There Is a Balm in Gilead
The spiritual as R. Nathaniel Dett wrote it down from the singing of Hampton Institute students and printed it in 1927, for 2 to 4 singers. Everyone sings the refrain, twice through, in Dett's own four parts, and between refrains the soprano sings a verse alone: "Sometimes I feel discouraged", then "If you cannot preach like Peter". Slow and very expressive.
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The parts
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The first verse
Words: traditional spiritual, as sung by the students of Hampton Institute (printed 1927)Tune: traditional spiritual, as R. Nathaniel Dett transcribed it from the singing of the Hampton Institute students (printed 1927)
There is a Balm in Gilead,To make the wounded whole,There is a Balm in Gilead,To heal the sin sick soul.There is a Balm in Gilead,To make the wounded whole,There is a Balm in Gilead,To heal the sin sick soul.
About There Is a Balm in Gilead
There Is a Balm in Gilead is a spiritual that R. Nathaniel Dett printed in 1927 in his songbook of Hampton Institute's spirituals, headed "Transcribed from the singing of the Hampton Institute students": the four parts were written down as the students sang them, and filed among the "Hymns of Consolation". Our arrangement is read from that page, Dett's own four parts, a whole tone lower, in A. It is for 2 to 4 singers, slow and very expressive: everyone sings the refrain, twice through each time, and between refrains the soprano sings a verse alone, "Sometimes I feel discouraged", then "If you cannot preach like Peter", the first and last of the three printed.
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