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    Intellectual History

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    HAPTER 1 Intellectual History Portia K. Maultsby and Mellonee V. Burnim with contributions from Susan Oehler peginning with descriptions of African music-making during the weeeenth century recorded by casual observers, the study of ‘African-derived musics in the United States has evolved into a dynamic area of scholarly investigation/The proliferation of methods from vari sus disciplines of scholarly er{gagement has changed and enriched this field over the centuries. Many students of African American music, for example, employed the tools of Western-derived musical analysis, which emphasized the study of music as sound, focusing on elements” of structure and technique. Historical musicologists approached their snidy largely through the exploration of primary documents such as newspapers, manuscripts, organizational records, personal letters, and diaries, which they combined with secondary sources and musical anal- ysis to produce descriptive and analytical narratives on this tradition. In contrast, scholars from fields such as anthropology, ethnomusicology, sociology, cultural studies, and history, to name only a fe models that acknowledged the importance of the cultural, social, and political milietix in determining the character of musical traditions. In ethnographic-centered studies, scholars collected field research data a8 a method for establishing music-making as a process ground in culture-specific meaning, Still another approach to the study of Aftican American music combined components from anthropologi- cal and musicological models, employing 4 qualitative framework to interpret quantitative data. In the last decade of the twentieth century Many scholars expanded these models to include methodological an analytical approaches from various other disciplines. Middle Passage The transatlantic - journey from Africa to the 7] New World ; during slavery. ‘Antiphony ‘A performance - practice in which a singér or “instrumentalist makes a musical ‘statement which is answered by another soloist, instrumentalist,» ‘or group. 3 The statement and answer sometimes overlap. Also called call-response; call-and- | response. As the breadth and de ipth of schol music evolved, so did the foci of study and a ae tions. While issues of race, culture, and clas one aa , verse t representatit ic it i epresentation, identity, aesthetics, commodifi P' ron, a well as gender, diasporie connections, ant} music, i i" a , became standard subjects of scholarly inqui tiech century. Yer, in’ virtually every instance, both : : : , bor content of writing on Aftican American music a cn perspectives characteristic of the given igmrie asa Petiod cultural context. As the overall sco} Am pe of scholarship in Afri ' . _ beam more inclusive, the hierarchy of usa value . . i 2 rican American music as inherently inferior o musics er ry in the La Ss mete ering ssa erent theme opicsas on™ sins, and the pote: tics of e ten acter dominay, and socio, CAN music at ranked European descent was, in large part, dismantled. As new sic emerged, an accompanying domain of schol: oni oF Black mg. | lowed, although some i a ee rf gl genres received attention mote readily tha others. As the movement of African Americans withit er American society became less circumscribed, as eee African Americans was more strongly fle in che Uaied ee ‘as African American voices assumed greater acceptance perp nence in articulating their own perspectives in writing, the s ia of scholarship on African American music consequently broaden ANTEBELLUM PERSPECTIVES EM | Music-making by people of interest beginning with descri their slave cargo fit, slaves performed their nati musical instruments to acco! helped document pract century, accounts o! as observed by slavel surface. Sources suc! provided firsthand d noting ¢ importance of | circle that serve at musical events. Almost commented on the profouns values and those of thi f New “uncivili the music-making of Black wild,” and “nonsensical.” the cransfer of African instr tices co che New World.’ locumentation he use of antiphony as 2 dance in African m' das a contextual t uniformly, early yerween e slave populace. zed” African rituals, ; swith such pejorat ive * By the third decad World music+ holders, travelers, and miss fh as diaries, journals, reports, recurrent m' uusic making, d distinctions b Equatiny Europeans most Other important st frame to organize ‘African descent became a subject of | ptions of the Middle Passage. To keep ship crews “danced the slaves”; naturally, the dances, sometimes using their ovn | mpany them, Shipboard accounts uments and musica je of the seventeenth 1 , and d European ve terms as making by African slaw jonaries began and memoits | 1s of Blacks: | .; were advertisements for runaway ong slave activi ir music co A dented ther presence in many ofthese early works slaves hough PerSPA ral bias, they nonetheless are invaluable a ‘African American music. Authors hine Wright, and Bruce Jackson that either compiled or as- -al skills. Fred Bur i veil Banents for studies on (0 primaty ein, Eileen S Dena presencative 5 outhern, Josep ‘ampling of works ¢ Post i erican music, which expanded over i Sa gn ante. rel the onset of istinct repertoire and thusical traditions az cans were hardly known outside the South. The iat exposure of northern Whites £0 the concept of African largess ‘cultural production began in 1843 through the introduc- nei aatel show, form of entertainment consisting of ion © ‘and musical presentations in which Whites Prekened cher faces in caricature of African Americans. Despite wf promotion of these productions 2s authentic, minstrel audienc- an virally no firsthand knowledge of the music of slaves that 2 ii allow them c judge the accuracy of cheir evolving representa: coil gnonledge of authentic African American music as performed py Affean Americans themselves became more widespread with the i ation and subsequent national and international cours of spe sk jubilee Singers? The success of the Fisk effort prompted che ie plishmene of similar ensembles at other newly formed institu. fons of higher learning dedicated to the education and training of former slaves. Publi this distinct repertoire led to the pro- Iiferation of printed collections of Negio spirituals. ‘The Early Twentieth Century Between 1910 and 1929, more than 100 collections of Negro spiri- tuals appeared, approximately four tisries the number published beoween 1890 and 1909.‘ Prefacing this early twentieth-century publication flurry was Slave Songs of the United States, che first collec- tion of Negro spirituals ever to be published. Its compilers, William Allen, Chatles Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, were all graduates of Harvard University, drawn to the Georgia Sea Islands in response fo the abolitionist call for assistance to instruct the newly emancipated slave population. The three were not folklorists, anthropologists, OF ‘musicologists, and their training in music represented that of the dedicated amateur” at best. Theit personal fascination with the ‘music and collective desire to make these songs known to the general Public prompted cheir compilation of 136 songs, most of which were Negro spirituals.s Intellectual History ae aMilaf— re — ‘Minstrel show | Full-length | theatrical "entertainment | featuring | performers in | blackface who | performed | songs, dances, t : and comic | skits based on parodies and: | stereotypes | of African | American life and manners: | Spiritual / Religious music: © of Affican | Americans. during slavery. __ Descendants of off the coasts of South Carolina African cultural \s Slave Songs of the United States stands out in the esta scholarship in African American music for several teasong mete of preface details the context and character of music sungin the” |_ half ofthe nineteenth century by che people known'sc te ng | considered to be the group of Aftican Americans who exh oah | greatest range of Affican retentions inst United States gi the collectors expressed their inability to transcribe i Perfo the melodies as sung by Blacks, acknowledging the overall a es of of the repertoire, which posed great challenges in se sr ey : senting the musical nuances in conventional Western nae) "Pe. ae fundamental problem of how to notate with comennee te {music that did not conform to conventional rules” wu? = 2 Tugy McKim Garrison, the most musically literate of 84 pra She lamented: * Boup a tis difficult to express the entire character of these egro [sc] ballads ty Ave heme notes an sign. The odd tums made in the throay anda, Ee Bathe fee «produced by. Single vies chiming in at differen itrgutse a% , cas on the seo or the rones ofan Aeolian arp? ton ne SOR as the igig tig, ee Third, Slave Songs documented the widespread interest in the ae music of African Americans, especially among northers, Whites as well asthe general acknowledgment of African American ne eee as a form of expressive behavior distinct from that of Whites Th | Inh collection includes contributors, mainly northern Whites, who | ‘Wall submitted music, text, or both, of songs they had first heard during Negi the Ciyil War. Afric Public reaction to the publication of Slave Songs was mixed. anat Dena Epstein noted, most music journals ignored it; others labeled te rated collection as fcuriow}” and irs content as “wild,” “irregular. “pathetic! com; strange.” The 1868 review in Lippincott Magazine declared tht i “ic was hardly worth while to try to perpetuate this trash, vulgaiy ee and profanity by putting ic in print.” Although a second edition vs rt reissued in 1871, the collection later sank into oblivion." : eat However, the response to Slave Songs in the abolitionist publi in tion National Anti-Slavery Standard is instructive in understanding ® and y ensuing direction of scholarship in African American music. Relat Parti; to the contents as both “remarkable and valuable alike to obs" and historical student,” the author advanced the argument a | Ameri repertoire, not merely the performance style, of African Am" Puller represented an original contribution to the American mm Gem Scape.'* Reviewing her own publication in The Nation in 1867," eve! Lucy McKim Garrison and her husband, Wendell, reinfor Shae view of the originality of the collection’s content: ie | Seen We utter no new truth when we affirm that whatever of nationality | Which in the music of America she owes to her dusky children. The meg?" | ‘urn imicate the whites, but chey show their peculiar musical gen | 1 Whites, an music lites. The ites, who rd during mixed. As abeled the pathetic,” sitions. A “white tune,” so to speak, adopted in heir comPr pecomes a different thing, The words may vr igchanged under an inspiration; it becomes Sra Ye, bu the musics change be oa Paley of accrediting authorship; to say how much vate Hee ee ‘Geshodise or Baptist camp-meeting. Where did the vi how spore ri rom? Why might they notas likely emanate from core ne enh ; eso” sections of Negro spirituals emerged following the 5 more co and international tours of performing ensem- ation jubilee Singers and their imiators at Hampton 38 tae ey anho pioneered the performance of the Negro Instat iO ee ong’—views of the authenticity of African American spitual a 'ferated. Upon hearing the Jubilee Singers during spits Pro our, for example, Dr. Cuyler, pastor of the Lafayerte ce fis My yeetan Church of Brooklyn, showered the group with A che magnetism’ of theit music, which “moved and melted” was yated Brooklyn assemblage” in a way he had never before oe This and similar descriptions further documented the unique sly ofthe performance—one that differed from thar of European ‘American “cultivated” Whites. ions «ni em “in chee BEGINNINGS OF THE ORIGINS CONTROVERSY. Inhis 1893 book, Primitive Music, the Viennese philosopher Richard Wallaschek was the first to challenge claims to the originality of the Negro spiritual. Without ever having heard performances of either Aican or African American music firsthand, Wallaschek advanced an analysis of Negro spirituals that labeled chem as “very much over- ‘ated,’ explaining that “as arule they are mere imitations of European compositions which the negroes [sic] have picked up and served again with slight variations.”'s Wallaschek’s thesis, based on his review of tanscriptions from the 1867 collection Slave Songs, sparked what is now frequently efecred to in African American music historiography xi : the effort to ascribe either Aftican or roe EN legro spiritual. This debate continued well ‘othe lasequarterof the twentieth cencury and attracted both Black White researchers from various disciplines, whose scholarly im- fae, was often questionable. Ameren? Proponents ofthe European origins were three southern Pullen jr oe ss0rs: Newman Ivy White, Guy B. Johnson, and George ierman, veya Their fields of expertise were English, sociology, and Universiy ope ed and they taught ar Duke, Vanderbilt, and the that in large North Carolina. These writers advanced an argument aifered yea att Supported Wallaschek’s; their methods, howeves; Compared bach musie Was not a part of White's analysis, Jackson ich repurey 8 and tunes of fasola (shape note) song books, ' tepresented the song traditions practiced by Whites Intelectual History " 12 she Second Great Awakening, Simi df chychmic patterns as well as pitch ly, ong books as his point of depar, in, tunes with 555 White tunes vie during the camp meetings of Johnson analyzed melodic an rervals, using camp-meeting Jackson's comparison of 892 Blac sanar he defines as 116 “genetic velationships.” Despite this h parity, he concluded chat the hymnody of Whites provided ance Mixion for Negro spiricuals, even ‘though the songs underwe; e foun, davon Fmation in the cansfer from one cules: £9 gamete ‘Arguments. posed by writers who supported the thesis oft ality of Negro spirituals were often equally tenuous. Hen the orig. for coample, argued in his work Affo-American Folksong ea ie, aon pige the typeof culcure needed co create Nera 925, Black writers ames Weldon Johnson andJ. Rosam Pirituals.” In in their collection American Negro Spirituals, advanced 1ond Johnson, tudice toward those who challens a charge of pre, ged the African-based origin of spiritual. Ac che same time, they contended thar the ch; rigin of the Negro spiritual resulted in part from “nati character o a8 part from “native musical insti F the ent" thesis that suggests that peopl Of Afri instinet and tl an innat abili rican descent possessed © This scholarly debate, initiated eritage ; in the arzenion wel into the lace half ofthe ee eoecrt) attic say in Ethnomusicology by Richard tieth century. A 1963 Dead Hone Lessons Leamed fr Waterman, entitled “On Flogging eadssese Gr ie haid tnt fish che ARitanlstns Gocitover tee be in issues in the debate. Fit eroversy,” out- jefore the 1930s African First, Waterman tion, He cited as ill music was not a part of the analy nope dine music be lustrative examples Wallas , equa sic bore no relationshi chek’s view cha echiiomusicologist Erich ip to Black music in the United a European music von Hornbostel’s assertio1 States and Buvopesn mine re 2 diferent bl that Aftican and or deny asin, Aicantased lend. Any efforts to determine est, speculative wit sharactet ii D ¢ iene jour the Palettes legro spirtuals was, Aldoagh ee ce Secu memory of musical values that 2 ed Gees eae ad a y of the slave populace.” consi ir arguments on te it, in some instances schok nsidered music, anal texts exclusively, In the aE lyses were often based o: jose treatises that Polanctnn Genet! aun oe ene Te transcriptions that oh che ati cases, authors redu in the 1867 Slave Songs asic sung by ced the moar discinct performance—t. ig by Blacks—the dynamii jost distinctive feature Tusical ara fo a mere skeletal repr ic character of the actual aesthetic rae they ignored’ fscuation, of the Western formance, the es associated with ‘hfeieg improvisatory style and sketches were cocuslons they drew pean ae musical per As the orgs achat flawed, these minimalist musi and folklori lebate continued i sts inued F The writings of ror athe analytic oe ele, anthropologis ‘such scholais'as uathrepolegts include ethnography: ropologists Melville Hersko® x Affican American Music characte! values ¥¢ North Ai authors! and Johr of the oF A Cultur Beginnir African White_¢ activity | of the Ar musical Ind forms of class bec tuals, bl thecomi on Broa the bord and radi arranger Whites first Bla man and folklorist Alan Lomax reflected a whole- i of using a Prod assumpdons © intPret ile sie ees clecting instead to generate answers based aS Aneta ce in the echmographic data With data iaiynce that SUC fieldwork in Africa and the Diaspora, ered during CEN evel of more concrete comparison of s ° Jin contrast not only to European American so Americ itjons as well. wee Ati srigins debate finally achieved closure ccretism that forged the unique Per ernorteagment ofthe 1 ik te * nea genre grounded in AfFican-derived musical cual 2 1 ead ao its distinctiveness as a direct result of the ces hap joebar eerence, In addition to Waterman, North ott, Wiliant Tallmadge, Dena Epstein, rich as William Wesc a ts eee iene among others also provided contemporary critiques ofthe origins controversy: ‘A Coltural Renaissance in Harlem and Jim Crow in the South Beginning in che 1920s, new voices surfaced in the narratives on kan American music. Black intellectuals and musicians joined White critics and_scholars in assessing the flourishing musical aaivty among African Americans, which changed the soundscape ofthe American mainstream and simultaneously contributed to new musical expressions across the Atlantic. In distinguishing between “high” and “low,” “art” and “popular” forms of expression based on pee falies aera classbecame major themes in the literature published on Negro spiri- tuals, blues, and jazz between the 1920s and 1950s. Beginning with thecommercial recordings and highly successful musical productions onBroadway in the 1920s, the genres of blues and jazz moved beyond the borders of the Aftican American community through recordings and radio, The Negro spiritual was transformed from choral to solo arangementand performed on the.concett stage by both Blacks Sand ites. During this period, Hall Johnson and Eva Jessye formed the frst Black professional choruses. ity Harlem Renaissance Mian ushered in a literary and artistic movement among Feng ans labeled the Harlem Renaissance—an ere of intense York Cit celebration of African American culture in New ty. Leaders of the Harlem Renaissance included a group of emcees eonens them philosopher Alain Locke. who commit Se fn EE A and te Petsived Wansforming vernacular traditions into what i a “higher” are forms. Participants.in.the Harlem aissanc le ® argued for/african American self-acceptance, embracing Im “lea History 3 both faults and shortcomings.” At the same time, a more sublin yer widely accepted point of view existed, one that minimize, q ignored any characteristics of Aftican American culture that nig be considered less than desirable.* This ideological schism trang in at least ovo ways into scholarship on African American my | produced during the Harlem Renaissance. First, discussion, aS Harlem African American music continued to focus on the Negro Spittuy Aperodof —\ co che virtual exclusion of the vernacular forms of blues an inerayand __|\ Second, although the spiritual received much scholaty attentions artistic flowering. | \ vas typically discussed through an assimilationist filter—viewed 3, . byAfican, Vic, though undeveloped, musical reyburce waiting tobe tapped American aised toa higher musi ne intellectuals | Composer Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949), the first to arrange unnguhe | the Negro spiritual for solo voice, spoke of his chagrin and de 1920, ointment when audiences reacted with laughter to his incorpors tion of “folk songs” into his concerts. Black critics at Washington an Boston newspapers questioned his choice of repertoire as well as hig judgment for having made the selection. Black performers, compos. ers, and scholars, from Burleigh to Locke to W.E.B. DuBois, consis tently promoted a desire to reconfigure or “elevate” the spiritual ly placing it within a European compositional frame. Upon transforma. tion, the music was considered to be mote accessible and mote readily appreciated by non-Black audiences. Contrary to this assimilationist perspective, noted folklorist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston and poer Langston Hughes did not con sider compositions and arrangements based on Negro spiituals as Sq Tepresentative of this tradition, Hurston contended that such works y Harry T. Burleigh, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), Nathaniel tt (1882-1943), John Work IIT (1901-1967), and Hall Johnson (1888-1970), among others, were “all good work and beautiful, but \\ | not the spirituals.”* She and Hughes argued unapologetically for the Proliferation of the Negro spiritual and all vernacular forms of African ‘American expression in their original form, without modification. Voices of dissent from the Harlem Renaissance also addres! the variable of class, highlighting the tension that existed among the Affican American populace about whar constituted desi selfdefining qualities. In his 1926 publication “The Negro Ar and the Racial Mountain,” Hughes strongly castigated those Afti@® eenencans who adopeed and celebrated facets of European Amesi= culture while simultaneously denigrating or ignoring the indigen™ musics and traditions created by African Americans in this cout wae eins Polatized views of the Negro spirituals, Hughes #8!" [Mlany an upper-class Negro church, even now, would not oe ef'employing a spiritual in its services, The drab melodies in W#™ a hymnbooks are much to be preferred, ‘We want t0 worse *“ correctly and quietly. We don’t believe in “shouting.” 1 i sn effect.””” Hughes’ treatise explored Nordics they 3 O™ Aftican Americans, stridently la pe Nordic ue among : : ull ike fas weed Black elite as devoid of pride in what che FO ambers ofthe nl veling co a8 “raial Sarin Harlem Renaissance movement per pack inelleca® nd class to redefine the character and apps with oy “American music in the broader American cul- cance of Meir discussion largely to the Negro spiritual. pure hey resis “jean artists made inroads to greater com- eanwtile, Aft and direct presence in popular American mu- mesial PPOrTUD TG ose Europe's Clef Club Symphony Orchestra sic BY 1720 a copated” compositions many times at Camegie 1a pe iieland Jazz Band, a White group from New tall Te re orded the first commercial release of jazz in 1917, at Oars en White-owned recording companies aimed products only a ste of White consumers. Like Burleigh’ spirituals, arrange- ‘nents ofblues by Black vaudeville bandleaders W.C. Handy and Perry radioed strongly appealed to markets of Black consumers, first as sheet musicand later as recordings known as “race records.”* Under Prohibition, blues and jazz performers interacted in urban clubs extensively, emphasizing the conversant nature of the two distinct genres.” Recordings featuring Black vaudeville blues pecformer-songuriters like Bessie Smith and others, backed by jazz insrumentalists, caught the attention of White critics and hipsters, who often saw the urban strains of blues and jazz, if not all of Black musi as one impervious style, rooted in a rather enigmatic yet much celebrated genetic heritage. For example, a White reviewer of Mamie Smith wrote for the. Dallas Journal in 1921: {Smiths} “Hounds” give more spontaneous..harmony in a minute than the nee so-called jazz orchestra could give during an entire year of effort. But this only natural, as, since time immemorial, Negroes have been masters of folkmelodies and ragtime tunes, and modern jazz is nothing more than rag ‘ime witha litle moonshine jazz.” Music critics also viewed ie styles, commercially available Tace records, as a: mor ssor or Folk root of jazz. COLLECTING AND RECORDING Ck ete

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