American Negro Spirituals

History | Biennial NSA Opportunity | Who May Enter | Repertoire & Performance | Explore Repertoire | Diction and Interpretation | Before You Enter 

History of the American Negro Spiritual

The American Negro Spirituals are folk songs created by enslaved Africans in North America between 1619 and 1860. Although slavery officially ended with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, many enslaved people in Texas did not learn of their freedom until June 19, 1865, now celebrated as Juneteenth.

Created and sung by enslaved women, men, and children, these songs tell stories of faith, hope, suffering, freedom, and survival. Passed down orally through generations in fields, churches, and camp meetings, they are now performed on concert and recital stages worldwide.

NATS uses the term American Negro Spirituals to acknowledge the history, suffering, hope, and resilience embodied in these songs. As Dr. Everett McCorvey explains, the term connects the music to the people who created it and preserves an important chapter of American history. While some language may be updated in performance, the melodies, stories, and cultural significance of these spirituals remain unchanged.

Whether called American Negro Spirituals, Negro Spirituals, or simply Spirituals, these songs continue to be celebrated and shared by singers around the world.

~ Dr. Everett McCorvey

A Biennial National Student Auditions Opportunity

The American Negro Spirituals (AS) categories are part of the NATS National Student Auditions Classical Division and are offered nationally during audition seasons that conclude in June/July of an odd-numbered year. For the 2026–2027 NSA season, singers may participate through their Region’s Student Auditions, with eligible singers who place 1st–5th and earn the required qualifying score advancing to the National rounds.

Chapters are encouraged to offer the American Negro Spirituals categories as part of their auditions, and in some Regions, Chapter auditions may serve as the pathway to the Region audition. These categories are open to singers of all races who sincerely approach and perform the repertoire in a classical style.

Who May Enter?

Three all-voice categories are offered:

All selections must come from the authorized American Negro Spirituals repertoire and meet the requirements for the singer’s category.

Repertoire & Performance

Singers in the American Negro Spirituals categories perform arrangements of North American Negro Spirituals in a classical style. The written score serves as the foundation for the performance, with only mild deviations and interpolation. The NSA guidelines distinguish this approach from Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Musical Theatre, pop, R&B, contemporary Christian, soul, and other contemporary vocal styles.

Repertoire should provide meaningful contrast in composer, tempo, text, dramatic content, vocal color, and musical character. Two or more selections by the same composer do not meet the contrast requirement and may render the singer Ineligible to Advance. All selections must be performed from memory. Judicious cuts to piano introductions, interludes, postludes, and internal portions of a selection may be permitted according to common performance practice, but verses may not be omitted. Copyright-compliant purchased transpositions are allowed.

Regulations

Regulation	Description
CLASSICAL STYLE	The word “classical” in this context refers to singing spirituals in the classical style with only mild deviations and interpolation to what is written in the music and without musical theatre, pop, gospel, contemporary Christian, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues expressions or vocal technique. See the NSA Spiritual Adjudicator Training Video for the differences between Spirituals and Gospel Songs and more details on performing Spirituals in NSA.
CONTRASTING SELECTIONS	Contrasting selections will vary in tempo, text, dramatic content, composer, character portrayed, vocal colors, and style of music. Two or more songs by the same composer is a violation of this regulation and renders the singing Ineligible to Advance. Substantial variety among selections should result in a higher preliminary audition score.
DICTION	Because of the idiomatic nature of the spiritual, diction restrictions will be relaxed. Standard English pronunciations may be observed, e.g., “de” or “duh” may be replaced with “the.” For more advanced singers, the scholarly study of diction in spirituals is equivalent to studying the lyric diction of other languages.
JUDICIOUS CUTS	Piano introductions, piano interludes, piano music after the vocal solo is completed, and internal cuts of spiritual selections are allowed as in common performance practice. Cuts of a verse or verses of selections are not allowed. In the case of strophic pieces, all verses should remain that are traditionally included.
MEMORIZATION	All audition selections must be performed from memory.
SPIRITUALS	Arrangements in classical style of the North American Negro Spirituals by composers similar in style to the spirituals of Hall Johnson, R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Price, Moses Hogan, Edward Boatner, Undine Smith Moore, James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson, Margaret Bonds and others listed on the AS Authorized Reperoire page of the documents. The classical style excludes Gospel, Blues and Jazz music. See below for a link to more information available online.
SPIRITUALS IN ENGLISH	English must be the original language of the selection.
TRANSPOSITION	Copyright-compliant, purchased transpositions are allowed.

Explore the Repertoire

The authorized repertoire represents a rich tradition of composers and arrangers, including Harry T. Burleigh, Hall Johnson, R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Moses Hogan, Undine Smith Moore, Edward Hammond Boatner, Roland M. Carter, Uzee Brown Jr., William Grant Still, Lena McLin, and Jacqueline B. Hairston, among many others.

NATS maintains an authorized repertoire list and identifies collections and individual works that may be used in these categories. Teachers and singers should consult the current list before finalizing an audition program. If a Spiritual does not appear on the authorized list, the handbook provides a process for having repertoire reviewed and approved.

Diction & Interpretation

Because of the idiomatic nature of the Spiritual, the NSA guidelines allow flexibility in diction. Standard English pronunciation may be used in place of some dialect spellings, and more advanced singers are encouraged to approach the study of diction in this repertoire with the same care given to lyric diction in other languages.

Above all, singers and teachers should approach the repertoire with an understanding of its musical style, text, history, and cultural context.

Before You Enter

The information above is designed as an introduction. Teachers and singers should review the complete 2026–2027 Classical & Spiritual Category Guide before selecting repertoire or registering for an American Negro Spirituals audition. The guide contains the full category requirements, authorized repertoire, performance regulations, scoring information, and NSA policies.