Tesar Blog Post #6

 I think the biggest realization for me in the class was the general diversity of the spiritual. With my limited knowledge beforehand, I thought that spirituals were one type of song. When we discussed Works' three categories of spirituals, I realized that through different musical devices, spirituals had different goals and intentions, with the sound reflecting that. It was also surprising to hear that spirituals attained an art music status outside the original context. I knew that jazz went that direction, but didn't know that spirituals went through a similar transformation.