So You Want to Sing Spirituals: A Guide for Performers
ONLINE RESOURCES:
Chapters 4-7 Chapter 8 Chapters 9-11 Chapters 12-14 - Appendices
Chapter 1 – What Are Spirituals?
- “Spirituals” (Oxford Music Online)
- “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (National Registry Essay)
- “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” performed by Fisk Jubilee Singers
- “Were You There” (National Registry Essay)
- “Were You There,” performed by Roland Hayes
Chapter 2 – From Cotton Field to Concert Hall
- “The Role of the Spiritual in the Civil Rights Movement” (slideshow)
- Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions
- Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Its Songs
- The Spirituals Database
- Afrocentric Voices Biographies
- “Interpreting Negro Spiritual Art Songs” (slideshow)
- The Internet Archive (a search engine for spirituals and audio recordings)
- Albany Records (search engine for spirituals and vocal)
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Deep River,” performed by William Warfield
Chapter 3 – Pioneers of the Concert Spiritual
- “A Century of Negro Spirituals for Solo Voice” (slideshow)
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Go Down, Moses,” performed by Harry T. Burleigh
- Lawrence Brown: “Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho,” performed by Paul Robeson
- Roland Hayes: “Hear de Lambs-a-Cryin’,” performed by Roland Hayes
- Moses Hogan: “Wade in the Water,” performed by Barbara Hendricks
- Spirituals Video Playlist
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” performed by Roland Hayes
- Edward Boatner: “Trampin’,” performed by Marian Anderson
- Lawrence Brown: “Every Time I Feel de Spirit,” performed by Paul Robeson
- R. Nathaniel Dett: “I’m Goin to Tell God All My Troubles,” performed by Dorothy Maynor
Chapter 4 – Song Literature
- IPA Source
- Jubilee Songs: As Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University
- Recorded Sound Archives
- Eva Jessye: “I’m a Po’ Li’l Orphan,” performed by Marti Newland
- Hall Johnson: “Give Me Jesus,” performed by Vinson Cole
- Traditional: “Steal Away to Jesus,” performed by Adele Addison
- Roland Hayes: “Lit’l David, Play on Your Harp,” performed by Roland Hayes
- Harry T. Burleigh: “My Lord, What a Mornin’,” performed by Paul Robeson
- Shawn Okepebholo: “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit,” performed by Will Liverman
- Lawrence Brown: “I Know the Lord’s Laid His Hand on Me,” performed by Marian Anderson
- William Dawson: “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel,” performed by the Tuskegee Institute Choir
Chapter 5 – Using Dialect in Performance
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Deep River," performed by Marian Anderson
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Deep River,” performed by Robert McFerrin
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Deep River,” performed by Roberta Alexander
- Robert MacGimsey: “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” performed by Jessye Norman
- Robert MacGimsey: “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” performed by Robert Merrill
- Robert MacGimsey: “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” performed by Kathleen Battle
- John Rosamond Johnson: “Witness,” performed by Kenneth Spencer
- Hall Johnson: “Witness,” performed by Florence Quivar
Chapter 6 – Must You Be Black to Sing Spirituals?
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Nobody Knows de Trouble I’ve Seen,” performed by Oscar Seagle
- Carl Davis: “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” performed by Marilyn Horne
- John D. Carter: “Toccata” (from Cantata), performed by Christine Brewer
Chapter 7 – Collaborating with Pianists (Casey Robards)
Chapter 8 – African American Art Song (Emery Stephens & Caroline Helton)
Web Resources:
- Afrocentric Voices in Classical Music
- African American Art Song Alliance
- African American History Site
- African Heritage in Classical Music
- Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Library Collections (archival photocopies of compositions by African Americans):
- African-American Music and Culture at Indiana University
- Center for Black Music Research at Columbia University
- Helen Walker-Hill Collection at the University of Colorado Boulder
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Music Archive at the University of Dayton
Purchasing Music:
- American Composers Alliance
- Classical Vocal Reprints
- Hildegard Publishing Company
- J.W. Pepper & Son, Inc.
- Videmus
- William Grant Still Music
African American Classical Music Resources:
- African American Art Song Alliance (home page)
- African American Art Song Alliance Conference (performances and lectures)
- Hampsong Foundation
Chapter-Related Topics:
Article:
Chapter 9 – Black Spiritual Art Song: Interpretive Guidelines (Barbara Steinhaus)
- Harry T. Burleigh: “De Gospel Train,” performed by William Warfield
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Deep River,” performed by William Warfield
- Harry T. Burleigh: “Go Down, Moses,” performed by William Warfield
- Harry T. Burleigh: “My Lord, What a Mornin’,” performed by William Warfield
Chapter 10 – Choral Arrangements of Spirituals (Patricia J. Trice)
- Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers
- Brazeal Dennard Chorale
- Harlem Spiritual Ensemble
- Spiritual Renaissance Singers
- Moses Hogan Chorale
Chapter 11 – Spirituals: America’s Contribution to World Sacred Music (Tim Sharpe)
- Lift Every Voice and Sing II
- The Haywood Collection of Negro Spirituals
- African American Heritage Hymnal
- The Oxford Book of Spirituals
- Spirituals for Choirs
- Feel the Spirit: A Cycle of Spirituals
- Ain’t That Good News!
Chapter 12 – Gaining Perspective: A Linguistic Approach to Dialect (Felicia Barber)
Chapter 13 – Singing and Voice Science (Scott McCoy)
- Your Voice: An Inside View
- National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS)
- National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS)
- The Voice Foundation (TVF)
Chapter 14 – Vocal Health for Singers (Wendy LeBorgne)
Appendices – Relevant Resources
- The Gospel Truth about the Negro Spiritual
- Art Song Central
- Classical Vocal Reprints
- Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR)
- The Durbeck Archive: Black Classically Trained Singers
- IMSLP Spirituals Category
- J.W. Pepper & Son, Inc.
- “Negro Spirituals” (article)
- Negro Spiritual Scholarship Foundation
- Negro Spirituals Songs (lyrics)
- Sheet Music Plus
- WPA Federal Writers’ Project
Appendix 1 - Recommended Recordings
A selection of recordings recommended for those beginning a collection of concert spirituals for solo voice.
Appendix 2 - Concert Spiritual Singers and Their Recordings
A sample of singers, arranged by voice type, and their recordings of concert spirituals.
Appendix 3 - Spirituals in Musical Anthologies
Lists availability of spiritual music scores: print publishers, online databases and publishers, self-publishing composers, online resellers, as well as selected musical scores, including compilations containing concert spirituals for solo voice.
Appendix 4 - Song Literature Classification
Concert spirituals classified by category with scriptural reference(s) and entry in musical anthologies.
Appendix 5 - Relevant Resources
Resources specifically about Negro spirituals or that reference performers, composers or other information related to spirituals
Appendix 6 - African-American Art Songs Resource List
Print and online resources related to African-American art songs
Appendix 7 - Composers Brief Biographies
Lists short biographies – with score and recordings information – of composers of concert spirituals for solo voice.
Appendix 8 - Art Songs by African American Composers in Musical Anthologies
Lists availability of art songs by African American composers and selected musical scores and compilations.
Appendix 9 - Spirituals in Choral Music Anthologies
Lists availability of concert spirituals in compilations for choral ensembles: mixed voices, women’s voices, men’s voices, and children’s voices, as well as unison, two-part, equal, or unspecified voices vocal forces.
Expanded General Index
An expanded index for So You Want to Sing Spirituals that includes contents from both the print book and the online appendices.
Song Index
A song index for So You Want to Sing Spirituals, which includes contents from both the print book and the online appendices.
