A couple of years ago I wanted to program some spirituals on my graduate voice recital, but did not because of opposition from a black faculty member who felt it would be inappropriate (I’m white). She had two main points: 1) that spirituals have such a strong connection to black slavery that they are an integral part of that cultural heritage, and to extract them for purely musical reasons was to miss the point. 2) that for spirituals to maintain their basic musical and expressive properties they had to be done in a “black” style (mainly having to do with use of language and pronunciation), and that for a white singer to do that would be either silly or disrespectful.
Now that I’m out of school I have a continued interest in that music and I’m considering putting some on an upcoming concert. My question is:
are spirituals “black only” music?
My own feelings on the subject are conflicted. I think that spirituals have been with us for long enough that they are now part of a common cultural heritage, and therefore fair game. On the other hand, I can see her point about the larger cultural significance of the songs and my inability to bring that to a performance without intentionally “black” english. Thoughts?
“I don’t get any smarter as I get older–Just less stupid”