Has Gospel Music Gone to Far Changed?.
Being that the church is the cornerstone for gospel music, the songs adopted into hymnals sung by both choir and congregations passed from generation to generation. The change in gospel music has effected today's youth that have shown interest in the up beat sounds of gospel music. In reality these are the same hymnals and spirituals that were sung during slavery. The basics to gospel music have not changed at all. In the nineteenth century the first spirituals were recorded; this is where music has come from. The way the message is brought to the youth today is through using jazzier beats and hip-hop tunes to get their attention.
To trace gospel music you would have to go back to the African roots of song. Gospel music was virtually ignored by white Christians and it was not until the twentieth century that denominational churches included gospel as a form of music. The church audience is a unique audience in which American gospel became performance based and was isolated from the American secular entertainment. They were songs that should change lives and become part of the entire Christian experience. A form of black gospel music derived from church services and from spirituals sung as a way of life. .
During slavery and afterwards, workers were allowed to sing songs during their working time. This was the case when they had to coordinate their efforts for hauling a fallen tree or any heavy load. For example, prisoners used to sing "chain gang" songs, when they worked on the road or some construction. But some "drivers" also allowed slaves to sing "quiet" songs, if they were not apparently against slaveholders. Such songs could be sung either by only one or by several slaves. They were used for expressing personal feeling, and for cheering one another. The Underground Railroad (UGRR) helped slaves to run to free a country. First, they had to walk at night, using hand lights and moonlight, singing, "follow the drinking gourd-, (the little dipper).