Black Gospel and Southern Gospel quartet singing expresses the soul of Christian experience in America, but in ways that reference the distinct cultural and musical heritages of their respective communities.
This thesis uses the semiological method demonstrated by Kofi Agawu to identify musical features for analysis from the Black Gospel and Southern Gospel quartet styles. The cultural-factor approach proposed by Joseph H. Kwabena Nketia is applied to key musical features to reveal the uniqueness of African-American and Euro-American communities in four key aspects: musical behavior, the contexts for music making, the perceptions of musicians in the two communities, and the cultural frame of reference that gives rise to the two musical styles.
The conclusion of this study is that Black Gospel quartet music is unique because “improvisation” is organized according to the principles of Ensemble Thematic Cycle (ETC) as defined by Meki Nzewi. ETC form in Black Gospel expresses interconnectedness in the community. Southern Gospel quartet music is unique because improvisation is organized according to the principles of tonal harmony as suggested by Douglas Harrison. Improvisation in tonal harmony present in Southern Gospel quartet music expresses self-determinism of the individual.