My number one goal for my last project is create a song that's black gospel music but, synthesizing different kind of music that isn't gospel but, adding words that would be considered into the non gospel song.
English
I started by looking over some hymnals that could help me figure ways i could start my song and help it flow. I wrote down some notes that would talk about what the hymnals meant to me. Some of the hymnals I chose to use was Pass Me Not, Blessed A Assurance, Awesome God, He's Got Hold World In His Hands, etc. I even had to look through some poems so I can get an understanding of them. Reading a story is way different then reading a poem. A poem needs to have to always be rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such formal elements as meter, rhyme, and stanzaic structure. I wrote what the poems meant to me. This really made me understand my song even more. When I started to create the song, it took a while. I reviewed it with my teacher and she said I should make it seem more metaphorical. she also said I should make it rhyme since most songs always rhyme. It was a challenge since I haven't made a poem since seventh grade. I started to correct a few of stanzas and once I made made second revisions, She said it's good but, some of it didn't make quite much sense. I had a little hope after she said it was good. Once I showed the last revisions, she said it was really good. All I had to fix was two stanzas and a word. After I corrected them my song looked really nice and I was ready to sing.
I had trouble with the poem because I didn't know how to write a nice poem . I will admit, it felt like trying to write to someone you never met before. Even though it was a challenge, it did started to get better.
I used some hymnals and other poems to help me create my song so I could get into the flow of what a song is supposed to look and sound right. The hymnals were mostly African heritage hymnals and the poems involved mostly seasons.
Art
I created a song out of gospel words and synthesized it with pop/uplifting beat. I was very excited to make my own song and use a different beat that isn't gospel music. It was really hard to not find a song that wasn't considered close to gospel music.The first song I chose was really goof but, I couldn't use. it. The second song actually made the project seem simpler. I started off by creating my lyrics and decided to use the audacity app to listen to the beat off the song. At first, I though it was weird but, after the while, I started to really like the beat to the song. The beat came from the song Onward, by Podington Bear, and from the album uplifting. It is a very nice pop song. Once I was ready to sing, I set everything meaning, I got my voice ready, computer ready to play the beat, and was ready to press the record button. The beat started and I just started to flow with the song. I think my song was very inspirational to me. The song talks about how blacks were treated back in the 1900s and late 1900s. It describes how they went through a a lot challenges to have equality in the nation. They would sing songs of praise to the Lord and pray to him. They would ask him for help during their march through the challenges they had to face in order to have equality in the whole nation. In the end, the nation became strong because everyone was on one accord thanks to the Lord. It doesn't matter what age your are in order to march through challenges with the Lord. Just know, he is always with you and ready for ya!
I really enjoyed creating my song and singing to it. I thought creating a song wouldn't be as hard as I thought but, it was. I wouldn't mind making another song. Long as I have more time to do it. My advice for creating a song is to always make sure that you know how to write poetry. My grandparents, aunts, and uncles have helped me figure out cool lyrics for my project too. They said as long as flows and it sounds gospel, it's good. I think singing the song was my favorite part of my Apollo project.
For the social studies part of my history portion I did research on three events that happened in the black community. I chose these events because they go with the main reason to why I wrote the song in the first pace. The main was, as I stated already, is to talk about how blacks went through many challenges in order to make the nation equally and no longer have segregation. The events also line up with my song that includes part of history, language arts, and art all into one.
The first event was about The Great migration in 1915. The black migrants were traveling from the South because there were harsh conditions. It would be easier to prosper in the North since blacks were treated better. In the South, after the Emancipation from slavery, it was still severely hard to live in the South. Blacks weren’t making enough money to live happily. They would live pay check after pay check after pay check. Once World War I started, many northerns had to leave in order to fight in World War I. This lead to blacks traveling to the North because there was 5 million going to fight for America. This gave black migrants the opportunity to live in a better position, get better jobs to provide for the family, and they would get to be there for free. In PA, The Pennsylvania Railroad and many more factories needed blacks in order for their economy to continue to run. This was the first time after Emancipation that black labor was demanded because it was definitely needed in order to continue the work of the men who're fighting in the war. Many blacks migrated because lynching was still legal, unfair legal system, unfair educational opportunities, and even denial of suffrage. This made the entire nation of African Americans become more respected.
The second event was about Thomas Dorsey. Thomas was then started to become the father of Black Gospel Music. He was able to be one of the first people to combine Christian praise with rhythms of jazz and blues. He was even able to establish the music we call “Gospel Music”. At first, Thomas’s music would be rejected by main mainstream churches because pastors would see his music as unearthly or “Devil Music”. Thomas was the first African American elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Association’s Living Hall of Fame. Thomas then was able to be the Georgia Music hall of Fame in 1982 and the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in 2007. Thomas was a famous member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He also had the opportunity to serve as Music Director of Pilgrim Baptist Church form 1932 to around the 1970s. Part of his church was burnt in 2006 and his congregation is raising money to rebuild the church that was existing since 1921. His song, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” was one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite songs. The song was sung at a rally before martin Luther king was killed and even during his funeral. He was inspired to write the songs because he was facing grief when his wife died of child birth and his song just a few weeks later. When he started to receive suicidal thoughts, he created gospel music so he could stay committed to do the Lord’s work. He made a Black gospel publishing company called Dorsey’s House of Music in 1932. He wasn’t happy about the way the music industry would treat African Americans so poorly.
The third event was about The Children March into Birmingham May 2, 1964. The children believed they could do something about the inequalities they have been facing after hearing about it in a lot of mass meetings. On May 2, 1963, it was announced that day to be called D-Day. Thousands of young people (young children) who helped and participated in a series of non-violent demonstrations known as the children’s Crusade in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the first week of May in 1963. In the city of Birmingham, The Civil Rights was effecting their lives already. Children and young adults would see their parents go to the mass meetings at churches like 16th Street Baptist Church. The parents didn’t want their children to be involved with the movement, but it turned the tide for the movement. Some Black Civil Rights in the Southern Christian Leadership and other civil rights groups made plans to make sure they receive equality. Segregation still existed but, blacks were allowed to go many places on colored days only. SCLC leader James Bevel started to make plans for the “Children’s Crusade”. He and many others believed that this might help give them the advantage they need to win in Birmingham. As much as thousands of kids were trained to tactics that had no violence. On May 2nd, they left the 16th Street Baptist Church in may groups to go the city to protest segregation in a very calm and peaceful manor. The top priority was to meet with the Mayor of Birmingham to get him to help end segregation. They didn’t get the response they thought they would get. Many young children were arrested for protesting on the first day. On the second day, many kids had water sprayed on them, they were threaten by police dogs, and they were beat with batons. Even though many other children saw their campaigns get abused, they still volunteered to protest against segregation in Birmingham. Pictures of the protest reached the whole nation and the world. This caused many people to protest for serration as well. Many businesses downtown were starting to feel the pressure on their shoulders. On May 5th, protestors protested all the way to the city jail were many young children who were protesting were held. They sang protesting songs while they protested in the city of Birmingham. Many officials in Birmingham met with Civil Rights leaders to negotiate about the protesting. On May 10th, the civil rights leader on both sides came to agreement. All the children who protested were set free from jail.
I thought it was really cool to use some of the words from my history portion and use them in a song. A lot of the words helped made the song flow better than I could ever imagine. This part of the project was exciting because I learned more about my ancestors who help fight for equality in the United States during the civil Rights Movement. I made a Thinglink on Thinklink.com that shows the words that I used in my song from the three events.
I chose to do this project because I wanted to do something with music real badly this last part pf the year. I finished strong through this song. I had to synthesis black gospel lyrics with a different kind of music genre like pop. The pop song called Onward was very interesting to listen to since I always listen to gospel music. I learned that you can change any kind of song into a different one. I think the skill synthesis was a very good one. I got to learn about writing songs and changing things to make something knew and fun. I thank my grandparents for giving me advice to do a project on black gospel music. I hope my song inspires many of you to continue to march through challenges that may be overwhelming to you and that you can rely on the Lord for guidance.