested that biblical foundations be the only basis for viewing of Christian worship through music.

There has been a lot of success in terms of musical appreciation in worship throughout the history of the church. This is in disregard to various criticisms that may have existed. The Black Gospel worship has indeed been a shining display of how much influence music can play in the process of worship. A perfect example is the way Luther managed to develop a very unique style of music for the church. His style was referred to as chorale and was realized through the borrowing of certain familiar and singable tunes (catchy tunes) and then juxtaposed them into the religious context. This move was used by the defenders of the "Christian" version of rock to say that since Luther managed to borrow tunes from the popular songs of that time and seamlessly infused Christian text to them (an act referred to as contrafacta ), then it would be fine to borrow tunes from the contemporary rock music and then add certain appropriate Christian lyrics to them (YFC, 2008).

The opponents of the use of popular and catchy tunes in our contemporary worship argue that such a move is both misleading as much as it is inaccurate. This is because Luther employed what can be referred to as the "classical music" of those days as opposed to the use of the non-sacred music types like the contemporary secular and rock music that exists. He also did not adopt the sensuality and erotic nature of the music of that time. He in fact warned against the utilization of "erotic ranting" since h viewed that as being the method used by the devil in order to corrupt mankind. As pointed out by Leopold. The tunes used by Luther:

"were folky, but never vulgar. Rollicking drinking songs were available in the sixteenth century too. Luther steered clear of them. He never considered music a mere tool that could be employed regardless of its original association & #8230; but was careful to match text and tune, so that each text would have its proper tune and so that both would complement each other." (Halter and Schalk, 1978)

The concept of worship music can be attributed to the aspect of Black theological discussion which is a concept in the black gospel music in America. This can however be subdivided into three different categories such as:

Spirituals

Black Church studies

Black Hymnody

The concept of worship songs in the African-American churches can be traced to the days of slavery when the slaves used to sing what was commonly referred to as the "slave songs." This is a category of songs that emerged during the days of African slavery in America. This is as pointed out by Gwendolyn Sims Warren who appropriately explained that in other societies and cultures, the use of most folk songs are mainly used as secular songs. The spiritual are however regarded as being religious and sacred. They therefore are never attributed to individual authors. They however are considered as a mutual reflection of the musical genius of the African-Americans.

Extant literature has been devoted theme of music in worship. There is however a special category of text on Black church and music. An example is the work a collection of essays from Abbington (2001) which is a gathering of voices of various notable authors. His books is used in order to provide a good source of essays as well as articles on music as well as worship. The book contains special sections that have contains certain essays that are aimed at the expansion of the theological virtues of the use of music in the Black music church.Black church has also been viewed as a social center for the Black persons in America. This is evident in the work of Du Bois (1903).

Several scholars have noticed that the most distinguished form of literacy in the domain of Black theological discourse in regard to the Black Gospel music in the U.S. is the hymnody. Hymnody which is the study of songs as well hymns involve the process of assessing the lyrical quantities in a theological perspective. Certain scholars such as Jon Michael Spencer have been noted to be the most vocal when it comes to the issue of hymnological discourse. He gives out an elaborate theological interpretation of a subject that he referred to as theomusicology.In his work he assessed the historic as well as the theological aspects of Black sacred music. He dedicated a chapter to the Black gospel music. He presents an elaborate discourse regarding the meaning of gospel music as well as an examination of the various theological aspects and qualities of hymns as well as songs. He does this by an examination of the lyrics of the major hymns as well as the songwriters (Spenser,1990)

McKenzie (2009) points out that as part of the development process of the Black gospel music in the Britain, there was what he referred to as the a 'vibrant concert scene' that was noted among the Black Pentecostals sometimes in the 1970s as well as 1980s.He points out that that era was when the Black church singers as well as musicians came up with their talent in music in a wider scale (Sturge,2005). This led to a thriving concert scene that lead to the formation of groups by the singers and musicians.The other effect was this was the development of a new group of music that was specially written to be performed for the various regular concerts that were held every Saturday. These social scenes not only acted as a place for the musicians and the singers to portray/present their special repertoire of music and song but also became an important point or rather venue where the young people socialized with other members of the Black Pentecostal members.

In terms of origin of Black Gospel and its influence on social change, Walker (1979) takes us through a journey that talks of the development of the Black Gospel music in the U.S. He cites Anthemic Spirituals as the main foundation from which all types of Black music in America emanated. He used a tree-like model to demonstrate this. He also shows the relationship between black sacred music and the context of social change through an examination of a select number of Spirituals, songs and hymns.

Sanders (1996) who is a Professor of Christian Ethics makes a notable contribution to the concept of hymnody through an examination of various worship experiences of a collection of songs and music referred to as Saints in the Sanctified church.Her work presents an investigation of Black Gospel music as a work of sanctified worship experience. She presents her view on the work of Costen (2004) and presents her analysis and examination of the various African-American worship genre. Her survey discusses the emergence of activities such as camp meetings, Pentecostalism as well as black-metered hymns.

An overview of literature therefore points out the fact that Black Gospel music in the U.S. An integral part of the general theological reflection. This therefore makes it an effective tool that can be used to enhance tradition as… READ MORE

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