Evolution & Change in Music | GOSPEL

Discover the dramatic changes happening in the gospel sound as a new generation of songwriters, record executives, performers, and preachers came of age and catapulted Black preaching and gospel to extraordinary levels of commercial success, transforming popular perceptions of what a gospel artist could and ought to be.

In this lesson, students will analyze how Gospel music evolved and changed, and how its influence can be felt in the popular music and artists of today. By clapping and counting along to videos of Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Staple Singers, and Beyoncé, students will practice hearing and identifying various aspects of rhythm, and then use an interactive TechTool to gain a deeper understanding of the syncopated rhythms that allows Gospel, as well a popular music in general, inspire us to move. Finally, stuents will conduct a Socratic Seminar to decide what makes Gospel music, well, Gospel music! Can it be defined? Can it be modern?