Music and Religion

I’ve been a hollering gospel singer since I was four and a proclaimed Baptist before I could even decide if it was right or wrong (Not saying that it’s right or wrong). My religion uses oral tradition and documentation to learn music. Music learned through oral tradition wasn’t hard to learn because almost 99% of it is call and response. A typical choir rehearsal would be someone singing, everyone else repeating it back, and if you could harmonize you just did. The most common harmonization within African-American Baptist churches is the interval of a fifth (I read some where that people of African heritage have trouble hearing the third, and it’s easier for us to hear the fifth, maybe that’s why it’s called the dominant).
When I learned how to read music I directed my churches youth choir and attempted to teach them everything I learned (I’m a firm believer in teaching a man how to fish as oppose to fishing for him). I mainly had to use my musical skills when we decided to learn a new hymn from our hymn books (I visited Dr. Martin Luther Kings church in Atlanta and we had the same hymn book.)
Today, some churches attract the youth by playing modern gospel that resembles today’s most popular musical genres; I’ve visited a lot of churches Black, White, Hispanic... and I found this to be true.I visited with an predominately white Baptist church for years. They didn’t have a choir, they had a Praise band with guitars and a drum set. I loved the music it was kind of rockish and they were always amazed at the amplitude that my family and I presented when we sang along joyously in harmony.
My community’s churches played a mixture of music. During revival different churches would visit with each other and a difference in musical style was apparent (they also took ideas from each other...mixing cultures). I can sing the Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Moses Hogan arrangements from memory, including all four voices and solos due to the classically oriented establishments. If I crossed the street I’d walk into a dancing, shouting, call and response singing choir, and if I walked a couple of blocks down town, I’d be two-stepping to Kirk, or rocking with the praise band. It was amazing how much the musical atmosphere varied from church to church within a small radius.