Footnote:
Also issued in print: 2021. - Includes bibliographical references and index. - Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on April 22, 2021)
Description:
Between the first & last words of a Black gospel song, musical sound acquires spiritual power. During this unfolding, a variety of techniques facilitate musical & physical transformation. The most important of these is a repetitive musical cycle known by names including the run, the drive, the special, & the vamp. Through its combination of reiteration & intensification, the vamp turns song lyrics into something more potent. While many musical traditions use vamps to fill space, or occupy time in preparation for another, more important event, in gospel, vamps are the main event. Why is the vamp so central to the Black gospel tradition? What work does the gospel vamp do? What does the vamp reveal about the transformative power of Black gospel more broadly? This book explores the vamp's essential place in Black gospel song, arguing that these climactic musical cycles turn worship services into transcendent events.