Soul Music

 

Musical Elements of Soul

The elements are as follows: the vocals will display a strong gospel influence with embellishments and ornamental vocal techniques rather than just singing out the notes straight; there is further development of a call and response as preacher to congregation; there is a very strong, prominent and noticeable support of strings that is usually very tempered in mainstream fifties R&B; the brass section changes into a more active role alternating between small and bigger bands and its advancing harmonic brass pans and rhythmic brass stabs to a more supportive base that sometimes carries the melody or counter melody.

 

 

Diaspora

One thing about soul music is the way it was born out of the spores of gospel music, so to speak. Quite literally, the seeds of soul music were blown across the airwaves of America and took up root in several specific places, but not all at once. This spread was due in large part to the progression of radio technology, the coverage across America and the new recording techniques.

 

The many Origins of Soul

Soul music is vast and has a wide variety of sounds due to the differring regions and cities, artists and bands, music influences and styles (blues, country, gospel, R&B etc) and different studios and labels giving off unique and totally identifiable recorded sounds and techniques.

 

 

Regions

Soul music developed somewhat as a Diaspora in America in the late 1950s/early 1960s mainly in the south (New Orleans, Atlanta, the Delta, Muscle Shoals, etc.), the mid-west (Memphis, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis), and the east coast (Philly, NY, etc). There were many different sounds and styles all brewing their distinctive blends of soul music in their specific locations. Whether it was from blues influenced Chicago, Detroit’s Motown, Memphis’s Stax, Muscle Shoals or Fame Studios Atlanta or Macon styles, Philly soul, New Orleans soul, or otherwise deep southern soul, they all had a gospel element tempered by different styles of R&B.

 

Labels & Studios

Soul had many labels and distribution deals starting with the major labels like Chicago’s ABC-Paramount (Ray Charles’s label), New York’s RCA/Victor and Atlantic records, minor labels like King, Duke, Brunswick, Atco and also newer start-up labels like Keen, Motown or Stax. These labels and networks helped shape the sounds of classic 60s soul, they all added gospel elements to several regional styles of R&B to produce the great variety of soul music.

 

There were several notable record labels in soul music that struggled for “the top spot” on the radio at any given point in the sixties. The soul labels came from different situations, some were major labels and others were family owned startups.

 

Motown records in Detroit had a lighter more up-tempo rhythm sound where, Stax records in Memphis was more laid back, more bluesy. You also had the distinctive sounds coming from specific studios like FAME studios and down in Muscle Shoals in northern Alabama across the Tennessee River.

 

Gospel’s Influence

 

Gospel’s Influence

This musical combination gives soul music a freshness and/or crispness with a strong feeling of emotion and excitement coming straight from the Gospel music influence. Soul as a dance music was part of its allure and popularity in the 60s. In the 50s, especially the late 50s, music was popular if it had a good beat to dance to, like much of the fast-paced rock & roll of the time.

Just like the preacher in the black Baptist church, giving a rousing sermon. The preacher pours his heart and “soul” into a very emotional and energetic delivery, where he is giving an over the top performance. Many of the greatest soul singers like Sam Cooke, Jerry Butler, Clyde McPhatter or Jackie Wilson are like those preachers. T

The backing singers in soul music resemble a Gospel choir while the lead singer would push the envelope and give more than 100% of his strength, almost to exhaustion at the end of the performance. Just like how James Brown does his over the top explosive, athletic performance, only to collapse at the end, being helped off stage with bruised knees.

where the harmony  some jazz elements from several forms of hard-bop and soul jazz.

 

 

Up Beat

The music of soul is fast paced with a lot of energy with an energetic pulse from the rhythm section’s bass, drums, and percussion. Soul music would often use other percussive instruments like congas, bongos, tambourines, claves and a myriad of other percussion instruments. Soul music would also incorporate brass support such as trumpets, cornets, trombones, saxophones, etc., as both rhythmic and harmonic and sometimes melodic color and support.

Soul music is similar to Gospel music in its up-tempo feeling that you get, where the whole congregation is swinging together as one. This upbeat fresh propulsive rhythm and horn section usually play in a simple duple (One, Two) or quadruple (One Two Three Four) meter with a tempo at or above 120 beats per minute (bpm). However, the speed of the tempo in soul music usually is not as fast as a Gospel meter which can be anywhere from 140 to 176 beats per minute or faster.

Soul music is that uplifting feeling you get when the lead singer is giving the final crescendo at the apex of an old spiritual. It is that electrifying feeling, the thrill of pins & needles you get when it truly feels like a spiritual “phenomenon”. It is like the music is touched by the Lord’s hand, the rush of endorphins flooding the bloodstream or a shamanic induced trance. The nature of soul music can conjure up strong emotional feelings that reflect an expression of the human state, unlike other genres.

I’ve had the pleasure of playing Gospel music in several groups and I can’t deny that feeling that overcomes you when playing Gospel or soul music, the only way to describe it is as spiritual. Gospel is a lot of fun to play, especially with a great choir, the music goes by so fast and then after you realize how much fun it was and that you received a good workout physically, mentally and of course spiritually.

 

Soul Criteria

Soul in a sense is taking a gospel tune and singing secular lyrics to it. Some soul songs can get down-right raunchy but on the whole, the metaphor is dancing, right? Right!

Once you can identify soul elements, you’ll be able to hear the aggregate development of the soul genre out of gospel and R&B. The elements are as follows:

 

The Vocals

The lead vocals in soul have to have a strong gospel influence complete with many gospel vocal techniques. These vocal techniques can consist of vibrato (a regular pulsating change of pitch); coloratura (or the coloring of a melody with runs, trills, leaps and other voice projection techniques); sostenuto (the sustaining of a note over a long period); singing in legato, subtly connecting notes and phrases in a smooth manner; and melismas (the singing of one syllable while moving between different notes in succession).

Call and response is a technique whereby the lead singer (or the Preacher) sings out the call while the backing vocals or the congregation respond to the lead vocalists calls. This was a technique adopted from field hand hollering. The lead vocalist has to be very skilled and has to put his whole heart and soul into the music, whether down on your knees begging and pleading or just light as a feather in joyous exhilaration, the lead singer has to mean it.

 * Experienced vocal technique of gospel singing

* Call & response gospel choir technique

  

The Strings

Depending on the label and the region the strings start to take a more integral part in the sound of soul music. This is particularly evident with Atlantic, RCA/Victor, and Tamla/Motown. In this type of soul music, the strings seem to flow around the band and singers and take a foundational role. In the early 60s, the strings sometimes take on the leads in the intros, verses, and the choruses or play middle instrumental parts. This is very different from the older R&B use of strings which was very tempered if even they were used at all.

* Strings are used more often, depending on the label and/or region.

 

The Brass

The brass is also dependent on the region, label, studio, and musicians’ influences. Some labels have fully integrated orchestrated strings with the brass, some have limited brass support or solo accompaniments and then other labels rely solely on the brass section without strings.

Brass is used in a number of ways. Some have the brass as rhythmic support using stabs (quick syncopated blasts) and riffs (the playing melodically harmonic chords or phrases) or pans (the sustaining or extending a harmonic chord) and then some use the brass in fully elaborate arrangements and syncopations.

The brass section has a more active role in soul music alternating between harmonic syncopated brasses and then more supportive as a foundation that sometimes carries the melody, counter melodies or instrumental breaks. This is all depending on the regional aspect of soul, of course. With labels like ABC – Para, Memphis’ Stax, the studio at Muscle Shoals, or New Orleans’ Fury have brass that is the primary foundation without the use of strings in small and/or large combos. Motown also makes frequent use of a strong, complex arranged brass section with special attention baritone saxophones.

In soul music in general, the brass, usually of horns and saxophones, was now branching off into the use and experimentation of other brass instruments. Usually, in older R&B music there might be a trumpet (sometimes coronet), an alto sax, tenor sax and maybe a baritone sax, sometimes a trombone but on the whole horn sections were traditionally small consisting of one to five players.

Starting in the 60s soul artists started trying out all sorts of horns like cornets, Fluegel horns, French horns, trombones, tubas and other rare brass instruments including flutes. The saxophones remained in the mix with experimentation with soprano and baritone saxophones as well as the traditional alto and tenor saxophones. The tenor and baritone saxophones take on a particularly gregarious role in early soul music.

 * Brass arrangements are more elaborate, depending on the label and/or region.

* New brass instruments, rare to R&B and gospel, are tried out.

 

  The Guitar

 

The guitar starts exhibiting greater independence switching between a rhythmic-harmonic supporting role and to flat out carrying the lead. The guitar becomes very versatile in the 60s showing a wide range of uses. The guitars start experimenting with fuzz, distortion, overdrive and other interesting effects. The rhythm guitar begins collaborations with one or more guitars to come up with some interesting syncopated effects. With the use of new Latin beats, the guitar is pivotal in supporting the beat and also harmonically mapping out the song with its use of arpeggios (a chord broken into a sequence of notes).

* Guitars prominence, experiments with effects, syncopation with rhythm guitars.

 

The Organ and Keyboards

The organ takes on many new roles in soul music. The organ steps up giving that gospel edge ala Ray Charles the Father. Sometimes the organ plays harmonic support giving a song a gospel feel. Other times the organ leads the rhythm section of a song mimicking the vocal parts.  Most of the time, the organ is playing blues and jazz-influenced trills, phrases and flourishes whether leading or backing. Little by little the tinkering and banging piano so prominent in early R&B music gradually changes its role to a more harmonically supportive instrument much like the role of the strings.

* Organ versatility, gospel presence, jazz & blues flourishes.  

 

The Rhythm Section

The rhythm section goes through a great change, affected by each region that takes place throughout soul music’s development and lifespan.

 * The rhythm section experiments with Latin & World Beats.

 

The Drums

The drums in soul music start out heavily influenced by R&B, eight to the bar, boogie-woogie but slowly adopt either a face paced gospel beat or a slower blues triple meter beat. The drums were doing funky fills and tricks and were given more freedom to try new things. The bass drum started to drop in funky bombs during a groove or just pound away four on the floor.

Depending again on the region and label the beats were diverse indeed yet mostly all soul beats at the time, benefitted from new recording technologies and techniques.

Motown had mostly fast-paced, crisp beats for most of the hits and occasional triple meter slower beats for the ballads. Atlantic had big orchestral and jazz room facilities with access to many differing instruments.

Stax was more laid back, as was the studio sounds of Muscle Shoals or the New Orleans flavored Fury label. These southern labels offered a more blues based beat.

* Faster gospel like beats for dance songs and slow blues rhythms for ballads.

* Drum rhythms get funkier, inventive fills, bass drum and overall technique.

 

 

 The Percussion section

In the beginning soul as a genre began to experiment with Latin rhythms such as rumba, cha cha cha and clave rhythms. In percussion there is a Latin rhythmic concept called clave (not to be confused with the rhythm instrument) please see my article on the concept of clave.

The percussion section becomes fully integrated in the early days of soul. In addition to the drums, there are now congas, bongos, cow bells, woodblocks, tambourines, triangles, marimbas, bells, chimes and many more Latin rhythmic instruments. Much of early soul has a Latin tinge, that is using a clave or semi-clave beat, a rumba beat or a hybrid Latin rhythm.

* Percussion becomes standard in soul, utilizing a wide variety of Latin & World instruments.

 

Much of Atlantic’s output would explore these Latin beats, whereas Motown had a faster upbeat four/four pulse. Stax had a more laid back beat that could either be straight forward or a slower triple meter blues beat more akin to the southern Muscle Shoals or New Orleans beats.

 

 

Soul Criteria Quick List

* Knowledge of gospel singing

* Call & response gospel choir technique

* Strings are used more often, depending on the label or region.

* Brass arrangements are more elaborate, depending on the label and/or region.

* New brass and non-brass instruments are tried out.

* The rhythm section experiments with Latin & World Beats.

* Guitars prominence, experiments with effects, syncopation with rhythm guitars.

* Organ versatility, gospel presence, jazz & blues flourishes.  

* Faster gospel like beats for dance songs and slow blues rhythms for ballads.

* Drum rhythms get funkier, inventive fills, bass drum and overall technique.

* Percussion becomes standard in soul, utilizing a wide variety of Latin & World instruments.

 

Disclaimer

The following songs are merely suggestions. I have researched songs from many sources that are generally accepted as measures of the popularity, sociology, theory and all around mystique of music otherwise known as musicology. The songs here are songs that were popular in 1960 and 1961 and that have since grown popular throughout the decades of the 20th Century. There were a lot of unknown and/or uncharted gospel and early sixties R&B songs that didn’t make the list which is provided on an R&B top 40 list.

 

 

Soul & the passage of Time

Soul music would go on to last many decades past the sixties. Overtime definitions can get fuzzy over the passage of time. What starts out as a specific term for a “new” sound can become a general or a catch-all phrase with the passage of time where the term has lost its original definition. This has happened to terms like Soul, R&B, Rock & Roll. The soul of the sixties sounds considerably different than the seventies, eighties or nineties.

Soul would go on to produce many great artists and groups that would last several decades. Initially, soul was influenced by a number of Gospel-flavored R&B songs that manifested into Ray Charles and his “I’ve Got A Woman” and also in to songs by Little Richard, James Brown, Etta James, Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, Ruth Brown in the mid-fifties; soul music got its king in Sam Cooke starting in the late fifties along with soul men like Jerry Butler, Jackie Wilson, Solomon Burke, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Gene Chandler and Ben E. King.

By the early sixties, Soul becomes a thing, a term, a description of a new form of popular music. Family owned labels pop up like Motown & Stax which began to compete with the bigger record labels who were pushing soul music like ABC/Paramount, Atlantic and RCA/Victor. Soon there is a myriad of soul artists that flooded the sixties airwaves giving us names like Mary Wells, Martha & the Vandellas, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & the Supremes from the Motown camp; Carla & Rufus Thomas, Booker T & the MGs, Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Sam & Dave & Isaac Hayes in the Stax and Muscle Shoals Camp;

And then 1967 came around to introduce us all to the Queen of Soul: Aretha Franklin. This seemed to be the pinnacle years of soul 1967 to 1970 with lots of great songs and lots of experimentation. Soul as a genre would go on to spawn new genres like psychedelic soul, funk and then in the seventies Disco while still maintaining its own identity.