Dorothy A. Johnson
English I (7)
December 19, 1922.
American-Negro Folk Songs.Music as the high art of which we think is a comparatively recent thing, but it is probable that music in some form has existed as long as speech itself. When man first expressed his ideas in words, he learned to express his emotions in music. One of the earliest comprehensible forms of music of the common people of any country was the folk-song. As the recorded expression of the emotions of a people they are invaluable, and they are of even greater importance because in them we see a beginning of the recognition of musical form as we have it today.(1) If folk-music is of such vital importance in the musical history of a country, surely it is necessary to find some form of folk-music as a musical background for own [sic] own country. America as a civilized nation is so new that her folk music is sadly lacking in comparison with other countries, but America has folk-music in the songs of the American Negro. Even the music of the original American, the Indian, has not played so important a part in the musical history of our country.
The African negros are probably the most gifted musically of any primitive race; that is today, their music is the nearest like the music of the cultured nations in form and tonality. The songs as we have them today are many of them founded on the pentatonic scale, in which the fourth and seventh tones are omitted, and they nearly all retain a barbaric, exotic character, owing to their barbaric origin. (2) It is natural that the words of such folk-songs should be crude and inartistic, but the melodies are surprisingly sweet and artistic.
Although the negro is naturally a happy-go-lucky, carefree individual, his songs are not so much expressions of joy and mirth as they are expressions of a slave's sorrow in bondage from which he has no hope of release on this earth. Therefore, his songs are largely of a semi-religious character, expressing his hope of release in the world to come. One out-standing feature of these "Sorrow Songs" is the fact that a note of triumph is always present, even in the most despairing passages.(3) The well-known "Spirituals." were songs or hymns the negro made for himself when he adopted his master's religion, and are centered about such familiar religious subjects as Samson, the Ark, Daniel, Moses, Judgment Day, and Jesus Christ and His miracles.(4) Satan also was a favorite topic, being treated in much the same humorous fashion as he was treated in the old Miracle Plays of medieval Europe.(5) There are many beautiful melodies among the old spirituals including such well known airs as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Steal Away to Jesus." The latter is interesting because it originally had an underlying significance far from religious. It was sung by the slaves on the plantations near the end of the day as a kind of signal to other slaves that a secret religious meeting was to be held that night, and when the slave sang "I hain't got long to stay here", he was thinking not of the shortness of life, but the short time before he would leave his hard work to attend a pleasant religious meeting.(6) In addition to the spirituals proper, which were sung sitting down, there were what were called "running spirituals" or "shout songs." The shouts took place on Sunday or on praise nights. When the spiritual was struck up, the negros present formed a circle and shuffled around the room with a jerky movement. Sometimes they sang the chorus of the spiritual and sometimes they shuffled in silence. The monotonous thud of their feet could be heard half a mile distant.(7)
There are many other classes of negro folk songs besides those of a religious nature. These include children's ditties, love songs, work-songs, and dances. It would be impossible to speak of them all in detail. Let it suffice to say that they are not as valuable musically as the religious songs.
After all, what is the point of describing and discussing negro folk-music at such length? The "Literary Digest" of October 20, 1917 says, in part: "Our only original contributions to the domain of American art have come to us through our negro population[.] In the spirituals or slave songs the negro has given America not only its only folk songs but a mass of noble music. How did the men who originated them manage to do it? The sentiments are easily accounted for; they are mostly taken from the Bible; but the melodies, where did they come from, some of them so weirdly sweet, and others so wonderfully strong? Take, for instance 'Go Down, Moses.' I doubt if there is a stronger theme in the whole musical literature of the world. The negro possesses a valuable and much needed gift that he will contribute to the future American democracy."(8) To prove the truth of this statement we have only to look at the effect that negro folk music has already had on American music, and on the music of other nations. George W. Chadwick is the best known of the American composers who have used negro themes. He made use of such themes in his second symphony. But it was a Bohemian, Antonin Dvorak, who ranks the highest among composers who have used negro music. His "New World" Symphony is based almost entirely on negro folk-songs, and anyone who has heard it must confess that it contains some of the most beautiful melodies ever written. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a negro of English birth, was the first negro to win reknown [sic] in the field of art music. He has used negro themes in many charming compositions.(9) If foreign composers recognize the high worth of our negro folk songs, surely we should do all in our power to preserve and develop what is our own American folk music.
1. Spaulding. Music: An Art and a Language. p. 20
2. American History and Encyclopedia of Music v. 8 p. 50
3. Ibid. pp. 51-54.
4. Talley. Negro Folk Rhymes. p. 314
5. American History and Encyclopedia of Music. p. 54.
6. Talley. Negro Folk Rhymes. p. 301
7. Krekbiel. Afro-American Folk Songs. p. 33.
8. Literary Digest of Oct. 20, 1917. The Negro's Contribution to American Art. pp. 26, 27.
9. American History and Encyclopedia of Music. p. 59.
Bibliography American History and Encyclopedia of Music. Volume 8. W. L. Hubbard. 1908
Krekbiel. Afro-American Folk Songs. G. Schirmer. New York 1914
Spaulding. Music: An Art and a Language. Arthur P. Schmidt Co. 1920
Talley, Thomas W. Negro Folk Rhymes The MacMillan Company. New York. 1922.
The Literary Digest. Vol. 55. No. 16. The Negro's Contribution to American Art. pp 26, 27.