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What to Listen For
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Fisk)
Here’s what to listen for in the spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as performed by the Fisk Jubilee
Singers.
■ TTBB male a cappella quartet
This arrangement of the spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is performed by a male vocal quartet
(2 tenors and 2 basses) and is sung without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. Listen to
the TTBB vocal quartet: [0:00– 0:22].
■ Melody in a narrow range; built on a pentatonic scale
Listen to the melody of this spiritual, which has a narrow range and is built on a scale of five notes,
or a pentatonic scale: [0:00– 0:22].
■ Homophonic texture
In the Fisk arrangement of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, the voices sing in homophonic texture, a melody
with accompaniment. Listen to the solo singing in one of the tenor voices and harmonic accompaniment by the other three: [0:00– 0:22].
■ Strophic form with refrain
The Fisk Jubilee Singers’ arrangement of this spiritual is in strophic form, a song structure in which
the same music is repeated for every stanza of the poem, with a repeated refrain. Listen to the
first two verses of this song. You will hear a refrain, the first verse, the refrain, and then the second
verse; each verse uses the same music: [0:00–1:34].
So remember to listen for a male TTBB a cappella quartet singing a melody from a pentatonic scale in
a narrow range, homophonic texture, and strophic form with refrain.
What to Listen For Tutorials by Jennifer Hund for The Enjoyment of Music, by Kristine Forney, Andrew Dell’Antonio, and
Joseph Machlis
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Copyright © 2015 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
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