The Negro Music of the South
THE NEGRO MUSIC OF THE SOUTH
*Reprinted from the Southern Workman 22 (November 1893): p. 174
AN INTERESTING LETTER to the New York Herald from the Director of Music at Hampton Institute.
To the Editor of the Herald:-
I have read with a great deal of interest the articles by Dr. Dvorak and others, pertaining to Negro melodies and their value musically, published in the Sunday Herald; also the opinions of various European composers of reputation. As my work for the last ten years has been in this field, as musical director and choir leader at Hampton Institute for Colored and Indian Pupils, and the only institution in this country, I think, where this plantation and slave music is taught regularly and systematically to its students, perhaps a word right from the home of this music might prove interesting.
Its origin I have never been able to trace accurately. An old "aunty" on being questioned on this subject declared that, "When Mass'r Jesus He walk de earth, when he feel tired He sit a-restin on Jacob's well an make up dese yere spirtuals for His people." A half familiar strain, recalling some old ballad or psalm tune, now and then suggests a possible solution for some, of them; but in the main they are strikingly original, quaint, pathetic, and, in some cases, as in "Church of God" and "Some o' Dese Morning," even artistic in their beauty. But the most striking attribute of the genuine "spirituals" is their utter simplicity, being based entirely on three chords, or the tonic, sub-dominant and dominant of the key, and I have yet to find one containing a modulation, either forward or backward; and as originally sung the harmony is often confined to open fifths and octaves, the third often being absent; but in rhythm they are especially rich. Every form known to musicians almost can be found, and it is on this rhythm that a large share of their effectiveness depends.
The length of the piece and number of verses depend on the ingenuity of the leader. They are usually in two or three parts or strains. First, the refrain or chorus, sung by all; second, the short verse or couplet, and usually; and curiously enough, having no connection with the subject of song; and third, the short response after each couplet; as, for instance:-
IN DAT GREAT GETTIN' UP MORNIN'
Chorus - In dat great gettin' up mornin',
Fare you well! fare you well!
In dat great gettin' up mornin',
Fare you well! fare you well!
First verse
Solo - Dere's a better day a' comin'
Refrain - Fare you well! fare you well!
S.- When my Lord speaks to His Fader
R. -Fare you well! fare you well!
S. - Says Fader I'm tired o'bearin'
R. -Fare you well! fare you well!
S. - Tired o' bearin' fo' poor sinners'
R. -Fare you well! fare you well!
Chorus again, and so on for sixty verses.
The tune is very simple, being composed of two phrases to the words, "Fare you well!"
COLLECTING NEGRO SONGS.
We have in our published volume of "Slaves Songs" over one hundred different songs, and I have many more in manuscript as taken down from the lips of our students from various parts of the South year after year, making a valuable legacy to the "future music" of America. But whether these songs will retain their beauty and effectiveness when rendered into instrumental form I seriously doubt, for it is now a difficult matter to make them "sound right" to the "old slaves" even when the slight alterations of adding simple harmonies here and there are made, and I often hear expression after one of our concerts.
"Dose are de same ole tunes, but some way dey do'n sound right."
The question is, Will they be more beautiful in their symphonic treatment and form than now in their old time simplicity? Even now the younger generation of colored singers do not give them with the effectiveness that the "old timers" did, and the reason, of course, is that the old people made them the expression of their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears, and these hymns or spirituals were a part of their very being. Their children know or remember nothing of those "dark days," and the songs do not mean what they did to the parents, so the life of the rendering isn't there.
As General Armstrong truly said, "The more civilized you make them the more valueless you make them," and I have noticed how different the students sing them when they first come to the school. Then one hears in the sometime quavering voice
quaint little turns in the melodies and odd pronunciation. After a contact with our sight singing teacher, our English teacher and teacher of elocution, something is missing from the songs, and this goes on as long as the student remains here. Corrected pronunciation and corrected singing make the difference. It is very difficult to teach an educated colored youth to render these songs in the old time way. White people, however well trained musically, make absolute failures of them. How to sing them cannot be explained in words. Study all the rules you please and then go listen to a native.
And if these tunes are to form the basis of our future symphonies, &c., they must be taught right and by those who thoroughly understand their characteristics, as it is a very short step between some of these tunes and the minstrel tunes of a few years ago, and some cannot detect the difference; but to the experienced no confusion can ever exist.
Hampton Institute is doing a great work for music in keeping up and perpetuating this the only real American music. All through the South it is rapidly passing away, and if these people in their former degradation could and did produce such beautiful melodies, what may they not do after taking advantage of Mrs. Thurber's magnanimous offer, as published by the Herald, and training under so eminent a master as Dr. Dvorak, who is thoroughly awake to the future of our music? Surely thousands will rise up and call them blessed. The Negro now has his chance, and we shall all watch eagerly for the result. By this one step Mrs. Thurber has done more for music in America than thousands of dollars sunk in operatic enterprises could do, and the
good that will result cannot be overestimated. A new school is developing, and fortunate we are that Dr. Dvorak is at the helm. Thomas P. Fenner said twenty-two years ago of the Negro race. "Will it in its musical maturity produce a composer who will bring a music of the future out of the music of the past?" Mrs. Thurber and Dr. Dvorak make this possible.