Lining Out the Word Dr. Watts Hymn Singing in the Music of Black Americans [Hardcover]

This book, a milestone in American music scholarship, is the first to take a close look at an important and little-studied component of African American music, one that has roots in Europe, but was adapted by African American congregations and went on to have a profound influence on music of all kindsfrom gospel to soul to jazz. Lining out, also called Dr. Watts hymn singing, refers to hymns sung to a limited selection of familiar tunes, intoned a line at a time by a leader and taken up in turn by the congregation. From its origins in seventeenth-century England to the current practice of lining out among some Baptist congregations in the American South today, William Dargans study illuminates a unique American music genre in a richly textured narrative that stretches from Isaac Watts to Aretha Franklin and Ornette Coleman.

Lining Out the Wordtraces the history of lining out from the time of slavery, when African American slaves adapted the practice for their own uses, blending it with other music, such as work songs. Dargan explores the role of lining out in worship and pursues the cultural implications of this practice far beyond the limits of the church, showing how African Americans wove African and European elements together to produce a powerful and unique cultural idiom. Drawing from an extraordinary range of sourcesincluding his own fieldwork and oral sourcesDargan offers a compelling new perspective on the emergence of African American music in the United States.

Copub: Center for Black Music Research

William T. Darganis Professor of Music at Saint Augustines College.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I. The Proverbial Trees: Patterns of Change in African American Music Making
1. Blest Be the Tie That Binds: Part I: Congregational Singing as a Worship Ethos for Dr. Watts Hymns
2. Blest Be the Tie That Binds: Part Ilã)