Gospel Songs Will Make you Feel Better

The name conjures up an image of a mixed choir of men and women, all scrubbed up to perfection (but, in the case of the women, without makeup) and with not a hair out of place. They?re all wearing robes ? a long coloured one underneath and a white one over the top (if you want to be really technical, they?re called a chasuble and an alb in old Episcopalian and Catholic circles). They may or may not hold hymn sheets as they sing their gospel songs, but there?ll be a choir leader conducting and possibly singing him/herself.

This choral picture is certainly the classic one of gospel music, particularly for those who are involved in a church. Those who haven?t been along to a church lately may think that all church music is gospel music, except, perhaps, for the old hymns accompanied by a massive pipe organ and sprinkled liberally with thees and thous.

This isn?t the case. In many modern churches, particularly the more charismatic ones, the music tends to be played/led by a drum-bass-guitar(s)-keyboard-vocals band that looks and sounds pretty much like your average everyday rock band, except the lyrics are Christian.

While gospel songs are most definitely Christian music, not all Christian songs are gospel songs, even though the secular media frequently confuses the two.

Gospel music and gospel songs proper are a tradition that came out of the black churches of the old days. Those who have read Harper Lee?s classic To Kill a Mockingbird will have read the description of ?lining? where the choir leader reads or says the next line before the choir sings it. Although this tradition began because of a lack of songbooks and/or illiteracy in the congregation, it has remained a hallmark of gospel songs.

Gospel songs were popularised by signers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson, the latter of whom took gospel songs outside the church walls and to a wider audience, although their songs were not always performed in the traditional choral style.

Other artists who sang gospel songs to mass audiences were those who accompanied the great evangelists to their rallies and sang gospels songs during the altar calls or before the preaching began. The most famous of these gospel song singers is George Beverly Shea, who accompanied Billy Graham around the world on his crusades.

Popular gospel songs include some that were originally traditional hymns of the Episcopalian/Anglican tradition such as ?Amazing Grace?, ?How Great Thou Art?, ?A Mighty Fortress Is Our God? (the last of these was originally a German drinking song given new words by Martin Luther).

Gospel songs with a more traditional ?black spiritual? feel to them include ?The Old Rugged Cross?, ?Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? and the classic ?Kumbyah, My Lord?.

But gospel songs continue to be written and sung. Some of these are written specifically for singing in the classic gospel song style; others are modern worship songs that are adapted for the choral style.

frank j vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.gospel-songs-lyrics.com 2 Gospelsongslyricscom