Sean McCarthy Prompt #6

 The biggest takeaway I got from this course so far has been how different and complex spirituals are from other forms of music I have learned about. The most important thing I took away was that spirituals are for the pleasure of those performing rather than for the pleasure of the audience. This is unlike any music I can think of; most music today is created to please an outside audience and fit the current cultural trends. This music also has extremely low barriers to entry; people participating didn't need to be talented, instead it fed off the joy of people participating, and the sense of community. Again, this is very uncommon today; many songwriters, especially those who are very well known, are typically listened to for their talented voices or strong lyric writing. Sometimes people even write a song and have a more talented voice sing the lyrics.