Overview

Indexes the printed music of spirituals with publications dating from 1867 to the present. African American spirituals constitute one of the largest bodies of American folk song and have survived into the twenty-first century. They are the root of American music. This book indexes some sixty-six hundred spirituals in 233 music anthologies published from 1867 to the present. Abromeit began indexing spirituals in the late nineties and was the first to update access to this body of repertoire in more than half a century. This noteworthy work serves as an essential research tool for performers, scholars, and students of African American music and history. The spirituals are neatly organized in five indexes: Uniform Title, Dialect Title, First Line, Song Classification that includes twenty significant categories, and Scriptural References. A bibliography of indexed sources serves as a guide for further research.

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9798855807233

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Reviews

""'If you need to find something, ask a librarian.' Kathy Abromeit underscores the truth of that statement in An Index to Spirituals but provides far more than simply 'where.' The author traces multiple identities (e.g., 'I have been tempted oh yes'; a.k.a., 'In the Morning') and cross-references uniform titles with those published in dialect. Brief performance practice and publication history sections invite the reader to contemplate ways this repertory has been understood, utilized, and debated. Abromeit's 'Song Classification Index' and 'Scriptural References Index' are fascinating reads in themselves. Dedicated to those who 'turned suffering into beauty,' this is an indispensable new reference tool that belongs in all libraries."" — Kay Norton, author of Sallie Martin, Mother of Gospel Music ""Abromeit's book is the definitive guide to finding spirituals in anthologies and collections. It's an essential resource not only for music librarians but for anyone researching, studying, or performing this important body of repertoire. The author's decades-long scholarship on this topic and thoughtful treatment of this art form has led to the creation of a new paradigm for helping users wade through a variety of inconsistencies in identifying spirituals."" — Holling Smith-Borne, Director, Wilson Music Library, Vanderbilt University

""'If you need to find something, ask a librarian.' Kathy Abromeit underscores the truth of that statement in African American Spirituals for the Solo Voice but provides far more than simply 'where.' The author traces multiple identities (e.g., 'I have been tempted oh yes,' aka 'In the Morning') and cross-references uniform titles with those published in dialect. Brief performance practice and publication history sections invite the reader to contemplate ways this repertory has been understood, utilized, and debated. Abromeit's 'Song Classification Index' and 'Scriptural Biblical References' are fascinating reads in themselves. Dedicated to those who 'turned suffering into beauty,' this is an indispensable new reference tool that belongs in all libraries."" — Kay Norton, author of Sallie Martin, Mother of Gospel Music ""Abromeit's book is the definitive guide to finding spirituals in anthologies and collections. An essential resource not only for music librarians but for anyone researching, studying, or performing this important body of repertoire. The author's decades-long scholarship on this topic and thoughtful treatment of this art form has led to the creation of a new paradigm for helping users wade through a variety of inconsistencies in identifying spirituals."" — Holling Smith-Borne, Director, Wilson Music Library, Vanderbilt University

Author Information

Kathleen A. Abromeit is the Head of the Oberlin Conservatory Library. She is the author of An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice and Spirituals: A Multidisciplinary Bibliography for Research and Performance and coeditor (with Dyani Sabin) of Music Information Literacy: Inclusion and Advocacy.

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