For Duane Kay, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, gospel music holds a central place in the religious experience and how people relate to their faith. After a recent Sunday service at his Queen Street church, he recalled listening to his father’s James Cleveland records and marveling how the power of music could touch the soul. It was then, singing “God Has Smiled on Me” with his father, that he first realized the special ability that gospel music has to touch the soul.
“For me, gospel music is all about the good news of Jesus Christ,” said Kaye. “It has the power to move us, no matter who we are.”
In honor of Black History Month and in celebration of the gospel music’s rich history, Ebenezer Baptist Church is sponsoring a three-day “Gospel Music Workshop.”
Registered participants will work with a Nebraska-based consultant to learn songs representing several historic eras in black gospel music from the 1880s to the present. The culmination of the workshop will be a concert at T.C. Williams High School on Feb. 24 in which workshop graduates will bring life to gospel songs new and old.
“One of the highlights of the concert will be ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,’ which will be done in four distinct styles,” said Keith Exum, Ebenezer’s minister of music. “First, we’re going to do an a cappella version. Then, we’re going to do a traditional version followed by a New Orleans jazz style. Finally, at the end of the medley, the song will be performed in a contemporary style.”
GOSPEL MUSIC is an art form that has its roots in the Negro spirituals sung by southern slaves during the 18th and 19th centuries, and its modern incarnation employs a full range of instrumentation and techniques. Every Sunday at Ebenezer, the music is so central to the church experience that many participants think it transcends human interaction.
“It allows people to be in touch with their spiritual emotions without having to admit what they are,” said Ronald Jewell, a deacon at Ebenezer. “This is a kind of music that has a rhythm and a spirituality that comes from Africa.”
Jewell said that the history of black people runs in a kind of parallel to the history of gospel music, marking a time when Southern blacks were forbidden from learning to read and write. To communicate their experiences, Jewell said, blacks created an elaborate musical tapestry of feelings and emotions from their African traditions. As a result, he said, the music holds a central place in the American experience of black people and an undeniable religious power.
“You can hear all of these things in the music,” said Jewell. “There’s pain, but there’s also a great deal of joy.”
Matthew Coats, music director at the church, said that gospel music embraces the listener in a way that’s very personal — creating a link between the sacred and the human. After a recent Sunday service that included a wide array of musical styles, including everything from jazz and blues to ragtime and funk, Coats said that any musical styles can be used to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“To me, it’s God’s way of letting you know ‘I’ve got you,’” Coats said. “And the words of a gospel song can soothe the spirit and reassure you.”