Here you will listen to the audio material G1-1 AIFF, G1-2 AIFF and G1-3 AIFF as to the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's Seminar 'The History of Gospel Music,' which I recorded during my research in the past.
(quote) Evangelist Barbara Ward Farmer
Evangelist Farmer began singing at the age of 4, and began singing publicly at the age of 4 1/2. Jimmy Washington discovered her and Bernard Channler was her first organist. At the age of 11, she was known as Little Barbara Ann Ward. She recorded two songs written by Evangelist Rosie Wallace Brown entitled, "What Do You Think About Jesus?", and "I Am By the Grace of God," Jimmy Smith played the organ. (snip) She is the Pastor of the Faith Tabernacle Church of the Living God. Her mother, Lillian Ward was the former pastor and founder of Faith Tabernacle. (end quote)
From one of the distributed papers for publicity, "1996 PACAF WIDE GOSPEL MUSIC WORKSHOP 3 - 8 JUNE 1996 Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, Theme: 'One Voice United In Praise!' Facilitators: Evangelist Barbara Ward-Farmer and Byron Ward"
It has been almost nine years since the paper for publicity quoted above was distributed. And for fear of being an outdated information, I sought and received confirmation from Church of the Living God on the 11th of April, 2005. I am most grateful to the kindness of House of God, Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth. (April 11, 2005)
The Spirituals are generally defined as "the song expression of the Black religious experience in the period of slavery" or "the language of faith" and it is accepted that "Spiritual" denotes "those who revere God" as opposed to "those who are secular" and "those who are profane." Benjamin E. Mays lays stress on the "other-worldly" and "compensatory" aspect of the meaning of the Spirituals in his theological analysis, while Howard Thurman, placing emphasis on the ontological impulse of the antebellum slaves, perceives that "the overriding religious meaning of the Spirituals was the slaves' quest for and insistence on the affirmation of their being that was perpetually being denied by the slave system itself." (the italics by Walker) And James H. Cone sets forth his thoughts, "My contention is that there is a complex world of thought underlying the slave songs that has so far escaped analysis. Further theological analysis is needed to uncover this thought and the fundamental world view that it implies." (the italics by Cone)
(From my master's thesis The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo [1996], Chapter II. Evangelism in the Baptist Church, Section 2. Spirituals and Current of Gospel Sound. All the written sources are acknowledged in the pertinent section's notes of my master's thesis. Please see them.)
As the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer touches upon, many scholars and researchers look upon the "invisible church" (some call it the "invisible institution") as their main resistance movement against the slavery and also view the Spirituals as the "double meaning songs" (or they acknowledge the use of the "double entendre"). That is, there is a tradition that recognizes the possible link to and possible involvement of the escape from slavery to freedom or the predictive aspect as the "code songs."
"Go Down, Moses"
When Israel was in Egypt's land,
Let my people go;
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go;Refrain
Go down, Moses, 'Way down in Egypt land;
Tell ole Pharaoh,
To let my people go."Thus saith the Lord," bold Moses said:
"Let my People go;
If not I'll smite your first-born dead,
Let my people go."No more shall they in bondage toil,
Let my people go;
Let them come out with Egypt's spoil,
Let my people go."The Lord told Moses what to do,
Let my people go;
To lead the children of Israel thro',
Let my people go.When they had reached the other shore,
Let my people go;
They sang a song of triumph o'er,
Let my people go.The lyrics from Howard Thurman, "The Meaning of Spirituals," in Lindsay Patterson comp. and ed., International Library of Negro Life and History: The Negro In Music And Art (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1967), pp. 3-4.
Additionally, the above-referenced Spiritual "Go Down, Moses," which was sung by the slaves, comparing their own enslavement with Israelite bondage in Egypt, is often mentioned not only as an example of those which are "double meaning," but also as an example of those which are "protesting and rebellious" in character. In terms of "to fight for freedom," James H. Cone exemplifies, even more "militant" was "Oh, Freedom!" As Gardner C. Taylor says, "the masters said the Bible declared one thing and the slaves heard something far different about what the Bible declared. The owners spoke of slavery being 'God-ordained'; the slaves heard, 'Before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave.'"
"Oh, Freedom!"
O freedom! O freedom!
O freedom over me!
An' befo' I'd be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave,
An' go home to my Lord an' be free.The lyrics from James H. Cone, The Spirituals and the Blues, Twelfth Printing (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005), p. 41.
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As for singing, the emphasis is, firstly, on its attribution to God as opposed to a mistaken view that it is of human skill or of human production, not only in this Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's seminar, "The History of Gospel Music" (June 6, 1996), but also in her previous seminar, "Singing as Ministry/Choir Decorum" (June 5, 1996). Stated differently, singing a song is God's agenda and the act of singing is "to bless the Lord" and singing is "to express oneself," thus becoming a form of formal communication with God. When sing a song, "the glory of God comes down" and "the Holy Spirit even dictates how to sing." Hence, singing a song is "to share" and is a part of the ministration, for singing is no less propagational than preaching in respect that it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to preach Good News. [The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, (Luke Chapter 4, Verses 18)] Secondly, the seminars underscore that a certain "power" resides in singing. Singing is that which works wonders, as shown in the book of Acts, the sixteenth chapter. When Paul and Silas "began to sing, the jail began to rock and the doors opened and they were able to be loose and be free." [But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's fetters were unfastened. (Acts Chapter 16, Verses 25 and 26)](From my master's thesis "The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo" [1996], Chapter II. Evangelism in the Baptist Church, Section 3. Gospel Mission Work of the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer)
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The Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer gives the names of the important figures in the history of Gospel music, Charles Albert Tindley and Thomas A. Dorsey.
C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya identify three stages of black gospel music's development, namely, "the Transitional Period of Gospel Music" and "the Traditional Period: the Golden Age of Gospel" and "Contemporary Gospel Music" (the contemporary period in gospel music), in their The Black Church in the African American Experience (Duke University Press, Thirteenth printing, 2003).The first stage has been called the transitional period, or the pre-gospel era. This epoch commenced around 1900 with the gospel hymns of Rev. Charles Albert Tindley, a black Methodist minister born in Maryland around the beginning of the Civil War. (Lincoln and Mamiya, Ibid., p. 360.)The traditional period, also called the "golden age of gospel," commenced around 1930 with the compositions of Thomas A. Dorsey. Admittedly influenced by Tindley's songs, Dorsey earned the title "The Father of Gospel" due to his tireless promotion of the idiom. (Lincoln and Mamiya, Ibid., p. 361.)
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Audio Material G4-1, G4-2, G4-3, G1-1, G1-2, G1-3, M2 and M3 :
The Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer
I have selected several scenes as to the pastor of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, USA, the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer, from original cassette tapes on which I recorded her seminar "The History of Gospel Music" and Mission Work taken place in the Gospel Music Workshop "1996 PACAF WIDE GOSPEL MUSIC WORKSHOP 3 - 8 JUNE 1996 Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, Theme: 'One Voice United In Praise!' Facilitators: Evangelist Barbara Ward-Farmer and Byron Ward," and I have made AIFF (.aif) and MP3 (.mp3) audio files.
- G4-1: The first time that music was mentioned in the Bible: Genesis Chapter 31, Verses 26 and 27 (.aif, .mp3)
- G4-2: In a religious context: Exodus Chapter 15, Verses 1 and 2 (.aif, .mp3)
- G4-3: Singing was the act of communicating with God - Psalms (.aif, .mp3)
- G1-1: The Black experience (.aif, .mp3)
- G1-2: This [Music] belongs to the Lord (.aif, .mp3)
- G1-3: The Father of Gospel Music (.aif, .mp3)
- M2: Gospel Mission Work - with a Japanese Baptist pastor (.aif, .mp3)
- M3: Gospel Mission Work "If God Be For Us!" (.aif, .mp3)
Other Pages on www.hdever.com: News in Japanese | News in English | Rennyo Viewed in Fushidansekkyo, The Art of Kokan in English | Rennyo Viewed in Fushidansekkyo, The Art of Kokan in Japanese | A very small Library | Fushidansekkyo Written Material Main Page (Macaronic) | Master's thesis The Religion of Kokan in Japanese | The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo in English | Notes and Bibliography in Japanese | Notes and Bibliography in English | A Break Room with Jazz Music | A Break Room with Photos and Haiku poems | Good Websites to Visit (Macaronic) | Good Weblogs to Read (Macaronic) | Glossary of Frequent Japanese Words and Names in English
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