Department of Music Lecture: Melvin L. Butler, Associate Professor of Musicology, University of Miami

"In Tune with the Spirit: Black Gospel Music, Instrumentality, Embodiment, and Power"

In Tune with the Spirit: Black Gospel Music, Instrumentality, Embodiment, and Power
This talk centers on gospel music, especially the musical instruments through which it is performed, as a creative means of accessing and channeling spiritual power within African diasporic Christian communities. In particular, I present classic gospel recordings (e.g., jug bands from the 1930s) and ethnographic case studies from the United States (e.g., The United House of Prayer for All People) and Haiti (heavenly army Pentecostal congregations) to demonstrate how horns, drums, and other instruments become repositories and transmitters of divine energy for Spirit-filled believers. Wind instruments often serve as extensions of the human voice, thereby embodying an intimate connection between human and divine. Pondering the broader implications of this cross-disciplinary work-in-progress, I consider the extent to which recorded and live instrumental performances of gospel music are able to bring about transformation beyond twenty-first century ritual contexts.