Origin
The Early Jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a “flatfooted ” style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early Quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.
Elements of Jubilee
- Strophic- Songs form in which a single melody is repeated with a different set of lyrics for each stanza.
- Blue Note- A note, sounded or suggested, that falls between two adjacent notes in the standard Western division of octave, most often the third or seventh degrees in a scale.
- Grace Note- A short ornamental note performed as an embellishment before the principal pitch.
- Melisma- A single syllable sung over several pitches.
- Hocket- Interlocking patterns shared by two or more voices or instruments that produce a single melody.
About The Wilberforce Jubilee Quartet
I couldn’t find any sources with information on the Wilberforce Quartet but, I know that it must have made impact on the world as the name was mentioned in many books.
Conclusion
Jubilee Quartets were a huge influence on music and brought us many new elements of music. I searched several databases and the internet and couldn’t come across anything on Wilberforce. I wish I had the opportunity to find something about them. I have been searching for weeks to get some information on the group and decided that the group didn’t have recorded information.
