The Black Gospel Music Tradition

Reflection
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The article “The Black Gospel Music Tradition: A Complex of Ideology, Aesthetic, and Behavior” by Mellonee V. Burnim aims at examining the significance of the Black gospel music among the Black Christians. The author explains that the previous studies conducted in relation to gospel music have considered songs and musical systems as basic analytical frames but emphasizes that the Black church should be considered as a cultural institution which for many years has made it possible for Black people to express themselves with any constrains (Burnim, 1985). Burnim further explains that Negro spiritual was as a result of the personal and collective response to their slave experiences that the Black people encountered in the United States. The Gospel music created by the Blacks reflected their changing ideas in the new socio-cultural environment.
Burnim’s thesis asserts that gospel music is more than a mere musical genre and that it is a music complex that represents and expresses the aesthetic, ideologies, and behavior of the people. The author believes in what she is saying because she has conducted a study that supports her ideas and opinions that gospel music is a crucial form of expressive behavior. Burnim has successfully made her point by supporting her ideas with study data and examples of performance, style, and technique of gospel music associated with Black people. I agree with the author’s views because gospel music may be produced to match the values, experiences, and beliefs of the target community.
The article “This House, This Music: Exploring the Interdependent Interpretive Relationship between the Contemporary Black Church and Contemporary Gospel Music” by Melinda E. Weekes maintains that what Black people sing provides ideas about the things happening to them sociologically. Additionally, Weekes explains that the lyrical content of the songs produced by African Americans signifies their social experiences. The author’s thesis claims that the different sociological factors that impact the present-day Black church are mainly presented in different characteristics of modern gospel music.
The author believes in her views and opinions because, for decades after the sacred music produced by Blacks emerged, there are significant changes that have ta...