Old Time Hand Clapping & Foot Stomping In African American Religious Singing

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases seven selected videos/sound files of various hand clapping and foot stomping styles that have been performed by African Americans as accompaniment for religious singing.

Many of these featured videos are of "Dr. Watts" songs. My sense is that that singing style is less frequently found in African American churches since the mid 20th century.

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, folkloric, educational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

My thanks to the singers, musicians, and videographers of these featured videos. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos.

FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: Go Down Moses - Mt Do Well




Hymn Choir Channel, Uploaded on Aug 8, 2009

Recorded by RAM and KB in March 2001 at Mt. Do Well Baptist Church in McConnells, SC. Go to www.hymnchoir.org
-snip-
This way of singing hymns are called "Dr.Watts" , named after the 18th century composer of English hymns, "Dr Isaac Watts. These songs are also called "long meter", the "Old One Hundreds" , and "surge singing".

****
Example #2: Mt. Do Well Baptist Church in McConnells, SC -"He Set Me Free"



Uploaded by Hymnchoir on May 3, 2007

Recorded by RAM in 1991 at Mt. Do Well Baptist Church in McConnells, SC www.hymnchoir.org

****
Video #3: Mt Calvary Baptist Church in Gastonia, North Carolina-"I Want Jesus To Rock Me To Sleep"



Hymnchoir | October 17, 2008

Recorded in 2008 by RAM at Mt Calvary Baptist Church in Gastonia, NC

****
Video #4: Yonder Come Day



Uploaded by mediageneration on Dec 12, 2009

Georgia Sea Island Singers from the DVD- The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes- available from http://www.media-generation.com

****
Video #5:"You Better Run"- Dr. C.J. Johnson



Uploaded by Rowoches on Jan 2, 2009

More singing in the old time way!!

-snip-
Here's some information about Dr. C.J. Johnson from http://www.theblackgospelblog.com/2007/03/tbgb-reviewsdr-cj-johnson.html:
"In March of 1965, Dr. C.J. Johnson recorded an original song, “I Want to Go Where Jesus Is,” for Savoy Records....A succession of singles and albums established Dr. C.J. Johnson as one of the country’s foremost hymnologists. His recordings were at once anachronistic and refreshing at a time when gospel music focused squarely on hard-singing leads and heavy instrumental backing. Dr. Johnson’s commitment to the old time sound – straight congregational singing with occasional slaps of the tambourine – earned him an invitation to sing at the White House on three separate occasions."...
-snip-
Click http://www.elyrics.net/read/d/dr.-cJ-johnson-lyrics/you-better-run-lyrics.html for the lyrics to "You Better Run (To The City Of Refuge)"

****
Video #6: Janie Hunter and the Moving Star Hall Singers: Jonah (1983)



Published on Apr 24, 2012 by AlanLomaxArchive

Janie Hunter and the Moving Star Hall Singers (including Ruth Bligen, Esau Jenkins, Bertha Smith, Benjy Bligen, Mary Pinckney, and others unidentified) sing a brief "Jonah." Shot by Alan Lomax and crew at Moving Star Hall, Johns Island, South Carolina, August 1983. For more information about the American Patchwork filmwork, Alan Lomax, and his collections, visit http://culturalequity.org

****
Video #7: Vintage Pilgrim Jubilees An AGQC 2001 Hall of Fame Inductee

eric allen, May 15, 2017
-snip-

This YouTube video replaces a video that is no longer available. 

Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Jubilees for information about the musical group Pilgrim Jubilees that was inducted into the American Gospel Quartet Convention,Inc.Hall of Fame in 2001.

That Wikipedia page indicates that "The Pilgrim Jubilees, also known as The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, are an American traditional black gospel music group originally from the cities of Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois, where they were established by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, in 1934. The group have released 25 albums with six record labels Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. Five of those albums charted on the Billboard magazine charts."...

 ****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

House of Prayer Shout Bands

Edited by Azizi Powell

Shout Bands



Uploaded by SeekerTruth2011 on Mar 7, 2011
Sounds of Zion Shout Band

****
Selected information and videos of African American shout bands are featured in this post for historical, aesthetic, and religious purposes. This is not meant to be a comprehensive presentation of this music tradition.

My thanks to all of the uploaders of these videos.

****
WHAT IS A SHOUT BAND?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shout_band
"A shout band is a traditional, soul based musical style that arose in some predominantly African American Protestant churches in the 1920s.

The shout band tradition of the southeastern United States originated from the exuberant church music of North Carolina. African American brass players formed bands, predominately trombone-based, inspired by jazz, blues, Dixeland, gospel, and old time spirituals: a more soulful version of a New Orleans Brass Band. The United House Of Prayer For All People, a Holiness Denomination founded in 1919 in Massachusetts, is particularly known for its Shout Bands."

**
From http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/madison-clouds-of-heaven-a-trombone-shout-band/Content?oid=1197720
"Madison Clouds of Heaven, a trombone shout band
by Grant Britt
June 07, 2006

[The trombone shout band] tradition originated with House of Prayer founder and evangelist Sweet Daddy Grace...Grace originally traveled with a single trombone player, but the excitement the horn stirred up soon led to the formation of entire brass bands. Bandleader Cedric Mangum even says New Orleans funeral bands are a spin-off of the shout-band mold. But now, the Madison Clouds of Heaven trombone shout band serves as the Charlotte [North Carolina] House of Prayer's traveling ambassadors.

"We do our ministry through our music," says Mangum, who follows no set program. "We allow the spirit of the Lord to guide us, and that's how we normally do our performances."

The band's membership ranges from 30 to 35 members, performing in what Mangum calls Jubileeing, an old-time gospel style based on a call and response format used by many groups like the Dixie Hummingbirds.

Like older gospel groups, the band uses one repeating, pulsating chord for hypnotic effect. The technique, termed backtiming, builds excitement in the congregation shout band and paves the way for the run man.

"Once we get into a set backtiming, meaning the background plays a certain note continuously, then the run man comes in to give us some special effects, meaning some other type of runs that go on top of that," Mangum says. It's like the rhythm section with the lead singer soaring over it. "We call it building the spirit."

...Establishing a name outside the church is a fairly recent development [for shout bands]. The United House of Prayer's bishop started allowing shout bands to play secular venues only in the last 15 years. Since then, the word has gotten out in large part due to a Folkways Records compilation, Saint's Paradise, a Smithsonian Institute collection that features the Clouds of Heaven along with other sacred Charlotte bands, like Madison's Lively Stones and McCollough Sons of Thunder."

****
SHOUT BAND VIDEOS
[Selected videos are assigned numbers for the sake of this post. No preferential ranking is intended by these numbers.]

Video #1 - Sounds of Zion Shout Band
Embedded at the beginning of this post.

****
Video #2 - Harlem Soul



Uploaded by Yojimbot1 on Mar 20, 2011

The United House of Prayer for All People [located in Harlem on 124th and Frederick Douglass Blvd] performs "Touch the Hem of His Garment"

****
Video #3 - He Looked beyond my faults!



Uploaded by Facility5 on Mar 21, 2011
MGS playing
-snip-
Note: According to a commenter, this band is the Glorious Sounds from Washington, D.C.

The Bishop (religious leader) of the House Of Prayer denomination is referred to as "Daddy". That is likely who the person in the video is referring to when he says "Thank you Daddy".

****
Video #4 - Zeb Harrison and Sound OF Praise



Uploaded by MrMoses11 on Jan 19, 2011

Pre-Christmas program -Pastor Alfred C.Harrison church.

****
Video #5 - Trombone shout band: Kenny Carr and the Tigers



Uploaded by carolinashout on Oct 8, 2009

Kenny Carr and the Tigers Shout Band, Carolina Shout, 2001, University of South Carolina

****
RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/videos-of-south-african-gospel-brass_7.html to find videos of South African brass bands.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome!