Congregational Singing Traditions in South Carolina
by William T. Dargan
Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 29-73
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING TRADITIONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA
WILLIAM T. DARGAN
This article summarizes the role and function of congregational singing in South Carolina, identifies the complex of style elements heard, indicates which style elements predominate in which geographic areas, illustrates those regional styles with representative examples, and poses questions and strategies for further study.
Congregational singing includes unaccompanied hymns and songs transmitted through oral tradition. My concern with lining-out hymns and spirituals in South Carolina has developed from three points of reference. The first is my experience of growing up in a Piedmont South Carolina rural community with the sound of the hymns and songs. The second is a brief yet intensive re-immersion in that culture when I served as project director and principal investigator for the 1981-1982 Pageland Religious Folksong Documentation Project. The work consisted of tape-recording services at thirty-three Piedmont-area churches and conducting seven informant interviews. The third point of reference has been serving once more as project director and principal investigator of Project Senior Culture, 1992-1994; this project surveyed congregational singing traditions through visits to fourteen churches in diverse regions of South Carolina.
Pageland Religious Folksong Documentation Project (PRFDP) was sponsored by individual patrons and churches in Chesterfield County and was funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission. The churches whose services were documented in PRFDP were included because of word-of-mouth information that good singers of hymns and spirituals WILLIAM T. DARGAN is professor of music and head of the department at Saint Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is the author of "Willie Mae Ford Smith of St. Louis: A Shaping Influence upon Black Gospel Singing Style" (Black Music Research Journal 9, no. 2) and "Toward a Critical Biography: The Singing Life of C. J. Johnson (1913-), Preliminary Considerations" (Black Music Research Journal 7).
Almost inseparable from the traditional spiritual is the ring shout, an early Negro "holy dance," which survives from African tradition (see Gordon 1981; Epstein 1977; Floyd 1991). Shouting is body movement in the form of a holy dance; it may include other demonstrations of spirit possession. While the practice of performing the shout in a "ring" or circle has largely dissipated, dance movements and cross-rhythms still pervade the small praise houses that dot the Sea Islands and coastal regions of South Carolina. Shouting to off-beat syncopated rhythms is also common without the convention of moving in a circle in the Midlands and Piedmont regions of the state.
Lining out is "a method of performing a psalm or hymn in which the . . . leader gives out either the words of the melody, or both, one [or two] line[s] at a time, to be followed by the congregation. The practice began in the early seventeenth century in British parish churches as an aid for the illiterate" ("Lining Out," 1980).
Underscoring the importance of psalmody to worship in the New World as well as in England, the Bay Psalm Book (1640) became the first book published in the American colonies. Observers of colonial life and culture both derided and praised psalmody as the only practical means of continuing worship on a wide scale. The advent of the eighteenth century brought to England and the colonies the hymns of Isaac Watts and other composers as a new medium for praising God. Several editions of Watts's Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs ([1707] 1835) found ready acceptance among settlers and especially among colonial slaves. The Samuel Davies 1755 account of slaves singing hymns late at night in his quarters does not mark an apparent beginning, but rather a point of arrival, of lining out among the slaves: "Sundry of [the slaves] have lodged all night in my kitchen, and sometimes when I waked about two or three o'clock in the morning, a torrent of sacred harmony poured into my chamber, and carried my mind away to heaven. In this seraphic exercise, some of them spend almost the whole night" (quoted in Foote 1850, 286). A certain strength, a discernible style or way of handling the hymns, is by this time apparent in the singing of African Americans. Thus, the lining-out hymns adapted an existing form to the needs and interests of African-American worshipers.
Not until the early nineteenth-century camp-meeting revivals did congregational singing undergo change and adaptation that resulted in some of the earliest documented performances of the African-American spiritual. Abolitionist literature propagandized the spiritual, which came to still wider attention during the antebellum and postbellum years of the mid-nineteenth century (Epstein 1977, 216-237). The first attempt at committing the spirituals to musical notation was Slave Songs of the United States (Allen, Garrison, and Ware [1867] 1965), which focused upon songs collected in several locations, including the South Carolina Low Country. No lining-out hymns are included in Slave Songs, nor are any spirituals found that were also collected in Project Senior Culture or in the Pageland Religious Folksong Documentation Project. This suggests that, while the form and structure of the spiritual continue, most texts pass out of usage with the death of whoever sang particular spirituals in that community.
During the postbellum era and into the twentieth century, W.E.B. Du Bois and others celebrated the spiritual as the earliest original American contribution to world culture (Du Bois [1903] 1982, 265). The spiritual became widely known, mainly through concert performances of rehearsed and arranged spirituals, beginning with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1871 and continuing until the present. Collectors, choral conductors, and arrangers collected and transcribed the spirituals for their musical and aesthetic attributes, apart from their worship context and association with the shout.
During the same period, lining-out hymns remained a relatively obscure form, continuing among white Primitive Baptists in particular areas of Appalachia but widespread among black congregations throughout the Southeast (see Titon 1982). Blacks and whites began to sing in this manner during the colonial era because of widespread illiteracy. However, as the hymns were learned, the formal convention of lining out continued to proliferate among blacks through oral tradition. Ben Bailey (1978, 4) has also observed that the responsorial structure of lining out agreed with the communal and participatory context of African ritual patterns.
Moreover, the universal yet immediate appeal of evangelical hymns by Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and other writers spoke to the slaves' longing for deliverance, freedom, and acceptance (Raichelson 1975, 205-210). Lining-out hymns, such as those evangelist Samuel Davies heard among slaves during the 1750s, represent the primary point of African-American contact with the European sacred heritage; and the ring shout and, by extension, shouting in general represent the primary American connection with African heritage (Stuckey 1987, 16).
Where the spiritual has flourished in Project Senior Culture field settings, it has invariably functioned alongside the shout or the lining-out hymn or both. Additional influences (including shape-note schools, jubilee-style quartets, and especially gospel music) molded congregational singing in the late 1800s and the 1900s. However, the defining elements of African-American vocal tradition-including slurs, blue notes, shouting, and spirit possession-proceed from either the shout or lining-out hymns and converge to common points of synthesis in the spirituals and the blues. On the one hand, the ring shout emphasizes cross-rhythms, body movement, and spirit possession; on the other, the lining-out hymns are calls followed by prolonged responses, which contain an essential range of melodic inflections and harmonic implications, out of which the blues and later gospel performance practices emerged in the early twentieth century.
The impact of the ring shout has been assessed, but the role of liningout hymns awaits definitive examination. The stage has been set for such a work by a range of writings that treat congregational singing in South Carolina, including Allen, Garrison, and Ware ([1867] 1965), Ballanta (1925), Joyner (1971), Crowder (1979), and Duncan (1979).
To think of a hymn or spiritual outside worship is to change its essence. Whether in occasional rehearsals or in performance, the primary function of the songs and hymns is worship, and without the attitude of fervent worship, they lose their beauty and compelling power. Where lining-out hymns continue as a regular part of the service, they are commonly heard during a brief devotional or prayer service before the more formal order of worship begins. Such a devotional might begin with the
singing of a spiritual or lining-out hymn, followed by scripture, a second hymn or spiritual, and a prayer. The average time for this portion of the worship service is ten to fifteen minutes. After the devotional period, churches with a more formal order of worship follow a printed program for the rest of the service. A congregation may sing from regular hymnals, with piano accompaniment where available, and the choir may offer several gospel songs or other selections. In some local traditions, a
hymn choir may sing just before the sermon, or immediately following, or at both times.
Because selections are most often not chosen beforehand, but rather by the unction of the Holy Spirit, hymns and spirituals are most often interchangeable during the course of worship. Any lead singer who is so moved may offer a spiritual from the pews. By contrast, hymns usually begin as a deacon or minister stands and intones or reads a couplet or verse from the front of the church. The congregation then follows a lead singer's melodic response to what has been read or intoned. As the hymn is "raised," there is most often a building volume and density of sound throughout the first chorus, as all members of the congregation find their places in textures that can range from unison to parallel fourths and fifths to heterophony. The harmonic textures, melodic style, and treatment of rhythm and tempo in the lining-out hymns all vary by region.
From the earliest collections of traditional songs to the present, observers have noted both strong similarities and subtle distinctions between versions of the same song or hymn, as heard in various regional locations. All over the region where the slave population was concentrated, strong vestiges remain of regional differences in singing as well as preaching styles.[3]
The Pageland Religious Folksong Documentation Project revealed a correlation between contrasting styles of lining-out
hymn singing and radical difference in the size of church congregations in two neighboring Piedmont counties, Chesterfield and Marlboro. This focus upon regional differences in congregational style was illustrated on a large scale when Bernice Johnson Reagon organized a 1989 Conference on Contemporary Black American Congregational Song and Worship Traditions at the Smithsonian Institution, which brought to the same stage performances of spirituals and lining-out hymns from five locations in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Washington, D.C. (Smithsonian 1989, 6-10). PRFDP afforded an opportunity for comparative study in microcosm, and the Smithsonian program focused on the larger picture; but neither resulted in a cultural map of singing styles that pertain to a contiguous area. Although Project Senior Culture has not fully achieved this goal, it has outlined such a structure by looking at seven area style traditions within a relatively small state. Twenty-three transcriptions included here illustrate the melodic-harmonic character of spirituals and lining-out hymns in those seven church communities; hence, PSC provides a middle ground between study of a particular locale and more comprehensive study of the entire seaboard or southeastern regions of the United States.
By looking at South Carolina in particular, we are able at least to raise questions about how neighboring substyles can be so similar on the one hand, yet so different on the other. While little scholarly attention has been given to this quilted pattern of differing yet related styles, it apparently stems from natural demographic and cultural developments. The most incisive explanation has been that "the style of singing and speaking changes every time you cross a river" (ohnson 1994). The implication is that, prior to modern times, rivers formed natural barriers to regular social and cultural intercourse between communities. This factor certainly played a role in the survival of African practices among Sea Island slaves, who in some cases lived on those islands with few or no white overseers. If, for example, rivers that ran to the sea isolated Johns Island from Charleston's high colonial culture until bridge-building technologies improved during the early 1900s, inland rivers, to a lesser extent, also provided natural barriers to frequent cultural exchange between neighboring communities in the Midlands and Piedmont regions of the state.
For example, in Georgetown and Horry Counties, parts of which are separated by the Waccamaw and Pee Dee Rivers, there are distinct differences in the singing traditions. The singing among black Baptists in Horry County is akin to the central Piedmont traditions that permeate counties along the northeastern border of the state; in contrast, the singing in neighboring Georgetown bespeaks the Low Country shouting style. The black population in Horry County is as sparse as that in Georgetown is dense. The former county was part of the corn and tobacco farming belt during the 1800s, and the latter was chief among the
former rice-producing areas (Joyner 1984, xv-xxii). A similar distinction between related styles separated by rivers is apparent between congregational singing in York and Chesterfield Counties, two central Piedmont areas. Those who attend statewide meetings of churches or lodges note that regional style differences make the singing of lining-out hymns and, to a lesser extent, spirituals difficult in such settings.
Description of a Style Complex in Congregational Singing
Project Senior Culture fieldwork entailed travel to about twenty-one church services and camp meetings throughout the state over a two-year period and revealed a startling array of differing substyles within the overall style complex of congregational singing. The most tangible common point of reference between regional styles is the repertoire of hymn tunes. The list includes "Amazing Grace," "Father, I Stretch My Hand to Thee" (which was not transcribed for this article), "A Charge to Keep I Have," "Come Ye That Love the Lord," "I Heard the Voice," and "Go Preach My Gospel" and bears close similarity to the repertoire that Ben Bailey (1978) identified in Mississippi churches. The most common twentieth-century link between repertoire and congregations that continue the lining-out tradition is the Baptist Hymnal Without Music ([1883] 1991).
There is wide variance in the hymn tunes. Even where hymn tunes used in neighboring areas are nearly identical, subtle harmonic or rhythmic differences often limit the strength of interregional singing. Through comparison of the recorded performances of the worship services at the seven church locations discussed here, each local style has been assessed
for its similarities to and differences from comparable hymn and spiritual performances of other locations.
Boyd Hill Baptist Church, Rock Hill, York County The hymn choir at Boyd Hill Baptist Church in Rock Hill is one of many hymn choirs in the churches of the Upper Division of the Sandy River Baptist Association, which is based in York County. The hymn
choir sings every Sunday, while other Boyd Hill choirs (gospel, young adult, senior, men's, and the like) sing only one Sunday or so per month. Consisting primarily of senior citizens and mature adults, the
Example 1. "Amazing Grace," Boyd Hill Hymn Choir, Rock Hill, York County,
February 1992
John Newton, 1779
A - maz - ing - grace, how__ sweet_ the_ sound
I once was- lost but now I'm_ found
That saved a wretch like _ me.
Was blind but now I see.
Was grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fear relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
Was grace that brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
Example2 . "You'll Be Standing Outside," Boyd Hill Hymn Choir, Rock Hill, York County, February 1992
Mrs. Beatrice Standifer
You'll_ be_ stand-ing out - side. Oh, you'll be stand - ing out -
stand- ing out - side, Oh, you'll be stand -ing out -
side. In that judg - ment morn - ing you'll be starnd - ing out
side. Oh, in that judg- ment morn -ing, dead in Christ shall
side. Oh, in that judg - ment momr-ing, dead in Christ shall
Oh, well the
rise. Oh sin - ner, you'll be stand-ing out - side.
rise. Oh sin - ner, you'll be stand- ing out - side.
Example 3. "Hammer Ring," Boyd Hill Hymn Choir, led by Deacon John Henry Watson, Rock Hill, York County, February 1992
b Dony'to uh e trh at ham-r ham- m e r ring?
Don't you hear htahaamt - mer ham - mer ring?
Don't you hear_ that ham - mer ham - mer ring?
2. Hammer keep on ringing
(Response: Hammer, ring,
Hammer, ring)
3. Ringing over yonder
4. Listen at de hammer
5. Wonder what's de matter
6. Somebody's dyin'
7. Wonder who it is
8. Hammer keep on ringing
9. Ringing all around
10. Somebody's dyin'
11. I wonder who it is
12. Must be my Lord
13. Never said a word
14. Sanctified his blood
15. He never said a word
16. Hammer keeps on ringing
17. Keeps ringing all around
18. They nailed him on the cross
19. They sanctified his blood
20. They nailed him to the cross
21. The sun refused to shine
22. They laid him in the grave
23. Grave couldn't hold him
24. Early Sunday morning
25. Hammer keep on ringing
26. Ringing in my soul
Figure 2. Common clapping and stomping patterns found in spirituals and lining-out hymns
a. Midlands and Piedmont
b. Low Country
hymn choir is seen as the foundation, backbone, and root of a multifaceted continuum, including hymns, songs, quartets, and gospel music. The singing is characterized by two- and three-part modal harmonies; gradual but drastic quickening of tempos; frequent and strong body movement; polyrhythmic clapping and stomping patterns; and frequent spirit possession. The harmonic style of the hymns and the continual accelerando throughout the performances lend special power to the singing. The sound of parallel fourth harmonies ("fat fourths") is everywhere in the lining-out hymns. Each note is sung with a pulling tenuto
emphasis, which adds further definition to this verticality. In slow to moderate tempos this creates a sense of stateliness; as tempos quicken, this emphasis accentuates the rhythmic patterns inherent in the melodies. The continual accelerandos carry hymns from slow or moderate tempos to a shouting pace, marked by clapping patterns, body movement, and spirit possession.
Examples 1-3 were performed on a Sunday morning when Boyd Hill was filled to capacity with a congregation of about five hundred, a hymn choir of twenty persons and a comparable gospel choir seated on each side of a divided chancel, a pianist, and clergy. While a variety of music was featured during the service, no instrument accompanied the lining-out hymns or spirituals.
Immediately following the sermon and just before communion, a seven-minute performance of "Amazing Grace" began at 60 metronome beats per minute (bpm). Foot patting on downbeats and hand clapping of upbeats (see Fig. 2a) was established during the first half of the second verse. By this time, the tempo had accelerated to 88 bpm. Throughout the singing of three verses, the tempo acceleration was gradual; but when the final couplet was sung and repeated, the tempo quickened more rapidly and leveled off at 120 bpm, twice the rate at which the hymn began. The final couplet-"Was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home"-was sung four times; one-third of the song's length was given to the shout section.
The performers say that "the Spirit takes over" as the tempo of liningout hymns quickens during repetitions of the final couplet. This, like most effective performances, is carefully measured or restrained, especially at the beginning, so that the ending tempo does not become unmanageably fast. This gradual movement from slow to fast seems, in effect, to couple the gravity and solemnity of lining-out hymns with the power and intensity of spirituals that accompanied the ring shout. This compounds the two channels of influence (black and white) that have affected African-American music and covers a range of intensity levels as it moves from slow to fast, from harmonic to rhythmic predominance, from verses to a repeated final couplet-a quasi-chorus (see Moe 1986, 60).
"You'll Be Standing Outside," which followed "Amazing Grace," was written by Mrs. Bea Standifer, a choir member and the widow of Richard Standifer, the founding leader of the Boyd Hill Hymn Choir. She had a dream about her daughter, and her concern for her daughter's salvation inspired the song. "You'll Be Standing Outside" (Ex. 2) was sung in the jubilee quartet style, featuring rhythmically punctuated two and three-part harmonies. Sung while the deacons were preparing to serve communion, the performance lasted 3 minutes 40 seconds.
As the deacons began to serve communion, "Hammer Ring" (Ex. 3)
opened at 120 bpm but quickly accelerated to 192 bpm. To keep the
story told by the song from moving too quickly, the short eight-measure
form lends itself to a repetition of each verse. This inspired twenty-sixverse
performance tells the entire story of Jesus' crucifixion, death, and
resurrection in some detail. The manner of Deacon John Henry Walton's
lead singing, which combined an inspired and graceful shout (body
movement) with his singing, inspired the choir and congregation to
move with him, as he dramatized a vision of Jesus and the victory he
won for those who follow him. The song performance was the longest
performance documented in PSC and was followed by shouting, a reprise
of the song, and a testimony. This was an instance where the Holy
Spirit "fell" upon the performers and transformed the moment, imbuing
it with meaning, purpose, and memory. While not considered rare at
Boyd Hill, such moments seem to be neither predictable nor frequent in
churches visited during Project Senior Culture.
As an ordinance of the church, communion is offered every first Sunday
of the month and marks special moments in the spiritual life of
Boyd Hill Baptist. However, there was something especially memorable
about this particular communion service. No other of four Boyd Hill
Example 4. "A Charge to Keep I Have," Gum Springs Baptist Church, Pageland, C hesterfield C ounty, August 30, 1981
(Charles Wesley
A charge_ to keep - I have.
A God to glo ri - y
Who gave his son my soul- to- sve-
And fit it for the skies
And fit it for the skies.
services I attended could match it for the sense of oneness in the group singing and the inspiration apparent in the approach of the lead singers, particularly in the hymn "Amazing Grace" and the spiritual "Hammer Ring."
Gum Springs Baptist, Pageland, Chesterfield County
Examples 4-6 were performed at a quarterly, fifth-Sunday Singing Convention meeting held at Gum Springs Baptist Church. About fifty worshipers were present for two services without preaching, with a break between services for dinner. Pageland is located sixty miles and two counties east of Rock Hill, where Boyd Hill Baptist can be found. While hymns are sung every Sunday in the Boyd Hill setting (an urban "station" church that has a preaching service each Sunday), Gum Springs is part of an association comprised of rural "circuit" churches that share pastors by holding worship services only two Sundays per month. The station churches are most often large and urban, the circuit churches small and rural. The station or circuit status is most often determined by the tradition of precedent in a local church and by the monthly salary a church can offer its pastor.
Example 5. "Everybody Ought to Detour," Gum Springs Baptist Church, Pageland, Chesterfield County, August 30, 1981
Ev -'ry - bo- dy ought to de
tour, Oh, ev-'ry - bo- dy ought to de - tour where there is
trou - ble out on the high - way, you ought to
de - tour an - oth - er way.
2. My mother had to detour, etc.
3. My brother had to detour, etc.
Though rhythmic patterns, vocal timbres, and body movement here are similar to those in Rock Hill, Pageland-area singing differs in harmonies, use of melisma, tempo-change patterns, and incidence of spirit possession. This lack of emphasis upon spirit possession is not only gauged by whether spirit possession occurred in these services but is a statement about the extent to which the style of the singing lends itself to bodily worship. While body movement, as worship, is not completely lacking in Pageland, there is a restraint in lining-out hymn performances that is in sharp contrast with Boyd Hill and other York County
churches. Whereas Boyd Hill (Rock Hill), Zion Fair (Aiken County), and the Jubilee Choir Union (Columbia) continue an active tradition of lining-out hymns led by a hymn choir, no such choirs were identified in the other four locations, including Pageland, Loris, St. Helena, and Georgetown.
Where organized hymn choirs do not exist, there is no mediating force between songleaders and their congregations. The result is less unity and intensity in the singing and more reliance upon the leader him- or herself to receive and impart the fire of inspiration.
Example6 . "Be A cceptedin Thy S ight, O h Lord," G um S prings B aptist Church, Pageland, Chesterfield County, August 3 0, 1981
When I've done the best I can, 0
Lord, and my friends don't un- der - stand,_
0 Lord. Let_ the_ words of- my mouth,
ed
-
i ta-tions of my heart beined
- i - ta-tions of my heart be ac
cep - ted in thy sight,_ 0 Lord.
2. Be accepted in thy sight, Oh Lord
3. When I've prayed my last prayer, Oh Lord,
When I can't pray no more, Oh Lord
4. When I sing my last song, Oh Lord
5. Be accepted in thy sight, Oh Lord
"A Charge to Keep I Have" (Ex. 4) is lined out and sung in a moaning style that features fall-offs, portamentos, and melismas, which inflect the whole of the performance with a modal character, evocative of the blues; however, the blues most likely received its modality from such hymns, which have been sung by blacks since at least the mid-seventeenth century.
"Be Accepted in Thy Sight" (Ex. 6) is a good example of this area's harmonic style, characterized by intermittent open fourths and fifths, falling sixth cadences (mm. 8, 11, and 16), and triadic harmonies that fill in the sound of a modal pentatonic melody. There is but a modest increase in tempo, from a beginning tempo of J = 120 bpm to an ending tempo of 152 bpm. Likewise, there is little or no tempo change in the hymns. The focus of lining-out performances is more upon the solemnity and gravity of meaning ascribed to the texts.
Kingston Lake Missionary Baptist Association, Loris, Horry County
The annual association meeting at Flag Patch Baptist Church took place October 13-15, 1994, and featured the singing of Examples 7-9. A congregation averaging about three hundred persons was comprised almost entirely of delegates to the meeting from Baptist churches belonging to the association. Lining-out hymns are traditionally sung as part of the association devotionals, and this practice is apparently duplicated in varying degrees at the local churches.
The singing consists of melismas and ornaments, especially in liningout hymns; diverse vocal timbres; both syncopated (Uplands) and crossrhythmic (Low Country) clapping and stomping patterns; two- or threepart modal harmonies; and a gradual quickening of tempos. The melodies of the hymns are sung in a lilting, relaxed singing style. In this and comparable traditions (such as that in Chesterfield County), a song is offered up almost tentatively. Through this stylized, deferential gesture, the songleader is, in effect, asking members of the congregation if they will help in raising the song. When a hymn or song is raised, the harmony is filled in and the texture thereby thickened; and a regular rhythm, no matter how slow or fast, is established. Once the song is raised, the leader will often sing more assertively (and perhaps stand up or walk the floor of the church to add emphasis). Here again, as in Chesterfield County, there is special emphasis upon blues inflections and
other portamento singing; however, there is more restraint, with fewer melismas and melodic ornaments.
While there is an occasional syncopated clapping pattern, as an influence
from neighboring Low Country traditions (see Fig. 2b), the singing
Example 7. "Go Preach My Gospel, Saith the Lord," Kingston Lake Baptist Association, Flag Patch Baptist Church, Loris, Horry County, October 14, 1994 Isaac Watts, 1707
"Go preach my gos - pe," saith the Lord.
jBid witoh e eargthra mcJy J I
"Bid the whole_ earth my _ grace_ re - ceive.
Woh, he__ shall be saved_ that_ triust Ily word
And be con - demned who'll __ not be -lieve.
I'll make your great corn - mis - sion known
And ye shall prove my gos - pel true
By all the works that _ I have done.
By all Ilhe wonl der% ye ,shall dlo."
Example 8. "Bread of Heaven," Kingston Lake Baptist Association, led by Mr. Adolph Lewis, Flag Patch Baptist Church, Loris, Horry County, October 14, 1994
0 bread- of hea - ven,_ bread_ of hea - ven,
feed me till I want no more.
0 bread- of hea - ven,_ bread_ of hea - ven,_
feed me till I want no more.
style here is similar to that in the Midlands and Piedmont traditions. Clapping and patting in the standard down-up syncopated pattern is common. Unison singing being predominant, lining-out hymns include occasional harmony in fourths, thirds, and sixths. "Go Preach My Gospel, Saith the Lord" (Ex. 7) begins at J = 48 and, proceeding through four verses, achieves an almost-doubled closing tempo of 84 bpm; however, this increase is less drastic when spread across the four verses of this
popular long-meter hymn. The use of melismas and ornaments in Horry County (about one hundred miles further east of Pageland along the border between the Carolinas) is moderate by comparison to that in the Pageland area but more emphatic than that heard in Rock Hill. It may be that melismas and ornaments serve to push the singing along where
Example 9. "A Charge to Keep I Have," Kingston Lake Baptist Association, Flag Patch Baptist Church, Loris, Horry County, October 15, 1994
Charles Wesley, 1787
A charge to keep I have,
A God to glo - ri - fy
W:h g hi rs-o -my
Who gave his son my soul to
save And fit _ it for the skies.
where there is no choir or group of strong singers who readily follow the leader's tempo and expressive direction.
Jubilee Choir Union, Columbia, Richland County
Columbia's Jubilee Choir Union is based in the center of the state and is stylistically most similar to Gum Springs and the Pageland-area churches. Like that in Pageland, the singing features a lilting style that relies more upon the flow of rhythm than on immediacy of sound, attacks, or tempo changes for its cumulative power. The style is marked by use of melismas and ornaments, especially in the lining-out hymns; diverse vocal timbres; and two- and three-part modal harmonies.
About seventy-five persons were present in the service we visited, during which Examples 10-13 were sung. This second-Sunday singing
Example 10. "Come Ye That Love the Lord," Jubilee Choir Union, Union
Baptist Church, Columbia, Richland County, July 12, 1992
Come ye - that love the - Lord, -
And let_ your joys be-- known,
Join in_ a song- of- sweet ac - cord-
And thus sur - round the - throne.
union brings together mature and elderly singers from as many as seven churches. Hymns and spirituals are sung with moderate accelerations in tempo and include modal harmonies, a significant range of vocal timbres, and similar clapping patterns. Rhythm, though significant, is understated, and spirit possession along with body movement, while frequently
implicated, seldom rise to the forefront of expressive modes.
"Jesus, Thou Art the Sinner's Friend" (Ex. 11) is typical of Jubilee Choral Union performances, which are sung as meditations upon all the verses of a given hymn. The intensification of rhythm plays no significant role in the impact of words and music, as demonstrated by this five-minute performance, which begins at 50 bpm and increases to 56 bpm by the humming that follows the fourth verse. This humming of the hymn melody following the last verse is common in both the shouting hymn couplets from Rock Hill and the slower, more reflective final verses of lining-out hymns from other areas of the state. In a devotional
context from either setting, a prayer may be spoken or chanted over the humming.
Example1 1. "Jesus T hou A rt the S inner's F riend," J ubilee C hoir U nion, U nion Baptist C hurch, Columbia, Richland C ounty, July 12, 1992
Richard Burnham, 1783
1. Je - sus, thou art - the sill
2. Re - mem - ber thy pure word
ner's friend. As such loo
ner's friend. As such I look
of grace. Re - mem - ber- Cal
to__ thee. Now_ in the full - ness of--
va - ry. Re - mem - ber all thy - dy
thy - love -
ing - groans, -
u aj I I
0 Lord,
and then_
1re m- emIe Ir
re - mem - ber me.
re - mem - ber me.
_
BMR Journal
Example 12. "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," Jubilee Choir Union, Union Baptist Church, Columbia, Richland County, July 12, 1992
Horatius Bonar, 1857
1. I heard the _ voice _ of Je
2. I_ came_ to_ Je - sus as
sus say, "Come _ un to me
I was, wea - ry and worn
and rest. Lay down thy wea
and sad. I found in him
ry one, lay down thy hea ry one, lay down __ thy head
a rest - ing place, and __ he
r ^:-: b II.
rrf
b
up - on
has made
my breast.".
me glad.
Example 13. "Come and Go to That Land," Jubilee Choir Union, Union Baptist Church, Columbia, Richland County, July 12, 1992
Come and go to that land, come and go
to that land, come and go to that landwhere
I'm bound, where I'm bound._ Come and go
to that land, come and go to that land,_
come and go to that land where I'm bound.
Aiken County Locations
Although PSC taped two church services in the Aiken County area, examples transcribed here are from rehearsals and informant interviews (see Exs. 14-18). The group of twelve present for the Finizee Singers' rehearsal included eight men and four women. The Zion Fair Choir rehearsals included eight persons: five women and three men.
The Finizee Singers' sound is marked by diverse vocal timbres; two and three-part modal harmonies; melismas and ornaments, especially in lining-out hymns; and little or no quickening of tempos. A range of vocal timbres and especially well-focused, cleanly rehearsed harmonies mark the singing of spirituals and especially lining-out hymns. In performances in the Aiken County locations (by the Finizee Sing-
Example 14. "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," Finizee Singers rehearsal, New Ellenton, Aiken County, September 3, 1994
Horatius Bonar. 1857
1. I heard the voice_ of_ Je - sus say, "Come-
2. I came to Je - sus as I was, wea -
8 un - to- me and rest. Lay down thy wea -ry
ry and worn and sad. I found in him a
one, lay down thy head up - on my breast."
rest - ing place, and he has_ made me glad.
ers, Zion Fair Choir, and the Moodys), the lining-out hymns focused sharply upon the texts as the central meaning of the singing experience. The speed of lining-out hymns did not increase in performance, and tempos were consciously set at rates that facilitated hearing and reflecting upon the hymn's meaning. For example, a complete performance of "Go Preach My Gospel, Saith the Lord" (Ex. 16) began at 46 bpm and increased imperceptibly to only 52 bpm.
Here, as in Rock Hill, because there is a choir or group set aside to sing the hymns, lead singers can more readily elicit a strong and unified response from the group; therefore, while melismas can be heard as a stylized element of the singing, they are less functional than those heard in areas where no choir supports the lead singer and where the singing is less well rehearsed.
Example 15. "Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire," Finizee Singers rehearsal, New Ellenton, Aiken County, September 3, 1994
Hugh Stowell, 1832
1. Prayer is the soul's sin - cere de -sire un - ut - ter'd or ex - pressed, The
2. Prayer is the bur den _ of a sigh. The fall - ing of a tear, The
mo - tion of the - hid - den fire that
up - ward glanc ing- of an eye when
trem - bles in the breast, that
none but God is near, when
trem
none
I I
bles in
but God
the breast.
is near.
The Finizee Singers sing spirituals, jubilee-style gospel songs in call- and- response, and lining-out hymns. Their rehearsals are frequently marked by breaks to discuss the maintenance of given tempos, the need to watch the hymn leader (who also conducts), and other points of style and performance practice. For example, there is conscious emphasis upon allowing the leader to set the tonality and tempo by singing the first one or two notes (the upbeat or anacrusis) with the group or choir
entering together on the first downbeat (crusis).
Example 16. "Go Preach My Gospel, Saith the Lord," Finizee Singers rehearsal, New Ellenton, Aiken County, September 3, 1994
Isz.ic Watts 1707
I. "Go preach_ my gos - pel," saith the_ Lord.
2. "I'll make your great com - mis - sion,
"Bid the whole_ earth my grace- re - ceive.
and- ye shall prove my gos - pel true
He_ shall be saved who'll trust my_ wor _"-~
By all the works_ that I have_ done,
And -- be con - demned _ whoi;I not_ be - lieve."
By all - the won - ders ye shall do."
Whereas other locales place more balanced emphasis upon treble and bass voices or favor treble voices slightly (for example, see Boyd Hill in York County), there is a decidedly bottom-heavy sound in Aiken County. At least in the instances observed, male leaders sang the mel-
Example 17. "Just One More Time," Zion Fair Choir rehearsal, New Ellenton, Aiken County, September 2, 1994
Just one more time, just one more time.
Just one more time,_
O Lord, _ I'm glad to be in the
just one more time. glad to be in the
ser - vice one more time.
ody in a baritone register, a "cushion" of occasional bass notes was heard underneath, and women sang an upper line of harmony in the tenor register.
Another distinguishing feature of this tradition is the identification by name of at least a limited range of tunes, such as "Mulberry" and "Audenville." Identifying some of the tunes used in the singing by name has not been observed in other regions of the state or in related work in North Carolina and Georgia. Comparison of the melodies transcribed for this study with eighteenth-century tunebooks contemporary with the period during which slaves were first exposed to Isaac Watts's Psalms,
Hymns, and Spiritual Songs may offer definitive estimates of the degree to
Example 18. "It's Gonna Rain," Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Moody, Jackson, Aiken
County, September 3, 1994
Oh, it's gon-na rain. 0 Lord, it's gon-na rain.- Oh, you
bett-e rg et uh rea- d y and beathr isi n mind.-
(huh) bet - ter get uh rea - dy and bear this in mind. - (huh)
God showed No - rah, showed him the rain - bow sign.
Won't be wa - ter but fi - uh next time.
Way back in the Bible days
Noah told the people, "it's gonna rain."
But when he told them, they paid him no mind.
Then when it happened, they were left behind.
They tell me when the water began to flow,
they knocked on the windows, they knocked on the door.
They didn't know exactly what to do.
Now you don't want this to happen to you.
Norah told the people, "Sorry, my friends.
God's got the key and you can't get in."
Something's done happened to the hearts of men.
which tunebook melodies influenced lining-out hymns from various regions. For instance, both the use of names for tunes sung in Aiken County and the more formal approach to lining-out hymns observed there suggest greater influence from written sources than that identified in other locations.
Jerusalem Baptist Association, Georgetown, Georgetown County
The Jerusalem Baptist Association includes member churches from Georgetown and Williamsberg Counties. The moderator of the Jerusalem Baptist Association, Dr. Westcott Johnson, is also pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church in Georgetown, the starting point for my fieldwork in this region. Because of technical problems with recording a performance at Bethesda, the only transcription included here is from an annual association meeting held at Oak Grove Baptist in Williamsberg County. This
evening session of the association featured a mass choir concert by forty singers from various member churches, who had been assembled and rehearsed for this annual feature of the association meeting. The audience for this concert was a congregation of about two hundred persons crowded into a small country church.
The singing tradition is characterized by sudden quickening (doubling) of tempos; both off-beat syncopated and cross-rhythmic clapping and stomping patterns; body movement; and unison textures in liningout hymns. The lining-out hymn "Come Ye That Love the Lord" (Ex. 19) was sung as the closing selection of the program's first half. Building upon a unison texture, the rhythm asserts itself by the second verse; and by the third verse, hand clapping and foot patting undergird strident singing and half-spoken interjections between phrases of "Yes," "Hallelujah," "My Lord," and "Glory." By the end of the humming chorus, the
lining-out hymn has arrived at the intensity of a shout. This 4 minute 25 second performance opens at 63 bpm and arrives at 72 bpm by its close. While this increase in actual tempo is negligible, the hymn's rhythm moves from passive to active status throughout the performance. This doubling effect, where the tempo does not increase but the implied off-beat rhythm becomes fully explicated, is consistent with the customary way in which shouts from the Sea Islands and coastal areas are sung. However, there is one important distinction between this performance and the hymn "A Charge to Keep I Have," led by Dr. Johnson at Bethesda in Georgetown (which has not been preserved on tape); while the inland location (Williamsberg County) where all the Jerusalem Association members were gathered used the down-up clapping pattern associated with the Midlands and the Piedmont (see Fig. 2a), the Be-
Example 19. "Come Ye That Love the Lord," Jerusalem Baptist Association
Choir, Oak Grove Baptist, Salters, Williamsberg County, November 7, 1994
Come ye that love the Lord, And
let our joys be known. Join
in a song of sweet ac -
cord, And thus sur - round the throne.
thesda congregation in Georgetown (in the coastal region proper) used the syncopated clapping pattern associated with the Low Country (see Fig. 2b). The comparison of these two styles in which hymn tempos were doubled reveals the cultural boundaries represented by waterways such as the Waccamaw River and perhaps other rivers that separate the city of Georgetown from Williamsberg County and points west.
Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, Beaufort County
Croft Praise House is the only non-Baptist body visited and the only Sea Island location included in this study. The implicit multimeter (3+3+2), cross-rhythmic clapping and stomping patterns, body movement, and sudden doubling of tempos identifies the singing with the Low Country shout style. One hymn and three songs were sung during a short Sunday afternoon praise service (see Exs. 20-23). The hymn and first song were sung without clapping accompaniment, and the last two
songs were accompanied by the syncopated clapping figure common to Low Country singing traditions.
Example 20. "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, July 5, 1992
I heard the voice_ of Je sus
I heard the voice of Je - sus
say, "Come un - to me and rest. Lay_
down, thy-- wea - ry one, lay
down y head up on my
breast."?
down thy head_ up - on my breast."
The hymn "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" was an interesting example of simple linear counterpoint with staggered initial entries between its two lines (see Ex. 20); it is typical of the kind of unison singing with occasional two-part harmony that marks the style. Significant use of melismas or diverse vocal timbres was notably lacking, but the hymn was sung with a strident sense of energy and conviction and a strong, yet restrained, sense of devotional purpose.
Example 21. "If You Live Right," Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, July 5, 1992
Mo - ther, if you pray right,
Hea - ven be - longs to
If you pray right, If you pray right,_
you. Hea - ven be - longs to you.
Oh hea-ven be-longs to you.
Hea-ven be-longs to
you. Hea-ven be-longs to
The singing itself at Croft Praise House was plaintive and sincere, yet alive with rejoicing. The lining-out hymn "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" maintained a stable tempo throughout. Had the worship moment warranted, it might have been accompanied by the syncopated rhythm heard in "Don't Turn Back" (Ex. 22); but, being non-obligatory, the shout seems to be utilized only where the expression of the song carries to the point of "launching" the rhythm. Once this point has been crossed
in a service, it may more easily be approached again because the connection between the corporate believers and the Spirit has already been established. The most striking difference between Croft Praise House and other locations was purely contextual. Because church choirs in the Beaufort- St. Helena Island area are increasingly focused on gospel music, shout you.
Example 22. "Don't Turn Back," Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, July 5, 1992
Oh no, no Oh no_ I Xii - A - 1m
Don't turn back, don't
OOh h nno, onn,o _o
turn back, don't_ turn back, you make my lead- er
make_ your_ lead-er shame_ your lead-er shame_
(Chorus part continues throughout.)
shame.
make your lead-er shame._ Have-a_ hard time-
style singing is often found only in the praise houses. Before I attended an afternoon service at Croft Praise House, I went to a morning service at St. Joseph Baptist Church, which was replete with standard hymns accompanied by piano and gospel renditions from the choir. Despite some similarities between praise-house worship and that in black Protestant churches on St. Helena Island, the praise houses have played a
Example 22, cont. "Don't Turn Back," Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, July 5, 1992
pray long,_ Oh, pray long,_ pray long.-
Nev-er let you go no, let you go_ no,
let you go._ Pray long_ pray long_
Oh, pray long._ Oh, sing on,_ Oh, sing on,_
Oh, sing on. I say no,_ no,-
Oh no, no __
Oh . .
Oh no, no.
particular historical role in the religious life of African Americans on St. Helena and other South Carolina sea islands.[4]
Regional Style Differences in Congregational Singing
The first stage in arriving at a style complex common to all areas was to listen to hymns and songs from each of the seven locations. This done, recordings and transcriptions were checked several times to see if any style element had been overlooked. This process has identified seven characteristics that, in greater or lesser degree, mark the regional
Example2 3. "What A Mighty G od W e S erve," C roft P raise H ouse, St. Helena Island, July 5, 1992
What a might - y God -we serve.
What a might - y God_ we
(Clapping c ontinues)
ing, start ed me on my way.
ing,-- start - ed me on my way.
WWhhaat t aa might - y God might - y God
we serve.
styles of the African-American congregational singing traditions studied: they are diverse vocal timbres; melismas and ornaments, especially in lining-out hymns; two- and (less often) three-part modal harmonies; gradual or sudden quickening of tempos; off-beat or cross-rhythmic clapping and stompingpatterns; body movement; and varying levels of spirit possession.
Diverse vocal timbres.
The range of diverse timbres seems to flow between vibrato, normal, falsetto, and strident singing. Vibrato or falsetto is used in slow to moderate tempos. Growled "flutter" tones and strident singing more often occur when intensity is peaking or when there
is a quickening in the tempo of songs. This range of vocal colors occurs because of a particular approach to vocal production-a certain culturally determined sense of what the voice is and what it can or should do. Pitch portamentos and other pitch bends-blue notes-play a more consistent role in determining the structure of modal scales upon which entire songs or hymns are based. These inflections occur most often, but not solely, on the third and seventh scale degrees. They are especially
prominent in the lining-out hymns and represent a chief point of connection between hymns and the more familiar spirituals.
Melismas and ornaments, especially in lining-out hymns. These elements form the heart of melodic interpolations that help singers achieve their desired goals. Skillful leaders use melismas and ornaments, not as occasions for drawing attention to the sounds, but as a means of moving ahead of, or lagging slightly behind, the "tide" of congregational involvement in the singing. Anticipations, portamentos, and swallowed or "ghost" notes become means of playing with the rhythm of a melodic line. This fluctuation between anticipating and laying back is a means of "conducting" or exerting leadership, which moves the singing in a particular expressive or formal direction.
For example, the spiritual "Bread of Heaven," as performed during the Kingston Lake Association meeting, moves with a lilt typical of the up-country singing traditions (see Ex. 8). "Bread of Heaven" is marked by off-beat rhythms formed from an upbeat clapping pattern, which sounds on beats two and four, and a more or less even duple sound in the rhythm of the melody. The "more-or-lessness" in the rhythm of the melody is created by an alternation of syncopated phrases and even duple phrases. Where the need is felt to "push" or intensify the singing, the upbeat syncopation is used; but where the movement or lilt of the rhythm is already well established, there is a laid-back tendency to sing in even rhythms against the off-beat claps. This alternation of even rhythms and syncopation is the essence of swing, one important influence of congregational singing on jazz and other more visible African-American forms.
Two- and (less often) three-part modal harmonies.
The most self-conscious attention to style and other details, such as tempos and choice of hymn tunes, was heard in the studied and subtle singing style of the New Ellenton area in Aiken County (see Exs. 14-18). There, hymn singing is rehearsed with attention to certain details of style, and three voices lead (or tenor), alto, and bass-are identifiable. In other instances, two lines with an occasional three-part harmony are the norm (see Ex. 1). The powerful lining-out hymn performances from Boyd Hill Baptist in York County are two lines with occasional octave doubling throughout. In the Low Country, where hand and foot
rhythms provide strong accompaniment to the singing, unison or twoline verses and choruses predominate in call-and-response structure (see Ex. 22). In other cases, where the piano or some other instrument accompanies spirituals, the singing usually thins out to a unison texture.
Hence, there is a likely connection between the presence of a prominent accompaniment-pitched or not-and the relative absence of vocal harmony. Gradual or sudden quickening of tempos. There are at least three ways of treating tempo in the congregational singing studied: (1) steady tempos that change only imperceptibly during the course of a performance (in
various Midlands and Piedmont locations); (2) tempo shifts, in which the pattern of emphasis reflects a doubling of the pulse from t to 8, while the tempo of the singing remains constant (in the Low Country); and (3) poco a poco accelerando singing, which tends to get faster as the spiritual intensity of the worship or performance setting rises (York County, in the Piedmont).
Off-beat or cross-rhythmic clapping and stomping patterns. The particular nature, degree, and complexity of rhythmic patterns vary between neighboring communities or counties and appear in more bold relief between major regions, such as the Low Country, the Midlands, and the Piedmont. However, almost all regional styles feature a rhythmic impetus that finds its strength in the combination of two or more rhythmic patterns. Low Country shouting style features cross-rhythms with strong polyrhythmic implications (see Fig. 2b); in contrast, off-beat rhythms in the Midlands and Piedmont traditions group a call-andresponse melody with a downbeat foot pattern and an upbeat clap, all in the context of duple meter (see Fig. 2a).
Body movement
The most apparent element of body movement is the shout or holy dance, which is practiced in some form in all the locations
studied. Body movement can take a range of additional forms: sitting and swaying; clapping and patting; standing; standing, holding hands, and moving them up and down in unison; walking about the church floor or pulpit; dancing in the spirit; running; and falling out in the spirit. Seldom would anyone expect to find all of these in any one worship setting, even within the same style area. Yet most of these movements have particular meaning and significance in the spiritual context of the worship service.
Varying levels of spirit possession.
In spirit possession, a spirit being-in Christian terms, the Holy Spirit-controls an individual worshiper's bodily movements and range of activity. More than any other activity, singing seems to be a means of affecting worship or communion in congregational singing. The goal is to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. The only other portion of the worship service in which remotely comparable levels of spirit possession occur is during sermons; and more often than not, those sermons are intoned (see Spencer 1987).
The attainment of spirit possession may or may not be a felt goal of singing as it begins; but the whole context of congregational singing lends itself to spirit possession as a likely outcome, if not an expressed goal. The very process of selecting songs and songleaders as the worship moment dictates, rather than beforehand, affords an effective basis for
communication with one's own self; with others on an intuitive level; and with the Holy Spirit, as the believers' unifying element in worship. Songs are thus more judged for their spiritual effect than for their aesthetic impact.
However, it would be wrong to conclude that a song's or even worship's effectiveness in general is predicated upon whether or not there is shouting. Generally, shouting occurs irregularly in Missionary Baptist and other older black denominations. There may be a particular meeting or series of meetings during which shouting is a regular or frequent occurrence; however, the very terms of the faith mean that shouting happens as the Spirit (God) wills and not as humans will. PSC fieldwork has noted spirit possession where it occurred, but little more can be said without intensive fieldwork in specific locations. Spirit possession in its
relation to music within a local church can best be observed over a course of time rather than during one service or several worship services.
Comparison of Regional Distinctions in Congregational Singing
Unique among the congregational singing styles studied is the shoutstyle singing in the Low Country, including the Sea Island and coastal regions. There are counterparts to these traditions in other coastal states,
Table 1. Distinctions Between Regional Styles
Low Country Midlands and Piedmont
Shout (ring) Lining-out hymn
Cross-rhythm Off-beat syncopation
Monophonic Homophonic
Body movement Vocal timbres
especially Georgia. The shouting style of singing in the Sea Islands is a musical counterpart of the Gullah language pattern and marks the Sea Island tradition as a distinctive example of Creole culture. This relatively even blend of Old and New World patterns sets the Sea Islands and adjacent areas apart from singing and other traditions in the Midlands and Piedmont regions.
Shout-style singing is to Low Country tradition what the lining-out hymn is to various Midlands and Piedmont traditions: the most tangible connection with a fixed point of historical and cultural reference. For the Low Country, that reference is the ring shout, and for inland traditions, the lining-out hymn. The rhythmic texture of Low Country singing is based on a 3+3+2 cross-rhythm that is constant throughout the Sea Island regions in South Carolina and Georgia. Further inland, various combinations of downbeat and upbeat duple rhythms form a "rhythmic cushion" for the singing. In the former pattern, the rhythm becomes the chief and most apparent structural element. In the latter, rhythm still guides the shape of phrasing, dynamics, and accentuation, but its influence is much less apparent. The following paired list of features is an attempt to illustrate bold distinctions between the two most pervasive regional styles (see Table 1).
Low Country singing is overtly cross-rhythmic and receives its impetus from the clapping and stomping patterns that undergird the worship and celebration. The first chorus or two of a song or hymn is typically sung at a medium tempo with little or no clapping; then, all subsequent verses or choruses are sung and clapped in a tempo roughly twice as fast as the original verse. The tempo is not doubled, but the accent is changed so that the half note becomes two quarters.
While the singing tradition in York County, an inland Piedmont location, seems to reach similar heights of expressive and rhythmic intensity, the unfolding process of celebration is entirely different. The lining-out hymns in York County (Rock Hill) begin in a restrained, almost mournful adagio tempo, ever so gradually quickening, like the low boiling of a pot, until clapping, patting, and shouting follow from the singing. At this point in the worship, the singing becomes an accompaniment for the more body-centered expressions. Extending from the very gradual poco a poco accelerando, the last verse of a hymn is often sung repeatedly at more than twice the initial tempo.
The hymn choir leader then may finish the song, only to offer a reprise, during which the rhythmic clapping, patting, and outbursts of shouting continue. At this stage of the performance, the rhythmic patting, clapping, and indeed the singing,
become the accompaniments to shouting. As the shout and the rhythmic pattern intensify, the importance of the singing recedes to the background. This Piedmont style is both different from and similar to the shouting style of the Sea Islands and coastal areas. While the Sea Islands shoutstyle singing comes as a sudden doubling of tempo after a song or hymn has been sung at a moderate pace, the hymn choirs around York County begin slowly, then gradually speed their hymns until they become a ball of rhythmic and expressive fire. Distinctions between the two traditions are therefore apparent.
Both traditions feature an intensity of expression created by a blend of strong body movement, rhythmic patting and stomping, spirit possession, and increasingly strident singing. As the performances begin, singing is the primary focus. But as the climax approaches, singing becomes the least important of several activities. When "the Spirit is high" in the latter stages of a song, the singing may cease altogether as the "song" continues through rhythm and body movement. The apparent connection
here is with the ring shout, in which singing functions as an accompaniment for shouting.
Summary and Recommendations
The diversity of lining-out hymn tunes used in South Carolina alone-not to mention the entire Southeast-begs for more thorough study that would compare transcribed melodies with tunebooks and would include hymn melodies from all regions of South Carolina and even the southeastern United States. For example, Project Senior Culture did not include churches located in the extreme western Piedmont region of the state, between the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor and the Tennessee border. Contacts were made, but several early efforts to arrange field visits did not prove successful. If scholars wish to continue
programs, documentation, and research, they could rectify such omissions. We have considered current tunes and texts, without reference to taped performances in the Library of Congress collection and other archives that date from the 1920s and 1930s. There is a need for such sources to be consulted as a means of particularizing historical perspectives about the development of lining-out hymns that are already selfevident; for example, a comparison of hymns sung in certain areas in the
1920s or 1930s with recordings made in the same locales in the last fifteen years could speak volumes about the nature and degree of change the songs and hymns have undergone over time. This kind of comparison could help to explain how spirituals and lining-out hymns have changed during the last sixty years and, by inference, over the more than two hundred years since the 1707 publication of Watts's Psalms,
Hymns, and Spiritual Songs.
Because most studies of congregational singing have emphasized the Low Country in general, PSC made a conscious effort to include more Midlands and Piedmont locations. However, more current attention to Sea Island and coastal traditions is needed. It appears that congregational singing in these areas has undergone more rapid change during the last fifty-and especially the last twenty-years than has inland congregational singing. Guy and Candie Carawan (1989) indicate that the local praise-house traditions observed during the 1960s exhibited a vitality, which reportedly does not continue in the same way today. While
the praise-house tradition does continue, it no longer occupies the central place in the culture of Johns, James, Edisto, and Waccamaw Islands that it held as recently as the 1960s. As alive and intimate as the singing was in Croft Praise House in July 1992, during the service Deacon Garfield Smalls referred to the way in which tradition has changed in recent years. And as our group of perhaps ten persons worshipped, the sound of many more boys playing in the field across the road was a stark reminder of the rapid change underway during the last half of the twentieth century, in particular.
Do we simply cry out for a time that is past to which we cannot return, or do we look more carefully at what remains? We must nominate more congregations to existing state and national heritage awards programs. We must present awards to masters of the congregational singing traditions. We must encourage churches and related institutions to develop annual interregional meetings where workshop sessions will rehearse various local and regional congregational singing traditions and pass them on to young audiences. Such state or regional meetings, if planned in conjunction with public schools, would ensure that living
traditions will not pass from sight without notice. Traditional masters who have become performing artists, such as the Seniorlites Johns Island), the Georgia Sea Island Singers (Brunswick), and the McIntosh County Shouters (St. Simon's Island, Georgia) play an important role in bringing congregational singing to mass audiences; however, a much more proactive posture is needed at the grassroots level of churches, communities, and states in which the tradition has continued of its own accord for three hundred years.
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1. Boyd Hill Baptist Church, Rock Hill, York County
2. Gum Springs Baptist, Pageland, Chesterfield County
3. Kingston Lake Missionary Baptist Association, Loris, Horry County
4. Jubilee Choir Union, Columbia, Richland County
5. Aiken County
6. Jerusalem Baptist Association, Georgetown, Georgetown County
7. Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, Beaufort County
Figure 1. County map of South Carolina showing primary field locations of Project Senior Culture were based in those churches. When I contacted them, the leaders of the churches so recommended approved my plan to visit and record their services. Recorded during a two-month period in 1981, the majority of PRFDP documentation is from annual revival services that take place in July and August. More than one service was recorded in many PRFDP locations. PRFDP resulted in the documentation of more than two hundred songs and hymns from a three-county area: Lancaster, Chesterfield, and Marlboro Counties (see Fig. 1).
Project Senior Culture (PSC) is so named in the hope that from it might come a series of intervention programs designed to encourage the transmission of a range of endangered traditions, including singing and storytelling, to younger generations. The long-term goal of this work is to explicate the relationships between lining-out hymns and other seminal forms that have attained greater visibility, such as spirituals, blues, sermons, and gospel music. This goal is important because definitive
study of the lining-out hymns has lagged far behind that of related African- American genres; therefore, the complementary and immediate goals of PSC have been to identify and describe area and regional singing styles and, in so doing, to enhance general appreciation of the place of lining-out hymns in African-American heritage.1
PSC was funded by the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts and sponsored by Benedict College, a historically black institution affiliated with the Missionary Baptist church and located in Columbia, South Carolina. A range of possible PSC locations was suggested by Reverend John Williams, Director of Church Relations at Benedict College. Following his leads, I contacted moderators and pastors by letter, followed by telephone calls. The project found varying levels of receptivity: some readily invited us to record their services; some interviewed me before any opportunity was forthcoming for us to interview them or their members; and some simply dismissed the idea of the project. [2] In the end, fourteen worship locations were visited in PSC. The seven discussed here include those where usable field recordings were made and where the singing was pertinent to the subject of this article. They are the following (see Fig. 1): Boyd Hill Baptist Church, Rock Hill, York County; Gum Springs Baptist, Pageland, Chesterfield County; Kingston Lake Missionary Baptist Association, Loris, Horry
County; Jubilee Choir Union, Columbia, Richland County; three locations in Aiken County; Jerusalem Baptist Association, Georgetown, Georgetown County; Croft Praise House, St. Helena Island, Beaufort County.
Perhaps because Benedict College's sponsorship facilitated access to
local Baptist churches, all but one of these seven locations are Baptist. The preponderance of Baptist churches included in the study may limit the extent to which comprehensive regional comparisons can be made; but even though there are regional pockets of influence where United Methodist (Anderson County), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (Lancaster County), and other non-Baptist missionary efforts have flourished among African Americans in South Carolina, Baptist church members
constitute the majority of church-affiliated blacks in South Carolina, and there is continuing cultural exchange among African-American church bodies. Therefore, Missionary Baptist churches, as a denomination, remain the most logical starting point for such a statewide survey of congregational singing among African Americans.
Most PSC fieldwork involved documentation of only one service. This limitation was imposed by the practical considerations involved in covering an entire state with limited travel funds. However, several services were taped at Kingston Lake (four), Aiken County (three), and Boyd Hill (four). PSC tapes contain about sixty songs from seven locations that span the state and represent each of the three regions into which the state is customarily divided. These include the Piedmont, the Midlands,
and the Low Country. The Piedmont extends from the extreme northeastern sector of the state toward the east as far as Marlboro County (see Fig. 1). The Midlands encompass the band of counties that runs from east to west through the center portion of the state, from Darlington and Florence counties, to Richland, where the capitol, Columbia, is located, to Edgefield and Aiken. The Low Country begins with Georgetown in the north and continues down to Jasper and Hampton in the south and
as far west as Barnwell County.
Because spirituals, and especially lining-out hymns sung by the elders, are more in danger of disappearing than are other forms of congregational singing, PSC fieldwork documented these forms. These congregational songs and lining-out hymns are still being sung or "raised" in the old-time, unaccompanied way. Developed by slaves during the campmeeting revivals of the early nineteenth century, spirituals are rhythmic, call-and-response song forms that continue in oral tradition among African-
American congregations.
FOOTNOTES
3. See Spencer (1987) for examples of the diversity of preaching styles within the form
of chanted sermons. Regional distinctions between cultures are not limited to communicative
forms. Casual observers of everything from furniture to food have noted these distinctions.
Kovacik and Winberry (1989, 209) have even developed a South Carolina regional
map of barbecue sauce preferences.
4. [See the related discussion of praise houses in the article by Guy and Candie Carawan in this issue. -Ed.]
REFERENCE FOOTNOTES
1. To this end, this article will be reprinted in booklet form with photographs and circulated
to churches, libraries, and schools throughout South Carolina.
2. I am especially thankful to those who, either at once or with some deliberation, saw
the need for this work and encouraged it; they include Pastor Billy Wilson of Boyd Hill
Baptist, Mr. Adolph Lewis of the Kingston Lake Association, Reverend Kenneth Doe of St.
Joseph Baptist (St. Helena), Deacon M. L. Smith of Columbia's Jubilee Choir Union, Mr.
Joseph Wilbome of the Finizee Singers (Aiken County), and Dr. Westcott Johnson of Bethesda
Baptist Church.