Topic: Religious Uses - Hymnals
GIA Publications issued an ecumenical African American Heritage Hymnal in 2001 that contained 575 hymns, spirituals, and gospel songs. That was fifty-five more than were included in the National Baptist hymnal discussed in the post for 3 March 2019, and many more than were in the Songs of Zion supplement to the United Methodist Church hymnal discussed in the post for 3 March 2019.
More important 81 were shared by all three hymnals, 42 were in Zion, and 136 in the Baptist collection. The nine common gospel songs included "I’ll Fly Away" and "We’ve Come This Far by Faith Alone." The 37 hymns included "At the Cross," mentioned in the post for 22 November 2018, and "Life’s Railway to Heaven," alluded to in the post for 30 January 2019. Thirteen were classed as "songs for special occasions by the Methodist."
Twenty were spirituals that ranged from the Fisk Jubilee Singer’s "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" to Marion Anderson’s "My Lord! What a Morning" and the Civil Rights era "We Shall Overcome." The Baptists and ecumenical hymnal also contained eleven Christmas carols and hymns that Zion didn’t copy from the denomination’s hymnal. They also included "I’ve Got Peace like a River," discussed in the post for 7 August 2018.
The editor, Delores Carpenter, included both "Kum Ba Ya" and "Come by Here, My Lord" which she connected to 2 Chronicles 6:21. She used the Berean Study Bible translation: "hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel...hear and forgive."
The version of "Kumbaya" was influenced by Songs of Zion. It had its additional verse, "someone needs You," and dropped "someone’s singing" to maintain the four-verse form. The time signature was changed from 3/4 to 4/4.
"Come by Here" presented more challenges, since the 1-5 melody had not been published before and the most common versions used prelude-denouement forms that were not amenable to congregation singing. At best, one could reproduce the first part, which usually was shorter than the ad libitum sections.
Evelyn Simpson-Curenton’s text used three verses from "kumbaya" with "come by here" in lieu of "crying" and the pronoun "someone." That meant her 4/4 arrangement used 1-1-5-5-5, not the Hightower Brothers’ 1-1-1-5-5-5.
Performers
Kum Ba Yah
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: four-parts
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Come by Here, My Lord
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: four-parts
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Kum Ba Yah
Text: Marvin V. Frey, © 1957
Tune: DESMOND, 8885; Marvin V. Frey, © 1957; arr, by Dr. RobertJ. Fryson, © 2000, GIA Publications, Inc.
Come by Here, My Lord
Text: Marvin V. Frey, © 1958
Tune: DESMOND, 8885; Marvin V. Frey, © 1958; arr, by Evelyn-Currenton, © 2000, GIA Publications, Inc.
Notes on Lyrics
Kum Ba Yah
Language: English
Pronunciation: dropped terminal g’s from prayin’ and cryin’
Verses: kumbaya, praying, crying, needs you
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: four-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Come by Here, My Lord
Language: English
Pronunciation: dropped terminal g from praying
Verses: come, needs you, praying, kumbaya
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: four-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Kum Ba Yah
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: not indicated
Key Signature: two sharps
Singing Style: one note to one syllable except for last line which allotted two tones to "oh" and three to "Lord"
Harmony: parallel thirds with occasional fourths
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: chord on every note
Come by Here, My Lord
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: not indicated
Key Signature: two sharps
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final "Lord"
Harmony: four-parts; except for opening notes of each line, upper parts were parallel thirds; much of the lower part used parallel octaves
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: chords on every note
Notes on Performers
The hymnal was very much a product of the African-American community in Washington, D. C. The editor, Delores Carpenter, earned her masters of divinity from Howard University in 1969, and later was on the faculty. [1] Her musical editor, Nolan Williams, also earned a masters in divinity from Howard in 1993. [2] Robert Fryson, the arranger of "Kumbaya" earned his advanced music degrees from Catholic University of America and Howard. [3] The arranger of "Come by Here" was educated in Philadelphia at Temple University, [4] but moved to Alexandria, Virginia. [5]
The Washington community arose from multiple migrations to the area from the South. Carpenter grew up with a semi-invalided grandmother who was visited by members of the Missionary Baptist church, Church of God in Christ, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Towson, Maryland. She began preaching as an adolescent for a Freewill Baptist Church, but later moved her credentials to the Disciples of Christ. [6]
Williams was raised by a family that had produced Baptist ministers for three generations. He was drawn instead to music, which he said was
"more than hand-clapping and foot stomping — it’s the story of a broad history of human spirit, arising out of hard times and a belief in God. When you look at the anthems, hymns, spirituals and gospel songs, there's a story of faith and perseverance — of pain, but of hope and optimism throughout the pain and the harsh realities of life. You see reflected in the music the experiences of the people. It’s always about testimony — the words are connected with what we’re experiencing, and what we believe. And that’s the way in which faith is most profoundly practiced." [7]
Fryson was raised in the independent Black community of Oberlin Village outside Raleigh, North Carolina. [8] He organized the Voices Supreme gospel quartet, and recorded eight albums for Glori and Savoy between 1973 and 1982. [9]
Simpson-Curenton grew up in a performing family, The Singing Simpsons, in Philadelphia. [10] Choreographer Eva Magdalene Gholson worked with her in Philadelphia. She said her "arrangements of Black American hymns, her piano playing and her singing voice laid a foundation of spiritual reasoning in my work that was extremely important to my development. Both Evelyn and I are part of a Black Southern spiritual way of knowing. What she grasped as my collaborator was the marriage of Southern Black musical traditions and European classical musical styles." [11]
Availability
Book: African American Heritage Hymnal. Edited by Delores Carpenter. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2001. "Kum Ba Yah," 437; "Come by Here, My Lord," 438.
End Notes
1. Annie A. Lockhart-Gilroy. "Delores Carpenter." Biola University website.
2. "About inSpiration." CD Baby website.
3. "Hymn #53: Glorious Is Your Name, O Jesus." First Congregational Church, Madison, Wisconsin, website.
4. "About Evelyn." Her website.
5. "Evelyn Simpson-Curenton." LinkedIn website.
6. Lockhart-Gilroy.
7. Leah Fabel. "Credo: Nolan Williams Jr." Washington [D. C.] Examiner website. 1 January 2011.
8. "Dr. Robert J. Fryson." Wilson Temple United Methodist Church website, Oberlin Village, North Carolina.
9. "The Voices-Supreme." Discogs website.
10. "About Evelyn."
11. Eva Magdalene Gholson. Image of the Singing Air. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2004. 85.
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