my response to "Black Music in Our Hands"

The title itself is soooo powerful, Black Music in OUR Hands: meaning we control the audiences we want to reach, the message we want to send, the feelings we're trying to convey, the bridges we want to be connected between the meanings of the lyrics, and the unspoken spirit of life that music is supposed to talk to. Black music, the rhythm itself has a life of its own, and the symbols and lyrics only qualify its importance to the soul. In reference to the essay, the author Bernice Reagon recalls being exposed to four types of Black Music, in which she sang and familiarized herself with three. Spirituals, R&B, and Black church gospel were the three types of music that she speaks about, and she mentions jazz at the end, briefly telling her relationship to it. But beyond Mrs. Reagon and her experiences with Black Music, it takes on a whole other context when it comes to the black community at large. For me, Black Music is a healer, its entertainment, its a friend, and sometimes I feel like it was made just for me. It's so easy for me to get lost in the ballads and not want to come back; Black church hymns for example has the absolute power to take you to the gates of heaven and back. It is so refreshing, especially because the black community is a spiritual one, we believe in welcoming the presence of our Savior during worship to give Him praise, and with that objective you can experience everything from self revelation to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it is truly a beautiful thing. And to think, if Our gospel can do that, one can only imagine what our Soul ballads can do for you. In closing, Black Music has had a negative connotation lately, I feel like the critics that come up with that judgemental crap are just ignorant to the meaning of Our music. Simply put, they know not, what they do, because if they took the time out to EXPERIENCE what Black Music could do for them, they'd be making songs about random stuff too, its a celebration of Our Gift, not a decline in Our talent.