Gospel music is a type of music normally done by Christians and contains lyrics that relate to the Bible and its teachings. This type of music is done for different purposes just like other types of music, but the purposes are divided into two major parts that are praise and worship.
This paper describes gospel music and highlights the contents of gospel music.
Firstly, gospel music is only done by Christians. The term gospel music became viral in the 19th century when Philip Bliss released a song known as “Gospel Song”. This was the first ever recorded gospel song and people at that time seemed to like it. The concept that gospel music is only done by the Christians is true because it only relates to the Bible a book read only by the Christians. Arguably, this implies that the Muslims, Buddhists and other religions cannot claim that they do gospel music. Moreover, this music contents are normally based on the biblical teachings and stories (Cusic 82). This implies that most gospel songs get the stories from the Bible and written songs that relate to them. On other occasions, the gospel musicians simply rewrite the stories from the Bible and put them in musical format. Apart from this method, the gospel music sometimes contains the teachings from the Bible. These biblical teachings might have been independent, or they may be delivered by Jesus Christ. Despite the fact that most people believe that the gospel songs must contain biblical teachings and at least mention the name of the Lord, there are other songs that do not contain any of the above, but they are still gospel. Relatively, such songs are regarded as positive music with a positive message and that is the reason why they might as well be categorized as gospel music (Blue, Naden 62).
Secondly, gospel music like any other type of music also has various genres that represent it. Traditionally, gospel music was only done in churches by the choir members. Notably, the choir was the only gospel music known in the world. This is whereby a group of people with different voice ranges come together and compose a song which they sing during the church services. However, today the gospel music has revolutionized, and this has led to the emergence of numerous genres that represent the gospel music. Today, the genres of gospel music comprise of blues, country music, rock and even hip hop (Jefferson 93). All of these genres have come up due to differences in tastes and preferences by the Christians. While some people enjoy more the choir music, there are others who prefer listening to blues. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the genres of the gospel music have revolutionized, it is always recommended that the music remains positive for it to be categorized as gospel. This is the main feature of the gospel music. According to the Christians, gospel music must depict the potential to make one transform from evil deeds to holy deeds or help the ones that are living a positive life maintain it (Jefferson 132).
Additionally, the gospel music lyrics are different from the other types of music lyrics. Normally, gospel music lyrics are simple, easy and meant for communication between God and the believers. The main aim of making the lyrics simple is for the understanding of the Christians who are the target audience for the music. Furthermore, the simplicity of the lyrics in the music ensures that communication with God through the song is not complicated but easily understood. This is normally applicable to the praise and worships.