A defining trait of gospel music is the personalized statement of the featured player. Modern gospel music developed out of "a style that emphasized movement and improvisation," says Robert Darden in his book "People Get Ready: A New History of Black Gospel Music." Singers like Mahalia Jackson and Shirley Caesar used these improvisations to create immediately identifiable and singular styles in their performances.
Lead playing built on a melody line expressed in a highly altered style grabs the attention of the listener. The goal of the improvised melody line is to add the creativity and artistry of the performer into the song. This allows the performer to bring both his emotional intensity and musical ability to full expression in every line.
Instructions
1
Choose a song to work on. Play the melody of the song. Count the duration of the melody line in beats.
2
Listen to the melody line of the song. Create an altered melody line that is the same length in beats as the original melody line.
3
Play the song using the altered melody line. Match the important beats of your altered melody line to the important beats of the original melody line.
4
Note the number of sections in the song. Create an altered melody line for each section of the song.
5
Play the song all the way through using only the altered melody lines.
6
Flourishes in melody lines add expression to the song.
Add flourishes, embellishments and accents to the altered melody lines wherever they work best in the song.
7
Expressive lines grab the attention of the listener.
Play through the whole song using your altered melody lines with any flourishes, embellishments or accents.