SINGING SOLO

One thing that was very unfamiliar to me when I first started to go to black churches is when someone gets up to sing a solo. They don't step over to the organist or pianist and tell them the key they want to sing in... they just start singing. Then, it's up to the accompanist to figure out what key they're in, and start backing them.
Most organists are really good at doing this... they know hundreds and hundreds of songs, and the chord progressions are usually fairly simple, if it's one they haven't heard.

But, that's just part of the challenge. Solo singers in black churches keep their own internal rhythm, slowing lines down and holding a particular note as long as they feel it. That means that the accompanist (including singers who are backing up the soloist sometimes) really has to follow the leader, slowing down or skipping a beat at the soloist's desire. That's why that black gospel quartet could step in behind you, Khandu, and immediately slip into feeling with you. They do it every Sunday..

I've also noticed that people who are used to singing solo, and having the accompanist find their key, often will sing in a different key than the accompanist, if the accompanist gives them a lead in.
Very strange. The soloist normally doesn't seem to be bothered that they are singing in a different key. Either the accompanist changes keys, or the soloist will sing the whole song in a different key and not blink an eye. Much of this happens because so much singing in black churches is done without sheet music.

In the workshop I do, I'll often ask Frankie to sing He Looked Beyond My Faults And Saw My Needs. He is very inconsistent on coming in on the beat from one verse to the next, or from the verse to the chorus, and we just have to wait to see where he's going. I just vamp on guitar until I see him getting ready to go into the next verse. And, he never does it the same way twice. On top of that, Frankie is always deeply moved by the song, so he may just have to stop and compose himself, often with tears streaming down his face. Sometimes, Joe, Derrick or I start to break down and have to look away, or even walk away. Once, when Frankie finished the song, and everyone was overwhelmed with emotion, the Pastor came up and threw his arms around him, and asked us to do it again... right then. And we did. In gospel music, it's the feeling and the message that overrule any musical structures.

Jerry