The Film

Whether you are religious or not, the documentary Amazing Grace will touch your soul. The film shows a two-night live gospel performance that Aretha Franklin did in 1972 in Watts’ New Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Even as a non-religious person, I could not argue with a statement made by Aretha’s father, Reverend Franklin, that her voice was a gift from God. And, what a gift!

When Aretha did this performance, she was already a superstar, with 11 number one singles and five Grammys. With this show and live album, she returned to her roots a gospel singer. (The Grammy-winning album also became the biggest selling disc of Aretha’s entire recording career as well as the highest selling live gospel music album of all time.) Aretha sang with the incredible Southern California Community Choir (directed by Alexander Hamilton) and gospel legend Reverend James Cleveland. On both nights of filming, the church was packed with people, including a few celebrities such as gospel superstar Clara Ward, who was a primary influence on Aretha Franklin. Ward was introduced by Cleveland and given a seat of honor in the front row. The audience on night two also included Mick Jagger and Ron Wood, who sat anonymously in the back and clapped along with the rest of the fans.

Although the show occurred and was filmed in 1972, the movie was not put together for many years and was not released until late 2018. This is because the live footage, shot by Sydney Pollack and his crew, couldn’t be synced with sound due to a major technical mistake. So, the footage sat in a vault for 35 years before producer Alan Elliott decided to take a stab at making it movie-ready. With Pollack’s death in 2008 and legal delays, it took another 11 years for the film to be finished.

The History of Gospel Music

The friend who saw Amazing Grace with me noted how gospel is at the root of many forms of American music, yet the majority of influential gospel musicians never got much fame or fortune. Gospel has its origins in the music of Africans who were brought to North America as slaves and indentured servants in the 1600s: Africans’ emphasis on call and response, improvisation, polyrhythms, and percussion formed the basis of gospel (among other forms of music). George Leile established the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, the oldest Black church in North America, in 1777. However, as early as the late 1600s, Africans were being converted to Christianity, and many were fond of British Christian hymns (especially those written by Isaac Watts).

By the 1800s, African American innovation in religious music began to distinguish itself in the forms of spirituals, shouts, lined-hymns, and anthems. After slavery was abolished in America, The Fisk Jubilee Singers (organized as a fundraising effort for Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee) went on an international tour and became the first African American religious singing group to become well known.

The early 1900s saw the birth of religious revivals, whose energetic music was key to the development of gospel music. Early gospel stars included Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the 1930s and ’40s and Mahalia Jackson and groups like Swan Silvertones, the Caravans, and the Original Gospel Harmonettes in the 1940s through the ’60s (The Golden Age of Gospel). Perhaps the most important group in popularizing gospel outside of churches was the Clara Ward Singers.

“Oh Happy Day” was recorded in 1967 by the Northern California State Youth Choir (later dubbed the Edwin Hawkins Singers). This song almost single-handedly created the genre of contemporary gospel. Key figures in this movement included Walter Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Andraé Crouch and the Disciples, the Winans, and the Clark Sisters. Reverend James Cleveland and Mattie Moss Clark helped give rise to the movement by their tireless work composing, arranging, and recording for large choirs.

The Psychology of Music

Many have written on the psychological impact music has on our emotions and well-being. Some research has shown that the structure of music can effect how we interpret and feel about messages in the lyrics (Seidel & Prinz, 2013; Sinclair et al., 2007). Researchers have also found that listening to religious music can improve the mental health of older adults (Bradshaw et al., 2015). It seems that the structure, lyrics, and cultural and spiritual associations of music all have a great impact on our psychology. As neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote,

“Humans are uniquely able to produce and enjoy music—very few other animals can do so. But not only is music one of the fundamental ways we bond with each other, it literally shapes our brains. Perhaps this is so because musical activity involves many parts of the brain (emotional, motor, and cognitive areas), even more than we use for our other great human achievement, language.”

Final Thoughts

Music is a powerful form of expression that taps into our emotions and can stir our soul. If you love music, love Aretha Franklin, love gospel, or just want to be inspired and moved, you should definitely see Amazing Grace. It’s an experience.

References

This post references the USC Libraries Digital Library website for its Gospel Music History Archive, including a timeline of the history of gospel.

Bradshaw, M., et al. (2015). Listening to religious music and mental health in later life. The Gerontologist, Volume 55, Issue 6, December 2015, Pages 961–971.

Seidel A., Prinz J. (2013). Sound morality: irritating and icky noises amplify judgments in divergent moral domains. Cognition 127, 1–5.

Sinclair R., Lovsin T., Moore S. (2007). Mood state, issue involvement, and argument strength on responses to persuasive appeals. Psychol. Rep. 101, 739–753.

“Wired for Sound,” by Oliver Sacks, MD. (2008). Oprah.com website.https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/oliver-sacks-finds-the-bond-between-music-and-our-brains/all